PrisonAs I walk down the narrow hallway, my only material possessions reduced to a thin white sheet, a pillow, and a hard, scratchy comforter covered in bloodstains that must never be washed. I feel like I'm in a strange desert land surrounded by caged bloodthirsty wolves waiting for the slightest startle to trigger the attack on my fragile and innocent body. As soon as I entered, I felt like I was trapped in the hot humidity of death, breathing this air, which was strong like ammonia, almost overwhelmed me as if I had been hit with a punch by Tyson. My lungs were gasping for air, but there was none. Arriving at the end of the corridor, I slow down to enter this cell. This 5 x 10 x 10 cell, where two men must live alongside each other for weeks, months, even years, creates a mental illness; a psychological state that makes the most peaceful person irritable, angry, furious and absolutely desperate. His capacity for perspective diminishes until he sees only the faults of his cellmates, while his good qualities go unrecognized. Being confined in this way dehumanizes, degrades and destroys the qualities that a man may still have. In addition to being, a "newbie" also experiences apprehension, fear of the unknown, of being observed by peers, of being tested both by peers and by the administration, loneliness and rejection, adaptation to a hostile and unnatural environment. The type of crime a person commits has different effects on how they serve their sentence. Child abuse and rape top the list of crimes that the majority of prisoners will not tolerate. Any crime against children is met with violence. Lack of respect, rejection and humiliation from other prisoners. Once the nature of this type of crime is known to the prison, these offenders are tossed from cell to cell: no one wants to share their cell. Rapists come next on the list of rejected people. they tend to seek out their own peer group and, in most cases, cluster together. “Regular” crooks tend to avoid rapists. They see a rapist as someone who could just as easily have raped their daughters, their mothers or their lovers. Friendships with other inmates are rare. Acquaintances are more frequent and more certain. A friend is not always a friend in prison. Loyalty and trust can be a high price to pay for loneliness.