
HM Prison – A Survival Guide (2015) - asymmetric
http://prisonism.co.uk/hmp-guide.html
======
panic
For more cheery prison reading, here's an article from a reporter who worked
undercover as a guard at a private US prison:
[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-
pris...](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-private-prisons-
corrections-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer/).

IMO, the whole idea of prisons is inherently inhumane. We've really got to do
better.

~~~
keiferski
I've always held to the "Sin City"[1] philosophy: society's needs change over
time, while people fundamentally don't. The existence of prison is just a
failure of society to accommodate the wide variety of human natures.

Obviously this brings up questions of the "dangerous to society" variety, but
a minuscule percentage of prisoners are dangerous psycho killers.

[1] _Most people think Marv is crazy, but I don 't believe that. I'm no shrink
and I'm not saying I've got Marv all figured out or anything, but "crazy" just
doesn't explain him. Not to me. Sometimes I think he's retarded, a big, brutal
kid who never learned the ground rules about how people are supposed to act
around each other.

But that doesn't have the right ring to it either. No, it's more like there's
nothing wrong with Marv, nothing at all--except that he had the rotten luck of
being born at the wrong time in history. He'd have been okay if he'd been born
a couple of thousand years ago. He'd be right at home on some ancient
battlefield, swinging an ax into somebody's face. Or in a roman arena, taking
a sword to other gladiators like him. They'd have tossed him girls like Nancy,
back then._

~~~
jackhack
I can say I would not want to live in a society that "accommodates" the needs
of rapists, murderers, child molesters as well as the various petty criminals.

Sin City was a dark film, I never found it a model for cultural structure.

~~~
throwawayxbe8
What about one that accommodates people who possess marijuana? What about a
society that accommodates people who have opioid addictions and need medical
help? I think you have a rather skewed idea of the majority of our prison
population. I'll give you a hint, though: most of them aren't rapists,
murderers, and child molesters.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
> I'll give you a hint, though: most of them aren't rapists, murderers, and
> child molesters.

 __HINT __= 15% of the prison population in California are sex offenders.

~~~
alsetmusic
>> I'll give you a hint, though: most of them aren't rapists, murderers, and
child molesters.

> HINT = 15% of the prison population in California are sex offenders.

Rapists and child molesters would both fall under the sex offender category,
meaning 85% of prisoners are not convicted of those crimes (according to your
post, which lacks citation).

Are you indicating that more than one in three California prisoners are
convicted of murder? It sounds like you’re making a case for more than 35% of
prisoners as murderes (15 + 35 = 50%). I’m not comfortable with that
assumption without links to data.

~~~
fisherjeff
This definitely doesn't support their point, but the State of California's
report[0] turns out to be generally fascinating. More to the point of this
thread, sex offenders and murderers make up ~26% of their prison population.

[0]
[http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information...](http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/Annual/CalPris/CALPRISd2010.pdf)

EDIT: homicide != murder

------
hackermailman
Interesting system where you can bring your own things to prison instead of
being forced to buy 300% price increased items from the prison commissary in
N. America like clothing, fans, radios.

System here is very different in other ways such as being in a 200+ inmate
dorm is the standard instead of cells, and there's dozens of rules set by
inmates none of which were in this guide. You also get a 'prison consultant'
if you can in the US if you are pleading guilty, they help you choose your own
prison as part of the plea deal such as Madoff who's prison lets him teach
other inmates economics.

~~~
alex_hitchins
You can bring some items, but you couldn't bring a telly etc. There was talk a
while back about banning books being sent to prisioners, not sure what logic
was used for that one.

I haven't been to prison in the UK or the US however what I've seen of both,
the US system seems straight up about making money over anything else. I'd
hope the UK system isn't this way although I fear it likely is going that way.

~~~
alkonaut
This manual indicates the UK prison system is much more like the US system
than I expected. e.g. shared prison cells.

~~~
t90fan
thats more an artefact of the fact that most of our prisons were built in the
1800s.

2 in a cell is common.

Until the 90s they never had indoor plumbing either, only buckets in the
cells.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slopping_out](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slopping_out)

~~~
alex_hitchins
The following article is worth a read too on the subject:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Strangeways_Prison_riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Strangeways_Prison_riot)

I believe it was the squalid conditions that sparked the unrest.

~~~
KGIII
There are a number of documentaries where the instigators cite conditions and
staff abuses as the reason for the Strangeways Riot.

The two most serious ringleaders are both now free, or were in the most recent
doc, and are doing fairl well. One is fond of handing out papers with
motivational or philosophical thoughts on them and the other now has his own
gym.

------
alex_hitchins
Can I ask anyone who found this book useful/interesting buy a copy? I am going
to, it will make a big difference to someone. Possibly you one day.

~~~
movedx
Done.

------
tristor
This was a fascinating read, especially as an American who is not entirely
familiar with some of the slang terms. I had to look a few things up, but it
was worth the time.

~~~
njs12345
If you enjoyed this you might enjoy Jeffrey Archer's prison diaries - he was a
British politician jailed for perjury in the 2000s who wrote up his time
inside: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prison-
Diary-1-Hell/dp/0330418599](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prison-
Diary-1-Hell/dp/0330418599)

~~~
celticninja
Find a torrent of the book if you really want to read it don't go giving
Archer any money.

~~~
vixen99
Archer has sold 330 million copies of his books and thus has no pressing need
for money. That however is no excuse for encouraging someone to steal from a
writer however successful. What else would you encourage people to thieve and
from whom? Anyone who's been to prison?

~~~
jmnicolas
330 millions copies ? Let's say for the thought experiment that it was sold
only on the European continent (including Russia), it would mean that one in
two people living in Europe bought a copy.

I find it hard to believe !

~~~
janekm
He’s written quite a bit more than one book (over 25). Sales are >250 million
according to his website. His books are practically their own genre in the UK,
if second hand shops are anything to go by.

~~~
celticninja
He also said he raised £52 million for Iraqi Kurds a figure that KPMG said was
bullshit. So I would not put too much faith in anything that he says.

------
abetusk
At the end of this book there's a list of relevant links. Does anyone have
such a list relating to the US prison system?

------
antiphase
Kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch.

~~~
pacaro
The more reasonable advice I was given was “keep to yourself when possible,
lower your normal speaking tone by an octave”

~~~
KGIII
I was to be firm but fair. Of course, I had the firearms. I was a
transportation officer/chaser for a military detention facility.

I've known a bunch of people who were on the other side and the common
takeaway is, 'Do your own time.'

