And often it is the promise of quiet that first attracts inmates to try Centering Prayer then the tiny glimmer of hope that a loving God is reaching out to them. For a new inmate, when the shock hits that they re really being locked up to do a significant amount of time behind these walls, the feelings of disbelief, fear, and panic are overwhelming. Just getting used to the regimen, the severe restriction on one s ability to say anything about anything, the level of unrelenting noise. Just getting used to being locked in with another man in a 4x8 cell designed for one, with zero personal space, zero privacy. Just getting used to the endless rules and their strict enforcement - the written rules of the system and, even more critical, the unwritten rules of the yard.
Infractions bring swift and painful punishment.
The prison world is so alien that new inmates, called fish , are put into a separate prison bloc until they learn to adjust. Prison has nothing to do with rehabilitation. A man who realizes he must change his life has almost no options here. The few rehab programs offered are booked solid, their waiting lists jammed. Most guys just settle in and grind out their time time that is black, endless, unrelieved monotony.