Thursday 25 October 2012

That time I went to prison...

Just a quick update for today.

Did the title grab your attention?? We'll, just to clarify, I'm not a criminal...I just study them :)

As the title states, I did in fact go to prison. I actually went today as part of a field trip for my criminology class at Uni. It was super interesting to see how a real prison operates and what they actually look like in real life in NZ. I've watched too much of 'America's Hardest Prisons' and my view is slightly biased. Turns out our prisons here in NZ are a teeny bit nicer. They get dinner at 4.30 in the afternoon! They'd be so hungry for the rest of the night! But then again, prison isn't supposed to be enjoyable...

We started by looking at the youth unit of the prison where they rehabilitate offenders under the age of 17. As far as prisons go, it was pretty nice.
We then moved to the maximum security part of the prison, where we (a group of mostly girls) were greeted by some yells and whistles by the male inmates. They are so eloquent with their words. Not.
We then got shown around one of the cell blocks, which we initially thought was uninhabited. Turns out it wasn't. Us girls were sufficiently creeped out once we started seeing eyeballs appear at the little cell door windows.....
One guy thought that yelling at us and banging on his door would give us a fright. It did, and he thought it was hilarious.

We weren't allowed to see the rec yards, as the prisoners were all out exercising, and we wanted to make it out alive.

Our last stop was the special treatment unit, where they treat people who have drug addictions and other addictions I don't really want to mention. We were surprised to see that when we arrived for our tour, the prisoners were all out in the yard, and we were taken for a tour among all of them. They were a lot nicer than the maximum security ones though, some even said hello and asked how our days were going.

All in all, it was a pretty fun and interesting day. First and only time in prison though! :)


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