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As Orange is the New Black has made its return in Season 3, I was jsut wondering what "real" jail is  like.

I know in Orange the prison is all female, but I would like to hear about both.

How much time did you serve?
Is the food that bad?
Does rape still happen?
Is it necessary to join a  gang?

Are there any truths from the show? How does the shows prison differ from real prison?

I love that show!  I have not served time in jail but I have been arrested unfortunately.  The charge was DUI but it was dropped.  I would have said the night in jail if my parents refused to pick me up.  Thank god they did.  :)

No, but it is my dream.

I think you're mixin' up jail with prison, for not many rapes occur in jail... and the food's not that bad, albeit you eat everything with a spoon... so I've read.  ::)

Jail many times, prison not so much. I had a bit too much fun as a youth but luckily didn't do anything with such repercussions.

As one person said, jail =/= prison. You should re-clarify for prison  8)

OK so I never went to jail, but I know a little bit because I read about things like this.  First let me make it clear that the jails/prisons in USA are on par with those in 3rd world countries, and most places don't have such bad conditions for prisoners.

I don't know about the food, but yes rape happens.  However it is supposed to be that most of the sex is consensual.  Think about it, if you had  a 20 year sentence you might start batting for the other team.  Why not, you gotta get your rocks off somehow.  For joining a gang, I think it depends on what prison you are in, some yes and some no.

Many of the prisons in the USA are run by private companies, can you imagine?  The idea is that they can save money, but as you might imagine you can't get blood from a turnip and those savings have to come from somewhere.  Severe overcrowding is the most obvious symptom of this.

But the worst part is that private prisons lobby for harsher penalties for crimes, and against things like the decriminalization of drug addiction.  If alcoholism is a disease and needs to be treated, why not meth addiction?

Anyway as usual letting private industry into something that should only be run by the government fucks things up as much as you might imagine.

I have never been to jail but Im a big fan of OITNB. Crazy Eyes (Suzanne) is my favorite character on that show. It's funny to see this thread, I just finished watching an episode with my girlfriend and was thinking about conjugal visits because the show we just saw was about an inmate who was not allowed to have them but a guard let her because he felt bad for her as she had just got married.

Here is a link to the thread I just made
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1091753.0

I've never been to Jail or Prison and I don't plan on it either so I cant answer your questions but its funny to see that Orange is the new black has even made its way to our forum.

I've been to jail once and prison once. Of course, both times were as tours when I was in high school Sociology class. But still, Parchman State prison in Mississippi is no place I would ever want to be... or any prison for that matter. No thanks. I will stick to being a law abiding citizen.

Sorry but, what is the difference between jail and prison? Aren't these two words synonymous?   ???

Jail is normally for offenders awaiting trial and those already sentenced but to minimal time. Most jails wont house offenders with sentences over 2-3 years. Prison is for Offenders who have been sentenced to time longer then 2-3 years.

Thank you, now the difference is clear.
I thought that jails and prisons were exactly the same thing with just some of them (no matter if jail or prison) built with an higher security level.

Glad to help. And they are the same thing for all intents and purposes. Both are large concrete fortresses designed to keep people on the inside. The only real difference is the type of people they are locking up.

This is an example of diversity of thoughts . See what kind of dreams people see . Personally I have never been to jail , being to jail means ruining your career .

Jail is good! Free food, free sleep, new sexual experiences! It is better than outside! lol

Well, then your username should have been catch.me.please and not catch.me.if.you.can ...

Sweet. At 6 posts in, the thread went political.

If people have gone to prison I doubt they'd tell everyone about it in here.


It's your dream to go to prison or in a woman's prison?

Yes often 50 years ago...
I used to play Monopoly

I've been and don't mind talking about it, it happened and I learned a lot from it - not all good, but I did learn a lot in my time there. I received a 5 year sentence back in the early 2000s, served nearly 4 years of it.

1)Is the food bad? Yes, it can be pretty damn bad depending on what unit you are at - the state-run places had somewhat decent stuff from time-to-time but everything there is either canned or grown by prisoners for the most part. The biggest days were when chicken was served - always chicken quarters, baked. Every damn meal comes with some form of beans, breakfast would usually be pancakes - and the inmates love them with peanut butter which they throw-on at the last moment - to this day I still can't eat pancakes. The worst meals were the slop dishes like Chicken a'la King, etc. Holidays you'd get a turkey and the usual sides, not much, though. The private prisons...those starve you - they are all on a budget and try to meet the bare minimums - even working in the kitchen you won't eat good, the meat was all turkey-based or chicken patties...not good at all and you'd better have money on your books.

2)Does rape still happen? Yes, it does but not to the extent it did, mainly due to the gangs and most people belonging to some group or another. I only witnessed two rapes while I was in there - well, heard them while they were happening - and the fucked-up thing is not being able to do anything as politics preclude you from intervening unless the person is a member of your group and the way the "community" in there looks at it is that person should have been strong or smart enough not to put themselves in that position - for lack of a better word... There was only one group or race that was into or known for raping fellow inmates and I won't name them, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

3) Is it necessary to join a gang? No, it isn't but someone who runs solano or solo is free-game and can be jumped, extorted, violated, etc with no fear of reprisal. One can do their time on their own but won't have a say on anything, as long as they mind their own business they have a pretty good chance for survival. The worst part are the guards that are gang-affiliated - that is a big problem in certain regions, I was on several units where guards were Texas Mexican Mafia or Texas Syndicate-related - big security threat. I tried running on my own for a short time when I first went in, here in Texas we have the tangos which aren't families and strictly prison based so when you get out you aren't beholden to a gang, I was a member of Houstone, the biggest group in TDCJ. It's all politics and everything is based on race, for the most part 0 if you have a problem with someone who is black, you talk to whoever is the speaker for that group, etc. The biggest mistake I'd see were these kids with short sentences, they'd be scared and join a family, next thing you know they are doing 20 years because some higher-up told them to do this or that.

jail is weird.  there is a chess board on the table but they don't give you any pieces to play with  :-\

So many profiling threads in this forum lately. Bleh.

the media tends to do that to people

Not for now

I have been there as a visitor. My friend is in there.
Not a good place to live. No BTC, no internet, no alcohol, no girls...no fun.

No, i'm not

i've never been to jail or prison, no, but i was held overnight in a cell once. i won't say for what. :P but being alone in a cell in a small town police station is nothing like jail, of course...

No, i'm not

Nope, not interested to be in it.. I don't want to experience police violence

According to google:

"At the most basic level, the fundamental difference between jail and prison is the length of stay for inmates. Think short-term and long-term. Jails are usually run by local law enforcement and/or local government agencies, and are designed to hold inmates awaiting trial or serving a short sentence."

There is no such difference in other languages, as far I know, so our confusion

no..im not..

When I was arrested, there was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich floating in the toilet in the jail cell.

I work in a prison, does that count as "been to jail"?

I've been held in a cell of a local police station once when I was 19.

Time served: approximately 4 hours. :P
I got no food and I didn't get raped.
I didn't get to communicate with other people, but I probably would have joined some gang if possible.

Fun fact: I had to take off my shoes or remove my shoelaces. Got my shoelaces back when I left.

here in the US, jail = local, county. it's a lower level detention center where you go if your sentence is 1 year or less. and it's a lot less scary than state and federal prison.

I haven't but I got arrested the other day.

ouch.... that's rough. what for? so you got arrested, but not booked into jail? must have been for some real petty stuff? :)

No, I haven't. I wish I will never go there.

In military prison.

No, never and i can't dream about that, i love freedom

NO. And I don't want to be in jail too. There's no freedom :D