Home for an Inmate

Home for an inmate

The title of my blogs is "The Prison Cell", so maybe I should talk about what it actually looks like. I have been in several prisons (no bragging, that was part of my incarceration), from Craven Correctional, Pasquotank Correctional and others, and in each situation the actual living quarters of the inmate differ.

There are three basic types of living quarters, and I am not talking from the DOC point of view, these are MY views as I have experienced them. There is the communal living or dorms, there is the double cell and then the single cell. Since no two prisons are exactly alike in appearance and rules, it all depends on where you are.

I could just as easily talk about my cell in jail too, since I spent about 15 months there, but I will keep this to prison views.

We all have some picture of what a prison cell looks like, but most times when they show prisons, they usually show the supermax prisons or the close custody prisons. The ones with the iron bars and the single cells, or sometimes the double cells.

But not all prisons are like that, many have communal living, which again means dorms. Some maybe as few as 40 and as many as 60, maybe even more. In either case, where the inmate is will be his home, whether he calls it that or not. After all, it will be where he lays his head at night.

When I was at Pasquotank Correctional in Elizabeth City, NC, I had a double cell. That obviously meant living with another person, a complete stranger. I ought not be too disturbed with that, after all when you are a college student you room with a guy you don't know. You just have to try to get along if you can.

My room was not that big, and by the way if you read "Grades of Honor" you know exactly what I am talking about, since the second book covers my time at Pasquotank Correctional.

As I said before, cells differ from prison to prison, but mine had the double bunks, with the upper being a bit higher than normal, about chin high to me. I could normally jump from the floor to the bunk with a little support, but not with these...too high.

The mattress was foam, and thick, which actually was more comfortable than the regular mattresses, which were too lumpy. There was a very small "night stand" for the upper bunk guy (me) which came in handy many times.

Each dorm had 2 of those plastic lawn chairs, one for each inmate. There was also a stainless steel table with two steel seats attached, but sitting on those was never comfortable, even with a pillow under your butt.

There was a sink with a mirror attached, and a night light over both. Right beside it was a toilet, not too close but maybe about a foot and a half from the sink, maybe 2 feet.

The door itself was steel and heavy, and locks when closed. If you wanted to get out, you had to press a red button inside the room to have them "pop" the lock.

Again, the actual cell was not so big, but I know that in other prisons the conditions would be different, some better, some worse. But what I wanted to do was kinda give you some view at what a prison cell can look like. You noticed I didn't say that our cell doors were bars, because they weren't. In fact, I think in my incarceration I was only in one cell that had iron bars, and that was when I was in seg.

Anyway, looks like rain, so I better go for now.

 

Hi

I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your blogs on prison life. I'm in Scotland and a friend has recently been incarcerated in California. I know nothing about the prison system in the USA but thanks to your essays and some other cool peeps here, I'm learning

Take care & keep posting!