As I am in my second month at the Camp in Otisville, here are some vital tips to live by for your first 30 days. Let’s just say, I wish someone had shared these with me before I surrendered. Mind you, there are a lot more tips not mentioned, as and this is not in any specific order or a complete/finished list:
1. Observe more than talk, especially in your first month. Seek to understand others more than seek to be understood.
2. You and only you should decide how you want to do your time. i.e. exercise, religious services, reading, sports, have a job, become a better person.
3. Know who is in charge (the BOP) and know you don’t have a choice. When you are told to do something, do it, and show up where you need to be always.
4. Don’t be so willing to share. Get to know the person you frequent the most.
5. Never use any names on the phone or in emails.
6. Don’t speak or write about anyone including staff and campers in a negative light.
7. Have your reply ready when people ask you what you did. Be short, specific, humble, say you were stupid and got caught.
8. Always be at count 10 minutes early. I almost missed count as I was in the library and ran back. Tip – if no one is around you, get the heck back to camp and get a watch to know the time 24/7.
9. Resist using sarcasm for the 1st 30 days.
10. Be like the guard Shultz in Hogan’s Heroes and learn the phrase “I know nothing! I see nothing!” Mind your own business.
11. Getting a job is the best way to create a routine for yourself.
12. You be YOU! Don’t be bullied by anyone. Again, you decide how you want to do your time.
13. Think of your sentence as an OPPORTUNITY not a detriment.
14. Decide how you are going to become a better person with your time. For example learn more about your religion, learn a language or start reading books on a daily basis and write book reports and add them to your Release Plan.
15. Do not trust others too quickly or easily.
16. When referring to fellow inmates, do NOT call them by name but call them a camper or a friend or something else. You decide the best term to call them.
