Welcome to the Big House. I will be your guide for a brief moment, be it for a virtual reality visit or just a little vicarious sight seeing. Perhaps in the chow hall or recreation.

I do not intend to draw you a map which is very frowned upon by prison staff, I offer something more like a compass with the front door being your destination and number one priority during the journey.

What you read is based upon my empirical experience. I have spent over 62 years incarcerated or homeless. Jails, Prisons, Mental hospitals and homelessness are all very similar. I have no formal education. I learned to read and write in a prison cell. What small literary skills I have acquired over the years came by way of books.

It is my dream to turn these years of tragedy into something positive, by establishing a successful consulting service focused on positive prison survival principles and counseling those looking at the Big House from the outside, with loved ones on the inside. For me success is not about how much money I can make, but by the degrees in which I can raise the quality of life for others. Especially those who are affected by, or already in “The belly Of The Beast.” This is a very real and unfortunate reality; America’s continued fascination with prison as the only solution to its social problems.

I find the fascination with this genre of prison survival literature among the non-prisoner intriguing, to say the least. Perhaps it is interesting because of the lurid and dangerous aspects of prison that are inherent even in the connotation of the word prison. A world inside a world that is off-limits, secretive and non-transparent. There is always a curiosity towards hidden things, secret rituals and the unexplained. Maybe also because it provides an escape from the day to day life in the free world.

I hope to answer some important questions, however, please realize, I always write of my own experience and perspective. Prison can and does change moment by moment. Depending entirely on the personalities of both staff and prisoner. I think my knowledge of what worked for me and what didn’t, can be helpful. I hope to bring you the facts laced with some humor to bring the depressing some lighter feelings. My sole intention is to have you reunited as quickly as possible with those you love, and those who love you.

I can guarantee you, the ones that love you are not in here. When you walk into prison, it no longer matters; who you are, where you came from or what you had. When that iron door slams behind your puckered up ass, you are as alone as you have ever been in your life. You have entered a world you could never in your wildest dreams create. One that you would never even thought, could possibly exist in America.  Dostoevsky said “you can best judge the degree of civilization in a country by entering its prisons.” Welcome to America – The Other Side Of The Fence.

Peace & Light
Cowboy