Mike Enemigo - Surviving Prison: The Secrets to Surviving the Most Treacherous and Notorious Prisons in America

WELCOME TO THE CELL BLOCK...

M urder. That is the crime I was convicted of in 2002 for a 1998 drug-robbery gone wrong, and for which I was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, and it is not the first time Ive been incarcerated; it is the third. In fact, since I was born into this world May 1979, I have only been free one time since the age of 15, and that was for 17 months. The rest of my life (do the math) has been spent in one prison cell or another; as will the remainder should the State of California have their way.

But the point here is not to get into the details of my crime and case; that is an entirely different book (Conspiracy Theory). The point here is to show those of you who are reading this because you are about to come to prison or are in prison the ways Ive learned to survive, through trial and error and hands-on experience over many, many years, in hopes you will better endure your time here; and those of you who are reading this to get an inside look into the inner-workings of the devils playground, an authentic experience you will get nowhere else. After all, this isnt Orange is the New Black; or even Shashank Redemption, American Me, or some other Hollywood-made fictional to portray a very real reality in an effort to make a pretty penny off an ugly truth. This is an authentic insiders-only look into an infamous and treacherous community full of loneliness, misery, pain, depression, hopelessness, anger, violence, betrayal, brutes, bullies, all-around suffering, and how one can best endure it. This book will not only expose you to such a raw display, but also reveal many secrets known only to those of us who have participated.

Not only am I an expert on the subject of being a prisoner and how to survive prison because the amount of time Ive spent inside, but because Ive personally participated in and experienced all of which I write. Though I do not admit membership, I am a validated gang member. Ive done time with members of the Mexican Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family, and everything else that exists. Ive smuggled in and sold drugs. Ive participated in and orchestrated numerous assaults. Ive been on both sides of the knife. In fact, when I started this book in 2010, my friend and I was in the hole for stabbing and slicing another inmate who committed an unforgivable offense. As I write this introduction now in 2017 (I put this book on the shelf while I tended to other endeavors), Im in the hole pending the outcome of an investigation after an attempt was made on my own life, where I was sliced across my face with a razor, from under my right ear towards my chin (he was going for my neck but missed), leaving me with a wound closed with 13 metal staples. It is the third time Ive been stabbed or sliced. By now such things are routine; at most, a mere inconvenience or petty nuisance like that nose hair you just cant quite get, or that fruit fly that keeps coming into your peripheral while youre tending to extremely important business, such as...staring at the wall.

You should not assume that typical prison shenanigans listed thus far are my only credentials. Since being in prison Ive mastered the art of turning negatives into positives; a vital key to survival. I decided long ago that, if Im going to be here, Ill not only learn to survive, but thrive. Since then, Ive founded The Cell Block, an independent multimedia company with the objective of accurately conveying the prison/street experience and culture, with the credibility and honesty that only one who has lived it can deliver, through literature and other arts, and to entertain and enlighten while doing so.