beentojail

I went to McDonalds and get two burgers, with fries and a coke. I also had my friend pick me up a pack of Marlboro Lights. As soon as I got back to my house I got drunk as fuck with 2 of my buddies and called people to let them know I was back.

I'm definitely not the same guy I was before. I was not a bad ass before, nor am I a bad ass now. You learn to do what you need to do to survive. I also had lots of luck. In this case it was because who I met, and how quickly I met them. I didn't plan it to be this way but it worked out.

I got sentenced to MDC Brooklyn. I self-surrendered, and on your 1st day - whether you are taken straight from court of whether you self-surrender later you go to intake. In this case it was G41 at MDC. I'm Indian, and I'm 5'4". I had manage to bring my weight up to 212 pounds at the time I went to jail. I figured the fatter - the better (no one would want a rape a fat ugly dude, right?). I'm not exactly that intimidating, but because I was Indian in a sea of mostly black, hispanic, and white inmates there were two dudes that were from Yemen (american citizens) that were there for a really stupid drug charge. When you are not white, black, or hispanic you are considered an "other", and "others" stick together.

After all 3 of us ended up leaving g41 to become Cadres. These two guys ended up being friends with another Yemeni guy that was there. I happened to be told to bunk close to them (we lived in one big 100+ person room). They were all Muslim. I'm an agnostic. You wouldn't think that those two differences would actually help people come together, but it was a topic for discussion a lot. Basically, me and this new Yemeni guy became very, very close friends. He was Muslim, remind you...and in prison being Muslim means you are pretty much in a gang.

There are a ton of "fake" black muslims in prison where they join the religion simply to gain protection. Because of my lucky friendship with this guy who had LOTS of respect from fellow prison Muslims my time there was easier than it would have been.

There were LOTS of close calls, particularly with 3 separate individuals. Two of whom I later became decent friends with, one of whom I had multiple altercations with - starting with an egg.

So, here's a quick story.

I work in the unit kitchen. That means it's my job to receive the food cart that comes, put it in the freezer, and do small preparation activity like putting water on the frozen rice and vegetables - draining the mashed potatoes so they are not soggy. We are the 3rd and final cadre group, which means on the list we are the last cadre food cart to get filled up - which means many times we get shafted. If there isn't enough of something, we get less of it - it makes my job very hard.

On top of this they post the menu ahead of time including the quantities of what you will receive. We were supposed to receive two trays of eggs, we received only 1. Only 1 egg was given out to all inmates. This guy barged into the kitchen threatening to beat me up if I didn't give him is egg. I argued and told him if he had a problem with it he could write me up (in essence inviting him to snitch - which is a big no no, it's an insult saying that you can't take care of your own problems). The guard got involved and broke us up. Ever since then he had a problem with me. He was Muslim. He went to the Imam of the 3 cadre units and told him that they had to "take me out". The Imam called all of the muslims and that's when my friend stuck up for me and told them if any muslim touched me he would have to fight him.

In essence he would start an internal Muslim violent battle if anyone touched me. He basically saved my ass. Literally and figuratively. I didn't know he did this until days later. We remain good friends. Frankly though - you have to be willing to get beat up. In the beginning I wasn't. I got picked on, I got stuff stolen, and treated like shit. It's kind of like high school - once you stand up for yourself, they'll leave you alone. The problem is that you can't be sure you will survive the incident. There are lots of people that are simply bored with the everyday monotony - especially the guys that are in for 20+ years. They don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, and they are the ones that slash your face with a razor blade because you looked at them wrong.

Realistically, I give $500 a month to the government right now. If I didn't I would end up back in jail. After my probation is done, I will try an renegotiate a settlement. My credit is absolutely fucked now anyway. Due to this case, I already have a foreclosure on my record. Once my probation is done the collection matter is purely civil. I could just ignore it and not rely on credit. I could leave the country and start over, I could renegotiate, or I could pay it off. I haven't decided what I'm really going to do yet.

It depends when would want to know that. The first 2 days I was in g41 - which is intake. I was with a crack dealer who was also there for firearm possession. There were also people that in my unit that were there for violent crimes like attempted murder and assault. We are treated exactly the same.

After that I was taken to be a cadre. Basically, I need to work for the prison. Typically only non-violent inmates are supposed to be housed in the cadre groups, but remember this is based on this history of your convictions and your activity in jail. Even if you killed someone before but you were never caught, you are treated like a non-violent criminal. There is also a time period against this point system that the federal government uses. For example, I was with an individual that came to jail a second time. The 1st time he did 25 years for 2nd degree murder. Now, he's back for selling drugs, yet people that committed mortgage fraud slept right next to him.

Since we are cadres we are treated differently then "pre-trialers". MDC is mostly a holding facility. Out of ~3k inmates, 300 are cadres. We run the prison - taking care of bathroom facilities, cooking, etc...So cadres are treated differently from pre-trialers because guards actually have to work WITH us to get their job done. That's not to say there aren't dick guards - but most of them realize they can make their life and our life easier if they just leave us alone.