The Top 15 Things I’ve Learned After Three Years in Prison

My yearly review of this hell hole I call home

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Each year since I’ve been inside, I’ve written a review of the previous year. Year one, I had 5 things I’d learned — Year two was 10 things. This year, year 3, I’ll share all of those plus 5 new things I’ve learned. I have commentary concerning the original items I shared, too.

The Top Fifteen Things I’ve Learned After Three Years in Prison

15. What no one tells you is how bored you can be — My wife likes to say, “You’re bored because you’re boring” and that can be accurate. Unless you’re in prison. I was always bad for saying, “I’m bored” and have realized a lot of that stemmed from being ADD and not being able to focus. So I would easily become bored, thinking I was out of things to stimulate my mind. In prison, it is a real thing. Even if you’re an avid reader, you enjoy puzzles, you like to play cards, etc. There are 24 hours in a day, in here we’re locked down for 21 of them. Try giving yourself enough stimulation 16 plus hours per day in a 6x12 space.

14. You become very regimented — And you will NOT like it when things change. Over the last year, our video visits have been screwed with continuously and it’s become something I hate. It’s the only thing I had to really look forward to each week and I knew I would get to spend at least 30 minutes with my wife on screen. Then GTL took over and it was cut to 15 minutes, and we now have to pay for the visits. Plus, it took forever for them to actually start working. Since then, it’s been one thing after another.

13. You’ll have conversations with anyone at times — I am not a huge fan of my family. They’ve, for the most part, let me rot in here and swore up and down they’ve tried to communicate but been blocked from doing so. Not true, but it apparently made them feel better to lie. Recently, my older sister reached out to my daughter’s mom, who in turn relayed the message to my wife. My uncle passed away and she wanted me to know. At the end of her message, she said she wanted me to have her number.

So I called her, mostly for shits and giggles, but also because at this point, I don’t think I can have too many people to talk to…