Wow, a year old thread bumped! Hadda click and see what was stirring in here myself -lol
S
Me too. Last night I worked a housing unit and some prisoners were doing a body weight workout for what seemed like at least 2-3 hours. Every time I walked down the hall they were doing something.
Roids in the joint exist, so does almost anything a guard is willing to smuggle in and an inmate is willin to pay for.
Guys get jacked because they have the time to do so, all you have is time on your hands. As far as weights, those are made from bags of water, books in pillowcases, or doing squats with your celly on your back.
I would also add that, while I couldn’t prove it, the feeling of constant danger makes a guy make more testosterone as a survival mechanism. Being on the yard especially, maybe more so than on the tier, is a stressful environment. When guards are not known for stopping fights until someone is either beat up or dead gives someone more incentive to workout harder.
Wouldn’t the heightened cortisol levels work against them if it was only about the constant danger?
IMO the weight training and general environment where your social status is now directly linked to your stature (rather than economic/academic factors) helps them gain some direction and set some goals (get big and strong, earn respect). Even the most NON violent prisons with a healthy lifting and gym environment see some solid physiques and respectable lifts, not just the most dangerous prisons. Heck even the non violent prisons without weights see lots of pushups, dips and pull-ups contests - its about these people setting tangible goals and, as has been repeated ad infinitum, enough time to rest - not a constant sense of impending danger.
Many county prisons in the US hold an equal number of violent/nonviolent offenders as well as illegal aliens who were caught working at walmart or whatever without papers as well as people who overstayed their visa – and the DHS has to ensure the environment is completely safe during the periodic ACLU visits. Not to mention, the county prisons stop receiving their sizeable handout from the DHS for each illegal alien detained there if word breaks out of any violence in said prison. So shaving razors are issued over a 15 minute period (against the prisoner’s name) and have to be returned by the end, any and all mirrors are replaced by polished steel plates riveted to the wall etc etc etc. Yet, you’ll be surprised at the physical improvement detainees experience even over shorter terms.
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
would also add that, while I couldn’t prove it, the feeling of constant danger makes a guy make more testosterone as a survival mechanism. Being on the yard especially, maybe more so than on the tier, is a stressful environment.[/quote]
Things still pop off even in non-violent prison, though nearly not as often. Also, not everyone at a non-violent prison has always been non-violent. Some prisoners were housed in a high or medium security, and due to “good behavior” they have been moved to a lower security facility. That doesn’t mean they were good little boys, it means they were never found to be guilty of anything, which is not hard to accomplish since no one in a prison will talk if they are questioned.
The ACLU cannot whine about things they don’t see, like taking a urine test after a long day cleaning graffiti in 115 degree heat. Where men passed out from dehydration and simply could not urinate which have them an automatic guilty urinalysis. Nor can it defend an inmate who was choked against a wall when professing his Christian faith. Or a guard hitting a man in the head wih his long flashlight, splitting his head open.
Prison is based on the mushroom theory. Feed them shit and keep them in the dark.
I am not aware of the physiological effects of imminent danger on a daily basis. But I saw skinny guys getting beefy, and fatties getting in shape almost by default. Almost like a survival mechanism kicks in, you are drawn to behaviors that promote self sustinence.