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Oct 2021
In prison, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are birthday cake,
and ramen noodles a succulent meal.
In prison, everyone's given shower shoes,
but pillows you have to steal.

In prison, the "beds" are worse than the floor,
the "blankets" giant SOS pads.
In prison, lice goes around like soup du jour,
and **** talk spreads like mad.

In prison, all you see is gray,
color only lives on your screen.
Now you're picturing us watching a 60-inch all day,
but it's only 13 by 13.

In prison, there's no such thing as steak, there's no such thing as meat.
Almost everything that resembles either is fake.
Real milk would be a real treat.

In prison, you still need money,
or you go to bed hungry each night.
It's seriously not funny.
Three small "meals"a day  
isn't right.

In prison, if you don't lock it down, another con will steal it.
There's more than enough desperation to go around,
and everyone can feel it.

In prison I was years ago.
I'm a different person today.
But the shame felt from being forced to bend over, spread my legs, and cough,
well that's never gone away.
I was in prison for 49 long days, and it was enough to scare me pretty much straight. I still know people who are locked up today. The majority of them are in for something related to alcohol, drugs, or psych issues. Many non-violent people that should be in rehab, which is where I should have been, are sitting in prison being punished for having a disease. They're not horrible people. Some people just don't get the breaks in life. I'm not saying no one deserves to be there, but in my mind, you have to have done some pretty bad **** to deserve that.
Zoe Mae
Written by
Zoe Mae  40/F/Massachusetts
(40/F/Massachusetts)   
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