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Behind the wall: Life Inside a United States Federal Prison

Pt.2 :How I survived 16 years in Federal Prison

By Keith GaffneyPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read
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Either I’m going to get away with this or else I’m going down.” Those were my thoughts just before I entered the bank I was preparing to rob. Now to understand how I got to this point you will have to read part one of my story entitled “ How I survived over 16 years in the Federal Prison System”. But to sum it up, let’s just say my thinking was off.

Before i go any further into my story, I want to take a moment to apologize to someone. There is someone who was hurt in this ordeal. I apologize to the person who came to open the bank that day. You were a victim of my ignorance and childish thinking. I never considered how my action might effect someone else and for that i apologize. my words can not undo my actions. I only hope you will forgive me as I have forgiven myself. I wish you peace and know that because of this experience, I work hard everyday to understand my thinking patterns and how my actions do have long term and short term effects on other people.

I entered Federal Prison for the first time in July 2005. It was a world I was not prepared for. As you can guess, prison is run by a set of systems. There’s a Standard of Operational Procedures for everything including the process of being intaked into the prison. I can’t speak for other prisons, but in the Feds, the first thing they do to every male is to emasculate them. How? Let me explain, upon entering any federal prison every inmate will be subject to a strip search and/or body scan, this is the S.O.P for all Federal Prisons. Now for all those who have never experienced a strip search let me describe it. First, it’s very intimidating because you have this total stranger standing over you demanding that you remove your clothes one article at a time. Take off your socks, give him your socks for inspection. Take off your shirt, give him your shirt for inspection. All the way down to your boxers. And then it gets different. Once you gave the officer your last piece of clothes you are now left standing there butt naked waiting. even though my clothes are off, it is the belief of Federal officers that I may still be hiding something on or in my person. I know “ on or in my person?” WTF! Yup now it’s time to search my physical self. Lift my arms to see my armpits. Open my mouth and move my tounge around to see into my mouth. I could be hiding a razor or drugs. Left foot, right foot. Lift your “sack” move your”thing” around. If this isn’t enough to make a man feel less then, what about this: After all ares of the body are searched, now it’s time for the inside. “Turn around, spread your cheeks, bend over and cough.” Wait one minute here, After i done got totally naked for you now i have to bend over and let you look up my $%%???? If that’s not a blow to a mans ego and an invasion of personal space then what is. But there is no way to avoid it. I’ve seen men try to go against the system but in the end they are naked in front of even more people then before. And this is all within the first hour of entering the prison.

once you pass inspection and various other procedures. It’s time to be placed in your housing unit or more realistically, your new home. For me, Coleman Florida was that home. When i entered the ”unit” (slang for Housing Unit) the first thing i noticed was how big the place was and how it was like a city in here, everything was going on in this one space. Each unit hold 64 cells with two people in each cell. That’s 128 different personalities living together in oppressive conditions. That’s not an environment built for rehabilitation. No, that’s an environment build for recidivism. Remember the prison system is a business, and in order for the “business “ to be successful, they NEED people to fill the beds. For those of us who survived the prison system, the root of that success was the survivors choice to think beyond those prison walls. We did not allow our incarceration determine our quality of life. But everyone is not like that. Some are natural born predators and prison becomes the perfect hunting ground.

I remember the first time I witnessed someone getting stabbed in prison:

At this time it was still early in my sentence, I had only been in Coleman for a few months. The Prison was serving dinner to the inmates so the sidewalks were filled with hungry men on their way to the chow hall (where meals are served ). As I made my way down the sidewalk i noticed two men who looked like they where wrestling from a distrance. But as I got closer, I realized one man was actually stabbing another man repeatedly. This was also the first time I seen someone airlifted by helicopter to the hospital. Unfortunately this was not the only time men have been butchered around me.

PAUSE……

again here i have to pause. I want to say thank you to those who have read my stories. This is a new experience for me and I’m glad to share it with all of you. Peace.

incarceration
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About the Creator

Keith Gaffney

Peace to all those reading this. Here is my life story. It talks of resilience and growth. Pain and redemption. 46 years this story has been in the making, come see life through my eyes. tell me what you see.

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