How to act in the joint depends as much on where your locked down as it does how you carry yourself.
The first time i got caught up i went to MR which carries a nickname of "gladiator school" & that shit is for real,lots of young guys in there serving heavy bits,in that place you'd better be willing to catch a murder case at the drop of a hat or you wont make it out alive or with your manhood.
The 2nd time i was down i went behind the walls of Jackson prison,i went in with the same attitude from the last place,a few long timers i met in there had to tell me to chill out,much more casual place with alot more lifers just trying to go about living.
The first thing is to get your celly figured out real fast,thats the guy who's there when you close your eyes & sleep.
Dont loan borrow or front anything, but do start making connections,have your people bring you cash money on visits & become a good customer of the dealer's in there,also become a good paying customer of the numbers guys,businessmen dont generally fuck with their customers who pay,gangs run all the business in the joint & if your a paying customer your off limits as a mark to that gang,they will not take the chance to dry up the cash pipeline.
Get healthy,build your stamina as much as possible,before you get out you will need it.
Learn to live off food you buy from the commacery,eating the shit they serve you will give your ass the runs,plus some sick shit goes on with the food.
If you like to fight you'd better learn to like some shit called "nutriloaf",that shits a gut bomb,nutriloaf is what they fed you when your in the hole,its made up of all 3 meals from the day before,they lump all the left overs in a pan with some cornmeal, then bake it in bread pans,thats what your ass eats.
Take advantage of any program or school that you are eligable for,it kills time,you learn something & it puts you in a situation where if your observant you can see who the people are that are really just trying to make their time go by fast & easy,these are the people you want to run with.
Visit day will get you fucked up,dont show any emotion durring a visit,if you have a tendency to freak out & cry when your mother or wife comes then cut them off,if they wont stop comming then remove them from your list.
Never EVER look at the ground for any reason,all it takes is for the right person to see you lookin at your boots & its on.
Same goes for smiling,if your the kinda that goes around grinning then you'd better stop.
Pay attention to the way you talk to people,if your the kinda guy who likes to use the word whitey,nigger,spic,faggott,whop ect, you'd better get that shit outta your system real fast,also keep your personal life on the outside to yourself,when your done with letters throw them out,watch who's around when your on the phone too.
Give your girl straight up permission to fuck anything that moves,she'll break her back working 2 jobs to bring you hundred dollar bills every visit plus you'll have nothing to be pissed at her about .
If your a small man with nice features(think Justin Timberlake),before you get out of quarantine you'd better tell the intake worker that your suicidal,you'll get put on suicide watch in a cell by yourself & be locked down 23 hours a day but its better than getting the 'cho cho" taken.