Are you facing criminal charges for the first time? Like many other people in your situation you will probably be spending a great deal of your time wondering how you will survive in prison. It isn't something your family and friends can help you with and they didn't teach prison survival tactics when you were in school. So how will you survive?

In prison life is tough. People who have spent time in jail know that for a fact and people who have never been inside believe it on the evidence that is available to the general public. There is no shortage of news reports and published statistics on the topic of violence towards inmates in prison.

It is no secret that violent criminals continue to be violent when they are behind bars and that their victims are other prisoners. Ex convicts will tell you about the gangs that operate in prison, and how important it is to keep clear of them if you don't want physical assault to be added to the discomforts of your stay in prison.

The thing few ex convicts will be willing to discuss is the sexual abuse that is part of prison life. Many male prison inmates will suffer homosexual rape while in prison (some estimates say as many as 40% will have been victims of sexual abuse) and they just want to forget it.

Depression is a common reaction to the hardships of prison life and it has been estimated that nearly a third of all prison inmates suffer from some form of anxiety. Depression is dangerous if left untreated and suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among prison inmates. Who is going to notice if you become depressed while in prison?

Your cellmates will have their own problems and they won't be in a position to help you even if they did notice you were seriously depressed. The prison staff probably won't notice because they will be too busy trying to keep control in overcrowded prison conditions; if they did notice they might not care or might not be able to get you medical help in time. You need to learn how to survive in prison in order to be physically and mentally sound when your release date arrives.