I just talked to Robert tonight, and he told me about a fight he almost got into. To make a long story short, they were in chow, and the guys at his table didn't have any salt. So Robert got up and went to another table and asked if his table could use their tables' salt. They said yes, he grabbed it, and went and sat down, etc. After everyone used the salt, he went to take it back to the table he borrowed it from. He reached in between two guys to put the salt back on the table, when one of the guys grabbed his arm, in what I guess would be some sort of warning. Robert snapped, and told the guy to NEVER touch him again. Well, it escalated, and basically a bunch of guys from that table, and Robert's table stood up. The guy who grabbed Robert's arm told him that he would be outside later. WEll, Robert WAS outside later, but not to fight the guy. He lost his temper, and he knew it. So, the guy approached him, and Robert pretty much apologized saying that he had parole, and he wasn't screwing it up. The guy said he didn't want to take Robert's parole, and they pretty much left it at that. Robert was in the weight pit with the weight over his head when the guy first approached him. He got a little nervous. The guy just asked what Robert wanted to do about the situation, and Robert said it was his own fault. So, they let it go.
So, I guess, even as bad as things get in there, guys STILL have the ability to apologize and walk away.
So, anyone else have a story where violence was avoided?

that's a relief to hear that nothing happened! I really worry about that kinda thing, my guy is not a fighter at all and I couldn't bear to think of him in violent situations :\

whew close call huh?? that was very good on behalf of both guys. Tito avoids fights and arguements at all cost, but a while back ago while playing a game of dominoes, the guy that was playing against tito was getting mad because he was losing and threw the domioes towards tito, Tito just laughed it off as if nothing happened and the guy swung at tito and well at that point tito was not going to let him get away with that. Well tito was suppose to go to the whole for 30 days but they guys that were in the room with him all wrote statement that the dude had started it all and tito only got 15 days in the hole. Ever since then he has been ticket free and on his way to a minimun prison since he is close to coming home soon!!

My guy talks about violence where he is at often. Some kid was just bein immature and kept stepping on his feet/new sneakers, I think the kid wanted to fight but my guy just let it go. Another time a kid ran over his feet with a wheelbarrow full of stuff he said it hurt pretty bad but the kid with the wheelbarrow didnt do it on purpose and apologized millions of times. My guy was telling me about wanting to go to the weight pit when he first got to where hes at now but wouldnt because thats where all the fights happen he said thats where people get cut up, so he avoided that. Once he got to know ppl who went to the weight pit they all decided to go there in a group to try to avoid anything happening to a simple individual. My guy talks to people about fighting and tells them that no one wins they both get beat down and end up in the whoe or box besides so why fight?

In my prison experience, it was in the TV rooms where most of the fights happened. I got in one there.

There are a few unwritten rules about the TV rooms. Where I was at cell had five chairs assigned to it, one for each bunk. You would take a chair to the TV room whenever you wanted to watch something. Alot of guys would leave their chair in the TV room all of the time. We could not put our names on the chairs but everyone had a mark on it. I marked mine "A-OK."

On the weekends, starting friday night, the TV rooms would be completely full of chairs. Usually it was okay to go in there and sit in someone elses chair if he was not using it. If the owner of the chair showed up and asked you to get up, it was done. No disrespect or being an asshole, you just ask for your chair back. That was the rule and everyone basically abided by it.

One saturday morning I was playing handball with a fellow inmate. It just so happened an officer walked out to the yard and saw us there, watched us for a while, heckled us for a bit.

He left and a few minutes later we stopped playing and went back to the unit when they had the 10 minute move. I walked to the TV room. When I got there, there was a guy in my chair. Since there were a lot of other empty chairs and I was only going to be there for a short while I sat in another chair.

Well, this guy looked back at me and said, "Dude. You can't sit there. That is my chair."

I said, "Okay, cool. I'll just sit in mine."

The guy said, "Cool."

"So get the fuck up off of my chair." I said. "You sit in yours, I'll sit in mine. There won't be a problem."

He realized I was serious. I had a lean, boxer/martial artist physique then. He was built like a buffalo, huge back, chest and neck. He lived in the weight pile and had a rep as a brawler.

"Dude, if you have enough hair on your ass, come get me out of it."

"It's gonna hurt," I said. I walked to him and slapped him on the side of his head.

He jumped up, pissed.

"Damn! Easier than I thought" I said.

He threw a punch and caught me in the cheek. He threw another that I slipped and I planted a good shot to his nose and followed it up with a spinning back kick to the gut. This put him on his knees and I kicked him again putting him down. I stomped on him for a while, he was squaling the whole time. I was finally pulled off of him.

I had a good sized lump under my eye and wondered how I was going to keep that from being noticed at count when the guy I played handball with showed up. He suggested we go up to contol and tell the officer I was hit in the face with the handball. It had not been 20 minutes since he had seen us.
You know it worked.

Someone dropped a dime on me and the other guy fighting and we got taken to the hole. He made up a story about falling down the bleachers at the basketball court. I stuck to my story about the handball. The officer who had seen us made a statement that he had seen us out there. He said he had not seen me hit, but was sure that it had only been a few minutes between the time he saw us and the time I made the report. That was good enough for me to be released from the hole and not get an incident report.

It's odd that you bring up the whole tv room cuz something similar like this just happened to Robert. He was in the tv room watching tv, sitting in his chair, when someone asked him for a cigarette. He told the guy to save his chair (he didn't put anything on the chair to "save it" so to speak cuz the guy said he would watch it and Robert would only be gone for like 2 minutes.) Well when he got back there was another guy sitting in his chair. He told the guy he was in his chair, and the guy didn't care.
Robert had a "stare down" with the guy and ended up walking away. He was really pissed, but being so close to parole he is not doing ANYTHING to screw it up. I know that he was just itching to do something to the guy. He said that you do not go and take someone else's chair, you just don't do it. Especially when other people, like the guy that was holding the chair for Robert TOLD the dude that it was Robert's chair. I guess that is seen as complete disrespect.
I am glad that Robert didn't do anything, but I know it's not good for him to just swallow anger left and right. But, if he acts on it, I know he would screw up his parole and it is just not worth it.
C'mon January!