Robert, 60

…Prison is like being in a time vacuum where life has ceased. Neither moving forward or backward, alive but deceased. Prison is like a sack into which each day, each hour, drops another stone. Bending the spine until the tell-tale crack.

Incarcerated: 24 years

I have discovered that there is no simple answer to the question “What is prison like?” or “Why I became addicted to drugs.” I used to feel haunted by such questions. I could not format a valid and truthful response. Yet, during this prison term I experienced two things which the California Department of Corrections had deprived me of during previous terms. The ability to learn about myself through self help groups, and the chance to learn through the on-sight college program.

What Is Prison Like?

Returning to the streets – faces, souls, and spirits I meet.
Curiosity beating down the like, what is prison like?
Prison is like being in a time vacuum where life has ceased.
Neither moving forward or backward, alive but deceased.
Prison is like a sack into which each day, each hour, drops another stone.
Bending the spine until the tell-tale crack.
Prison is like being at the bottom of a well, walking round and round.
Without physical or material existence – incorporeal.
Still, prison is not like hell, neither like heaven.
Not all gloom and depression.
See and you shall find the nadir of oppression.