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My understanding is that it all depends where you're doing your time

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There is a book at your local library detailing what to expect (in general). "Behind bars: Surviving Prison" by Jefferey Ian Ross & Stephen C. Richards. It describes what you can expect at the defferent security levels. The hard core brutality happens at maximum security federal prisons. I think the authors say that the lower level security prisons aren't nearly as bad. The book will fill you in on prison etiquette for jail, labor camps, state prison vs. federal prison, etc...

Good luck.