What I found interesting was how educated many inmates become after years of incarceration. When I was in "reception" a max security lockdown for 23 hours a day... my cell mate had been in and out of prisons since a teen and he had a tremendous grasp of history and science. I actually enjoyed our conversations but when he claimed he was a career criminal...and had been locked up for more years than he was free as an adult...I suggested he give up crime because he sucked at it.
I got that once. For me it was the worst possible type of punishment. I get stir crazy just having to hang around the house one day. Medium sucked in a way b/c there was absolutely no tolerance for any sort of violence. Max inmates had to stab each other to get isolation. I pushed someone (after she pushed me) and she fell on her ass w/o even slight injury and I got locked in what was essentially a single-occupany bathroom for 5 days.