SCI hosted me for twenty-two of a thrity-five month sentence, which ended just before 2015. As…read moreprisons go, I found it to be delightful. If Mayberry RFD had a prison, this would be it. It's on a lovely tract of land on the edge of a national forest, so fresh air is abundant. The staff is not power hungry, but laid back like Troy, the sleepy town in which the prison is located.
Finding an agreeable Sargent to assist with a bunk switch is usually no problem, and shakedowns are relatively rare and painless.The yard plenty of benches and shady areas to kick back and relax, along with full basketball and paved volleyball courts. The inmate population is relatively small, so canteen lines were usually a breeze, and chow call is not the ordeal one can find elsewhere.
Perhaps the finest feature of SCI is the visitation area, which is across the parking lot in a tree covered grass area that felt much more like a park than prison. Spacious enough to get a stealth handy is one scores a spot in the right area, with no one the wise, especially if the more lax guard shift (they both are, pretty much) is on duty.
The interior is kept in good repair, and I'm happy to report each inmate has his own plastic chair, which can be stationed at the foot of one's bunk for convenience when not in use in a day room. Six foot high lockers double as partitions between bunks, which I found helpful for privacy and blocking the wind from the industrial strength fans posted on the walls. Even cells in the hole aren't too bad, as they feature sizable windows from which one can gaze and out recall what partial freedom felt like. These windows can also be opened or closed with the help of willing passersby.
TV rooms were abundant, featuring 32" flat screens and plenty of viewing options, including two different football games at the same time on weekends. On the flip side, the radio sucked, both the station options and indoor reception.
Give the above raves, one might wonder why only three stars instead of five. North Carolina summers with no air conditioning, that's why. Unless a nigga is lucky enough to sleep in the Mod, it's hotter than a brick oven most of the time. Also, the toilets are jail-style, i.e. seat and bowl all-in-one. In other words, my low hanging scrotum edged the top of the water line, and no inmate deserves this, regardless of his crime. Another problem is no hot and cold knobs for the showers -- merely the push button, one temp fits all. While the water wasn't set to scalding by any means, it still sucked.
The remote setting of SCI, while pleasant for air quality, proved to be a double edged sword. Work release options sucked, and community volunteers were few and far between. Basically, unless one was lucky enough to have a good AA sponsor there weren't many guys getting a change of scenery while wearing civvies.
* While I give SCI a hearty three stars, if you're taking about the Mod experience, it's an easy 4+. A/C, spacious, excellent radio reception, and a glorious shower facility that tops many shitty hotels in which I've stayed to cook crack.
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