Prison Inmate Talk

Education in the federal prison camp was mandatory, required or optional and self taught depending on your status of education. There was a lot of educational material available, a library and BOP personnel staff assigned to education. Most of the teaching was done by the white collar crime inmates or those with an education under the supervision of BOP staff.

There is a zero tolerance policy for fighting in a federal prison camp. People caught fighting are immediately removed from the camp and both are put behind bars called the hole for investigation. Then one or both parties involved lose their camp privileges and usually placed in a low or medium security prison depending on the nature of violence. Notice that I said caught fighting. The inmates know of the seriousness and consequences of fighting in camp. I have personally witness one fight, heard of others and seen busted lips from those involved in which no disciplinary action was taken. This is because of two reasons.

Currency is defined as money in circulation. We always associate money as being the Federal Reserve note or more commonly called the dollar. This form of money is not allowed in camp by the BOP and any inmate caught with it is questioned and investigated. So what kind of currency is being used in place of the dollar among federal prison camp inmates.

Bartering has been around longer than any form of money. This system of exchanging something for something else is still widely used today and especially in the prison camp. It has become the primary way of getting things you need or want. The bartering between inmates has gone back to the way it was from the beginning. You exchange for everything including personal services, items for items or a special skill people want.

In my opinion, profanity has got to be one ot the most ugly and dirtiest thing in a federal prison camp. I thank and praise God that He shielded my mind and speech from such filth. Profanity is as common as everyday speaking to some without any regard to proper language. Most inmates just chose to talk that way. I know this because when a camp officer or administrator is around their words quickly become a polite English language. Then like a light switch, when all is clear, they resort back to the same foul words that dirty their mouth and minds. How sad.

Did you know that inmates worked and got paid to be in a federal prison camp? It’s true, an inmates puts in an average of 7 hours a day, 35 hours a week and gets paid an hourly wage. Each month they would receive a financial deposit in their personal commissary account for their compensation of work.

What kind of medical services do inmates receive in federal prison camp? Now that is an interesting question that I think most people would want to know. Therefore I will enlighten you with the facts in a five part series of my experience regarding one prison camp’s medical service. Upon self-surrender, all new inmates within the first few weeks receive a physical from the BOP (bureau of prison) medical staff. A pretty routine check-up like blood pressure, eyesight, hearing, heart and lung, light muscle exercises, reflex testing, a urine sample for lab work and a series of questions pertaining to inmates personal medical history. A simple and painless check-up every man should get once a year.