Obviously, location matters so bear this in my as you read what follows.
My hope in sharing this is to offer a realistic snapshot to gay men who get sent to prison. I just want to be clear about this because I’m sure the experiences are much different in pen. What follows are 10 things I learned from the perspective of a gay man and ex-inmate at a federal prison camp.įYI: there is a big difference between a camp and penitentiary. In prison, there’s no such thing as privacy. That last bit of information is one of the reasons why I decided to pen this piece. You see on the day that I arrived to the camp that’s part of the Atlanta facility, I discovered that every man in the compound knew the details of my incarceration. In the final analysis, I decided to just keep a low profile and avoid interaction.įunny how plans don’t work out the way you think they will. “Should I butch it up? Can I pass myself of as straight?” I remember thinking to myself. Worse, I feared that because I was a gay man, I’d be an easy target for abuse. The thought of going to prison scared the living crap out of me. I was given time to prepare and get my personal affairs in order (usually 60-90 days) and was ordered to self-surrender on October 12, 2005.
