Traseith

Mom,

Happy Thanksgiving! Mine was no good without a family to share it with. I miss everyone a bunch. I am trying my best not to go crazy in here. Reading the Bible is the only thing that really keeps me from going crazy. I pray that I can keep reading daily when I get out, b/c I know it won’t be easy. I also pray daily that I hurry up and get out. The next best thing to getting out would be fore me to get out of lock down. That is supposed to take anywhwere from 20-40 days. I have gas right now!! (stank too, ha ha ha!)  I haven’t heard from anyone yet and I can’t wait to hear from yall. And they say I can get as many pictures and letters as I want, so give Chad my addres and tell him to give it out. And you give it to the rest of the family, and tell everyone to write away b/c I get my hopes up everyday when the mail comes and I haven’t gotten a letter yet. They took like $5 or $6 for sending my clothes home and that’s all I can spend until I get out of lockup. They also say that you have to pick up the clothes from the post office. Has Kashti had the baby, if not how is she? What did my lawyer say about the appeal bond? Can I get one now? I’m sending some visit forms with this letter, I hope you get them. I can have only 3 visitors after the 23rd of December. And you have to call and set it up. It is also required that all prisoners get DNA Testing now too. I think I’m getting mine tom. morning. (11-29-04) And they charge $250.00. So everytime you send money they will take out $10 or 10% of what you send until it is paid off. Some of my belongings are getting stolen when we got to eat. People steal socks, boxers, towels, razors, envelopes to trade for cigarettes. (roll ups) My roomate gave most of his things away in like the first four days. He got mad when I wouldn’t give him an envelope to write his family. I told him that he made up his mind that roll ups were more important than writing his family & friends when he gave all of his away. I do not trust him at all! B/c if he puts roll ups before his family, I’m sure he’d have problem putting them before me. I hope I don’t catch him, b/c I’ll probably have to do 72 hours of lockdown for beating him up. I pray every time I leave for God to watch over my things. I even remembered to bless  my food on time today. I was proud of myself. I think I am getting a cold or something b/c my nose has been running steady for about 3 days now. The days are going by really slow in lock-up. I stay in my bed at least 22 hours a day. There is no room for us to be up. And yesterday it was sooo hot in here my sheets were wet from me sweating. They wouldn’t turn the heat down! I think about you and everyone else all day long. The only other thing to do is read the Bible and Christian books. My goal is to read the whole New Test before I leave. I also need some toe nail clippers b/c my toenails are getting long. And they don’t give out lotion in jail either, so I am ashy! If I don’t get to write anymore until I get out of here keep on sending me letters! I will not complain one bit.

The Magic Prison Bus

I had heard that Evans was the worse prison in the state of South Carolina at the time. But I always tried to look at the positive side of things, when in the back of my head I didn’t know if I was ever going to get to go home. I mean, if I had to defend myself, I would…and what if I had to do it daily or weekly or even monthly???? My time in prison would just keep getting extended with every incident. Oh well, the positive side of going to Evans was that ALL of the inmates I had been around so far that had done a “bid” before said that prison was a whole lot better than R&E and county jail. There was talk of you could watch T.V. all day long if you wanted to, and be out of your cell all day long, and play basketball and card games, and a lot of other stuff that didn’t mean much to me on the outside, but when your options become limited to the bare minimum….hearing of these things can excite you greatly! So I kept my focus on being able to do these things just to stay positive. I was also very hopeful that Rick was going to get me out of prison, b/c that is what I was being told before I got to R&E by everyone I spoke with. Well when I got to Evans it was dark outside already b/c the trip from Columbia, SC to Bennettsville, SC is about….hold on, let me look it up……it’s about 100 miles give or take…..but when you are riding on an old school bus that probably goes 55 miles an hour, it could take over 2 hours easily. You have to check out of the prison and check into another one just with the bus was easily an hour process for each check point. On top of that, they don’t let you just go straight to your room like when you check into a hotel…..we are the world’s most dangerous people here….so there is another process that you will have to go through of checking in and getting things issued to you and finding out what room you will be in, and it’s not like they have been waiting on you to get there and have your bed made……they find the available rooms, check them out and then they send you there I guess. But you sit in holding cells while you are waiting to check in or out of a prison. This holding cell is used for various reasons….for instance I sat in this holding cell the day I got released for about 3 hours. I also sat in this holding cell to wait to see the assistant warden. Luckily I never had to sit in it b/c I had gotten into a fight or something and was getting transferred to jail (solitary confinement). I have to think of the proper names to call these places sometimes because it’s not like you hear the technical names for a lot of things while you are in prison. You hear it by the name that everyone call it. And the inmates called solitary confinement “jail”. Because there are some people who are never going home, so the dorms becomes home and that is there life and solitary confinement is where you go when you act up, so it is “jail” to them and it became known as that to me. I am writing too much already, I will finish this in my next blog….

One of the highlights of my day in prison (besides hearing or seeing your loved ones from outside the walls) was a guy telling me that I looked real familiar. I found out that he had been locked up for about 15 years, and quickly knew that I had not seen him on the street b/c I was around the age of 22 at the time. He could have been lying, but it felt good to even almost make some kind of connection. That’s how low you feel when you are in there. The building that the inmates were housed in was like a big square, there were about 20 rooms in the part i was in.  5 rooms to a wall. We were locked in these rooms for over 23 hours a day and you couldn’t really see in any of the rooms except for maybe the two directly across from you, but the doors were almost like a bathroom stall at a gas station or restaurant. You could look over into the room if you walked up to it, or you could get on your knees and look under the door into the room…..but I quickly learned that this would not stop inmates from passing anything they wanted to another inmate in the room. They would take the strands of thread out of their blanket and wrap it around whatever they wanted to pass along and we called them “cars” or “trains” or “trucks” b/c the object of this contraption was to transport things. Cigarettes, pens, paper, letters, etc… You would hear someone yell out, “hey D, you gotta cigarette?” and then D would respond, “Send me your car” and then you would watch it in amazement for the first few times, and after that…it would become the norm, just like seeing a car on the street. So I realized that if you have a lot more “time” on your hands (than any official of the prison) to be creative and find ways around the rules they impose on you. I was amazed at how inmates created and did things on more than a few occasions. The officers would count every inmate in the prison 3 times during the day. I’m sure they counted at least once or twice while we were sleeping. On the third count of the day, which would be around bed time, the officers would tell people if they were getting transferred the next day and tell them where they were getting transferred too. Well on the night the officer came to tell me where I was getting transferred to, he first wanted to know what I was in there for. I told him it was for breaking a jaw, and his response let me know that he did not believe me. I kind of liked the fact that he was giving me more attention than officers normally gave inmates when telling them of where they were going. But that quickly turned to fear when he told me why he was acting that way. It was the worse prison in South Carolina at the time. I could see inmates trying to look over their doors and get a glimpse of what I looked like when he said I was going to Evans Correctional Institution. My roommates did not help the matter at all. One roommate let me know that he had a cousin who was doing time there and that there was a murder weekly, lots of drugs, and fights……but he said it was better than R&E. I don’t know about him, but at the time, I was not so ready to leave, but a part of me still wanted to see the “better” part that everyone was talking about.  I was ready to see something different and get to see the road and cars and stuff, b/c it had been the longest period in my life that I had gone without seeing a road, or people that were not inmates or officers. So the next day, I got to get on the bus with all of the inmates, and take a ride. I don’t remember a lot about the ride, and it was not as exciting as I thought it would be. But I do remember one part of the ride and it was where some inmates would look really mean out the window and scare people, and everyone got a laugh out of that. I know that was harsh, but it was funny to a bunch of caged up people. And some people would glance at the bus, do a double take at what it read, and never look back at the bus again, and usually sped away like we were no longer human. That is the treatment you get as an inmate on a daily basis, and when most get out, unless you are lucky. Or if you get out and hang around other people who have been in the same situation, they will accept you with open arms. More about getting out much later.  I also remember some people that we were passing while riding in the bus would get mean right back and flip you off and acted real tough towards the inmates on the bus. We figured that person would become an inmate some day. My next blog will tell of what happened when I got to Evans.  So how would you react if you found out that you were about to go to the worse prison in your state?

RECEPTION AND EVALUATION

The reception and evaluation place for the state of South Carolina is located in Columbia, SC. It’s called Kirkland Reception and Evaluation. R& E is the name that it is called by in prison. This was by far the hardest part of my whole prison sentence. Everyone who is sentenced by a judge in South Carolina and has a sentence of over 3 months will be sent to Kirkland R & E.  I was here for 3 weeks. They have everyone go here mainly so that they can get your blood work and send it off to be analyzed. It usually takes about 3 weeks for the them to get it back and usually you will be then shipped to your prison yard that you will do your time. As soon as you get to this place, the first thing that they do is shave everyone’s head. They issue you things like shoes (bobo’s- looks like keds), socks, underwear, uniforms, tooth brush, towel, wash cloth, soap, deodorant, tooth paste, blanket, sheets, pillow, jacket, and any other personal necessities that you may need. The uniforms are tan and have SCDC written on the back of your top and going down the side of your pants. They are written in blue. You could get new uniforms, or you could get old ones. Your shoes look like the shoes that the cheerleaders would wear back in high school. The tooth paste and things of that nature are all travel size, intended to last you for one month. You are allowed to take showers 2 to 3 times a week. The only book I had in my cell was a bible. After what seemed like about 3 weeks, which was only a day, I begin to read the bible:) Best thing that ever happened to me. You have breakfast here between 5am and 7 am. Lunch is served between 10am and 12pm. Dinner is served between 3pm and 5pm. And you only have about 5 minutes to eat. If you are not finished, it does not matter, you get up and go, or face the consequences. It could be anything from just getting yelled at or you could be written up. If you get enough of these, you could get your stay extended. You could get mail, but for the people who is embarking on their first prison sentence,  by the time your family found out about where you were and tried to send you anything, it may be about time for you to go. That’s one of the reasons that I created The Social Support Network for anyone with any kind of relationship to Prison.  TheOutsidersNetwork.com You can just interact with members and find out the answers to numerous questions that you might have.  I will finish part 2 of Reception and Evaluation next week. Former inmates….was Reception and Evaluation the worse part of your sentence? And tell me a story of how your R&E experience went. For the readers, do you think this sounds harsh and why?

10 years for a bar fight??

10 years is what the judge sentenced me to for a guy getting his jaw broke in a bar fight. But luckily he suspended it upon good behavior to  4 years of prison time and 5 years of probation. Which basically means that if I mess up in any way, I could be sent back in front of the judge and he could lift the suspension and I could do an entire 10 year sentence. Most people thought that it was ridiculous for the judicial system to give me so much time and came up with various reasons as to why I got so much time. But the reason is this…..courts are already backed up to the point of your case (under normal circumstances) not coming up for approximately a year. My case took a little over a year to come up. But during that time I was given an offer to only serve 6 months of probation and pay the restitution (which was around $15,000). I had no clue a broken jaw cost that much to repair. That’s another story, but it’s true. Well the courts give you this option so that you do not waste their time with a trial and jury and all of the work that comes along with setting up a trial. Well I just did not want to plead guilty to something that I did not do, so I chose to take it to trial. Well when you do not take their plea offer and you take it to trial and lose……you get the maximum penalty for the crime that you were convicted of. Every person that I came into contact with in prison asked me how I got so much time if that was all I did…..like they didn’t believe me…..well once they found out that I took it to trial, they didn’t ask anymore questions as to why my sentence was so big for such a little crime. It turned to how could I be so stupid as to not take the plea deal and how did I not know that you get the maximum if you took it to trial and lost. This is what happened when you talk to your friends and they talk common sense, rather than someone who has been to prison and know first hand of what will not work. To talk to a former inmate if you are in a situation. Join the New Social Support Network for prison. Theoutsidersnetwork.com  I would hear of guys who said that they didn’t do it, but were offered a 1, 2, 3, or 5 year plea deal…..but if they took it to trial and lost they would be facing 40 or 50 years. So if you were put in my situation, and they offered you the 6 months of probation and pay the restitution or you could take it to trial and knowing that you did not do it…..what would you do? Or if you have been in a similar situation, what did you do, and what was the outcome?

I felt that I should take a break to tell you how I feel about Dick Ravis. I did two years in prison for a crime that he committed. I am by far no angel, and I hope that I am not coming off that way. I have did things that could have sent me to prison, but for a reason I will not be able to comprehend. God spared me.  He was in Iraq, serving his country, for the second time in his tenure with the military when my trial came up. It is both of our faults that I went to prison. I could have did several things to get this sentence off of my back. 1. I could have told my attorney that Dick did it. 2. I could have told my mother that Dick did it, she would have definitely told on him. There may be more, but I’m not willing to dwell on it at this time. Dick and I were best friends, and it was not a fake friendship. The roles could have easily been reversed.  Dick’s family had moved to Florida, so I’m assuming that when Dick came home from Iraq, he went to see them. But shortly after that, and I do mean shortly….he drove up to South Carolina and came to my mother’s house and told her that he was the one who committed the crime and that he was going to do everything in his power to get me out.  And he did just that. But it’s not as easy as one might think. Dick could not just go tell the police or whomever one would think would be the right person to tell, and they respond with, “Ok, then let Traseith out, he didn’t do it”  He was willing to write a statement, but the attorney told my mother that it was not needed, and as months went by, I think Dick had time to think about it and doubt had time to set in. He wrote me, his parents wrote me, he came to see me, his parents came to see me (all the way from Florida). Great family is an understatement.  And Dick is a great guy and so fun to hang out with. Dick eventually did write a statement, but the statement just didn’t say that he did it. It basically was his testimony that I did not do it.  But after Dick came to visit me, he discontinued all communication with me, and we have not spoken since. …….Am I mad at Dick? Not at all! I actually feel sorry for Dick. I spent time in prison, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I read 52 books in two years, read the new testament four times, and the old testament twice. I became closer to God than I ever could have imagined. I found out that I had 48 people who would stick by me, even if I went to prison by writing or coming to see me. And out of the 48 people, only 6 were family members. I had been through 2 years of college and had not read one book. So I doubt I would have even read 5 the next 2 or 3 years of college. And  over 95% of the books were nonfiction and positive. So of course I learned why it was not an option to forgive Dick, it was vital. There is only 100% of you. If you use up 40% of you to be mad and hold a grudge against someone who wronged you, then you are left with only 60% of you.  That 60% will be for everything, your children (if you have any), spouse, parents, grandparents, job/career, partying,  and anything else that you choose to give your time too. So do yourself and everyone else around you and don’t hold out on them b/c of something that someone else has done to you in the past. It’s not fair to you or everyone else around you who is only getting a part of you, when they deserve to be getting a whole lot more of you.  I read a quote out of a book from Nelson Mandela and it has stuck with me. I can’t remember it word for word, but basically says something similar to…when you stay mad at someone you unknowingly give them your heart and your mind and no one deserves that, especially not someone who wronged you. B/c you will be thinking about it constantly and they are not thinking about you. I’ve also just read in T.D. Jakes new book “Let it Go” that when you hold a grudge with someone, it’s like you drinking poison and expecting them to die.  To sum it all up, if I would have stayed mad at Dick, then this website or Centimark probably would have never been in my journey after prison. So do yourself a favor and forgive someone that you are or have been expecting to die, when you drank the poison. You can start by posting that person’s name on this blog and let that be a symbol of who you are forgiving today. If you are feeling froggy, you can tell what you are forgiving them for…..

Before I start this letter, I would like to give a HUGE shout out to my mother!!!  I went to see her for Mother’s Day and she finally saw my website and I asked her if she kept anything that I sent her from prison, and her response was, “Look under my bed and get that plastic container out”  WOW, WOW, WOW! It has everything in it that I ever sent to her!  Including some things that I sent for other people. I think she was too embarrassed to talk to anyone about me being in prison. Ok, I know that she was.  The letter is unedited and here it goes…….grammar may be horrible:)

Mom,      11-23-04  (I can only get 10 letters while I’m here, so combine letters, and 10 pics, so take group ones)

This is my first night here and this place truly sucks!! Thank God I’ll only be in here for only 30 days. We are on lock up right now. The only time we leave is to eat. I have 2 black roomates, one is from Camden, and the other is from  I don’t know right now and he is too busy trying to get a cigarette from another cell for me to ask. You have to take dumps and pee in front of both of your roomates. When we first came in, everyone was hollering fresh meat and spread your legs. But I don’t have to worry about that right now in lock-up b/c I would beat both of my roomates up at once. So for their sake I hope they don’t try anything. They are only in here for 100 days anyway, so I don’t think they are gay. I got up at 5:30am today (8 hrs. after I saw you) And it’s around 9pm and I just got to my room. I went to Perry first, waited for other people to get there (Rashad Thompson was there) (He is only going to be here for 3 days, then they ship him back). The state get $27,000 for every inmate that gets shipped here, no matter how long they stay. (from the Govt) So they’ll ship people here for one day sometimes just to get the money for the inmate. Oh, and Grandaddy could have came and saw me anytime he pleased while I was in Jail (Preacher) I didn’t think of that until Rashad told me. He might can do that here, but he’ll have to check. I got 2 pints of blood taken from me. Check for HIV, CBC, & something else. Urine samples for STD’s. Shot for hepititus & shot for TB. I got an ID made with hollagrams that I have to carry at all times. It keeps my money & everything on it. I can get a visit if I’m here for more than 30 days. The food is better, but I still can’t get full. I heard they are getting us up at 4:30am. I Love You and I miss you!

p.s. Give everyone my address!! But combine some letters b/c I can only get 10 while I’m here

love always,

Traseith

I was only going to write one page but I changed my mind since I only have 4 envelopes. So I’ll probably write once a week. I can also only call once a week. But it takes 2 weeks (approximately) to get a pin number which is required to call. I want as many people as possible in the ten loose pics that I can have. So try to get everyone to take group pics, so that I can keep my mind out of this place. Try to send me one long, good book. If I don’t write to tell you I received it. Then don’t send anymore. Oh and about the letters…..tell them to send only one page letters to you and you can put them in one envelope twice a week and send them to me. B/c I can only get 10, or 3 times a week on two of the weeks. I’d love to get some mail soon!! I’m on lockdown and I’m bored. If you call Chad and tell him this. He would probably give everyone our address at the house that wants to write.  And if my new nephew has come tell him I said HEY!! I want a picture of him too  ASAB (As Soon As Born) If not, then tell Kashti…..Good Luck!  Tell everyone Kashti, Grandparents, Chad, Ross, Kristina, Heather, Kimberly, Brandon, Shamond, Dammitt, Melanie, Princess Nadia, etc….and everyone I didn’t include that I miss them and if they could find some time to write me, I’d appreciate it a lot!!:) Thanks for the money and all of your support, I’d go crazy without you and everyone else keeping my head up.

I LOVE YOU!

Traseith Williams 306138

Kirkland Reception & Evaluation Center

Unit A2/26

4344 Broad River Road.

Columbia, SC 29210

(I need Kashti’s address, so I can add her to my calling list.)

This is my sister and my two nephews. I was locked up on Nov. 17, 2004.  He was born on Dec. 17, 2004. I did not see him for the first time until almost 2 years later. He was not my biological child, and he was too young to get accepted to visit me.  I cut the ambilical cord of the older one when he was born, but he was not able to visit either for the same reason. But he did write me and so did my sister. She even let me call a few times:) (Calls were expensive). I love them all.

Reaching Behind Bars

There are more resources then I ever imagined that are out there to help inmates and former inmates out. I only wish that I knew about all of this before I went to prison or found out about them while I was in prison. I know that these organizations are working hard and advertising tremendously to reach the inmates, former inmates, and their loved ones. I hope that they continue to spread and reach inmates.  I am going to start posting inmates names and addresses that I am friends with or that I come across in hopes that someone will reach out to them show them some support.  Thousands of inmates are being released every month, and that effects everyone. So please support them, to help prevent you from entering their path back to prison…b/c if everyone supports, the recidvism rate can be brought down to 0%. Support is a major factor that will help them make the transition seamlessly back into society. They need all of the help that they can get. Feel free to list your organization or an inmate that you know of that may need some support. They may need it more than you think. Feel free to write these inmates or reach out to them, I’m sure (as a former inmate) that they would love to hear their name called during mail call and will respond b/c of it.  I’m going to use some photos from an organization in which has showed me so much support. R.I.F.T.  I hope that the organization does not mind.  Don’t forget to place the name of an inmate or organization that supports:)

I guess that I should not leave out the men and women who are put in charge of the inmates, and interact with them on a daily basis. There are correctional officers in the county jail and there are correctional officers in the state prisons. They are refferred to as C.O.’s by the inmates. From what I saw, they were just like people on the street. You had some of them who thought they were hot stuff and treated you like you were below a human being.  You had some who would try their best to treat you the best that they could without breaking the rules. You had some who would break the rules. I did have a C.O. who offered to get me a cell phone or anything that I wanted if I would just give him the phone number of one of the girls who came to visit me. I was flattered by his offer, but it was not worth risking me staying in that place an extra minute to get this guy a number from a woman or women who would not give him the time of day.  And he was free to talk to any woman he wished, b/c he was not in prison. But drugs, cell phones, and other illegal things are brought in by C.O.’s. I remember a C.O. who was fired for bringing drugs into the prison.  In South Carolina, the first person in prison had the number 1, the second 2, and so on. My number was 306138.  This becomes your name to the institution, and how you are identified. You wore a card that was identical to a driver’s license and you had to have it on at all times when you were out of your room. The inmates usually refferred to their room as their house.  The card was usually called your id or name tag by the inmates. It was also like a debit card, b/c when you wanted to buy something from the canteen or order a magazine or anything else, this card would be scanned and just like a debit card…..if you had the money on there, it would be deducted, and if you didn’t, then you would not be able to purchase what you wanted.  Your number determined the amount of respect you got. If your number was in the 299,999 or below the C.O.’s automatically treated you with more respect. If your number was in the 300,000 and above, they knew that you were new and did not give you much respect right at the start.  This mainly applied to the C.O.’s who like to abuse their power. So if your number was in the 100,000 or below, you certainly got respect b/c they would assume you are in their for life or you have been doing time for a long time, and treated you bad could jeapordize their safety. For example, we had to be shaved, walking in a single file line to come out of the living quarters along with other rules and if a guy was not shaven, the C.O. would yell at the guy and call him over to him, the number that he saw on the inmate’s number would dictate if the inmate was sent back to his dorm or if he was just yelled at or if he was just talked to and told to get back in line. The C.O.’s are not armed with guns. Most people were shocked to hear this, but then when you explain that there are about 100 inmates to every one C.O., and how easy it would be to take it from the C.O. and hold people hostage or kill people, I think they got my drift. The C.O.’s had many duties though. They patted you down when you left the kitchen, they did the counts three times a day, they searched you before and after your visit. They searched your rooms and opened the door to the recreational yard, when it was time.  I can’t remember the name of my favorite C.O., but I can see him like he was standing in front of me. He was a light skinned black male, he had a jerry curl, and he wore glasses, this man was so good to the inmates that if other inmates got out of hand, he would not have to correct anyone, the other inmates would.  But me personally, I never got into trouble and was always super polite, so I ended up getting treated with respect from all C.O.’s and none of them ever bothered me.  I am only one person and everyone has different takes on the officers. What was your (or someone you know) experience with correctional officers?

Momma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once you are taken to the county jail, you will be in there mainly with people who have not seen a judge. Sometimes there are people in there who have already been sentenced, and the sentence was so short that it would only make since for them to do their time in that place. I spent 3 days in this place. You have access to a pay phone and you can call whom ever you would like, just as long as they will accept the collect call. Of course I had a ton of numbers in my head, so I could call a lot of people. But I just didn’t think a lot of people would want to hear from me, since I was now an official criminal. I was torn up about this, and still trying to figure out how in the world I got convicted on a crime that I did not commit. It was a ton of emotions running through my head, along with trying to deal with people that I did not feel comfortable around. I was thinking that these people were going to try to rape me, fight me, and anything else I could think of. Of course I sized the men up, and felt strongly that no one in there could take me by themselves, but I didn’t want to get in any trouble and jeopordize my time being extended.

They allow you to have 2 or 3 visits a week and during certain times. And if I didn’t get transferred, I was going to be able to get a visit.  Well the time came and I was going to be allowed a visit. Well I was overly excited when I found out that I was going to get more than the three visitors that they allowed you. I was super excited!!!! My mom, my grandfather, my sister, Chad, Kristina, and Heather were coming to visit! Three friends and three family members, you have no idea how lucky that made me feel. Well, I was telling another guy in my cell that I was going to have over the limit on my visitors allowed and he said that his visitors may not show up, so 3 of them could talk to him and 3 could talk to me and when I had spoken with everyone, then we could switch. Well my grandfather was delighted to start talking with the other man, and I began talking with my mother, and spoke with my sister and Chad briefly…..well just as Heather was about to grab the phone…….the officers came over and told everyone that they had to leave because they figured out what we were doing. I was pissed to the max, but that’s one thing you will learn or get forced to learn in prison….control your anger and don’t lash out, b/c it will just add to your troubles and make your life harder. Later on that night, after my anger went away of course, I found the positive in the situation…..some people don’t get visits the whole time they are in there and I had over the limit on my first visit. You will learn that I had to find the positive in every little thing I could to keep myself sane:)  Have you ever been to the county or city jail? How long did you stay and what was your experience like? And what positive advice would you give to someone who may be about to have the city/county jail experience?