atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/vnn/2111033547.html

One of the demands of Georgia's prisoners is that they should get paid for their work. Why, you might ask, would they think they should get paid when the taxpayers are footing the bill to support them? Well, read on.
I don't know any prisoners in the state institutions in question, but over the years I've had a lot of exchanges with a lot of prisoners in Georgia and in other states. Different prisons and jails have different conditions. Here are some of the worst conditions I have observed.

1)Administrators who refuse to provide medical treatment, medication or diet for chronic diseases. It's a crap shoot. Sometimes prisoners get care, sometimes they don't. Who knows what makes the difference.
2)Minor health problems which could be treated with such ordinary things as aspirin, cough drops or laxatives go untreated and grow into bigger problems because of it. Jail administrators often refuse to provide such items to prisoners. Instead the sell those items from the jail store, at 2 to 3 times the price that you would pay in a regular store. If you get a headache on Monday and go through the process, you MIGHT get your aspirin by Saturday. Maybe. IF you have the money to buy it.
3)In order to buy things at the jail store, you have to have money in your account. You can have money in your account if you have it in your pocket when you are arrested. It is then taken from you and put into an account for you. Your friends and family on the outside can post money into your account for you. However, if you require any actual medical care, involving doctors and prescriptions and such, the jail then has the right to take the money out of your account until you have paid for your care. So if your mama send you money to enable you to get things you need, the jail will take it instead. The only way for you to get something then is to work for other prisoners who DO have money in their accounts, in exchange for having them provide you with items from the store.
4)Jails vary quite a bit in the food they supply to prisoners. None of them are overly generous. Some provide sufficient food to get by on. Others are so stingy that you will be slowly starving. If you have enough money in your account, you can buy more food from the jail store. Again, at prices 2 to 3 times the actual store value. You may pay a dollar for a pack of cookies that is clearly marked on the wrapper as 2 for a dollar. If you don't have any money and you can't bargain with your fellow prisoners, you will be hungry. You will think of nothing but food, constantly. Even when you get your tray, you will feel an aching disappointment before you take the first bite, because you know it won't be enough. The good news, of sorts, is that food is extremely valuable and you can trade it for aspirins and such.
5)Another thing that can be in short supply is feminine hygiene products. Jails often limit suplies to 3 or 4 a month. If you need more … and just about every woman needs a lot more than that … you can buy them at the jail store. For 2 or 3 times the usual outside price. If you can't pay for them, you will soil yourself and your bedding. You will likely remain soiled for a while, because you get one uniform, one set of sheets and the laundry is done once a week. Some of the more generous jails may do laundry twice a week. If you get in a jam with your hygiene products, you are just. I can quote the administrator of the Meriwether County jail as telling a prisoner “It's your blanket, it's your blood, you sleep on it.”
6)When you are taken to jail you are entitled to a phone call. Which you may get, eventually. Or not. Some jails only allow you to call from pay phones. If you don't have the money to buy a jail phone card you are out of luck. If your relatives have collect call blocks on their phones you are out of luck. If they have cell phones only you are out of luck. If you can't remember their numbers you are out of luck. Some jails will let help you get your address book out of your personal property and some won't. If the pay phone breaks down you have to wait until they get around to fixing it. If you can remember the address and you have the money in your account to buy stamps and envelope, maybe you can write them a letter. If not, it can be a long time before your family and friends, your boss or even a bondsman will know where you are. Think it can't happen? Yes, it does happen. Worse yet the conditions are the same for people who are in there awaiting trials and hearings and have never been convicted of anything at all.

Conditions in our jails are shameful and inhuman. Just because it all happens behind a wall and you can't see it is no excuse. Shame on Georgia. Shame shame shame on Georgia.

To see more horror stories, go to my website auntieracist.tripod.com

This particular story will never make it onto that page. That's because the web page is frozen and I am blocked from posting any more stories onto it. I guess some people don't like to see what happens in jails. As long as it happens behind bars and they don't have to watch, it's fine with them.