[FriendlyJoe]

During one of my massive episodes, 5 police officers had to restrain me. I was put into solidarity confinement until I was able to calm down enough where I wasn't a danger to other inmates, the guards, and myself. After 7 months I finally settled down at my maximum state prison serving my 6 year sentence. I immediately settled right in and was in the leadership group.

In prison I met many others like myself and Hate to say it but I actually enjoyed my time in there. Something about being around others like yourself makes it better. All those years I didn't feel broken or different other than the ones that wasn't capable of being there. When I was let out I went into a 5 month depression state. I was alone and felt even more different than before.

Has anyone else gone to jail from a manic episode? And if you did how did you feel during your time there.

[tecomsin]

Hi FriendlyJoe, thanks for sharing. During my last manic episode I was locked up in a forensic psychiatric facility for a month. Not the same as 6 years and I didn't like it at all. The food was terrible, I was cold all the time and I had a very thin foam mattress to sleep on. It was considered upscale by the other inmates there who would otherwise be in remand. It took me well over half a year to recover from the shock of it all. I had to hire a lawyer and eventually, after a probationary period, all of the charges were dismissed.

I appreciate your willingness to open up about your time in prison. I feel a lot of shame about it myself sometimes. Anyway, now I am on a permanent antipsychotic and haven't been symptomatic in over 1.5 years.

[sarahsweets]

Did you commit a crime due to mania? Was this a state run prison hospital you were sentenced to or was it actual prison?

[FriendlyJoe]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

Did you commit a crime due to mania? Was this a state run prison hospital you were sentenced to or was it actual prison?

Yes I committed a crime due to mania and no it wasn't a mental prison hospital. Prison is full of people with mental illness. To get insanity which is the only way where you go to a metal institute to actually get the help to be part of society you have to be to the point you can't take care of yourself. The term rehabilitation is a joke, I didn't learn anything but to be even more dangerous. It's a a sad system where everyone judges you as a forever bad apple. California passed a law where background checks goes back only 7 years. So if you've been a law abiding citizen you can do anything that doesn't require fingerprinting or state/federal licensing. I have a great career now but for several years i had to work at jobs that wasn't near my intelligence level. If it wasn't for the 7 year law I'd still be working jobs that isn't anything near what I can do. Many go into construction trades as that's deemed what's best for ex-cons.

Now when I first went to prison I was evaluated and was sent to the mental illness ward but it was still general population. Their way they did treatment was giving you so many meds all you wanted to do was sleep and literally in zombie mode like walking dead zombies and not 28 days later zombies. I don't think many people understand what it's like for a bipolar 1 person to be in a full blown manic episode. Depending on the situation and manic intensity it's easy to completly lose control and society rules is pretty much ignored.

[FriendlyJoe]

Originally Posted by tecomsin

Hi FriendlyJoe, thanks for sharing. During my last manic episode I was locked up in a forensic psychiatric facility for a month. Not the same as 6 years and I didn't like it at all. The food was terrible, I was cold all the time and I had a very thin foam mattress to sleep on. It was considered upscale by the other inmates there who would otherwise be in remand. It took me well over half a year to recover from the shock of it all. I had to hire a lawyer and eventually, after a probationary period, all of the charges were dismissed.


I appreciate your willingness to open up about your time in prison. I feel a lot of shame about it myself sometimes. Anyway, now I am on a permanent antipsychotic and haven't been symptomatic in over 1.5 years.

Opening up on an online forum I can do. Opening up to people I see in person is a whole other matter. I literally fear letting people know I'm bipolar and that I've been to prison. It's one of the reasons why I keep my distance from my family. They're the only ones that know about them both. During family events it's never brought up but I'm still treated differently and I limit family visits to once a year if that.

given this post & the one the other day about the chair incident it seems you have an issue about anger.. the situation you mentioned there escalated quickly and dangerously. ...and now you post about jail time due to mania. not judging but this puts a different spin on what you posted...like maybe it wasn't the other guys who were at fault. hope you get the right meds, therapy etc so you can level out & keep yourself and others safe.

[FriendlyJoe]

Originally Posted by resurgam

given this post & the one the other day about the chair incident it seems you have an issue about anger.. the situation you mentioned there escalated quickly and dangerously. ...and now you post about jail time due to mania. not judging but this puts a different spin on what you posted...like maybe it wasn't the other guys who were at fault. hope you get the right meds, therapy etc so you can level out & keep yourself and others safe.

Sad, if I wrote an entire novel no one would read it. I try to elaborate as much as possible to reduced speculation on anything that didnt pertain. So I'll keep going about that incident.

3hrs later without anymore incident.

And I'm really trying to explain it without getting taken off and I'll get another email, to the mods.

When I was leaving one of the workers told me that most of those people are regulars where I sat. And no one comes in before them, well usually before 7am on a Sunday typical empty. But when someone does they all act loud and dickish. Of course the person will leave. But I didnt know in a public coffee shop they would allow that behavior. Anyway no I did not start the issue but that's there normal routine when someone takes their spots. I'm never going back.

By the way thanks for reading my other posts.

regardless if you started it or not it escalated pretty quick & your posted response made it sound like you were ready to kick some posterior. so to me your reaction was pretty equal to theirs...bipolar doesn't give a free reign to act "dickish" as you say. having been diagnosed as bipolar is just that, having bipolar. they shouldn't act like jerks but neither should you, but sounds like there's a history...

time to cool your jets before you get the all expense paid road trip again...

[tecomsin]

I think a person opens themselves up to a lot of negative judgments and biases by admitting to having been incarcerated in the past. This is both in real life and on social media like PC. It's bad enough to have the stigma of mental illness, and then there is the stigma of incarceration. In my case, I also have other stigmatizing conditions.

From what you write FriendlyJoe it looks like you have been able to somehow escape from that past and build a productive life, so congrats to you for that. I can't imagine it was easy.

[still_crazy]

the US has become a very punitive, very draconian, 0 tolerance society. it starts in the public schools, continues on throughout life. ZERO TOLERANCE! ugh.

I don't know how it is elsewhere, but I've heard that the people who end up in the state hospital here on not guilty by reason of insanity pleas are -not- treated very well, unless they (or their family) are upper class. when a lot of the hospital was shut down, there were cases of people who could have/should have (?) been released a good while ago, but the psychiatrists at the state hospital insisted that they had "untreatable personality disorders," so they needed to be kept indefinitely. Even now, people who end up in the state hospital have a rough time getting out, and when they do get out, they're kept under the control of the state psychiatric system, so...its almost like a life sentence, no matter the original charge. :-(

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by FriendlyJoe

Yes I committed a crime due to mania and no it wasn't a mental prison hospital. Prison is full of people with mental illness. To get insanity which is the only way where you go to a metal institute to actually get the help to be part of society you have to be to the point you can't take care of yourself. The term rehabilitation is a joke, I didn't learn anything but to be even more dangerous. It's a a sad system where everyone judges you as a forever bad apple. California passed a law where background checks goes back only 7 years. So if you've been a law abiding citizen you can do anything that doesn't require fingerprinting or state/federal licensing. I have a great career now but for several years i had to work at jobs that wasn't near my intelligence level. If it wasn't for the 7 year law I'd still be working jobs that isn't anything near what I can do. Many go into construction trades as that's deemed what's best for ex-cons.

Now when I first went to prison I was evaluated and was sent to the mental illness ward but it was still general population. Their way they did treatment was giving you so many meds all you wanted to do was sleep and literally in zombie mode like walking dead zombies and not 28 days later zombies. I don't think many people understand what it's like for a bipolar 1 person to be in a full blown manic episode. Depending on the situation and manic intensity it's easy to completly lose control and society rules is pretty much ignored.

I am really sorry you had to suffer like that. Due to AA I work with a lot of women from one of the local prisons and you are right-aside from domestic violence and drugs-mental illness is prevalent and those that are mentally ill are given punitive punishments instead of treatment.

[FriendlyJoe]

Originally Posted by resurgam

regardless if you started it or not it escalated pretty quick & your posted response made it sound like you were ready to kick some posterior. so to me your reaction was pretty equal to theirs...bipolar doesn't give a free reign to act "dickish" as you say. having been diagnosed as bipolar is just that, having bipolar. they shouldn't act like jerks but neither should you, but sounds like there's a history...


time to cool your jets before you get the all expense paid road trip again...

I'll remember that because it's so easy, to cool my jets. What was I thinking that I should be able to go out to do something minor as going to a coffee shop without being harrassed by **** college students that think they own an entire section. Congratulations you made my block list. I don't need people like you making negative comments when you have no idea how I feel. It's extremely exhausting to live in a world where the only feeling I have is anger, irritability, and sadness for absolutely no reason at all. I've never loved anything or feel anything other than trying to help other's. Seeing happiness in others is the closest I get to experiencing it for myself. Other than that life is nothing to me and I don't care if I go back because the feelings is no different than I'm living now. Life itself is a prison where I can't freely do what I want or feel what I'd like to feel. If you have no idea about a subject it's best to not reply because it just makes you look like the ****.

[~Christina]

You know it’s okay if you don’t find someone’s advice helpful, just scroll past it.

Why do you so easily become aggressive about it ? Maybe that is something you can explore with a Therapist.

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by resurgam

given this post & the one the other day about the chair incident it seems you have an issue about anger.. the situation you mentioned there escalated quickly and dangerously. ...and now you post about jail time due to mania. not judging but this puts a different spin on what you posted...like maybe it wasn't the other guys who were at fault. hope you get the right meds, therapy etc so you can level out & keep yourself and others safe.

No offense meant but you need to learn a lot about the prison system and how the "idea" of rehabilitation is often never what happens and how many untreated, mentally ill people are locked up because there is no room at the state hospitals, because its easier for the jail to lock up people, and the doctor shortage. The OP admitted a crime. He also said this:

Opening up on an online forum I can do. Opening up to people I see in person is a whole other matter. I literally fear letting people know I'm bipolar and that I've been to prison.

So casting suspicion on his experience and implying that his perception must be off is unfair and unsupportive. Have you ever been in prison or worked in one? If you haven't I will just chalk up your misunderstanding to lack of experience.

No o

[sarahsweets]

Originally Posted by resurgam

regardless if you started it or not it escalated pretty quick & your posted response made it sound like you were ready to kick some posterior. so to me your reaction was pretty equal to theirs...bipolar doesn't give a free reign to act "dickish" as you say. having been diagnosed as bipolar is just that, having bipolar. they shouldn't act like jerks but neither should you, but sounds like there's a history...

"sounds like there is a history".. how so?

time to cool your jets before you get the all expense paid road trip again...

I find this comment very flippant and passive aggressive. No one wins points for clever euphemisms they can say about jail or prison.

[tecomsin]

As I wrote earlier, I think one opens one's self up to all kinds of attacks by admitting to a criminal history. Some people will look at everything you do or don't do with suspicion and all sorts of preconceived ideas after finding that out about another person.

If anger and sadness are the dominant emotions then it might help to look into getting some kind of help. There are support groups as well as private counselling. We all have to find our own way and I do appreciate all those on here who don't judge me for my past entanglements.

[cashart10]

Originally Posted by resurgam

given this post & the one the other day about the chair incident it seems you have an issue about anger.. the situation you mentioned there escalated quickly and dangerously. ...and now you post about jail time due to mania. not judging but this puts a different spin on what you posted...like maybe it wasn't the other guys who were at fault. hope you get the right meds, therapy etc so you can level out & keep yourself and others safe.

I haven’t read the posts past this one, but coming to the defense of the op, I feel the need to share this. I have a very small temper. I work with special needs children and never get angry in the classroom and very rarely raise my voice to my own children. That said when full on manic, I can go from euphoric to lunatic in 1.2 seconds. Like the time I sent my husband to the grocery store for food and instead of coming home with regular groceries, he had gone to gfs and bought groceries in bulk. Well, I screamed at him at the top of my lungs and started throwing things because I didn’t want bulk groceries. I also just so happened to be completely psychotic. I have done dangerous things that God has told me to do in the past when, under normal circumstances I am a very rational thinker. You cannot judge a mentally ill person by what they do or how they act when they are sick.