109. Insights from Federal Prison Camp
109. Insights from Federal Prison Camp
Innocent from The Inside Blog: By James Catlidge
James Catlidge is serving a 60-month sentence for a white collar crime. He is a businessman that got caught up in a criminal probe. Prior to surrendering, he began writing a blog. We are recording James’ blog, Innocent from the Inside, to help more people understand the challenges of surrendering to federal prison.
James serves his sentence with dignity, and readers may find hope in his positive mindset.
For more information, visit PrisonProfessors.com
Below is the written version of his blog from one of his entries, describing his second week in a federal prison camp.
As I've mentioned before, any sentence less than 1 year creates real difficulty for both the "short-timer" and the population he's serving with. Some of my good friends have been shot-timers. My advice and our conversations all revolve around all the rich life experiences they are missing out on. I encourage open honest dialogue with all my friends so my short-timer buddies often express real sadness and family difficulty brought about by their incarceration. Keep in mind the natural consequences of all this outward verbal difficulty. No man who will be here for years has any sympathy whatsoever for any short-timers difficulty! None. So if the short-timer is LOUD or needs emotional attention or is a whiner, or a victim-minded personality, life here can get ugly fast. Every man in prison feels harshly treated. Deprived of family time and not listened to to by the institution. The short-timer must be aware that their time will be over soon and the rest of us are not ever going to feel sorry for them.
So last week, my short-timer buddy, Luke and I agree to go walk around 9:00 AM. Luke is 265 lbs., 6'2" and very loud. I'm constantly telling Luke to lower his voice. He's a pitbull lawyer, who I would never want to oppose. He's the scorched earth personality, who will win at all costs. By any means necessary and I know this, so I use our workout times and our walks to allow him to rant, to fully express his sadness and longing to be with his wife and two young kids. He's a good man with a very loud and threatening bark. Luke has a 6 months sentence.
So after agreeing to walk, we each walk back to our cubicles to grab workout gloves and our coats, As I exit my cube #6, I hear his voice very loudly addressing Chino, the head of the Pisa gang and my cook! Chino is 5'10", 200 lbs. and kind and even tempered with a 10 year sentence. Chino worked directly for the Cartel in Mexico and is highly respected by me and every man on the yard. He's mopping the hallway outside Luke's cube and the floor is wet while Luke is walking across it back to his cube to get his stuff for our walk. Chino, who I could not hear, said something to him about walking on his freshly mopped floor and Luke verbally attacked. As I head toward the cube, the scene was escalating. Chino went to get Greg, our Shot Caller (white). Chino, of course, now has every Pisa in our dorm running toward Luke's cube. Honest to God, as I'm tuning in and walking, the inner hallway is jammed up with 42 Pisas and 15 white guys, me included, waiting for a fight to erupt. No one is closer to Luke, than me, but this is out of control. I decide I need to attempt to defuse this very tense scene when Greg goes chest to chest with Luke and explains that Chino is mopping "our floor". We all live here and he needs to be respected. Now a correction officer enters the scene. I'm now next to Greg and Luke and this C.O. looks right at me and says "Is everything ok here" I know and the C.O. knows that question is an opportunity to defuse a sure fight between the Pisas and the whites. So I say, "it sure is, we are just wrapping up here. Chino and Luke are apologizing for a simple misunderstanding!" So they shake hands and a real forced stand down occurs!
Now, since our walk is still pending, I say Luke, let's walk! We spend the next 30 minutes talking about respect and gangs and the prison rule that when you fight, we all fight even if its 15 vs 40 Pisas. No offense you take is personal. It belongs to all of us. So, please consider in all you do how important it is when you feel offended so quickly. I then take a considerable amount of time discussing the loud, aggressive, abrasive script he enters every room with. Luke says, I have never ever even considered this. At age 48, I'm amazed he has zero awareness of the impression he leaves on others. So, Greg meets with me later and says, does he get it? I explain, I think so, but its a short-timer mentality that never quite invests himself into his new surroundings. I love Luke and he has since apologized to Chino, Greg and several others, but this was very close to a disaster.