Str8 Outta Maximum Security: Tales From The Inside: Str8 Outta Maximum Security: Tales From The Inside

By Mac Tatum

Mac provides a raw, realistic and comprehensive look inside the nations maximum-security prison system. If you have ever wondered what really goes on on the inside, this is the book for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mac Tatum
• Release date: May 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386873389

Mac Tatum

56-year old ex-prisoner survived and thrived in maximum security prison for 29 years and came out the other side in one piece. Mac went inside at the age of 20 and made it through 29 years of continuous madness mostly by himself. Mostly unscathed.

Book preview

STRAIGHT

OUTTA

MAXIMUM

SECURITY

ONE MAN’S 29-YEAR JOURNEY THROUGH CALIFORNIA’S MAXIMUM- SECURITY PRISON SYSTEM. JOIN MAC AS HE TAKES YOU FROM THE BLOODY, VIOLENT BEGINNING OF HIS PERILOUS JOURNEY TO THE UNEXPECTED OUTCOME.

FOREWORD

For 29 plus years I served a 47-year sentence inside some of California’s most violent maximum-security prisons. From February 1983 through March of 2012, I spent just about every waking moment of my life in a maximum-security prison.

Believe me when I tell you that there is no greater humiliation I can think of than living under the glaring, cruel, harsh subjugation that is known as the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation. Except possibly if you are a slave living under slavery. It is an entity unto itself and almost all who enter that system come out much, much worse. Not at all corrected.

There are so many things about the current correctional system that need to be addressed just to help prisoners make the kinds of transformational changes that they must make to be successful upon their imminent releases. But this book isn’t really about prison policies. I will provide just a brief outline and overview of the current system and the changes that could be made to cut the recidivism rate by at least three-quarters.

This book is less about the system as much as it is about being inside and ultimately surviving the system. And therefore understanding exactly why things are the way they are and knowing exactly what a person getting out of one of those places will need to be successful once he or she is released to society.

Many people have tried to convince me that this story is much too sordid and shameful to tell the world. Suggesting that for those reasons the story should probably never be told to the public. They would suggest that I act as though that entire 29-plus year period of my life never even occurred!

They would tell you that although they themselves might agree that rehabilitation and redemption are a possibility under certain kinds of circumstances, they genuinely do not believe that the rest of society are as enlightened as they are nor that they would ever believe such a proposition to the extent that they do.

Hence, they believe it serves absolutely no good purpose telling everyone this story about myself. They genuinely believe that this will put me in a very difficult position and, quite possibly, prevent me from doing all the good I want to do in this world before I go. I do believe that what they say could be true and this could all be for naught. But I ask those who might be ashamed of my past...if my journey is only something to be ashamed of, then what was the value in the experience?

I have got to believe that there was some real reason for these near 30 years of madness and insane experiences I have lived through. That there was/is something of value to be gained from me and from the things I learned over that time.

I really want the chance to let the world know that it is possible to change; that it is possible to transform oneself into a better version of your former self. And I guess I just feel like me accepting that commentary summarily deprives me of any hope or opportunity of affecting others’ lives in a positive and constructive way (as I most sincerely wished I would be able to do).

It is my greatest hope that something I say in this book strikes a chord with some kid somewhere in this world. A kid or young person who will have lived these experiences vicariously through me and who might, consequently, decide to make drastically different choices in their young lives.

At least that is my hope. It’s very hard for me to believe there is no reason for my having been spared and allowed to live through that kind of madness and come out on the other side mostly physically and mentally unscathed.

I honestly don’t think (nor have I ever felt to this point in my life), that I have completely fulfilled my obligation to humankind. Or that I have fulfilled my real purpose in this life.

And by suggesting that rehabilitation itself is somehow impossible and that no one coming out of these places is or ever will be worth listening to, nor have anything progressive or positive to add to the dialogue, I am being deprived of the opportunity to show how such a thing is possible. My belief is that humans sometimes make horrific mistakes in life and when they do so they should have a Creator given right to repent, redeem and repair themselves.

But I understand that most of my audience will not agree with that statement and I know why. I just hope that some of you will agree with me and give me an opportunity to change your minds about that question.

I underwent a couple different stages of transformation while I was in there that I think I really need to share with others. Things I did that I think put me on the path to success. Things that have resulted in me making changes that I think are very important for guys in there to know and make BEFORE they are released, to ensure their ultimate long-term success.

The first thing I did is I made the necessary positive changes to myself that I knew I needed to make long before I was released. Beginning with changes to my heart and mind. It literally took me about 15 years to change my heart and mind. I made excuse after excuse and tried desperately, in my mind, to justify what I’d done. When I finally let go of that and admitted to myself that I had participated and that I was guilty and deserved the sentence I received was when I made some of my greatest progress.

The next thing I did was I stopped drinking (prison pruno and lightning), stopped smoking cigarettes and marijuana, and stopped doing any drugs of any kind. I knew I had to quit drinking especially because drinking seemed to turn me into a real savage. And lastly, I began to practice a religious philosophy that really helped me to see things straight and exactly as they were.

I began to see everything clearly. The hurt and pain I’d caused and the many different people my actions hurt. So I began to do something worthwhile. Learning the law and helping others in whatever way I could helped me to begin feeling like I was doing something right and something to help rather than hurt. I had a very deep feeling that I was expected to use the gifts I had acquired in there to help people in there.

I genuinely believed then, as I do now, that my purpose and point at this time in my life is to selflessly serve humankind and to allow myself to be used as a tool that will in some way be beneficial to society. And I came up with a number of ideas while I was in there that I know would have been helpful to me before I paroled and to many of those who paroled before me.

Many of these things are very important to the continued well-being of society in general and they need desperately to be addressed. In a very real and radical fashion. Mostly because they set forth and delineate the very real challenges and concerns faced by all ex-prisoners upon their release, but also because within are offered real life, practical solutions to those problems that should be taken into consideration in order to make our society a better place.

My idea is to create the infrastructure necessary to provide these guys exactly what they will need to be competitive in society and successful in life in general. The hope is that these guys will then pass this knowledge down to their kids and loved ones.

An abbreviated version of what I am proposing would be to start out by providing them (parolees) with a modern-day structured living setting where they can be away from the neighborhoods and negative influences from whence they came prior to their incarceration. Somewhere they can feel relatively safe, comfortable, and independent upon their release.

I was thinking perhaps something like college student dormitory housing where they can pretty much come and go as they please. I also thought it might be a good idea to begin a tiny house building project (perhaps with the help of Habitat for Humanity or some other such charity group) where all those who are accepted into the program are required to participate in building their own tiny houses to live in. Tiny houses in an ex-prisoner

Reviews for Str8 Outta Maximum Security

[lorene · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I feel like this book was very good and very well written but it could have been much longer like 300 pages. It's missing comprehensiveness and it's core purpose. I feel like it was more a story then to educated which is fine but it needs more explanation on the story part. Like deeper into the why's and what's. What did you experience that led you into drugs, what opportunities did you have in Germany that you let go, did you leave or get kicked out of the military and why. You said you came from a decent home but I think otherwise. From the abusive men to your moms behavior to everything it sounds like you lived in the hood which led you to this lifestyle. Also did you only fight to draw a line; or because you were hotheaded. Yelling at guards spells hotheaded but u said you were mentally disturbed at the time with your sentence. Also I wish you could go deeper into a plan about why the prison system in bad: i.e. Stupid bail, no rehab flrbdruggies, dumb probation system. Maybe compare it to denmarks prison system. Us prisons are overcrowded and prisoners generate money by being used as free labor. That's an issue. Judges get paid to get more convictions. Shitty overworked lawyers. Tax dollars for the justice system. Much much more Robb's covered here on both the side of your story and fixing the justice and prison system. But otherwise great book I loved the way you wrote!! Had me hooked