Life in Minimum Security Federal Prisons is not as many believe. The days of Club Fed with rumours of pool are long. While Minimum Security Federal Prisons are less violent and do allow for more leisure than their high security counterparts, they are by no means Motel 8. These are still places that you simply do not want to be.
Upon arriving at Federal medical center Devens, Ma, a Federal medical center which houses all security levels along with medium and high and can be considered not only one of many Minimum Security Federal Prisons, but also a low and medium security Federal prison, I was made to take my clothes off in an open room with many male and female staff walking by casually. I was told to spread by butt cheeks and bend over and to lift my testicles. I was quickly realizing that the impressions that I had about Minimum Security Federal Prisons were far from reality.
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After being searched and given a pair of dirty khaki pants and a shirt, I was led to the hole. Settled in lockdown for 23 hours a day in a one man cell and then a two man cell with no Tv and no radio, it didn't feel like Minimum Security Federal Prisons were meant to feel at all. I opinion I would be watching Tv, jogging, getting in shape and peacefully doing my time. But here I was in a 6 x 12 foot cell listening to inmates who had been locked up for months like this scream and yell and hit their heads against the doors.
Finally after 9 days I was released to normal habitancy and a dormitory of 180 men. I was led to my 8' x 6' concrete cube I called home for 180 days. It's difficult to dream that while I have moved on with my life, nearly all the same characters are still there, going straight through the same routine, day after day, month after month, year after year and even decade after decade.
After two weeks I began to get a better insight of what Minimum Security Federal Prisons were all about.
I was clearly lied to when I was in the hole and told that no beds were ready as there are three hundred beds currently unoccupied. Anyway, I was told nothing and nothing was explained to me as the days passed, sitting in a tiny cell, waiting. If you've never been in Minimum Security Federal Prisons before, the next time you go into your restroom, think about staying there for a week or maybe two. If you don't make an exertion to stay calm, you will go crazy. (I later met inmates who had been Settled in the hole for nearly a year. Not surprisingly, they had little empathy about the mental strain I experienced over my short stay).
Surviving Minimum protection Federal Prisons SECURITY
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