Hello all of you knowledgeable people. I sure am glad this place exists.I'll surrender myself June 1. Here are a few random questions. I hope I don't sound too stupid!
1) Can I take Xanax CR there? Celexa?
2) How much $$ should I bring with me?
3) How soon can my husband and kids come visit?
4) What's the best way to ensure that I get along with everyone?
5) What are the sleeping arrangements -- one big room w/ bunks?
6) Shower stall or community showers? stalls in the bathroom?
7) What kind of job am I likely to get for the long haul?
8) How does the tv work? One big room? Who decides what you watch?

I know nobody wants to write 1000 pages on Bryan with all these dumb questions but if you wouldn't mind covering a few?

Hi.. and welcome to PTO... I hope you find as much love and support that I have.... Which prison will you be going into.... I don't have info on Federal Prisons but I am sure someone here can help you... **{HUGZ}}

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No Xanax I guarantee you. It is considered addictive. Nothing narcotic, no benzodiazapines like Xanax or Valium. If you have a tooth pulled the most you will get is Motrin in prison. I had minor surgery on my shoulder and the most they gave me is Tylenol 3 for 24 hours. The Celexa will depend. If it is on the pharmacological protocol you will get it. If not they will give you something that they consider an equivalent.

There are 4 people to a room in Bryan. Bunkbeds, and 4 stand-up lockers. There is no door. There is a desk and a chair in the room.

There are stalls in the bathrooms. There are also 6 shower stalls. These have doors on them and are private. There are 4 bathrooms per unit. There are also hair dryers and curling irons in the bathrooms.

There are 4 TV rooms in each unit. A General TV room, Sports, Spanish and one where they show movies on the weekends. In the TV rooms the rule is whoever gets there first controls the TV. If you are watching something else in the Spanish or Sports TV rooms and someone comes in who wants to watch something on those channels you have to give it up.

If you can, bring the spending limit when you arrive, $290. You will like to have shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes. You will also have to purchase your hygiene items such as soap and shampoo. In Bryan you can shop any day of the week except Fridays.

The best way to get along with people is to be respectful of others. Offer to do your share of room cleaning or there will be problems!! I have seen many roomates not get along because one of them was not neat and clean. Your room will be inspected daily by the CO and weekly by the unit counselor. The cleanest unit for the week gets released for chow first. Just lay low, do not bring a lot of attention to yourself. For some reason new "commits" are looked upon with a little suspicion at first. But it will get better after a week or so. You will find people that you will become friends with.

Until you are assigned a job you will spend all day helping the orderlies clean the unit. My advice is to go to any department you are interested working in or else you will be assigned to the kitchen. Go see Mr. Porter in education or Mr. Faust in facilities. You can also work in Horticulture. That is in the education building. You still my end up in the kitchen anyway, but at least you will have tries to find something else. Some ladies actually like the kitchen. You get fed better, at least in Bryan!

Your family should be able to come fairly soon after you arrive. A week or two.

You will find most of the ladies in Bryan to be very friendly. All in all it is not a bad place. They are a stickler for the rules there but as long as you follow them you will be ok. There are plenty of things to do there to keep yourself busy. Out of the 4 camps I was in I liked Bryan the best. Much less chaos than other places.

cjjack:
thanks so much for taking the time to answer ALL the questions. you're a good person to be out and now helping people going in.

liddy

Hello again Liddy -
As you may remember, my wife has been at Bryan since her self-surrender on March 1. She seems to have settled in as much as possible. Her first week or so, all she did was clean, clean, clean until they found her a more suitable job. Just like cjjack said, all the newbies spend their first days doing this. She is now teaching and tutoring in several subjects. Depending on your level of education, you may want to consider this as well. My wife says they (BOP) are always in need of smart folks to help with the education stuff since the average education among the inmates is somewhere around the 7th grade. She's hoping to start her AutoCad and Horticulture classes soon. I wouldn't mind at all if she got into the horticulture class at all - she's always had a knack for killing any plants or flowers we've had in record time!
About the TV - cjjack was right about the group TV room. However, my wife told me that a few weeks ago her room was the cleanest of all at inspection so she and her roomates got to have a private TV in their room all week. I don't know if this is a regular "contest" or not, but they sure seemed to enjoy it. Maybe cjjack knows.
With regards to visits - tell your husband to start saving his change now. Since he can't bring any food/drinks in during visits he'll have to buy everything from the vending machines in the visiting room (it's like a school cafeteria). They have a decent selection of items but all the good stuff sells out EARLY! Most of the people who get there first (8:30am) buy up what they'll need for the whole day. I don't know how old your children are but if they use bottles or sippy-cups they need to be empty when they arrive. All sorts of juices, milk, water, etc. is available to fill them with once they get inside.
Now if I could just figure out how to get grass stains out of my daughter's clothes . . .
Take care and talk to ya later

Hey again BusyMan! Thanks for the info. I do have a undergraduate degree so the tutoring sounds pretty neat. Right now, my husband is saving his change just for the $#%^ gas to get there -- good grief. I saw you post somewhere else that the kids are taking it very well. That is really great to hear! How soon did you tell your 6 year old? We just went to see a child psychologist to ask advice so I think we're about to drop that bomb on them.

Is your wife on meds in there?

How are you holding up as the lone parent?

Yes, busyman, the unit counselor does room inspections every 1-2 weeks and the cleanest room is allowed to have a TV in their room until the next inspection. If that TV breaks they will not replace it. I was in Madison unit when I first arrived and someone had broken it so no TV for us. Also, the top 3 cleanest rooms get released with the first unit for chow. That was always great.

I also worked in the education department in Bryan teaching and tutoring. Go see Mrs. Comstock. She is a very good teacher and a nice lady. Maybe she will hire you. You can also go see Mr. Porter in education. Very nice man.

Liddy - We told the 6yo about a month before her surrender date. We also talked with her every day about it. Naturally, she was full of questions. But with constant communication with her she was able to understand what was going on and there wasn't a big shock when Mom left. We, too took her to a child psychologist. Can't say it was worth it. She didn't tell us anything we didn't already know or anything that wasn't common sense. Just talk with the child and be honest. It doesn't really matter if the child understands the concepts or not. If they know the truth, they'll be able to formulate the concepts in time. If they are not told the truth, the concepts will form in somewhat of a warped fashion.
My wife was not on any meds other than allergy stuff when she went in (Allegra). For whatever reason they switched her to Singulair and she's been doing fine.
As the lone parent, I'm getting better. The sum of all tasks is getting easier to manage. I'm getting better at ponytails (previously a completely unknown task!), laundry is coming along (I've only ruined 3 outfits so far!), and my attitude about all of it is improving. Granted, this situation sucks and should've been avoided altogether. But things are what they are. I hope when it's all said and done this will have turned out to be a good process for all of us, that it helped all of us grow and learn in some way. There are still passing moments when I'm so mad at my wife for what she's done that I can't see straight, but those are becoming less and less frequent. Saw her this weekend and she's doing well, so I'm feeling pretty good right now. Only about a year left to go . . .
cjjack - my wife's pretty bummed about the tv situation right now. Apparently, there were some slackers in her unit that didn't keep the place too clean so the whole unit lost tv until the first of the month. Mr. Brady walked up and down the halls swinging his keys telling the ladies "Say goodbye to the TVs, ladies". They all whined, but they'll get over it.
I like Mr. Brady, he's a really nice guy. Actually, every CO that I've met there has been really pleasant. My wife has told me of a few that are a little tense, but I haven't yet met them. She hasn't told me of any that are just plain rude or mean.

Busyman!

Glad to see you! Glad to hear things are getting better for you at home as well!

As for the grass stains...I don't have a clue!

Your doing a great job too!

Diane

Come on, Diane . . . you're the moderator, you're supposed to know everything! All I ask for is a little help in how to get grass stains out of my kid's clothes . . . and you can't help me? Geez, guess I'll just have to go find me a different website!
LOL!!!!!
Thanks for being here, Diane
Gotta go do bath time, see ya later! It's bubble night!

Hi every one my name is Becky,
I am headed to Bryan Jan 19th. I am from Michigan so I was shocked when I found out I was going so far away. The judge recomended that I get the 500 hour RDAP so my attorney thinks that is why they sent me to Bryan. Chrisa has really helped me and I really appreciate it. I would like to introduce myself to all of you. If anyone has a loved one at Bryan now I wonder if they know when the next RDAP starts. My sentence is 18 months but my attorney says that if I do the program I could be sent to a 1/2 way house in michigan or go home on house arrest. I also wonder how the food is, is it semi healthy? I would like to be in education somehow but I only have an associates degree in teaching would that be enough? Is the library decent? How many books can we have sent? Is the mail on time or behind? I will not have visitors to speak of it is 1900 miles from my home. I am more conserned about leaving my children than I am about myself while I am there but of course I am really scared. What are some of the rules? I want to be low key when I go in and yet I am very shy and at times people have mistsken that for being stuck up (that was highschool) but I really don't want to come off like that because I really have the problem of low self esteem especially now. I am so ashamed of myself and feel so guilty about what I am putting my children through. I just want to get along help people and grow from this experience. That is the only sanity I can get from putting myself in this situation. I know what I did was wrong and I am ready to take responsibility for that.
Thank you all this is helping soo much, to understand that there is an end to this and to have you people that are here to help is so wonderful. When I get home I intend to get involved.
Peace, Becky

Becky,

Txgrannie, a fellow PTOer just returned home from Bryan. I'm sure she could answer all of your questions.

Becky,

Txgrannie, a fellow PTOer just returned home from Bryan. I'm sure she could answer all of your questions.Thank you Cinammo, I sent a private message to Txgrannie and she replied with alot of answers. Than you Txgrannie too. You are all making this so much better. I can sleep at night that is a miracle. I am going in with more peace and I think that will help. I am also very grateful to Busyman and CCjack I very much appreciate your time and experience. I hope I got the names right I am not looking at the post. You are all helping. I hope I don't drive you all crazy because that is how I feel. I want to know every little thing and somehow make it ok in my head.
Thank you again,
Gods Peace, Becky