Sorry I do not know - maybe REW could help in this situation. I do understand your fear and I hope for the best ...

Thanks Advocate. I am sure Rew will let me know. I hate feeling like I am a ninny but I am just a worrying mother.

It's ok I would be worried too. Hear they record our calls but they don't nessearly listen to all the calls it might be different there but I get a message before I get to talk to my man saying this is a call from blah blah prison and it maybe record and not to do it as a conference call or transfer it to another line.
I really hope you get to talk to him soon.

Suchaslife,

I get that recording too. The thing is I wonder if they go listen if something happens or what? It just makes me worry. I finally was able to leave him a voice mail today and told him to call me when I get off work. Its hard to talk when you are in an office. I think everyone can understand that.

HB

I think if something happens they might go back over the phone calls but iam not sure on that one. I do hope he calls you back when you get home yep its hard to talk to them in a office.

Here is what happens in prison regarding both written communications using snail mail or email and communications over the phone.

Regarding the mail, the prison system opens every letter that is sent to an inmate. Most of the time they just open the letter and shake it to make sure no contraband is enclosed and send it on to the inmate. Sometimes they visually scan the letters to see what is being written. They don't visually scan them all the time, but they do at times. Usually they do it randomly, but if an inmate is under investigation for anything at all or they think he might be doing something questionable, you can bet that they read every word of that letter. An inmate can get under investigation if they think he is bringing drugs in or if they think he might try to escape or it may be simply something as simple as too much physical contact with a visitor on the visiting yard.

All letters going in to inmates are always opened, but the outgoing mail is usually not read unless the inmate is again, under some kind of investigation.

They have the capacity to read every word going in or out of that mail room, but they don't have the resources to do that.

Now, regarding telephone or email conversations. They record ALL conversations. They will then go back and listen to a select few of them and they will certainly zero in on an inmate under suspicion for anything. They listen in to a very few in real time. Most monitoring of calls is through recording.

So an inmate has to be careful what he says in written communication and especially in telephone conversations. Most of the time an inmate can rant and rave about something if he is mailing a letter out, since those letters are not read unless he is under suspicion.

But any inmate had better keep all this thoughts to himself when talking over the phone. They can and will know what he is saying.

They do this for security reasons. If prison is dead serious about anything it is security or a threat to the institution.

The prison staff are very thin skinned also. When I was in I was a tutor in the education department and I mentioned in an outgoing letter that one of the female teachers was a bitch and there was a rumor going around that she was having sex with some of the inmates. My lady friend alluded to this on an INCOMING letter that she wrote to me.

The lady and the warden had a conniption fit and called me down there to "chat."
I told them that it was my opinion and the sex part was just a rumor I heard.

They then read my outgoing mail for the next couple of months. I knew to lay low and nothing else ever came of it.

So an inmate just cannot---absolutely cannot---make any threats to any officer or any staff member even if it is just bluster. They will take it very seriously and take action. I liken it to when someone jokes and uses the word "bomb" before boarding a plane. They might be kidding, but the airplane people do not think it is funny at all.

Heartbroken, your son has to stop talking like that on the phone. The only place an inmate has any privacy to say what he thinks is on the visiting yard---and then only when you are away from others and whispering. It has been know to happen that a snitch will go around on the visiting yard for the purpose of gaining information. I am surprised they did not lock your son up in DU or RHU pending an investigation. Or they could always have shipped him to a higher security. Maybe that is why he is at Jackson?

Heartbroken, the COs are not going to rough up your son. That is mostly just what is shown on TV to dramatize prison. I never, in all my eight years, heard of a CO putting his hands on another inmate unless the inmate was fighting him or struggling. Then they just struggle to cuff him.

But they do a helluva lot of this: They mark inmates they do not like. They shake them down two or three times a week for three or four months. During the shakedown they "accidentally" drop his TV or radio and it breaks. Or they start taking a lot of his property that he is allowed to have. Pure harassment, but they usually have to have a reason to do that. But this goes on A LOT.

No privacy in prison at all.

rewdiazepam

Rew, this just happened Sunday night. He was very angry and he told my mom that. We keep telling him he has to watch all his P's and Q's, but he doesnt get it! This is his way of venting when he feels he is being harrassed and picked on. He still hasnt called me and im afraid something has happened. He is in a different phase of prison at Jackson then the first time he was in there. He was being protected in the other phase but I could tell he was scared talking with my mother and I.

HB

I hate the system, but I have to be fair and truthful. While I was in prison, only on one or two occasions did I feel as if a CO treated me badly. I kept a low profile, minded my own business and was respectful to everyone. I never talked to the COs or staff unless they spoke to me first. But I never disrespected them, either.

They usually called me Mr. REW. One reason was because I was older than most of the COs and I caused no trouble for anyone.

Speaking of age, I have a funny story to tell you. When I was in prison, toward the end of my sentence, my elderly father came to visit. I was at a minimum by then and they usually stripped searched everyone for drugs. I went into the strip search room and a much younger COs said to me, "I don't think I have to worry with you about drugs. You are old but your dad is REALLY old." Kind of funny.

COs do not usually just start harassing an inmate and giving him a hard time for absolutely no reason. They might dislike his attitude or think the inmate is cocky if they give him a hard time.

The problem with many inmates is they have anger problems and they start popping off to the COs---that can lead to nothing but trouble and it will create a situation in which the inmate cannot win.

I realize you son is immature, but he needs to realize that in prison, words have real meanings. Other inmates will not overlook immaturity the way you and I will.

Your son is most likely fine, but he needs to lay down and do his time. Now "lay down" does not mean allowing the staff to run all over him or the guards to violate his civil rights. What it does mean is to let a lot of what the guards say to just run off his back.

rewdiazepam

Thanks Rew. I will write to him and explain a few things for him to understand. My son used to get in trouble with his mouth in school because he would get bullied and he would turn around and tell someone that he was gonna kill him. Boom! School calls and we had to haul him off to see a phycologist to make sure he was not a threat. His bark has always been bigger than his bite. Unfortunately, he also has an anger problem. He was doing much better seeing the therapist, but know he is where the system threw my son away. And what does CO mean? I dont know all the abbreviations yet.

I've got DOC down but i dont know what DU and RHU mean either.

And thanks for the chuckle.

I hate the fact that we still havent spoken to my son. His dad also left voice mail. Ill let you know if we here from him. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it would mean so much to me to here from him. This holiday season isnt going to be the same for me or my family.

HB ;-(

RHU is Restrictive Housing Unit and DU is Disciplinary unit. Both are just special places they can put an inmate for punishment or when an inmate transfers to another prison because he is scared.

RHU and DU are where they put inmates after a write up and they have recieved a misconduct. The stay is short, usually anywhere from three days to a couple of months. After a period of time, they will either let the inmate out and send him back to GP (general population) or ship him.

RHU and DU are solitary confinement usually. They have a 23 hour lockdown there with no privileges.
No canteen or commisary, no phone calls. no TV or radio. They do allow mail, though. The inmate's food will be taken to him and he eats in his cell. The inmate can usually have one or two showers a week, but he is escorted to and from the shower in cuffs with a CO.

They also put inmates there who have decided to catch out; they put them there as an emergency to get them off the yard until they can find a place to ship them. "Catch out" is a term when an inmate feels his life is in danger and he goes to the control center of the prison to tell them he needs to get off the yard (prison) immediately.

Inmates hate---HATE----other inmates who catch out. Sometimes an inmate will get deep in debt by gambling or just borrowing too much and he has no ability to pay. They catch out then before he gets beat down. In this case, the inmate is known as a lop and is a marked man.

The problem with catching out is this---to catch out the inmate must give up the inmate's name who was bothering him to make him want to catch out in the first place. So, giving up another inmate's name makes him a snitch and inmates hate snitches.

Personally I would never catch out in a zillion years as it caused a lot of problems. I wanted to be respected in prison (and I was), not looked down on with contempt.

rewdiazepam

Forgot something.

Sometimes DU or RHU are referred to as "Adseg," which is an abbreviation for administative segregation.

RHU, DU, and Adseg are basically the same thing.

rewdiazepam

I left another message on voice mail for my son and I still have not heard a peep! I have a feeling that he is in DU or RHU. He is not a fighter but his mouth is!!! He has a long journey before he gets out and I have a feeling that he is going to be learning some things pretty quickly!!!

HB

Heartbroken,

I would call the facility and ask about your son's status. After all you are his mother and I think the prison would tell you if he is OK and if he is in the general population; they will tell you where he is at.

If you are not satisfied with your response, call the Louisiana DOC and ask them.

Prison is not a playground. Inmates do not play games, especially at MEDIUM security yards. If your son does not learn to temper his mouth
(older inmates refer this to "running their heads") he will have a tough go of it.

And if he ever goes to a medium security facility, he will REALLY have problems as that is where the "big boys" are at.

As a mother, try to impress on him the fact to just lay low and do his time. Seven years will not be seven years in prison. He will be released in less than seven years. Tell him he needs to get into a daily routine of some kind, as it makes the time go by much faster.

If he continues to get into trouble, that less than seven year sentence will morph closer and closer to a real seven year sentence.

If he does not have his GED, he needs to earn it while in prison.

It is important for any inmate to try to make a negative like being in prison into something positive. After all, it is his life. He does not like being where he is at, but acting up to spite the DOC never works. They don't care.

He can learn a trade----he can work on himself. After all, all of us need improvement in certain areas. He can take some programs.

But basically, maybe he can grow up and learn to be a man. Perhaps he can figure out what is and what is not important in life.

As terrible as prison is, it is even worse when an inmate goes to prison and does not make something out of it.

He can do his time and be miserable or he can do the same amount of time and use it to his benefit.

rewdiazepam