How to get ripped behind bars!

Walking into the main yard of a maximum-security prison for the first time is an unforgettable experience. I was instantly reminded of Flemish paintings in which sinners toil in hell. A thousand sweaty, shirtless men groaning and cursing over a bunch of rusty iron and home-welded equipment looks much more like torture or the opening credits of a certain type of blue film than exercise.

Jared that pretty much sounds like exercise to me! :)

we can work on your idea of exercise whenever you'd like.

Heh heh. Thanks, man.

I was released only two months ago. Unlike many a parolee, I did not emerge into the free world brimming with pecs. My injuries and my hiatus from lifting had seen to that. But I knew I had it in me. I had a confidence that comes from once witnessing extreme vascularity in a blurry mirror. That is how it worked for me, and that is why I look wistfully at every grunting, sweaty gym I pass by.

Removing the weights from state prison might make for weaker criminals, but also weaker men. And in our society, apart from the white-collar offenders, it is really the weak who commit the crimes, not the strong. Taking away the weights—and thereby killing a culture with its own customs, traditions, vocabulary, and even festivals (the annual lifting contest was much-anticipated)—would deny the men a chance for a true mens sana in corpore sano. From my own time inside, I can attest that it's better for men to emerge from the hell of incarceration stronger—not necessarily in their biceps, but in their hearts and minds.