How to survive a prison riot? How to survive a prison sentence?

In this article we will talk about Tommy Winfrey`s experience, who was inmated in the San Quentin State Prison. He saw many prison riots during 17 years of the imprisonment, and almost all of them were over a different problem. But there is a general subject, from what they were started over, first of all, it was about the disrespect inside the prison walls.

His first riot was at the first day, when he walked into a county jail dorm in Los Angeles. He had been there just a five minutes, he took his mattress to the hands, at this time chaos erupted around him. Guys were striking and hitting each other, guards were so fleshy, then the tear gas and concussion grenades were flying into the dorm.

He was shocked, scared, and thought that he came to the hell. He didn`t know that the riot started, but he saw so many of them later.

Since that time the prison riots became more and more dangerous. Guys used the knifes and tried to kill each other. The riots are usually planned.

One group of the prisoners (racial groups in California) can attack the another group of the prisoners. Sometimes the group which will be attacked knows that the riot will be soon, sometimes they don`t know about it.

The most of the riots, when he knews the reason, were in a case of the grugs debts. One person does not pay the drug debt to another race, and so the fightings srart the riot. The person who was “disrespected” to another one will attack the person who owes him. When it happens all members of the two races are involved into the incident, which is the war instantly, and it doesn’t matter do you want to take part in it or no. You can be attacked, because of the color of your skin.

Absolutely you don`t have ahy choice. He has witnessed men were sitting down, because they didn’t want to be involved only to be kicked to their heads for there efforts. The reason why everyone is involved is more complicated.

Prison politics says that any race can put the hands on the another race. This rule is  exactly compeled in the high security prisons. There are no exclusions. This means that there is a big segmentation between the races in a case of this. It is so hard to become a friends with a person, if you know that tomorrow this man may attack you, and the reason will be in the color of your skin, and you don`t need to do something bad to him or hurt him, it`s only because you`re black or white. So it makes the permission of the riots even more tough.

Riots may take a many years to be finished. It may take a lot of nerves and power for  the prison administration to move away everyone from the prison yard, if they were there while the riot started, but it doesn`t mean that this can help or work.

He has been on the prison yards, where he came on lockdown, every prisoner spend at his cell 24 hours a day for a long period of time, and somebody told me that we “were living in the war” with another race.

He did not even have an idea, why they were at this war, but he was ready and waiting to attack any other man of that race, with which he came in any contact. The judgement for any disobedience, he could be attacked by his own race. So you can be scared, because of the resolving these things.

Usually the riots are resolved by the people of authority within the race. He was talking about the people who have the important respect by everyone. The most people don’t want to fight, they think about this, but leave these thoughts inside their heads and don`t have any other choice, so when it`s announced the decision that the war finished, they  can relaxing the muscles and nerves. He was wonder always when these riots are over, because nobody is talking that it will be so easy to avoid them at the start. He reccomends to the governments of other countries to think about the special programs for the prisoners. He thinks that the San Quentin is unique in the fact that they have a system of the higher education there, this helps to break the racial barriers.

It also lends to critical thinking skills and communication, which is the number one of the way to avoid a conflict. If more prisons will have on sites the college sand programs like The Last Mile prison, and so the society would be more safer place.