Morgan Spurlock is a decent guy. I’d like to have a beer with him. He lays it out straight. Prisons & jails are boring and hopeless. He knows this because he spent 30 days in a county jail just outside of Richmond, Virginia.
Spurlock nails it. “One of the most surprising things about prison is that you are pretty much left on your own. all you can do is kinda suck it up and fall into a pattern. I’m gonna get up, gonna eat, gonna play cards, gonna watch TV, gonna do some push ups, do some sits ups, write a letter, read a book….”
He continues, “People will be in their rooms or down here – just hanging out, you know, on the phones. The punishment is the monotony. This is it. You don’t have to think. You’re in jail. There is no thinking involved. And you’re feeding the machine. And you feel like that … you don’t feel like a person in a lot of ways.”
Spurlock elaborates “I haven’t seen a tree in over two week;, I haven’t seen one blade of grass; I haven’t breathed fresh air. It gets to you being in here … it really does. I see people like George and Randy who keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. What is the system doing for these guys? They’re stuck! I see this cycle that were putting people in and punishing people for problems we could be helping them with. And the prisons and jails are just becoming a dumping ground. It really is a place that feels hopeless.”
Spurlock even challenged his sanity by agreeing to a 72 hours stretch in solitary confinement. Spurlock couldn’t comprehend how Randy (mentioned earlier) spent a year in solitary.
Great series. Great episode. Sobering reality. Spend 45 minutes of your life and witness the monotonous and expensive warehousing of society’s misfits.
Prison Photography 
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October 11, 2010 at 8:54 pm
jesse marlow
i agree with what your saying. im 20 yrs old and just got out of jail for a possession of meth charge one week ago today. i have to be at the local court house every friday and monday morning at 7am to take a drug test. witch i have to pay 5 dollars for every time i go. if i fail a drug test i will be locked back up untill my court date(witch couldbe 3-4 years from now) i have never been in any troubl with the law besides this. the drug task force came in my home (because someone told them i was dealingdrugs) the agents found a little in my pocket but none in my home or on my property. my friend jeff is in the county jail rightnow waitin to be sent back to prson. he is 37 yrs old and has been in prison 20 yrs of his life all together. i wrote hime a letter the other day and aked him why he keep doin the same thing over and over when he knowed he would go back to prison for it and in his reply simply said “cause jess,im institutionalized.” and he is. i realize that jeff has never had to live with the stress of paying bills or feedig himself or having a job or something as simple as having cell phone. i guess you could say that he cant deal w it. he says he is “state raised” he has always been givin and place to sleep, 3 meals a day, a shower, and all the basics. jeff is one of the best people in the world. if you met him on th street you would never gess he has spent over half his life in prison. im thankin that maybe if the state(we live in north wst georgia) would have tryed to help jeff instead of sendin him off to some prison where hey could forget about him untill his release dtat then maybe jeff would not b in county jail right now waitin to spend the next 5 yrs of his life in some damn prison. but no. the statesure does wont that 165 dollars a day that it cost to house one inmate. im sorry but i juat got outof ail and i would for someone to tell me where the 165 dollars a day went that the state got for houseing me because i sure as hell didnot see any of it in the pod or cell or food tray or anythang they provited for me. im 20 yers old and about to b a convicted fellon before i can legally walk into a store and buy myself a beer.
October 11, 2010 at 9:01 pm
jesse marlow
they are not even 4sure that it was meth in my pocket. i have to request that it b tested when i go to cort. and i was not dealing drugs it was for my use only. right before i went to jail, my best friend drove me to a drug rehab where i got out of the car and knocked on the door and beggedthem to help me and the lady said that no she could not help because ithere was no empty beds.
November 1, 2013 at 1:39 am
wicked
I spent three-and-a-half years in prison. I just got out. Man, prison sucks. Can’t eat, stomach hurts. Can’t drive, I’m scared and I don’t know how anymore. I barely got this touchscreen to work. I’ve neen free two days and its great but im paranoid. I have anxiety through the roof when I’m in loud places. Sucks, but I am happy. Womens Huron Valley Prison SUCKS.