After my first conversation with my section rep, Shawn, most of my concerns were alleviated due in most part to Shawn’s calming leadership quality. I can see why Shawn was chosen for this job. He is charismatic and friendly.

In the first couple of weeks in the section I was chatting with Shawn about how much more time he was looking at. He told me a minimum of 25 years, but in all likelihood he would never get out. When I heard his response I thought he might be messing with me, but didn’t pursue it further on the chance that he wasn’t. I also made a mental note not to stress aloud about my situation in his presence.

That night I asked my celly what Shawn was here for. He asked me if I had heard of someone the media had called the “River Bend Rapist.” It turns out Shawn was convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping, among other things. If I were to have guessed what Shawn was here for, it wouldn’t be anything violent, let alone that. Most inmates fit pretty well into stereotypes. Shawn is an exception to that rule.

After spending a fair amount of time around all different types of criminals, I can fairly accurately guess what an inmate is here for. Being a drug offender myself, I can usually further identify other drug offenders by their drug of choice. The long-term effects of methamphetamines leave the most obvious footprint. “Stomp print” might be a better euphemism. “Tweakers,” as they are called, often lose their teeth, appear much older and develop a very discernible twitchy behavior. The different characteristics of heroin junkies and crackheads are also recognizable if you know what to look for, but less clear.

When I first got to prison there was a whole group of guys I couldn’t identify. I had expected to find mostly tough guys and gangsters, but there were so many guys that if I had to pick a single word to describe them it would be nerdy. These guys didn’t look like thieves, violent offenders or drug addicts, so who were they? Were these socially awkward and mostly timid men the face of white collar crime? Far from it. This sci-fi, fantasy and comic book loving bunch are the worst of the worst. From what I have seen, this is your typical mold for most child-involved sex offenders (“mos,” short for child molester as they are referred to here). They seem to have a child-like mentality usually paired with good manners –. though much of their timid behavior might be a result of their knowing where they stand in the prison’s social hierarchy.

This isn’t to say if you play Dungeons and Dragons that you shouldn’t be allowed around children or if you play and watch sports you aren’t capable of such atrocities. All I’m saying is that this was not what I expected, and a bit of an eye-opener. And of course there are exceptions to every norm.

I was discussing this phenomenon with Shawn and mentioned that I just couldn’t picture him doing what he did and his response rang home to me. “That just goes to show you just how f—ed off you can get from drugs.”