As I have mentioned in a previous post I am a convicted bank robber. What I failed to mention in that post however, is how old I was when I committed this crime and what it was like for me dealing with the repercussions. So without any further ado, here in an in depth look into my time spent in jail/prison as a bank robber.
My first night in jail is one I'll never forget. I spent 6 hours in booking being taunted and mocked by the guards. police and guards repeatedly opened the flap on the cell door to look at me and ask their colleagues if I was the one. After this was done I was led to a four man cell that already had 5 inmates in it, was given a mattress and told to go to sleep. I was utterly terrified, I knew this could and most likely would happen, but I was definitely nowhere near prepared for it. The following day was the hardest for me, but after I got to know a few of the other inmates I was a little less worried about my time there. Six excruciating months later I was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 15 year in the Arkansas state penitentiary. After sentencing I was moved to the committed pod, this was the place that all the inmates awaiting prison were sent. I would spend another three months here before being transferred. Over the nine months I had spent in Washington county jail I had grown very comfortable with where I was at and who I was around, this would be totally destroyed once I went to prison however.
One night my cell door popped and me and one of my four other cellmates were told we were going to be transferred to prison. I was a little nervous but I didn't think it would be that bad. Once I finished intake I was transferred to my parent unit, Tucker unit. While this was one of the calmest units there are in Arkansas it still has its moments. one of these moments happened to be a few short minutes after my arrival. I watched a man get carted out of the barracks I was supposed to go to on a stretcher, bleeding profusely. This incident shook me to the core, then came the first time I actually set foot in the barracks. It was like something you would see in a movie, inmates were screaming and barking at me and other new inmates. This sort of taunting continued for maybe 5 minutes and then it all settled down. Once everyone found out I was a bank robber I was elevated to sort of celebrity status just like I was in jail. this led to me having a fairly easy ride with only a few hiccups along the way.
Prison is a totally different world, people don't behave like humans in a place like that, rational thought processes and common sense are traded for ignorance and rage. There is nothing people wont do in a place like that simply for the sake of having fun, looking back, it was an absolutely disgusting place that I would never like to see again. The only positive thing that place did for me is to teach me to have respect for myself and others. I would never like to return to that place, but in a sense it made me the man I am today.