Do you have to fight in prison? Well, let me put it this way – if you want to spend your entire sentence as some big bully’s personal punching bag and toilet paper, then sure, go ahead and be Gandhi and turn the other cheek.
But here’s the deal. Prison is a fucked up place full of fucked up people. It’s like high school on steroids, except instead of getting stuffed in a locker, you might get a shank in your kidney. Everything revolves around respect and establishing your place in the pecking order. And unfortunately, the hard truth is that respect is earned through violence or the credible threat of violence.
Now, I’m not saying you need to go around starting fights left and right like some roided out UFC wannabe. But if someone disrespects you, tries you, or starts shit, you better be ready and willing to throw down. Even if you get your ass kicked, simply showing that you’ll stand up for yourself and not take abuse lying down can be enough to make people think twice about fucking with you in the future.
See, in prison, there are always going to be predators looking for easy prey – guys they can extort, punk, or abuse for their own twisted pleasure or status. If these fuckers smell weakness on you, if they think you won’t fight back, then you might as well tie a pork chop around your neck and jump into a lion enclosure. They will make your life a living hell.
But here’s the really messed up part. Even if you’re willing to give them what they want – food, commissary, sexual favors, whatever – that’s no guarantee they won’t still beat the shit out of you just for fun. Appeasement is seen as weakness and will only embolden them.
So as fucked as it sounds, being ready to fight is often the only way to prevent more serious violence and victimization in the long run. You gotta be willing to go toe-to-toe over even minor slights or challenges to your manhood, because if you let that shit slide, word will spread that you’re a bitch and every other wanna-be tough guy will line up to take their shot.
Now to be clear, I’m not glorifying this. It’s all incredibly fucked up and tragic. We’re talking about deeply traumatized and dysfunctional people being locked in cages and essentially forming vicious animal packs. The whole system is set up to bring out the worst in human nature.
But it is what it is. And if you find yourself locked up, for whatever reason, you better get your mind right and accept the reality of your circumstances. Being some delicate pacifist flower child will only get you victimized or killed.
So do you HAVE to fight in prison? No, not necessarily. But you better be fucking ready to. Because I guaran-goddamn-tee that at some point, someone will test you. And how you respond in that moment may very well determine the course of your entire prison experience. Will you stand up for yourself as a man or will you curl up in a ball and resign yourself to being a bitch?