Military Prison Experiences

Here is the link to my book from this blog edited and modified. 70 pages.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWKMG2H2?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_03JP0GF6GAB3SG218CMT

I will explain how it all transpired, from the time I arrived in Germany, my new unit. I was part of the famous 1st Armored Division of the United States Army. Our base was 60 clicks from Frankfurt Am/Main, Germany. The base was situated in a famous university town. It was surrounded by low green rolling hills and with plenty of rain. This army depot is now closed and I last visited it back in the summer of 2019, and went to visit the crime scene 17 years later. It was surreal to say the least but something I had promised to do, once I was able to.

The barracks were all taken by economic refugees, hence I could not enter them. Many old buildings of the base had been demolished and new ones built. Giessen Depot had been a Luftwaffe air base during WWII and was bombed to smithereens.

Now back to the spring of 2000. I had arrived in Germany on March 17, 2000. It was snowing lightly with a wet cold. This was the normal winter weather for Giessen. Giessen means to pour, hence its city name.

I was a young 28 year old enlisted, university undergraduate, and with professional marketing experience from the real world. At that time, I had achieved another of my goals and that was to join the military and be stationed in Germany.

Once I arrived at my unit and reported, mostly everyone was friendly with me. As usual they tried to haze me and make jokes. It was all in fun and sometimes annoying. My finance unit had females and this made Finance more popular amongst the combat troops. Finance is a very respected MOS military operation specialty duty. We handled all the payroll paperwork for our base and bases nearby.

You must consider I was a young soldier but not a very inexperienced man. Thus, due to rank, I was treated as an ignorant soldier, that knew nothing. In hindsight it was true, regarding military life and culture. It took me 1 year to finally break into soldier mode and follow orders without questioning them as I had before. I had finally figured out, that if you do not argue with the order or question it, you can disappear. “Out of sight!” “Out of mind!” A task that could take 3 hours to complete, should only take 1 hour. Therefore, I could chill and pretend I was working hard.

The Sergeant in question, did not like me from the start. Some people are like that. I was confident, arrogant, handsome, and physically fit. I was an E-4 from the start just like he was. He had been 6 hours away from completing his masters in business. His duty was payroll and squad leader. This is why he had power over me than most of the other sergeants.

To make a long story short. In the armed forces there are regulations and code of conduct policies. As well, as leadership classes on how to treat your subordinates. But I believe because he came from a male dominated very poor country, mainly war torn, he did not have an understanding of these policies, rules, respect, and leadership qualities normal western people usually attain from training.

The United States Military trained its sergeants and officers very thoroughly back then. There was no wokeness nor LGBT-Q political movements then. Also, we fought against real enemies of the state not superficial ones.

This Sergeant abused his authority. He would disparage, belittle, disrespect, and psychologically tried to oppress me. He did this for 14 months to be exact. I tried to confront him in a professional manner and through 3rd party channels to iron out our differences. But he refused all overtures and continued to ensure my demise.

I had never felt the psychological trauma he gave me. I could feel his psychological tentacles trying ensare and control my mind by oppressing me. This was a horrible feeling, that I needed to address and escape from. My new commander tried to diffuse the situation but failed. My E-7 female Sergeant First Class Golden was awesome. She protected me from him. He hated taking orders from a female soldier and would constantly call her a bitch under his breath continuously. She was aware of it, she had told me. Eventually, she had to pcs back to conus. Once she left, he attacked me mentally and with abusive authority.

I felt I was backed against the wall with no redress. I took the matter into my own hands literally and assaulted him. I blacked out and have minute recollection of the assault. He suffered brain damage and was in a doctor self induced coma. After 3 weeks he revived, thank GOD!! and thanks to everyone who prayed for him and me.

The US Army was partly at fault here, but they tried to bury me with 30 years or more, because I was an enlisted and low fruit for them. Burn the enlisted with impunity and save our faces of command structure. Those in power must always look “competent”. Officers are given more leniency because they are “gentlemen”. LOL. In the US NAVY, many commanders lose their leadership roles because of lack of trust in command. The Navy seems to be more consistent with DoD regulations and policies.

It is 2023, and after 20 years I finally publicly explained what transpired. Germany was a great duty station. I love Germany!!! Ice spreche Deutsch noch.

Surprisingly, many military men and women commit drug dealing to earn extra money. Yes, the United States military is the richest and best paid compared to the rest of the world, bar none! The salary is not enough if you have a family of 2 or more as an E-1 private-E-4 Specialist/Corporal.

The United States military does provide extra monthly entitlements such as food allowance, cost of living allowance, and combat pay to mention a few benefits. In order to receive some of these entitlements you must be married. Officers qualify for more benefits than enlisted.

I am setting the stage as to why active duty members take the chance to drug traffic. It is more safe to commit these crimes if you are stationed overseas. Crime does pay sometimes. Risk to reward ratio. Here are some drug trafficking crime stories that were told to me, while in the USDB.

One fellow inmate was convicted of trafficking MMDA and dirty ecstasy pills from Germany to the USA. He would travel to Amsterdam, Holland and buy over ten thousand pills at a time and ship them inside ceramics. He utilized the military mail system which is trusted by the US postal service and is not stringent on military packages. This method has been used over and over again.

He was caught because the receiver got involved in extra-curricular activities. This indirect arrest caused her to “snitch” on the whole operation. A common flaw of people is “GREED”. She did not stay low and messed up. Then, he was eventually caught in Germany, where he was stationed and received a 12 year sentence. Mike earned his Bachelor’s and now is a successful business owner. You can’t take the hustle out of people. Now he is all legal.

Second story is of a US soldier stationed in South America. He used military planes to transport the cocaine. He was living the life he said, He was low key and no one suspected anything. Everyone involved were tight lipped, until he felt pity for a few soldiers that were having family money troubles. He thought he could trust them.

Raul the leader, felt pity for a few soldiers that worked with him. They were having money and marriage troubles. He decided to let them in on the hustle with limitations. Even with these set of rules, the 2 friends started to flash their money and one was always arguing with his wife. The wife was suspicious and threatened her husband. This caused a little panic and things started to unravel for all of them. One snitched and then the other. Raul, ended up being convicted and sentenced to 27 years, while the snitches each received 7 and 8 years. I never trusted the snitches and stayed away from them in our group.

Another convicted drug dealer was Peter. He was stationed in Germany and was selling ecstasy as well. Ecstasy in Europe is huge and easy to obtain. You could make 3-5 dollars extra per pill wholesale. He was also transported drugs into the states using the mailing system. Once he was tipped off he fled and was living on the lam in eastern Europe. He had planned for this all along and was doing just fine. But his parents convinced him to turn himself in and that it was the best solution. I can bet the military prosecutors sweet talked the parents that he would receive a fair trial in the United States Army justice system. Never trust your government. He told me how he was convinced by his parents. I could see it in his face he greatly regretted that fateful decision. He was sentenced to 30 years because it included escaping and evading arrest.

This is what I mean, if you understand some law, you can defeat them by cutting time off your sentence.

Another case, I found to be interesting were about some Marines that would rob the money trucks. They had gotten away with it a few times, but as always there was one weak link. Just like in the movies, but most people are not murderers. He explained to me some details, however I cannot recall, he was the leader and very intelligent. He had become a jailhouse lawyer and had fought to reduce his sentence. He was appealing his sentence tooth and nail and slowly winning. Originally he had about 80 years and was down to less than 30 and had served about 16 years, when I had spoken to him.

I spoke to inmates because I wanted to learn why they were in there. The mistakes they made and about the law enforcement procedures that followed or were used to convict them. Moreover, military criminal law is very arbitrary and political. Which is similar to socialist courts. The civilian legal system is different.

If you have never been incarcerated for more than a few months, then it is difficult to phantom these prison frustrations and stresses. What is an everyday item or freedom in our normal lives, it is not so in prison.

I guess the reasons for these insane and sometimes absurd rules is to instill discipline and avoid hoarding. Hoarding would make a cell seem like a hamsters’ cage. For non-military prisoners a.k.a. civilian convicts, discipline is needed in every way to force some regimen and conformity in prisoners’ lives.

Here are some examples of a few rules in military prison. They are as follows:

1. A cell cannot have more than 3 pens, unless authorized by the commandant and his/her signature.

2. Any over the counter and prescribed drugs must be discarded upon its expiration date.

3. Any USDB property or item in a cell may not be tampered, damaged, in any way nor modified. This included covering of A/C vents, toilets, etc.

4. X amount of foods may be stored and clothing. Anything over the allowed amount was an infraction.

This gives you an idea what rules and policies are like in a military prison. The punishments for these minor infractions/violations could range from as follows:

1. 7 Days no recreation time, and after dinner chow time, you must lockdown by 18:30 pm and to be subjected to daily contraband cell shakedowns.
2. For breaking any rules and policies more than 2 times or more, you may be punished with isolation time/hole for 1-4 weeks time. More serious violations such as fighting would be more special housing unit time.

Trust me there are more. Prisoner’s are given a USDB welcome prison book. A must read. (sarcasm). I only discussed a few, too many to enumerate.

How do these punishments rehabilitate a prisoner? They don’t because a convict’s punishment is to be sent to prison for X amount of time. He/she is not to be punished more for frivolous infractions, that makes a person feel more persecuted and instills a criminal mindset. How? Because, simply hiding an extra pen or forgetting to discard expired medication is a violation of USDB regulations. This creates a mindset I am doing something illegal and must do something crafty to avoid detection by the authorities. While every free person in the world can have 100 pens and expired medication.

It is not helpful for a prisoners’ psyche. This is where as a person, you must learn to become mentally strong and overcome these psychological antics. “Comply or die” type deal.

I was caught up on a few of these simple infractions. What made it worse were the daily contraband shakedowns. Which I felt were to “fuck with your mind” and temperament. If the guards that were doing my shakedown were legit, then it was no stress because they would do a neat job and gently shakedown your cell. Lots of respect for that. Remember the guards are active duty soldiers and most don’t forget we were active once. They also know what your crime was.

A digressing note: You can read about sexual frustrations on the blog post, “Sex in the Military Prison”.

Thank goodness, I had civilian law experience. From the age of 19-23, I worked for a large law firm. The law firm had its own Plaza(shopping center) and doctor’s offices on site. The law firm focused on personal injury cases primarily. This experience was vital for fighting my case. As you will learn.

After being arrested and waiting a week for my pre-trial hearing, I finally met my military lawyer. An arrogant Captain, that was good looking and tall. I am cognizant of this because I was the same way, but not tall. We met and he gave me an order to be quiet during the hearing and just listen. Firstly, he did not even ask me about my case nor try to discuss it. Maybe this would have gained some thoughts on how to win my pre-trial hearing. It was evident that he knew they wouldn’t give me freedom while I awaited trial, due to the severity of my case. A few days later, we met again to discuss my case and options. Without hearing anything from me, he was advising me to take a pre trial agreement. I was guilty in his mind 100%. It is all political as I emphasized before. I asked him how much time am I looking at if I was to consider a P.T.A. He replied confidently, “fifteen years.” My blood flushed like Tom the cat when they show cartoon characters absolutely frightened.

I told him, “no I will not accept that and you never heard my side of the story.” He arrogantly replied, “you are guilty and you did it, therefore save yourself the anguish.” I am paraphrasing. I thought to myself. He is fired and a coward. This is where my experience as a legal assistant working for civil trial attorneys came into action.

You must recall, I was an E-4 Specialist with a University degree as well. I was in my late 20’s, and not a spring chicken exactly. But the system thought that way about enlisted soldiers. Peons to be prosecuted to the very the extent of the law!

I then called my parents to hire a very renown civilian defense attorney that was well liked by the JAG Judge Advocate Generals. JAG means: Lawyers and judges. My new attorney had over 20 years of military law and court-martial experience. He actually was a bargain. Then I proceeded to conduct on my research about the 2 Army judges that were presiding in Germany at that time. I would ask any inmate I came across about his charges and which judge he had. Also asked, about their charges being dropped and why, if the inmate knew. As I asked my fellow inmates these investigative questions, most were clueless as to my reasons. However, all this information was priceless in the determination of how to proceed strategically and tactically.

This is what I learned about the 2 judges. To say it in simple terms, one judge was a liberal and very subjective in his rulings. The other was pragmatic and used the law to the defendants’ advantage. Unfortunately, I was assigned the subjective/liberal judge. Judges in the military are 0-5 to 0-6 in officer ranks. They act like Generals to everyone except to the real Generals 0-7 to 0-9.

If a soldier was facing a special court martial, that usually entailed a sentence of 3 years or less. A General court martial conviction was from 5 years to death row.

I continued my pre-trial confinement for 6 months until my trial date finally came on the docket. I was still being paid, because I had not been convicted yet. A nice legal protection from the United States Constitution. I had fired my military attorney and a new one had not been appointed. I never requested for a new one deliberately, and my civilian attorney had to do most of the work. In hindsight, I guess he believed the Army was taking its time to appoint a new one to my case. My new military attorney did not have any influence on my case. And that was GREAT!!! They are all late 20 somethings looking to pay off their student loan debts the easy way. I was doing that as well, hence me enlisting and not enlisting as an officer in the beginning.

Before we go into my trial. I decided to choose an all officer jury than a jury of my peers, which would have been an enlisted panel. I did not trust the enlisted since I committed my crime against an enlisted. I believed my educational background would relate with an officer jury and also they could discern the evidence much better. Most importantly, they could understand the military law more clearly when determining which law was broken, my sentencing, and type of discharge.

I was facing a major charge and up to 30 years in prison. Thanks to God, family, friends, and my lawyer, I was found guilty of a much lesser charge and sentenced to 7 years in prison. With good time I was out in 4 and half years. And discharged with a Bad Conduct Discharge. This shows the evidence presented was studied with neurons and not feelings. Very objectively!! My presiding judge told my lawyer he thought I was guilty of the more serious charge. I took his deciding subjective power away. This proves the law is subjective and “there is no certainty in law”. “Freedom in Chains” is a great book about US laws and politics. In my case justice was served fairly.

Officers of the armed forces were no different than the enlisted, after being convicted.  There were quite a few convicted officers in the USDB.  Remember that the USDB housed anyone that had 7 years or more of a sentence.  I mention this, because I have found a website by a convicted officer that did a very short time(bid).  He states, how he had changed and felt betrayed by his fellow colleagues and the system.  I thought to myself, that is how the lower ranked enlisted and junior officers always felt, abandoned by their superiors when things got hot.

I was able to befriend a few officers during active-duty service and learned how they were treated.  All militaries are similar, but despite these shortcomings, the United States still had the best military and base facilities compared to the other nations. Best soldiers because this was before woke-ism and toxic masculinity psy-op concepts to destroy ourselves.  I digressed so allow me to discuss the inmate officers, that were incarcerated with me.

The first senior officer I will mention, was a Lieutenant Colonel.  His story is online and can easily be found.  He killed his wife while stationed at the War College. Mr. B. killed his wife over porn.  She kept nagging him and he lost it.  He bludgeoned her to death and choked her with some kind of cord.  He was only given a 25-year sentence and eligible for parole after ten years. An officer can be more remorseful and morally righteous because he has more rank. (sarcasm) He seemed to be a nice guy and very intelligent.  I learned a few things from him about geo-politics.  But I disagreed with him about the German 88 flak gun’s range for a tank kill. He never acted he was better than anyone else.  Mr. B. kept his nose clean and was an avid long-distance runner.  Those were his killing time moments, and he would also run in his cell, if we were locked down. Mr. B. was always running and kept his head down. 

Another Lieutenant Colonel, this one I befriended.  I do not know what he did.  Allegedly, it was some form of domestic violence while stationed in South Korea, but I could not and have not found his name online.  His education was in medical science.  He told me then; the new war is going to be an informational war. This is very true today and active. L.C. did not like to work out and kept to himself as well.  We both vacated the premises about the same time.  He was with me in the Latino group.

The next officer was a Marine L.C., that was convicted for having sex with his underage stepdaughter.  He was not respected by anyone in prison.  He was punked out a few times and told to stay in his lane.  He quickly associated with the molesters because they were the only ones to accept him. Not much to say about him.

There were a few junior officers in there as well.  One I befriended, and he was bi-polar according to him.  This guy was in for fraud and forgery etc.  He was very methodical and highly intelligent. He made parole and made it right back.  I guess not so intelligent, but I was disappointed to see him return.  It is always easy for people reading this to say, “if you were so smart, then how did you end up in there”?  Shit can happen to anyone.  Learn to always control your own emotions. 

Another junior officer was a snitch.  He seemed alright and was in there for some white-collar crime.  He tried to set up some inmates with trading and selling prescription drugs. He had been caught buying, therefore became a snitch.  My group was in the know and only those that had to know had been informed to watch their backs.  I had found out after he was transferred to a lower security facility for his personal safety. 

And the last junior officer was a Captain.  This guy was cool.  He was in for stealing money from Army finance (lol).  He was a great volleyball player on our team.  That guy could spike the ball!!  He had been to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and told us some crazy stories about the favelas. 

Overall, they were men as anyone else, but one notable difference from the enlisted. They all worked out except for one. Physical appearance was paramount to them as it is to me.  They adjusted with their new rank, which was the prison system number and type of crime. I forgot to mention a few more officers that were there. 

A former Air Force Captain was a homosexual in there for some sex crime. However, he had done some time and proven himself to be solid. He was in the white group.  I was friendly with many of the whites.  Yes, people were friends with everyone in there. The only discrimination type in there is what crime you committed.  It didn’t mean you were having sexual relations with him, just because you were seen conversing.  He was very humorous and comedic, and he had his type, and it was hilarious but sometimes it was too much. Especially, when you are confined with that person, then you need a time out from that person.  

And lastly, a Major that had been stationed in South Korea. You can find his story online. He was accused of murdering his wife, but was found guilty of manslaughter. That implies her death was by accident. I do not know many details about his case. The facts are that he had a temperament and once had punched his daughter in the nose. He looked liked a tough guy. Worked out avidly was respected and accepted quickly. He didn’t look the type you wanted to confront.

Allow me to mention again about the website that a Colonel has online. I had found it by accident searching my domain name. He did only a year or less. All those years of service and hard work to be lost over a slap on the wrist type crime. I do not know which crime(s) he committed, because he did not mention it. Readers in the U.S.C.M.J. United States Code of Military Justice, a military member can be prosecuted for adultery. Another one is conduct of unbecoming an officer, which is very broad. Some laws are like a fishing trawlers net. It’s very political in my opinion.

All prisons seem to have the same foundations of being managed from the inside and outside. An inmate is judged by his crime. At the USDB is was no different. For example you had the whites, blacks, and latinos/asians in their own groups. Inmates with violent crimes or unrelated sexual offenses were usually the leaders of these groups.

Since the old United States Disciplinary Barracks closed, nicknamed the “Castle”, things had changed. As I mentioned before, the the Castle could hold over 1000 inmates while the new one around 600. Therefore, many lifers and long timers had to be transferred to the civilian Federal System. This changed the structure of who should be the leaders and become a “Heavy”. I had heard many cried and tried to submit new appeals in order to stay in the DoD prison system.

In my view, the USDB commanders’ loved this because they didn’t have to deal with a heavy weight, if things got out of hand. The leaders of my group were qualified to lead. They all had been taught the ropes by their predecessors. There was not any turmoil amongst us. As time went by more and more started to be transferred. As inmates we hoped there wouldn’t be many transfers, so more of us could be paroled. This thought never transpired. Violent offenders were hastily transferred after their appeals were finished, while sexual offenders outlasted the others due to their treatment. This was slowly changing the groups structure.

For example, some child molesters were gaining a voice in the white group. Because all the long timers with violent crimes had been transferred. This left some drug dealers in charge that were non-violent nor aggressive to lead. I saw some of this change in late 2006-07.

A few years after I had been released, my friend who stayed behind told me about a death of a fellow inmate. An inmate who was a trustee about to be released was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. The incident happened during a softball game, while the victim was umpiring a game. I have no information as to the motive. This was the first homicide at the new USDB. Allegedly, a heavy from the white group, gave the order to a newbie to commit the act. This is one example, as to why the DoD, Department of Defense wants to transfer the leaders.

 Prison can be strange sometimes. This is a story that transpired out as a natural accident, that could have escalated into something disastrous for everyone involved. 

     At the time, I was working in the textile workshop.  The job was a paid one and it involved me using a factory style sewing machine.  We would repair sleeping bags and all kinds of military gear in a warehouse. That warehouse was superhot above 100 degrees during the summer and as a precaution, all inmates would be worked recalled earlier those days to avoid heat strokes and for the administration to avoid lots of paperwork as to why inmates were passing out.  The textile section had 8 sewing machines lined up like a rectangle with 4 on each side plus one leader at the head of the shape.  

     I started working there and not long a new latino asked me, if I could pull some strings and get him on board.  I told him, “Let me ask.” In about 3 weeks he was working with me during the day shift.  During the next few weeks things were good and I had less than a year to go for release.  I was on the old system of good time.  I had to do 2/3 of my sentence with good time earned, while anyone convicted after December 31, 2002, had to do 85% of their time just like in the regular federal system.  

     One day, we were all taking a little break during the summer, and I farted on my seat, and I sat on the far left outside of the rectangle, therefore my fart’s smell should have gone downwind.  The industrial fan was not very near me to assist air flow.  After about 20 seconds, I waited for the fart to subside, so I wouldn’t piss anyone off.  I got up and walked to the restroom, but I had to pass the other latino, let’s call him John.  When I returned, he told me to not fart in his face.  I told him I farted at my chair and did not bust wind in his face.  He then said, “don’t walk in front me next time.”  I apologized and chuckled because it was a bit funny watching his reaction, but I thought we were cool, that he would squash that crap.  For the record I never did that again. We continued working as normal the next few weeks until I quit the work detail to relax before my release date.  On a side note, I did have a small accident with the sewing machine.  The needle penetrated my forefinger tip.  All flesh no fingernail, hence not going into great detail about this incident.  No pain and no blood.  

     Furthermore, during our time working together John and I confided in each other about some prison politics and how to navigate our time there. He had a long sentence for drug trafficking.  In prison it is normal to confide in a member of the same group if you discuss issues about others outside your racial group, because you watch each other’s backs. But the prison military dynamics were changing fast and traditional thinking was falling by the wayside.  I will explain this in my next post.  John snitched on me about my distrust for someone in the black section.

            One day, 3 months before being released a huge guy came to my cell.  I had a 103-degree fever that day and was just starting to recover.  It was this inmate I was cool with, and we respected each other, but he was involved in many things, and I wanted no part of it.  I had told John, about my distrust for him and what he had done and to be wary of others.  Little did I know John was the one to be wary of as well. Let’s call the big guy Vince.  Vince came to me and asked me if I had been saying things, at first, I said, “no,” because I was afraid of this big dude, and I didn’t want to create unneeded drama.  Like I said, we were cool, and we respected each other, so some discussion occurred to clarify what was said.  All you have is your word in there, once you are caught fibbing, your reputation and credibility is finished amongst the feared and respected inmates.  I quickly changed my stance and told him the truth as to why I said, what I said, with facts that he was very aware of.  I had said to myself, “fuck it! I get beat down, but if I get beat down for saying the facts my word is still golden.” This wouldn’t look good for him because it would have brought lots of attention onto him and opened a can worms.  Also, on my end I would lose good time and not be released early.  I had to sacrifice it.  Good thing, stable heads prevailed, and no violence occurred.  A few months later, he ended up fighting the heavy of the white guys, who was an Army Ranger.  Both men over 6’2 and stacked, I saw that fight by chance in the laundry detail. Later I will, mention what that Army Ranger allegedly did a few years later in prison. 

     Since I had only 3 months remaining, I did not go after John.  I still believed in the old ways; you do not snitch on your brother and for a reason of a fart? I think maybe John was jealous I was leaving and he still had 20 more years to go in his late 20’s.   I kept away and avoided him, and he could feel I knew.  I did not approach him and tell him what was on my mind.  If I had done that, then I would have to act for all to see.  Let bygones be bygones. I was near my release and the inmate military prison system inside was breaking down and you had people in charge, that should not have been, as I will explain in the next post.

Before I was incarcerated, I grew up on the streets somewhat always fighting. I was smaller and kids tried to bully me and my sister. As soon as my dad gave me the green light to defend myself and my sister, fighting was part of growing up. My sister and I would fight off other boys and later I would pick them off one by one, but I went after the biggest mouth first, which usually was the leader of the group. Once he was made an example of that he couldn’t fight, the others faded away.

I was never a bully and sometimes I gave potential foes a chance by asking them, why they were upset with me and listening to them explain their reason. Usually it was false rumors or I had defeated one of his friends, therefore he or them were there to kick my ass. There were times that I was saved by other friends on the block or I walked away from the altercation giving the guy a warning, because I did not like fighting for fun. It was only fun when it seemed honorable, like defending your sister or friends. Provocations are a fine line sometimes, as you become an adult you cannot take violence into your own hands legally.

While I was in prison, another latino from the LA area joined us latinos. He was a boxer and tough guy. No doubt this guy could handle himself. In prison, inmates get annoyed easily sometimes and I was no different. Many prisoners get into prison out of shape from depression and become fat. He was so so, and wanted to get serious and back into shape. Many guys say these words but you never see the results either for lack of commitment or their body metabolism is not working fast enough to get them ripped. I gave this guy sarcastic, slight of hand remarks, and rude comments regarding his workouts and his talk about this and that. I did feel I was getting out of hand little by little and becoming borderline disrespectful.

One day, he pulled me to side and told me, (paraphrasing) “hey, you talking a lot shit and I’m tired of it.” “When I get angry I am like the Tasmanian cartoon devil, I cannot stop.” When he told me in a respectful manner, it reminded of myself forewarning others what was to come and most importantly, I understood his temper/anger, it was similar to mine. I replied,” okay, you are right I have been talking too much garbage and I apologize, you didn’t do anything to get that from me. I get it.” After that little meeting, our routines continued as before, and without my unwarranted criticisms. I highly respected him for that, no doubt his boxing skills were better than mine. He showed me respect and he was right to approach me. After that, things were good between us. If he needed something, I gave it to him or helped him out. He had some crazy stories from the streets, that I enjoyed listening to.

Always show respect to others, even if you may think they don’t deserve it. Respect is a two way street, but some will never understand.