Every day I realize more and more, two things. #1 im sheltered and #2 seeing is believing. With that said prison, a maximum-security prison, is no joke.
Every day I realize more that Gainesville has grown on me. I have let the walls of UF become my protective blanket from the world, with the routine my sustenance. I wake up around the same time, take the same bus, go to the same classes, and walk the same route, all in military fashion. My brain stopped thinking months ago. My feet know the way. That’s why I want to become a journalist, one of the many reasons at least. Yes I do the routine, because sometimes its easier, but it bores me. I like the unknown, spontaneity, doing something different, that’s why when the chance to do something new comes up I take it, not letting fear get in the way (certain rides, sky diving, and other activities not included). So when my Law and Order in Latin America teacher said we were going on a field trip to Florida State Prison, did I shrink back in my chair? Yes. And when the day finally came was I scared shitless? Yes. And did I go? Yes. But the real question is would I go back? I can’t answer that.
First I want to start by saying prison is no joke. Sure we all know that. It’s where murderers, rapists, psychopaths, and the baddest of the bad go. But seeing is believing. You think by seeing prison on TV you know what it’s like, but you don’t. And the tricky part is when you go, nothing has to happen, it can be calm as day, but you still know, you know what lies inside those walls is something the general public pushes so far into the back of their mind it ceases to exist. Of course I can’t speak for what it’s actually like but a visit is enough. TV blends the reality with fiction. You see the barbed/razor wires, electric fences, orange jumpsuits, etc.… but you also see that inmates get some type of contact with each other like in a cafeteria or playing basketball in the yard. But really in a maximum-security prison there is none of that. At Florida State Prison, FSP what the guards call it, nothing is communal. The chapel, the gym, collect dust because if they are used the floors would be soaked with the blood of revenge, vendettas, attempts in rising status, the like. Inmates get 5-minute showers, 3 times a week, two at a time in individual showers that is if they decide to go. Some prefer sponge baths out of the sinks in their cells to avoid getting feces thrown at them or worse. They get 6 hours a week of outside time, food fed on a tray through a slot in their cell door, and little to no privileges unless you’re on death row. They are allowed a certain number of pictures/belongings in their cell. All privacy is taken away. Guards have to watch them take off their “clothes”, expose certain parts of their body to make sure they have no weapons, and then put their new “clothes” back on. Not all inmates wear the solid orange we know. Inmates are categorized and placed in cellblocks according to how bad/mis-behaved they are and are dressed accordingly. Some in solid blue, others in orange, or others such as those on death row wear blue pants and white shirts. Essentially imagine a place where all of your privacy is stripped, literally, from you. A place that is dangerous, made of solid concrete not even a hurricane can knock down, and any freedom you once had is gone. A cell that is just a little bigger than my apartment bathroom, with a bed harder than my floor, a sink smaller than the width of my toilet bowl, and a toilet smaller than my sink. If you have a window its small, and no air comes through. With a screen so thick you cant tell whether it’s night or day. Even you’re perception of what the outdoors is like, was like, gets distorted over time. Sure many of the people in prison deserve it, they’re killers, they must be taken off the street, but still prison is no joke.