Federal Prison Camp Crash Course (UNDERSTAND YOUR ENVIRONMENT)

Описание: Our fourth federal prison crash course class focuses on the importance of understanding your environment.

In addition to learning from long term prisoners who seemed to master the prison experience, I found it immensely helpful to learn from those inmates who set themselves up for failure.

In our previous lessons, I outlined some of the steps I deem essential for a successful prison adaptation. Those steps included the proactive approach, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first.

That lends us to the fourth principle, which is to understand the environment before we expect others to understand us.

As an example, I will take you back to an event I witnessed in federal prison. One morning, while I was working on one of my writing projects, I saw a minor altercation between a relatively new and unseasoned prisoner with an active gang member. (I may have been confined in a minimum-security camp, but there were still some prisoners with a proclivity for violence. All prisoners who strive for success dismiss that reality at their own peril.)

The new prisoner, Matt, worked as an orderly with the responsibility to mop the bathroom. Wood, the inveterate gang member, was also an orderly. Matt always performed his job punctually and diligently; Wood only reported for duty when staff members were present.

After Matt finished mopping the bathroom, he returned the equipment to the mop room. Wood reprimanded Matt for not putting the mop bucket in the exact right spot. Rather than responding peacefully, Matt responded in a cocky manner, then in the end, acquiesced to Wood. That ended the confrontation.

When alone with Matt, I discussed the possible outcomes. He felt slighted because he had performed his assigned job for several months, while Wood hardly worked at all.

I explained to Matt that prison differed in remarkable ways from the world outside. Whereas Matt was trying to finish his 12-month sentence and return home, Wood cared about his prison reputation more than anything else. Rather than wanting to understand his environment, Matt wanted Wood to understand him. That was a recipe for conflict. That is when prison can go bad.

For those of you soon to enter prison, you must understand all possible outcomes that can follow every decision you make, including altercations with gang members. As prisoners, it is always best to understand the environment. Those who want to succeed will adjust in ways to ensure that they avoid conflict. They seek to understand before they try to be understood. That is the fourth lesson in our Federal Prison Camp Crash Course.

Justin Paperny

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