" The days are tenacious and slow , but the year go by quicker . "
Recently, we asked the members of theBuzzFeed Communitywho’ve been previously incarcerated totell us what they learned during their time in prison.
Here’s what they revealed in their submissions:
1.“I learned how to make a tampon out of a pad.”
" They did n’t allow you to have tampon , only inking pad , which I detest , so I made money on the side making them for other girls . All you have to do is pull the top lining and bottom off , then take the inside and twist it , add up the top lining back on , and leave behind enough for a little string . "
— Anonymous
2.“Never accept anything from anyone if you’re new — it means they own you and you are now theirs.”
3.“When you show up at a new facility or housing unit, make sure you’re last in line on your first trip to chow — ALL TABLES AND SEATS ARE SPOKEN FOR.”
" You must learn to politely desegregate . Find an empty seat and ask if you may baby-sit . "
4.“We used a pencil and Vaseline to make eyeliner.”
" The cleaning woman in prison are very clever . Women ’s prison is dissimilar than men ’s , so no one really made weapons . "
5.“If the front of someone’s boot is flat, they most likely have a plastic shank made from the tip of the boot.”
" And if the metal demodulator goes off when someone walks through , then they have a metal shank . "
6.“Work camps really are better for prisoner behavior than just minimum security.”
" When I was in lower limit , within a workweek I was moving contraband across campus and falling back into street behavior . Once I get to the work camp , it was so dissimilar . It was very chill , and outside of our assigned jobs , we all had a raft of fun fall out . To think there were cleaning woman from the minimum security literally breaking their ankles to not be sent to work refugee camp still baffles me . "
7.“People wash their sheets, blankets, and clothing in the toilet.”
8.“Always mind your own business, and limit opinions concerning sports.”
9.“Incarceration makes you really look at yourself.”
" The most painful passage is when you first arrive . This conversion can take months . You do n’t have easy access to those on the outside , and when you do , it ’s painful . And when you first arrive , you do n’t know anyone — you do n’t sleep together what their motives are even if you desire to ' befriend ' them . It ’s a very lonely time … one hopefully filled with compunction , rue , and constant natural selection mode . "
10.“Mailing stamps are considered currency and are used for purchasing anything.”
11.“You can use an iron to make grilled cheese sandwiches, burritos, bagels, etc.”
12.“Never walk too close to anybody, and don’t walk through crowds.”
13.“When a towel is hanging over a shower curtain, it is reserved for a guy who is ‘holding’ the shower stall while he is self-serving himself in a toilet stall.”
14.“The days are long and slow, but the years go by quicker.”
15.“Don’t look into other people’s cells as you walk by.”
16.“Never accept any gifts without expecting to pay them back at some point.”
" No one is going to give you a Honey Bun out of the thick love in their spirit for you . You will be carrying something up your low-down shoot in return . We can always separate when a new person arrives , and we all know they have no estimate what they ’re catch into . They all recollect they need to make a friend as soon as possible . That guy rope is not your Quaker . You make friends over the class of time , not in the first five bit of being there . "
17.“You can make hooch out of oranges, fruit cups, fruit juice, yeast, and sugar from commissary.”
18.“There is no place wherein politeness and civility matter more than in prison.”
" furious , disappointed people squeeze into close quarters is a pulverization kegful , sonowhere is it more significant to make certain that someone knows a step - on - foot or a shove was inadvertent and unintentional . You rationalise for missteps , and it ’s not weakness if done the right way . "
19.“Petroleum jelly, a lotion bottle, toilet paper, the bottom of the metal closet, a drop of shampoo, and alcohol from alcohol pads makestattooink.”
20.“I learned to be bored.”
" pokey is tiresome — like , really , reallyboring . Most of my days were spent not doing much of anything , and when COVID hit , we were locked in 23 hours a day . It instruct me to sit with myself and be all right with that . "
21.“You don’t change the TV channel without the permission of the inmate in charge of the TV room.”
22.“I learned how to sew to make my clothes fit better.”
" I ’d make my trouser tighter and craft these slight purses that were really cunning to carry becausejail clothes areNOTcute . "
23.“I learned to meditate.”
" I practiced every 24-hour interval and memorise tocalm myself while fence in by yell , yelling , and other noise . "
24.“Having your freedoms taken away weighs heavy on the soul for years afterwards.”
" A deal of us have PTSD from it , which no one cares about . "
25.“I learned to truly value the time spent with your loved ones.”
" In a matter of hours , my whole sprightliness changed , and nowI’ll have to wait 10 yr to hug my family members . "
26.“I learned how to make the least last when you already have very little.”
27.“You can make tamales out of crushed-up tortilla chips and water.”
And lastly:
28.“I learned not to judge people before getting to know them. You never know when you’ll be in their shoes.”
Submissions have been edited for distance and/or clarity .
