My name is George _______.
I got locked up Jan 14, 2014 for a domestic violence situt situation involving my girlfriend of about a year. Jail time is nothing I would wish on my worst enemy.
I stayed I the chatham county jail for a little over two-year awaiting trial and the remainer of the timewas spent in a prison in chester Georgia.
My exiperence during the first two-years was rough. I went threw a spell of depression. And was really thinking about taking anti-depression medications. But instead I just prayed and coped by talking with my Grandmother like 3x’s a week. I even eventually joined the chapling program. It was not easy at all. My grandmother would send me fifty dollars a week and I eventually picked up a lot of weight. Then like maybe 6 or seven months into my sentence time in jail the public defenders started coming with ple-deals. Offering me ten years I quickly declined. then about 2 years in my sentence they offered 5 year credit for time served and quickly accept.
Not to much longer after I accepted that plea offer was I shipped off to Jackson State prison for diagnostics in diagnostic that’s when reality clicked in and I said to myself this is real. There I witnessed people on death row, anytime we were in line going to chow and there was a deathrow inmate coming we were ordered to face the wall until the deathrow inmate would pass. Other things I experience was people’s Commissary getting taken by gangs or muslims. Rape and pervesion were also thing I’ve witnessed. Twenty-three hour lock downs were mandatory was routine for us also. I stayed there for about six weeks before I was finally told to pack it up because I was being shipped to my permanent prison.
Once I packed my belongings I was told what State prison we I would go to a lot of inmates when they heard what prison they would have to go to started holding there heads down.
When we arrived at the prison it looked like a whole nother world the grass realty trimmed the floors were shining all the inmate had clean white and blue strips.
Then we were taken to our dorms where it was clean also I was assigned my cell, my first cell-mate was an older white guy he was cool though. The first night there was a bit of a blur. But I remember I started smelling clouds of mari weed smoke while I was in the T.V. room, then I remember C.O’s coming in rushing to this particular room and bringing three members of the gangs out in hand cuff we were locked down for the rest of that night.
I was eventually moved to a different housing were the inmate were using more harder drugs and fighting over commissary I managed to stay clear off of all of that and earned my G.E.D. My roommate whom I had been getting along with was moved and a gang member was placed in my cell so I spoke with an lutinent and was moved. It really wasn’t much better because my new cell-mate always had to much company in our cell and alltimes of th day and night. I knew I was going to be released on parole so I really stayed clear of fighting.
Then something happened a real good friend of mine cell-mate had been beatin until he was bleeding out the ears by gang members the victim was a Mexican and they robbed him off of his celluar phone something we’re not to pos have. My good friend left that dorm after that because he did not no what kind of cell mate ho would get.
After that I just started to read more until I was finially released in September on the the 14 of 2017. I’m now on parole until Jan 14, 2019. And working at a warehouse here in Savannah and hoping never to return.
Text courtesy of George White III
Artwork by Glynn B. Cartledge