BY: Jeff Perrotte
01-10-01

I am writing to you from a prison. At this prison, there is usually about 3500 inmates, serving a variety of sentences, for a variety of crimes, ranging from petty theft to first degree murder. I am currently serving a sentence of 15 years to life as a result of a tragic automobile accident that occurred in the City of Rancho Mirage in 1992 and resulted in the death of Frank Sinatra’s life-long friend, Mr. Jilly Rizzo. “On The Other Side” is an attempt to give readers a peek at life on the inside of a state prison. The goal of this article being that once you have this peek, you will make any necessary changes to keep from experiencing this madness firsthand.

From the first moment you are let off from the bus that transported you, in a cage, to the intake facility for the California Department of Corrections, you begin to understand the magnitude of your punishment. You immediately begin to become familiar with a society that is unforgiving and incomprehensible from the outside world. You realize that from this point forward, your only goal is survival. Your goals related to your family, or your life, no longer matter. The fact that you are sorry and want things to change matter about as much as the guy’s screams in the cell next to you. The sights are quite shocking unless you can imagine living in a world that is completely made of concrete, steel bars and filth. Or, unless, you are used to looking into the eyes of predators or individuals who seem to have lost their souls or their desire to live. The first time you get a good look at the cell that will be your home tends to instill fear into the hearts of most. The realization that this small dungeon is your only refuge strikes you significantly. Then, the first time the bars are slammed shut in your face and you realize that all privacy is lost, and life as you knew it is gone, maybe forever, the new sounds begin to assault you.

Once you arrive here, you will never hear a moment of silence. This alone, can have powerful physiological effects on a person. There is the constant sounds of jingling of keys, boots scraping along concrete floors, guards practicing the accuracy of shooting at the range, inmates yelling for the guards, toilets constantly flushing or the screams and unintelligible outbursts by those suffering from mental illnesses or nightmares. Of course, there is also the sound you hear that many attempt to disguise, the sound of someone crying into their pillow. But, this sound, pales in comparison to all the others.

After processing at an intake center, you will be sent to one of many prisons throughout the state. Upon arrival, you immediately are required to learn a whole new set of rules and codes. The failure to do this can be the difference between life and death. The moral norms that you may have been used to no longer matter. In fact, they can result in you becoming familiar with an even darker place within the walls of a prison, a place called Administrative Segregation (Also known as the hole, solitary confinement, etc.).

In this highly secured environment, designed to separate the most dangerous inmates from the general population, and also to separate the general population, or mainline as it’s called, from inmates whose lives may be in danger for a variety of reasons. The reasons can include; violating one of the unwritten “Convict Codes”, being convicted of a crime that is reprehensible to the mainline such as child molesting, child porn, rape, etc…, any number of reasons that can result in you having to do your time in Protective Custody. Within this environment, life literally comes to an end. The only thing that you are allowed to do is breath. Of course, you are given a couple hours of yard per week, but you will go to the most dangerous yards to be on. On these yards, you may be required to do anything to anyone at any time. Whether you are there for your protection or others protection does not guarantee your safety. Being attacked by another person in Protective Custody is not unheard of. In 1995, while at a prison in San Diego, I knew a young man who went to Administrative Segregation for a minor offense. Two weeks later, he died there. He was involved in a fist fight on the yard, and received a bullet in the head. A tragedy.

To be an inmate on the mainline means to be a member of the general population. While living on the mainline, you have many rules that need to be followed. These new rules are irrespective of staff requirements, but rules that are maintained and enforced by the mainline inmates. None of these rules are prevalent, or even known, in the real world. You basically live a self-segregated existence. There is no real gang-banging per se in prison. In here you stick with your own race for a variety of reasons. Most specifically, when a riot occurs, it is usually between different races.

Most of the members of this society are here for making bad choices while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. In fact, I have yet to speak with anyone where this did not play a factor in their charged offense. In most instances, what started off as, or appeared to be, harmless fun turned into the nightmare that brought them here. Whether you decide to come and visit this society will clearly be reflected in your ability to make good decisions. If you expect to continually make these decisions while consuming drugs or alcohol, then you are in for a terrible awakening. There are countless numbers of children, fathers, grandparents, brothers and friends locked away within these walls. However, there is always another bed available it seems for someone who thinks it won’t happen to them. Before you come, remember, everything as you know it, will change. Every sight, every sound, every smell will be different.

There are many tragic stories living within these walls. If you could imagine the most painful thing that could happen to you or your family, it resides here. From children taking a gun to school, or breaking into a house for fun, or just trying to scare someone off for the heck of it, and ending up with a life sentence for murder is just a start of the stories that live within these walls.

From the inmate who suffered the punishment of confinement only to have their life destroyed by a prison riot, a stray bullet on the yard, a prison rape, or a multitude of other atrocities, it’s all here.

This is not the country club others would try to have you believe it is. This is the Devil’s Playground. A place you do not want to visit, or live, for that matter. When you sit on a concrete slab on the yard with friends who on the average have twenty years in prison already for a childhood mistake, the enormity of the situation becomes clear. We must educate the children, this is not the college you want them to attend.

Jeff Perrotte, H89472
Unit 2
Dorm 7 Bed 77L
PO Box 608 - State Prison
Tehachapi, CA 93581

Close Window