We’re all the same.
I’m often asked what the hardest part of prison was. This question always strikes me as funny. Perhaps this is because the answer seems so apparent to me and so strange to everyone else.
The hardest thing about prison is the hardest thing about being human, experiencing and navigating emotion.
We felt the same emotions in seg cells that you feel in the free world: Loneliness, despair, doubt, fear.
As paradoxical as it may seem,
loneliness is a thread that connects all of humanity.
We all know it’s chill. We all know what it’s like to feel completely alone and hopeless.
That’s what prison is like… for everyone. And That’s what life has done to you at some point as well. I know this because, as a person who has experienced it, I can see it in the eyes of every adult I’ve ever met.
Yes, prison is horrible, and the ‘justice’ system is broken. This should be so understood that I shouldn’t have to state it. But going through it, I saw the best and worst of humanity. That was a gift because it made me realize that we are all the same.
Ask anyone who has experienced the full spectrum of human behavior, good and evil. They’ll tell you that we’re all capable of both and that we bleed the same, feel the same things, and have the same needs.
Sometimes, when I’m asked that question about the hardest part of prison, there’s a not-so-subtle voyeuristic element. Most of the time, however, it’s asked in an effort to understand. In either case, I think the wrong question is being asked.
DEUCE’s nonprofit, DEUCE Community Inc., provides lived experience mentorship and wrap-around services for people navigating what it’s like to come out of environments like the prison system, homelessness, and long-term substance use. One of the biggest ways you can support is to strike up a conversation with one of the people in our program around the gym. You can probably imagine what it’s like to have someone take a genuine interest in you when it feels like the world never believed in you from the start.
If you choose to start a dialogue, you might be surprised at how much you have in common with the person you’re talking to.
2/16/24 WOD
DEUCE Athletics GPP
Complete 4 rounds of the following:
6 Weighted Fat Grip Pull-Ups
6 KB Turkish Get-Ups (ea)
20 DB Pass Throughs
EMOM 12:
Minute 1: 7th Street Corner Run
Minute 2: :40 Max Double Unders
Minute 3: 3 Sandbag Ground-To-Shoulder (AHAP)
DEUCE Garage GPP
8-8-8-8
Floor Press
Complete 2 rounds of the following complex for quality:
8 Alt 1-Leg Toes-to-Bar
4 Chest-to-Bar Pull Ups
2 Bar Muscle Ups
Then, complete 4 rounds for time of:
30 Alt Front Rack Rev Lunges
15 Thrusters (115/75)
7 Bar Facing Burpees