Being locked up behind prison walls is no picnic and you need to get used to that idea before you find yourself on the wrong side of those walls. A lot of bad things happen in prison, you can’t do anything to prevent these things happening and you can’t even run away to escape from the dangers. What you can do is learn how to cope with the challenges and avoid the dangers you will meet inside prison. Surviving prison depends on knowing what to expect and how to deal with it.

Some former prison inmates describe prison as hell on earth, and that is exactly how it can be if you start off on the wrong foot when you are sent to prison. Despite the hellish nature of the ordeal, surviving prison is possible if you learn the right things to do to cope with life behind bars. Here are 5 tips for coping with prison life.

1. Avoid gambling. Whatever you do, don’t get involved in any form of gambling in prison. Playing card games to pass the time is fine, but never get drawn into betting on the outcome. If you are tempted into gambling, you can find yourself in debt and the way payment is extracted could be very painful.

2. Avoid drugs. The use of illegal drugs is widespread in prison. Don’t get involved. In the first place, you don’t want to develop a habit that can ruin the whole of the rest of your life. In the second place, you don’t want to find yourself in debt to the prison drug barons. In the third place, if you get caught you could find your term in prison extended.

3. Avoid gay prisoners. Don’t behave in a homophobic manner, just remain neutral but distant. Sexual assaults are a danger in prison; if you keep company with homosexuals you risk being beaten up by the homophobes or sexually assaulted by other inmates who assume you are homosexual.

4. Stand up for yourself. If another inmate picks on you, fight back even if you don’t have a hope of winning the fight. If you don’t fight back, you will be marked out as an easy target and will become the victim of every bully inside the prison (guards as well as inmates).

5. Keep yourself to yourself. Don’t confide your personal business to other prisoners and don’t try to interfere in other inmates’ affairs. If you witness a person doing something wrong, develop a case of selective blindness, deafness and dumbness.

Prison is a harsh world within our world, and it can change people for the worse. You can learn how to survive a prison sentence and come through the experience undamaged. You will find that surviving prison is not impossible provided you learn a few essential rules of behaviour and maintain your defences at all times.
Surviving in prison depends a lot on commonsense and knowing how to behave.

Are you waiting to be tried for a crime? I know how that feels; it’s like a weird time warp has taken over so that your days (and the sleepless nights) drag by hour upon hour as you dread the trial and worry about the outcome, but at the same time, your life is flying by as you speed toward the dreaded date. How to survive prison is something you have to consider, and the sooner you start learning what you will have to face, the better. You can hope and pray for a better outcome, but you must consider ways of surviving in prison if you are found guilty and given a prison sentence.

The time to think about how you will survive in prison is now; putting it off would only mean you have less time to prepare yourself for what you will need to do to cope with life behind bars. You will be locked up with people who have committed crimes, some of them violent; you might even find yourself sharing a cell with a hardened violent criminal. You need to learn what to do, how to behave inside prison.

The first thing you should learn is that you must not show any vulnerability. You must exhibit a strong and unemotional exterior. When you first enter prison stand straight with your head held high and maintain a facade of strength; don’t let your body language signal that you are one of nature’s victims. You might be terrified and full of despair, but you must not let these emotions show; if the other inmates detect any weakness, they will exploit it and you will have a harder time trying to survive in prison.

Time will pass slowly in prison; boredom is one of the most common causes of complaint among prison inmates. Find constructive ways to pass your time. Reading is always a good defence against boredom, and most prisons have reasonable library facilities. Board games and card games are popular, but don’t get drawn into gambling. If you enjoy sports, you will get the chance to join activities such as basketball. Whatever your level of fitness, it is a good idea to spend regular time working out. Improving your strength and stamina will be beneficial to your general health and will also make it less likely that other inmates will see you as a soft target and push you around.

Try to keep on friendly terms will everyone you meet in prison, but don’t get too close to anybody and never let down your guard. Keep your personal feelings and worries private and don’t confide in anyone; there will be people who act like they are your true friend, but are really on the lookout for signs of weakness they can use.

It is important to stay on the right side of the prison guards, but don’t make the mistake of appearing to friendly in case you are suspected of being a “snitch”; the mere suspicion is enough to earn you a sound beating from your fellow prisoners. Just keep your behaviour appropriate, do as you are told and remember that this is not going to last forever: all you want to do is survive in prison until you have served your sentence and then you can resume your life on the outside.

The best way of surviving in prison is to appear strong, do as you are told and don’t get into any trouble with the guards or the other inmates.

Hiring the right lawyer to deal with your case might mean that you will walk free and not have to worry about surviving in prison.

You have two basic choices when it comes to legal representation:

a) hire your own lawyer;
b) let the court appoint an attorney to represent you.

Technically there is a third choice: to represent yourself in court, but that is not worth considering when you are facing criminal charges that can result in a prison sentence.

Don’t rely on the court to appoint an attorney, it is too dangerous; you have no way of knowing what kind of lawyer would be appointed, you need the best lawyer you can afford.

Hiring the right lawyer mans you will get:

a) a chance of avoiding a prison sentence, or
b) the minimum term if a prison sentence is unavoidable.

Standing trial could be the most important event of your life; you need to make sure you have the best possible legal representation. Don’t even think of trying to economise on legal fees; get a good attorney to represent you. Surviving in prison is no picnic, if you can’t avoid a prison sentence, a good lawyer can get you the minimum sentence.

Click the following link for further advice on surviving in prison.

You need to prepare yourself mentally for appearing in court. You should also get ready to face up to time in prison if you are given a custodial sentence.

If you can afford to hire a prison coach, do so; prison coaching is expensive but it is worth paying what you can afford to learn the tricks of surviving in prison.

If you can’t afford to hire a prison coach, buy a book and coach yourself; the better prepared you are, the more chance you have of surviving in prison while you serve your time.

Click the following link for further advice on surviving in prison.

If you believe in God, pray. If you are not a believer try meditating.

Do whatever is needed to get yourself into the habit of positive thinking. You must believe in your self-worth because in prison nobody else will think you are worth anything more than dirt. There will be bullies inside who will taunt you and insult you. Make yourself strong before these games start.

Surviving in prison requires mental strength as much as physical strength.

Click the following link for further advice on surviving in prison.

You should get as physically fit as you can because life behind bars will be a challenge to your body as well as your mind and spirit.

Building up a few muscles will give you confidence and the body language of a confident person will make you a less desirable target for predators in jail.

Get a medical check-up so that any problems can be dealt with by drugs or therapy; healthcare behind bars is not all a sick person might hope for. Get your teeth checked and have any treatment necessary; you might have to put up with raging toothache for weeks if you need a dentist while in prison.

If you smoke or drink, get help to kick your habit right away – don’t take dependencies inside with you, being as strong and independent as you possibly can is vital to surviving in prison. Prison staff and inmates will be ready to exploit any weaknesses you show. Tobacco is used as currency in prison, as a non-smoker, you can use your tobacco allowance to purchase things you need to make your stay in prison more comfortable.

Click the following link for further advice on surviving in prison.

Make plans for how the running of your business and domestic affairs will be managed if you do end up in prison.

Make a Will; that sounds drastic but it is better to have everything neat and tidy for the sake of your family, and just knowing arrangements are in place will ease your mind.

Make sure your family will be able to cope day to day without you. If you are the one who normally takes care of payment of household bills etc, give all the paperwork to your spouse or partner together with any login details for online accounts.

Knowing your family is surviving on the outside will leave you free to concentrate on surviving in prison.

Click the following link for further advice on surviving in prison.

Learn as much as you can about life in prison. There are unwritten prison codes you don’t want to breach. Get to know the rules and codes as well as you can before you are in the position where you need to abide by them.

There are also things you need to learn about how to present yourself in prison and how to behave towards guards and other inmates. These can be small things such as not maintaining eye-contact with other inmates for too long and making sure you turn a blind eye if other prisoners are up to no good. All these small things can make a difference to you surviving in prison or jail.

Click the following link for further advice on surviving in prison.