The Surprisingly Easy Things People Get Away With in Prison

If you’re not a criminal when you go in, you will be before you leave.

Photo by Ty Williams on Unsplash

I often heard, before I ever got to prison, the things people can get away with behind bars will surprise you. I didn’t think that could be true, after all, the other things you hear are how often you’re searched, how strict things are, and how restricted things can be, right? So this article may or may not surprise you when it comes to the things that people get away with behind bars. Some things were surprising to me while others just seemed par for the course the longer I’m here.

1. Smuggling restricted items — What is considered ‘restricted’ in a prison is often ridiculous sometimes. Food, on the one hand, can be a restricted item. When we’re allowed to actually go to the cafeteria and eat, instead of our trays being brought to the block, sometimes there may be extra fruit available. If that’s the case, we’re allowed to have it, but only if we can consume in while we’re in the cafeteria. We’re not allowed to take it back to the block.

Why wouldn’t we be allowed to have extra fruit? Well, there are a number of reasons. One would be because inmates use fruit to make hooch (fermented wine/alcohol). Another would be the same reason your parents told you not to hoard food in your room when you were a kid, that’s how you get roaches/pests/mice etc. And another is control. While we are allowed, to an extent, to have food in our cells (what can be contained in our locker) that comes from canteen, we are not allowed to bring food from the cafeteria into our cells to save for later. This allows the COs to control how much food we can have at once, so they can control how much we eat.

However, this does not stop inmates from smuggling food back to the block. Typically, this is done by those who work in the kitchen and is for the purpose of either making hooch or making other foods that aren’t allowed like cheesecakes or other sweets to sell. They aren’t allowed simply because they’re made from mostly contraband items (sugar, fruits, etc)

2. Getting drugs — I’m making this its own item because from what I’ve seen since I’ve been inside, it isn’t smuggling drugs that’s being done by inmates so much as by COs. We’ve not…