The extent to which prison changes a person is mostly dependent on the age of the person when he or she went to prison and the amount of time served in prison.

Older inmates, especially those who were decent folks on the street, will not suddenly morp into a criminally minded individual just because they have gone to prison. Their core values have crystallized and will not usually change. Looking back, I cannot think of even one person who was a decent guy but just turned into a criminally minded person while in prison.

The younger guys who are immature with little education, no set values, and few social skills are much more likely to allow prison to change them, but even among this age group, I did not see a lot of change as far as participation in criminal activity in prison.

What I did see a lot of was inmates being so disappointed when they learn that many of the things they were taught growing up simply are not true.

When I refer to prison changing someone, I am referring to their core values of honesty, being responsible, be willing to work, etc. Those traits do not change, but attitudes such as not trusting anyone, realizing the government is not there to help us, and being disappointed that much of what we were taught growing up is a lie almost universally change with all inmates regardless of age.

One reason for this is that there are very few truly evil people in prison. Many inmates are there because they made a stupid mistake or a lapse in judgment rather than being inherently evil. There are very few Ted Bundys or cold blooded killers in prison.

Prison not only changes the attitudes of the inmates but the families as well. Unfortunately, the family suffers and does the time just as much as their loved one in prison------and sadly, they are also punished right along with the inmate.

Prison changes everyone's life that it touches.

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