I was incarcerated for many, many years. Yes, of course I was in General Population for most of those years. So, too, I was in "The Hole" often. Yes, we could get outside "Rec" several times a week but I usually stayed in. I loved my isolation. I worked hard to get it without "time punishment". I had to play the paranoid-schizophrenic card to do that. I did get burned one time when I broke a rule in my anger and lost a couple days Good Conduct Time. I quickly learned my lesson. Later, when I felt the need for a couple months of isolation, I pulled out my aluminum foil hat, complained about the microwave radiation beamed into my head telling me strange things. Once in Psych Isolation for a couple weeks, I'd see the shrink once a month who would eventually see the return of the Parkinson's symptoms in my hands that I learned to simulate and he schedule my return to GP. (Meds of choice was Haloperidol which caused a 3 cps hand tremor that appeared as Parkinson's Disease. Cogentin was prescribed to cut down that. I first took the Haldol without the Cogentin to see what symptoms would present. Then I began taking Cogentin to see that result. Once I could duplicate it all, I only appeared to continue taking it.) I got into a kerfuffle once and because I was labelled a psychiatric case, my sparing partner got a fighting charge while I did not.

While in General Population, people with charges like mine were required to attend Group Counseling. Our Good Conduct Time was contingent upon Group attendance. Most of my friends were in the same group as I was. I'd say there were about 20 or 30 of us at [a prison]. I can't really describe what they did to get their charges because it would probably identify some of them. One fellow was my cellmate for many years and we were very close friends up until his death from natural causes. He was very much into studying Charles Dodgson and often would discuss the information he found about him. And the famous HER. (Most people think that Lewis Carroll loved only Alice, but no, he had scores of little girls he called friends.)

Two of my friends were BL's. One fellow (not in my Group) was a sex addict and had to go to the dispensary in a regular basis due to friction burns on his... appendage. Another fellow (also not in my Group) was a gerontophile. That is, he was sexually oriented to elderly women. He struggled for years to find his way into a job in the chow hall washing dishes. Why? Two older women were among the civilian workers at the kitchens. His dumb-struck stare when he was near them pretty much told on him. They removed him quickly once they figured out what he was up to. Another fellow (who was not a pedophile) ended up being sent to SuperMax because he caught a female C/O (guard) in a passageway and tried to rape her.

Many of the people in my Group are now on the streets. Many are still (and will always be) behind bars. I am the only one not on a registry.