Voices of the Incarcerated - I Became an Entrepreneur in Solitary

The following is an excerpt from an essay titled "I Became an Entrepeneur in Solitary Confinement" by Robert Shawn Johnson, which is published at the Prison Writers website.

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I spent one year in solitary confinement once, and I made it my goal not to ever go back there again!

My path to this punishment began on Sept.14, 2013, when my cell, on unit 3c of the North compound at New Jersey State Prison, was searched by two officers. One of those officers claimed that the letters found inside my cell (including correspondence from my mother) were Security Threat Group (STG) material, a violation of prison rules.

The officer claimed that the mail from my mother and portions of a legal court document, a portion of a witness statement, contained gang-related references within them. I knew this was bogus because there were no gang references in the letters from my mother, and the portion of the legal court document was a part of someone’s case I was helping them with. And any certified legal court documents are supposed to be exempt from the rules for STG material anyway.

7 wing (Adseg) consisted of 7up, 7down, and 7right. There are five tiers on both sides of 7 wing, and each tier has 33 cells that are about 5 feet by 9 feet (equivalent to a parking lot space). The walls are made of metal painted grey, and your toilet is inside the wall (literally). It’s a metal box about 18 inches wide, 36 inches in length, 18 inches in depth, and with a 10 inch in diameter circular hole right in the middle of the base, where you sit down to use the bathroom (a small fridge sitting inside the wall). During my year long stay, I would always see mice and rats roaming as if it was their territory, and they will come in your cell at night being that the doors were open bars, like a gate.

Regardless of what level of Adseg you’re on, we were given a shower two times within five days, whereas in GP you are able to get a shower every day if you choose. I was afforded to go to yard (recreation) every five days if I was lucky, because a lot of the time it would get cancelled for no reason at all. You had to be up at the 5:30 a.m. count time walk through to let the officer know you wanted to go outside to the yard, because if you did not then you were beat. I don’t personally know if the administration knew this was the way the yard list was taken in Adseg, but it happened all of the time.

Outside of working out and working on my appeal for my case, I started to format my business plans as an entrepreneur in Adseg. My family and friends would research certain business information I needed on how to start and run a business whenever I asked them, and then send it to me in the mail. I don’t ever remember having any problems with receiving those materials, and I took that as God helping me to obtain what I needed to have in order to fulfill the purpose of my entrepreneurial drive. Even though there were no restrictions when I was in Adseg, nowadays their mail is being photocopied before they receive it.

Growing up, I always had that entrepreneurial spirit in me because I would search for business information on the computer at home and set up little jobs for my friends and me, where I delegated everyone’s job. Now, with the information I was receiving, I learned the industries for apparel, accessories, ebooks, and credit repair. I learned about financial literacy in various ways because even in that dark time, I knew God put a light in me I needed to get out.

Adseg was a process I needed because even though I’m still incarcerated today, I am now an entrepreneur. I am the Co-Founder and CEO of my own apparel, accessory, ebook, and credit repair company named Always Xpect Greatness LLC that I started with three of my close friends. I am a published poet by the Prison Journalism Project with my inspirational poem titled The Climb.

I don’t wish solitary confinement upon anyone, because it’s truly an unhealthy environment, mentally and physically. Solitary confinement can darken your spirit, but I chose to let my experience there become my light.

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Robert Shawn Johnson is the CEO and Co-founder of the Always Xpect Greatness Brand. He has published 14 books and is a motivational speaker while incarcerated in New Jersey. You can read his full essay, "I Became an Entrepeneur in Solitary Confinement" at the Prison Writers website. Prison Writers offers uncensored, personal stories and thoughtful essays from incarcerated citizens across the country about what really goes on inside the secretive world of prison corrections.