Getting incarcerated is a tough experience for anybody. You will be away from your family for months, even years, and you have no one with you except for your fellow inmates. Life in jail is not easy – while you can meet new friends, you can also earn new enemies. This you have to endure in a small cell, where you eat your gruel and your only source of hope is getting acquitted or being granted a parole. This is especially true for people who are clueless on how to survive in New Hampshire Department of Correction, and would like to know how they can overcome such ordeal.
If you have a family member who is in prison, this article on how to survive in New Hampshire Department of Correction is worth reading and sharing.
Here are a few tips:
1. Expect an early roll call for inmates
It takes a lot of discipline to stay in correction facility. The early morning attendance is crucial for all the activities that they’ll do, such as exercise and eating breakfast. The roll call happens around 6 in the morning, or even earlier.
2. You have duties after breakfast
Unlike in the comforts of your own home where you can rest and relax after eating your meal, in jail, it is totally different. You can be assigned in the laundry, kitchen, garden or chapel, where you will need to clean and do other menial tasks.
3. Before lunch is served, another roll call is mandatory
You are expected to go back to work after lunch and by evening, you have to return to your cell. You wait for dinner to be served then you will have to take a shower and get changed before you retire for the night. The wardens at the New Hampshire Department of Correction allow their inmates to read or write before they turn the lights out.
4. How to survive in New Hampshire Department of Correction also involves a certain dress code, usually scrubs or a jumpsuit.
You cannot wear any other clothing except for what the facility prescribes.
5. Should you need to buy things, you can check out the commissary, a jail store.
There are toiletries, writing supplies and snacks available at the commissary. If you need medicines, on the other hand, you will have to ask the resident physician for the drug or for an alternative medication.
6. Meals, meanwhile, are taken three times a day, but there is a routine to the food served
These meals are also devoid of cholesterol and are composed of the basics – a cup of coffee, a piece of toast and a slice of fruit. Cereal may also be served. For lunch, it’s salad, pasta, milk and bread. Dinner, on the other hand, consists of vegetables, rice, chicken and dessert.
7. To survive in jail, you must also gain friends.
There are gangs who will try to recruit you, and it is up to you if you want to belong to their group. Ultimately, what’s important is that you have a friend or two who can help you in times of distress.
Here are other tips to survive in a prison in New Hampshire:
1. Accept the responsibility
Regardless of the circumstances why you are in prison, you have to find what’s beneficial about it. This is one effective way to cope. The prison is also a good source of life lessons. You can survive years in jail if you follow administrative rules and if you get along with others well. You have a choice – work, distract yourself and get released in no time, or demand to be pampered and earn the ire of the police officers and your fellow inmates.
2. Stay away from gossip, as this is the common cause of fights in prison
As much as possible, stay with inmates who have not caused trouble in prison. Be independent. If there are things that you can do for yourself, do them and refrain from asking other inmates. It’s the best way to avoid conflicts.
3. Keep exercising your mind and your body.
You need a healthy mind and body to keep yourself from becoming sick in prison. Spiritual health shouldn’t be disregarded as well. This is why inmates read the Bible in their cell. They are advised to eat something healthy, like fruits and vegetables.
4. Develop a strong mind.
A strong mind will help you overcome your struggles in jail. It also helps in overcoming the pain and the suffering that you feel when you are away from your family, or when you are so distressed because of your case. Read a lot of books. Acquaint yourself with what is happening in the outside world. Update yourself by reading the newspaper daily. A strong mind will help you cope with stress and longing.
5. Do not get involved in gambling and other riots in jail.
They will bring nothing but more cases to you. Besides, your involvement in such cases while in jail may prolong your sentence. Also, collaborating with guards regarding your escape and/or against other inmates is bad news, not just for your reputation, but also for your safety. It would also do you good if you aren’t indebted to anyone in jail. You never know when people will use that against you.
6. Never use drugs nor stare at any prisoner.
You will just be inviting more trouble. Lastly, keep your mouth shut. Be polite and respect everyone in the correction facility. In time, you can earn the respect of other people, too.
Being in jail is something that you wouldn’t want to happen to you, but there are things in prison that are also worth knowing. There are lessons that you can learn from the prisoners, and there are lessons that you can learn just by yourself. The prison is still a community, a melting pot of cultures and behaviors. The way to survive is to learn how prisoners act and just be a nice person to everybody.