Driving Straight Down a Curvy Road

I've shared a little insight into what goes on in prison but I haven't given you a glimpse of who i am and how I came to be here. As you know I'm 42, almost 43, but gripping onto 42 like a fat kid grips an Eskimo Pie! Divorced father of two wonderful children. I am the oldest of four boys. My father is a pastor and has been since I can remember. My immediate family is deeply entrenched in the Christian Community. My Grandmother and one uncle were pastors and numerous other family members were Sunday School teachers and ministers. My extended family is quite large. My Grandfather had 21 siblings and the last tally I saw revealed around 178 cousins! My cousins were the ones I gravitated towards. Their lives were the complete opposite of mine. When I was around them I found a freedom i wasn't accustomed to. They were more - colorful - to say the least. My Grandmother called them the "outlaws" because many of them were moonshiners and grew a little weed. They were...

Another gang fight over access to the phones!  It's times like these that I understand just how animalistic men can become and how easily we can not only succumb to this arcane behavior but the easier justification we can as quickly relent. I see how astonishingly uncaring men can be with a marked lack of empathy, especially when it comes to violence, but also find no surprise when thinking about the popularity of spectator sports such as boxing, martial arts and MMA fights. I guess being in here is no different except here I have ring-side seats and the unfortunate opportunity at times to have been the main event... The majority of prison violence is centered around one of a few main things. The phones are by far the predominant catalyst. It wasn't always that way. Not so long ago, maybe seven years, calls were expensive. $7.00 for a local call. This kept most guys from making calls. Around that time a class-action lawsuit was won on behalf of prisoners and inmates across the ...

 Associations. I try to keep the number of people I associate with to a bare minimum - looking at quality, not quantity. Of course, considering my situation, quality is in short supply. I do have a couple good friends or "stickmen" that I know have my back and will stand with me. These friends are priceless in a place that at times is more of a war zone than a controlled environment. I am loyal to a fault and expect the same out of those that I call friend. Overall inmates are broken into five major gangs:      Bloods.     Cripts.     AB's.     MS13.     Muslims. I consider the Muslim community a gang as does any other convict. While not recognized officially, they embody all the necessary elements much the same way as the Nation Of Islam - NOI. Once considered a "hate" group, they now fall into a self-titled religious affiliation. Whatever! But there are many smaller gangs as well:     Skinheads.     Nazis....