Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Prison Journalism: When what goes around comes around' is a good thing

30/05/2023

Prison Journalism: When what goes around comes around' is a good thingThis common phrase can be a threat in prison -but also a sign of mutual respect.

by Prison Journalism Project

30-05-2023 10:39

in Prison Journalism

Man in handcuffs Image: Adobe Stock

Prison Journalism Project trains incarcerated writers to become journalists and publishes their stories. Subscribe to Inside Story to receive exclusive behind-the-scene looks at our best stories, as well as author profiles and other insights.

--

The phrase What goes around, comes around has been a refrain throughout my life, but its meaning has changed over the years. I used to think of it as a threat, but in prison - one of the unlikeliest of places - I've learned how it can be applied to the spirit of giving.

Over 30 years ago, on a drive home from work, I saw a man driving a red Mazda Miata through my neighborhood toss an empty beer can into the gutter.

Irritated, I got out of my raised Chevrolet Blazer and retrieved the can. A short chase later, I pulled alongside the tiny Miata while it idled at a red signal. I tossed the can onto his empty passenger seat and shouted, What goes around, and added emphasis with an expletive as I drove off.

--

Flash-forward a few years, I was cleaning my two-man cell at Calipatria State Prison in California, sweeping up a day's accumulation of dust bunnies resembling a furry snake. Feeling lazy, I turned my table fan on full blast and sent the fuzzy python slithering under the door onto the floor of the dayroom, the central space with televisions and telephones where people hang out.

A minute later the hulking tier-tender's head showed up, knocking loudly and sending the string of dust back into my cell under the locked door.

What goes around, comes around, he shouted with an expletive before storming off.

--

But since then, the phrase I had considered to be so negative has taken on a more positive meaning.

Years ago, when I first arrived at U.S. Penitentiary Lompoc in Southern California, I had been exhausted after a three-hour intake process and had fallen asleep on my bunk. Suddenly, I was jolted awake by a hand on my foot. I sat up and reached for the intruder. Just outside my cell was a friendly face: Tony, a serial bank robber I knew from the federal lockup in Los Angeles. He smiled at me.

READ: Former Springbok hooker stabbed, his father shot during farm robbery

Don't get up, he whispered.

He pushed a bulging paper bag through the bars. What goes around, my friend! Meet me at the podium for chow tonight.

Inside the bag I found an extraordinary fish (new person) kit: several stamped envelopes, a pen, half a jar of instant coffee, a writing pad, ramen soups, some clothesline string and a honey bun.

Months before, when Tony had arrived at the L.A. detention center, I had seen he was destitute. He seemed like an OK guy, so I had given him a similar housewarming gift, dropping the bag on his bunk while he showered.

ALSO READ: Prison life: The daily routine of an inmate at Pollsmoor

Twenty years later, I walked onto E Yard at Mule Creek State Prison after a bitter encounter with staff because they wouldn't give me my property from Receiving and Release, the department inside prisons where people entering and leaving are processed. A dozen onlookers loitered around, checking us fish out as we entered the compound for the first time.

With a sidelong glance I spied a shaggy-headed, bearded apparition bouncing up and down in the back of the group and calling my name.

It was Lester, my old cellmate from six years before. I had helped him out with supplies for several months at Calipatria State Prison, where I had a job and he didn't.

We met up at dinner and arranged to meet in the yard the next day. I told him that my property sat on a shelf, and I probably wouldn't see my belongings for a week.

Fourteen hours later, Les presented me with the ultimate fish kit: a loaner pair of Nike shoes, a jar of Folgers coffee and everything else I needed to survive.

What goes around comes around.

The expression I had come to know as a warning had evolved and become a sign of mutual respect.

Written by John L. Orr

This article was originally published in partnership with Prison Journalism Project, a national, independent news organisation that trains incarcerated writers to be journalists and publishes their writing.

Do you have contact with a prison inmate who would like to write for The South African website?

If so, send an email to info@thesouthafrican.com or a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211

You can also follow @TheSAnews on Twitter and The South African on Facebook to get the latest prisoner journalism articles.

SOCCER QUIZ | FIVE simple answers could win you R500 in cash! ENTER HERE
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/prison-journalism/prison-journ...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

18/09/2025

NWSL Brings on Victory+ as Rightsholder, Expands Deals With CBS and ESPN for 2026-27 Seasons

NWSL Brings on Victory as Rightsholder, Expands Deals With CBS and ESPN for 202...

18/09/2025

CBS Sports Travels to Far Reaches of Europe To Tell Clubs' Stories During 2025-26 Champions League Season

CBS Sports Travels to Far Reaches of Europe To Tell Clubs' Stories During 20...

18/09/2025

The Great Integration: How Sports Media Leaders Are Making MAM, Storage, and Cloud Systems Work Together

The Great Integration: How Sports Media Leaders Are Making MAM, Storage, and Clo...

18/09/2025

Amazon Prime Video Launches Prime Vision for Champions League Coverage in UK

Amazon launches Prime Vision for Champions League coverage By George Bevir Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 18:28 Print This Story Amazon is rolling out its ...

18/09/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Canon USA's Rich Eilers, Yuji Tanaka Talk Novel' Feature, EOS C50 Camera

SVG Sit-Down: Canon USA's Rich Eilers, Yuji Tanaka Talk Novel' Feature,...

18/09/2025

NBC Sports Will Deploy a Pair of Dedicated Analysts On the Bench' for Peacock NBA Monday Games

NBC Sports Will Deploy a Pair of Dedicated Analysts On the Bench' for Peaco...

18/09/2025

WATCH: Be a Fly on the Wall for a Conversation Between Robert Redford and Michelle Satter

Editor's Note: The loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford, leaves us...

18/09/2025

From the Archives: Sundance Institute Founder Robert Redford on Why He's Always Believed in the Power of Documentary Filmmaking

Editor's Note: The loss of our founder and friend Robert Redford, leaves us...

18/09/2025

From the Archives: Revisit Robert Redford's Words of Wisdom

Robert Redford talks with Lab fellows at the 1981 Directors Lab | 1981 Unknown for Sundance Institute Editor's Note: The loss of our founder and friend ...

18/09/2025

Ed Sheeran's Play' Comes to Life With Spotify's Special Fan Event in London

Forget just hearing a new album; last night, London lived one. Together with Spo...

18/09/2025

Sony Music Group and Spotify Announce Expanded Multiyear Global Partnership

Spotify and Sony Music Group today announced an extension and expansion of their long-standing, successful global partnership. As part of their ongoing collabor...

18/09/2025

SBS Audio podcast helps new Australians keep their Head Above Water

SBS Audio podcast helps new Australians keep their Head Above Water 17 September, 2025 Media releases As Australia heads toward summer, comedians and good ...

18/09/2025

Football fans to watch the inaugural Australian Championship on SBS

Football fans to watch the inaugural Australian Championship on SBS 18 September, 2025 Media releases Images here SBS and Football Australia are delighted...

18/09/2025

L3Harris Scales Up Rocket Motor Testing at Camden Site

L3Harris's advanced large solid rocket motor eSR-73 is hot fire tested at the company's Camden, Arkansas site....

18/09/2025

The Gauge: Poland | August 2025

August, the last month of the summer vacation, brought stability to the amount of time spent in front of the TV screen. The data shows that Polish viewers watch...

18/09/2025

FCC Commissioner Gomez Blasts ABC for Suspending Jimmy Kimmel

WASHINGTON The controversy over ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel, continues to heat up, with FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez blasting ABCs decision to ...

18/09/2025

FOR-A America Appoints Jo Aun to Lead US Product Developm...

FOR-A America named Jo Aun as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering, reporting directly to Satoshi Kanemura, President and COO. In this new posit...

18/09/2025

MASV Highlights Partner Integrations Fueling Modern Media...

MASV (massive.io), the fastest and most reliable large file transfer platform for media professionals and an IDC Innovator 2025 for Media & Entertainment*, toda...

18/09/2025

Dish TV India partners with ThinkAnalytics to power AI-dr...

ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in video content discovery and persaonalization, today announced that Dish TV India, the leading content distribution company,...

18/09/2025

DirecTV Adds Three Sports Channels to Its FAST Streaming Offering

DirecTV continues to expand its women's sports offerings by adding Sports Fanatics' and Whoopi Goldberg's Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) All Wo...

18/09/2025

Fall Football Kicks Off With Native HDR Production, NextGen TV Telecast

WASHINGTON NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport's fall seas...

18/09/2025

FCC Extends Deadline for EEO Audit Replies

WASHINGTON After issuing audit letters seeking Equal Employment Opportunity data from a randomly selected group of TV and radio stations in August, the Federal ...

18/09/2025

Warner Bros. Discovery Signs New Deal with Nielsen

NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal that covers measurement for all Warner Bros. Discovery platforms acros...

18/09/2025

CIMM Launches Startup Program and Innovation Showcase

NEW YORK As part of its ongoing efforts to develop better measurement solutions, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) announced the launch of t...

18/09/2025

UPDATED: ABC Takes 'Jimmy Kimmel Live! Off the Air Indefinitely

IRVING, Texas Following threats from the Federal Communications Commission and the announcement that the nations largest station group, Nexstar Media Group, wou...

18/09/2025

VEON Inaugurates JazzCash Experience Lounge in Islamabad

18 Sep 2025 VEON Inaugurates JazzCash Experience Lounge in Islamabad Dubai and Islamabad, September 18, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital opera...

18/09/2025

Natasha Lyonne and Matt Berry to star in new Sky Original action-adventure comedy Force & Majeure

Created by Tom Scharpling, Matt Berry and Natasha Lyonne, the new six-part serie...

18/09/2025

Niamh Algar and Tom Hollander star in Sky Original The Iris Affair full trailer released

The eight-part sun-drenched thriller from Luther creator Neil Cross launches on ...

18/09/2025

Rohde & Schwarz announces new frequency models up to 54 GHz for R&S ZNB3000 vector network analyzer

Rohde & Schwarz announces new frequency models up to 54 GHz for R&S ZNB3000 vect...

18/09/2025

RT Prime Time investigation uncovers location data of thousands of smartphones in Ireland for sale

Individual phones could be tracked back to specific residential addresses Sm...

18/09/2025

GeForce NOW Unleashes Dying Light: The Beast' in the Cloud

GeForce NOW is packing a monstrous punch this week. Dying Light: The Beast, the latest adrenaline fueled chapter in Techland's parkour meets survival horror...

18/09/2025

Dolby Atmos arrives in Maruti Suzuki Victoris, expanding premium in-car entertainment in India

September 18 2025, 04:20 (PDT) Dolby Atmos arrives in Maruti Suzuki Victoris, e...

17/09/2025

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learning

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...

17/09/2025

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challenge for Sports Broadcasting

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...

17/09/2025

Dua Lipa's Service95 Book Club' Goes Live at the New York Public Library

It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...

17/09/2025

The Gauge: Mexico August 2025

During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing. Discl...

17/09/2025

Jo Aun Joins FOR-A America as Senior Manager, Product Engineering

CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...

17/09/2025

PlayBox Neo and CIS Group Power CazeTV with a seamless Pl...

PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...

17/09/2025

Energy Regulatory Agency Underscores Commitment with Ene...

In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...

17/09/2025

Clear-Com Powers Star-Studded Communications at Houston A...

Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...

17/09/2025

Arch Platform Technologies Announces Strategic Collaborat...

Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...

17/09/2025

With over 39bn EUR in assets under management and record-...

Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...

17/09/2025

Telestream Celebrates Award Win at IBC2025

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...

17/09/2025

Mediagenix Celebrates Triple Best of Show Wins at IBC2025...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...

17/09/2025

PlayBox Neo Appoints Transtel Universal as Top Reseller P...

In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...

17/09/2025

Wisycom Unveils Two New Solutions at IBC 2025

Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...

17/09/2025

Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards

Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...

17/09/2025

Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo

Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026. By Colette Greenstein September 17, 2025 ...