when one pleads out, the plead guilty to a lesser crime and are convicted. In Illinois, one only goes to prison if they have a year+ to serve, which only happens from felony convictions. This may vary state to state, but everyone who does time in the IDOC is a convict unless they get executive pardon and expungement later in life.

ty for the sympathies and TR love
I'm still pissed you sucked out on me during our donkey mixed game at the Orleans and this doesn't make up for it.

definitely not professionals with equipment. The guys giving the tats likely had experience in the outside world however. It's against IDOC to get a tat. I'm not 100% familiar with the process, but I believed they would heat up the point of a pen and use anything they could to get dye from. These were often poorly done and led to infections and whatnot. Not a pretty sight.

He was doing ok. Some people messed with him, but most stayed away. Even violent prisoners are scared by the psychopaths. Most violent guys were driven by money, greed, love, etc. A kid who kills his family with a hammer still spooks them a bit, too. They often refered to the crazy looks of which Churchill was capable. He scared everyone. He wasn't a big name, like a Dahmer, to get harsh reaction.

oh yeah...my arrest

well, some friends and I were on spring break. It was the second weekend and I had spent it working. They wanted to get a hotel room, party, and check out the state basketball finals. Sounded fine. There were copius amounts of booze and drugs (opium, marijuana, shrooms, and GHB). It was a funtime had by all until the cops came. But, that is jumping ahead.
There was another group of guys our age who were smoking up and drinking quite a bit. They became good buddies with one guy in my group. Apparently, they heard about the GHB and other drugs. They wanted some. I wasn't a dealer and didn't know these guys, so I gave them nothing.
Later, my friends and I go out and about the town. Apparently, the a guy in the other group told the front desk his key wasn't working and that he was staying in our room. The front deskman, of course, then gave him a key to my room without any checking up. This other group goes into my room and takes a water bottle of GHB. One of them take something like 8 to 15X the recommended dosage. Obviously, he knew nothing about the drug and I didn't sell to him, so he didn't know what he was doing. Now, GHB is a pretty non-lethal substance, but it will mess a person up if they take that much. Just think of a person downing over 100 beers. The guy passed out in the a coma-like state. He gets rushed to the hospital. Once he comes to, he sings like a canary to the cops.

Meanwhile, my party had partaken in a boatload of shrooms and had smoked some marijuana laced with the shroom rediment in the baggie. The cops knock on the door at about 2:30 AM and we hide as much of the drugs as possible. I open the door. The cop looks at my eyes, turns to the other cop and says, "his eyes are as big as flying saucers...probable cause," and they enter the room.

Somehow, we survive the interregation as best as possible. It was pretty remarkable considering the carpet looked like sand blowing over their shoes at a beach to my shrooming mind. None of the other drugs were found. Pretty bad police work considering they were sitting at a table with empty baggies marked 1/2 oz and whatnot. They did find the other water bottle of GHB as the kid who ratted told them exactly were to get it. I gave up no sources through the ordeal. The cops didn't think GHB was that big of a deal and left with just our info.

Three months later, on my birthday, a warrant comes down for a search and my arrest on suspicion of manufacturing, delivering, and possessing a schedule I controlled substance.

yep...he was nutso. Everyone was scared of a guy crazy enough to kill his whole family with a hammer. Him and California were good friends and would trade meds.

Kind of like a high school/health club group shower with an area for guards to watch. Guards always watched as 30 or so guys would shower quickly. Inmates have small dicks and made me feel huge.


the thought crossed my mind as I am not the type to succeed in prison. However, I was broke and it should only be one year. If it was Vienna the whole time, it would have sucked but been ok. It was the max that made it very [censored].

yeah....mutually assured destruction is a good defense. Also, being in a min with everyone near release helps as no one wants to tack on time. Being in a max brings out these sort of issues.

yes, the arians did

not sure

I know pretty much nothing. As you said, it's a completely different system and the inmates have very little experience in both.

5'8" overweight Mexican who was out of shape, but powerful. About 230 if I had to guess. I think he was about 40. He had plenty of tats.

Thanks for the great TR!

Did you ever cry in prison? Does anything scare you anymore, or are you immune to that? Did you get more or less religious while you were locked up? What kind of music did you listen to while in prison?

Also, my buddy who was locked up in Michigan has told me about some of the creative foods inmates would make in their cells. He also did the ramen noodles. What are some of the other more creative meals they made?

great thread, many thanks. if it's been answered, ignore my question, but how often would you say things were smuggled into the jail, and what kinds of things were most common?

oh yeah....I'm glad so many people like this thread. I've been hesitant to do it, not because I'm shy about it, but because of the way it would change perceptions of me.
Since many of you have gotten alot out of the thread, I'm happy I finally did it.

yes, the arians did

[/quote]

Tell us about this and the response when you (presumably) rebuffed the recruitment.

Maybe if you weren't a jail-bird, God would've let you win against me once.

Was it difficult to turn them down without provoking hostility? What did you say when you declined?

hell no


yes, I spun a car out last year and that was scary. Other things are still scary but I use prison as a way to put things in perspective and say it isn't that bad.

yes and no. I would use religion as an excuse to get time away from the cell and spend in chapel. It also put me around the better element of the prison system more often. I used it as a tool and, in turn, started to become more religious. However, the day my gf left me, what little faith I had disappeared.


Radiohead and the Smashing Pumpkins


I just ate nutty buddies outside of the cafeteria, so I don't know all the concotions. I remember being amazed at how ingenius the inmates were given all day to solve issues.

marijuana was the most common
I would say it's rare. It takes a crooked guard, and/or a fantastic plan by a visitor.

Inmates are strip searched going to and from visits. It's thorough. I'm talking naked, bend over, and spread them.

Visitors are patted down pretty thorough as well and go through metal detectors.

somehow, there was always a little weed around the prison.

LOL

I would just say I'm not into that stuff and I'm near getting out.

They would say, "they expect to hear from me in the near future" and other [censored]. Veiled threats and expectation that I'd come crawling to them after people mess with me a bunch.

I'm still not sure if avoiding affiliation with some group was a good idea.

just a few comments, but I kept walking and acted like I heard nothing

just said I was close to release and I didn't want to hurt that from happening. Most guys in prison value being released.


I was messed with a few times...don't give an inch then.
Otherwise, try to be unknown. Always have someplace to go or something to be doing. Don't stand around. Spending all day in the library was a good way to avoid seeing anyone. No eye contact with anyone other than guards. Be as unknown as possible.

It did help that it kind of filtered down that I had come from Joliet Seg to Vienna. They didn't know it was for taking a beating. The assumption is I probably fought off other attackers like a rabid dog to get put in seg.

Did the cops and/or prosecutor ever try to get you give up your dealer in exchange for a less severe charge? Like have you do a scheduled buy wearing a wire?

Also, do you know California's name so we can do an inmate search?

M,

Are your friends from back then still heavily involved in the drug scene?

I can honestly say that if anything, this raises my opinion of you. Furthermore, I look forward to watching you extract your revenge on Dom next year.

PS --- I'll pass you the the shiv when he isn't looking

no. I offered when push came to shove. The problem was the dealers I knew of were in a different county. That doesn't help the local state's attorney win elections. He wants the bust in his county and could care less about what happens in another county, despite it being the same state. It's all [censored] up. I could've given them an awful lot of the champaign-urbana drug trade, but they didn't care. I lost alot of respect for the police and state prosecutors through the ordeal.



yes, and no. I know it. He's still in there. I find it best to withold that piece of information.

hmmm...some are and some are not

everybody slowed down or stopped from anywhere to a week to a few months. My story scared them, but not too much. All returned to their previous level of drug use. Most just graduated from school, got a real job, and grew out of it. Many still smoke weed and will have the occassional shroom trip or ecstasy clubbing night. None are as into it as before as it's tough to work a fulltime job coming off of a high all the time.