GUIDE TO SURVIVING
MAN WHO SURVIVED THREE DECADES IN BRUTAL US PRISONS REVEALS HIS LIFE BEHIND BARS
LIFE in American prisons is nothing short of terrifying. With addiction and violence rife, every inmate has to watch their back and know how to deal with dangerous criminals who have nothing but time on their hands to think of new ways to inflict physical pain on their fellow inmates.
In Behind The Granite Walls, the follow-up to his best-selling memoir 34 Years Of Hell, about his time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, former prisoner Jamie Morgan Kane lifts the lid on life behind bars. He reveals how, sometimes, being willing to fight to the death over something as small as a stool is necessary if you want to survive…
Stand off over stolen stool
It took a few minutes, but finally I got (my cellmate) Samuel to tell me which cell the guy had gone to, and I went to retrieve our stool, as each cell is supposed to have one.
As I looked in the other cell, I saw there were three stools and as the door was open a bit, I opened it up all the way and just walked in. While grabbing the nearest one, I said, ‘Oh it seems someone in here accidentally took the stool from #345 when they moved, but that’s all right, I’ll save you the trouble of returning it’.
I turned and left. I guess it took them a minute to reali s e what happened, as I had just stepped in my cell and set the stool down when the two guys from the other cell showed up, asking what I thought I was doing.
I didn’t think they really wanted to fight over a stool, but had hoped I would give in when I saw two of them.
I pointed out to Samuel that at no time did I ever allow something to be just taken from me by another inmate and to do so sets a terrible precedent, as once word gets around you are seen as weak, you become a mark to anyone trying to prove something.
Making a stand
I had seen it happen many times over the years. When someone allowed another to just take something small from them, a piece of cake off their tray, a cup of coffee or maybe only a pen. If the person doesn’t say something, the next time it is something a bit bigger, their towel or a few soups out of their canteen bag.
Again, if the guy doesn’t make a point of standing up to the person, it gets worse. Next it will be someone
taking his trainers (possibly right off his feet), or maybe his TV and radio. If he is still not ready to put an end to it forcibly, I hate to say it, but his protagonists will force sexual favours out of him. Once that happens, he becomes their property and they will rent him out to others, and that will be his life for the rest of his time.
I did see some guys stand their ground, even if they got beat down, and more often than not, at some point he would just be left alone, and the guys would look for an easier mark.
One step beyond
There was something my gunny sergeant said that carried me through life – ‘You don’t have to be stronger, faster or tougher than the guy you fight and most times you won’t be, you just have to be the one who will go that one step beyond what they are willing to do to win’.
I have been told there were times when I would get a look on my face that made others realise I might be taking something a bit more seriously than they were, and they didn’t want to go there.
I am not proud to say but, in a few fights, I did hurt the other guy more than I needed to, but felt that I had to make the point.
It was because I had built a reputation of not necessarily starting fights, but that I would generally be the one to end them, that allowed me to stand up for guys others may take advantage of.
There was something my gunny sergeant said that carried me through life – ‘You don’t have to be stronger, faster or tougher than the guy you fight... you just have to... go that one step beyond what they are willing to do to win’