Loneliness

 Although there's always Hope in prison, everyone is lonely.  Separation from family and friends makes inmates desperately lonely.  Also, since the inmates aren't sure of whom the other inmates are, they also distrust everyone and everything.  That's isolating individuals from each other.  The only remedy is visitations from family and friends and writing letters and phone calls (this costs money).  In fact, postal stamps are used as money when inmates trade with each other.

Hope

 Count your blessings that you have never been to prison.  What do you think inmates think of their future?  I suppose it would depend on their sentence and situation.  The lifers I know, always, always have hope they will be released.  And lo and behold, I've seen it happen.  Two were given compassion release, and lived a few good years, after.  More eventually had their cases overturned; thanks to the Innocence Project and current DNA testing.  Then there's the Mattis cases.  Quite a few of my "cloistered brothers" are free, due to the Mattis decision.  There was also evidence tampering in the chemistry scandal in MA. Another former inmate had his case overturned when his accuser admitted lying!

There's always hope.  The future may be bleak, but no one gives up hope.

Respect

A former Correctional Officer told a wonderful story, today. He was reminiscing about his first day as a CO.  As he was making his morning rounds, an inmate asked him to get him a pair of socks, since the ones he had were all wet and full of holes.  The CO said he would.

The day was busy and the CO forgot.  Actually, not quite--he almost forgot.  As he was punching out, at the time clock, he remembered.  He went back into the prison, got a pair of socks, and went back to the inmate and gave them to him.

The inmate was shocked.  He said that he had seen the CO leave and thought to himself that he was like many of the CO's and just enjoyed jerking the inmates around. Some CO's think the inmates are less than human.

That inmate's opinion was turned around and he found respect for that CO.  Not only the inmate found respect, but the CO also realized that people are people, whether they are in prison or not, and deserve to be treated as such.  

Respect people and they respect you back.

Inside Out

See if you can follow my drift.
       Inmates in prison refer to me as an outsider.  They are insiders.

We were discussing the Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4. The woman was drawing water from the well at the hottest time of the day.  She was the only one there because no one would go to get water at that particular time, unless they really had to.  So why did she?  We learn that she is not the average wife, at all.  In fact, she has flaunted the social sensibilities because she is living with a man and they were not married. She also was married five times before!  So she was ostracized.

I asked these inmates if they ever felt ostracized, left out, or an outsider.  As soon as I said it, I realized that they literally were ostracized, left out, and outsiders.  But they thought the opposite, because they are on the inside and people like me are the outsiders.

Do you see what I'm saying?

There's a lesson in this exchange.