(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . If Trump is convicted and sentenced to prison, here's a look at life in a minimum-security facility [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-03-31 This 2018 article describes prison life for white collar criminals at minimum-security facilities like the one Donald Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, spent 13 months in. It’s not quite as cushy a lifestyle as the twice-impeached former president is accustomed to. Cohen's prison time was reduced for good behavior, but if good behavior is the only way to get out early, I can only imagine that his former employer would be serving his full term if he’s actually convicted and sentenced to prison. Intake “The intake process is shocking. Until you actually go through it, you can’t really anticipate it or believe it,” says Kimelman. “It’s sort of what you see in the movies, sort of not. There’s a lot of the strip-down and the searching.” Once inmates are strip-searched, they are swabbed for DNA, fingerprinted, asked security questions, and given a health check and then a psychological evaluation. Once that process is complete, they are assigned their bunk. That particular convict also recalled the guard making an ugly racist remark about his bunk assignment. But I’d assume all the facility staff would be on their best behavior when dealing with an inmate who has a Secret Service entourage. Then comes the prison uniform. The camp didn’t have his size, so Kimelman’s standard-issue khakis and white T-shirt were several sizes too big. He was then told to go straight to lunch. Daily Life It takes a few weeks to get into the rhythms of prison life, ex-cons say. For most inmates a typical day goes something like this: At 6:00 a.m. the lights come on in the dormitory and a voice over the loudspeakers declares, “The compound is now open.” This sparks a mad dash for the bathroom and cafeteria — inmates are given 90 minutes to take care of their business, make up their bunk beds (with hospital corners), and tidy up their living quarters before reporting to work call at 7:30 a.m. Inmates work jobs for 12 to 40 cents an hour, including janitorial duty, kitchen work, clerical work, and even tutoring fellow inmates for their GED tests. After roughly three hours they break for lunch; then it’s back to work at around noon. Unlike at prisons with higher levels of security, minimum-security inmates can move around freely. Around 3:30 p.m. they turn in their tools and report back to their bunks for a headcount, followed by dinner beginning around 4:00 p.m. Then they have several open hours before the final count of the day at 10:00 p.m. In their free time inmates can take classes, go to the library, watch TV (there are usually three or four, with one designated for sports, one for Spanish-language programming, and so on), play cards or sports, or attend religious services. Then, the next day, they get up and do it all over again, every day until their sentence is completed. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of their TV sets is tuned to Fox News, so that would give Trump something to do. There are obvious downsides — foremost, isolation from family. Inmates are given only 300 minutes of phone time per month. They are allowed to use email, but it costs 5 cents per minute, and they can’t download attachments or access the wider internet. Trump might be accustomed to isolation from his family, but surely lack of internet access would be vexing. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/31/2161311/-If-Trump-is-convicted-and-sentenced-to-prison-here-s-a-look-at-life-in-a-minimum-security-facility Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/