Blog - Prison Insight

Can You be a Prison Officer With a Criminal Record?

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a prison (corrections) officer? Are the requirements different compared to a police officer on patrol? Do they vary from state to state? Well, considering there are different types of prisons—federal, state, private—there are some differences when it comes to the specific requirements. But overall, the criteria […]

Where do Inmates Eat?

Food is an extremely common topic that people bring up when they ask me about prison life. People are always asking me about what inmates eat, where the food comes from, how often inmates eat, and where inmates eat. For some reason, people really want to know the answers to these questions! Like I say […]

What is an Inmate Trust Fund?

If you think everything is expensive at the grocery store right now, I can guarantee that prices are even higher at your local jail or prison commissary! It may sound odd, but being locked up isn’t cheap. Yes, correctional facilities provide inmates with “three hots and a cot” plus some prison-issued clothing. But everything else […]

Can You be a Prison Officer With Asthma?

If you live near a state or federal prison, and you are on the hunt for a job, chances are you’ve seen a lot of job postings lately for correctional officer positions. Where I live, there are three prisons within 20 miles. They are currently holding job fairs and offering big hiring bonuses because all […]

Can You go to Prison for Theft?

During the past year, you may have noticed a lot of news stories about the trend of “smash and grab” robberies in California. During the height of the most recent Christmas shopping season, there was a hit on a Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco’s Union Square. There were also incidents at Burberry and Bloomingdales. […]

Do Inmates Prefer to Share a Cell or Have One All to Themselves?

When you are sentenced to a long-term prison sentence, or even a year in the county jail, your life is no longer in your own hands. Just about everything in your life is decided for you, from what you eat to what you wear to where you live to how you spend your time. When […]

Can you go to Prison for Not Paying a Phone Contract?

For most people, the first question that comes to mind when they see someone in prison is—what did they do to end up behind bars? Did they kill someone? Did they commit assault? Maybe they stole something? Our minds tend to land on major “violent crimes,” like murder, rape, and assault, as the reason that […]

Can You Leave Prison Early?

Millions of people in the United States have spent time behind bars over the past 40 years. Between the 1,566 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 2,850 local jails, 1,510 juvenile correctional facilities, 186 immigration detention facilities, and 82 Indian country jails—as well as the military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in […]

Can You Visit Maze Prison?

In late 2021, the movie Belfast from writer/director Kenneth Branagh—and starring Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, and Judi Dench—hit theaters nationwide. The film is a coming-of-age drama set in Northern Ireland during a period known as, “The Troubles,” which lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1990s. “The Troubles” was a violent conflict between nationalists […]

Can You be a Prison Officer With Epilepsy?

Prisons are part of the multi-billion dollar correctional industry in the United States, and it takes thousands of people to operate these facilities throughout the country. While the inmates do most of the manual labor in a working prison, there are also paid employees from the free world who are needed to make sure things […]