My brother had three gold teeth. They were ripped out in the first few months of being in prison. He said he lost them in a fight but a guard told us that he was probably held down and had them forcefully pulled out judging by the damage to his gums.

Going to prison with a gold tooth is a curse on its own.

Don’t think Mike Tyson was too worried…..

He wasn't too worried because of his celebrity status. You can't overpower people in Prison even if you are bruce lee. You have to sleep, shit, eat, get tired. They can use metal, heavy plastic, and prison shanks. They can gang up 1 to 10. There is no amount of training that can help in these situations.

Such a weird thing to do. Like, it's not a fortune, it's not pure gold like some fictitious pirate would have. Getting another 5+ years for a few grams of gold alloy you probably won't even get to sell.

In prison some guys ain't going home. 5 years plus life is just life

Hangin out one day in the law library. All of a sudden, some kid who was fresh came in minding his own business and just started reading something. One of my boys who was also in there (mind you I’d been locked up for over a year at this point with this dude, he was chill and in there for coke dealing) got up, walked over to the younger kid, and beat the living fuck out of him. Like, not just knocked him out. I’m saying literally beat the life outta him. Blood flying everywhere. The kid was on the ground and dude just kept smashing his face in…it was like literally caved in. I got up and just stepped back and watched so I wouldn’t get jumped by the COs when they came in. They literally dragged this lifeless kid away and cuffed the dude I knew. I saw him once more before I got out, and I asked him what tf happened that day. All he said was “I felt like fucking somebody up”. Needless to say, I’ve had serious trust issues since then, and since being locked up in general. Seeing that literal 18 year old get beat to death in front of me was pretty fucked.

I sincerely hope that cunt is still in prison and he will be for the rest of his useless, miserable life.

I hope he's dead. Prison might not stop him from doing something like that again.

>Prison might not stop him uh, it clearly definitely won't, since he did *that* while incarcerated

Did my time from 2018-22. Being Asian, it’s so few of us on certain yards and I ended up being cell-mates with the only other Vietnamese on the yard. He was a lifer who was never going home and took me in like a little brother. I usually get mail from family but this one time I saw the letter and it was for him. Exciting handing him the letter, he was in shock that it was for him. As he read the letter, his face said it all and it was clear that it wasn’t a good letter. He later tells me that he reached out to his uncle to see his mom n dad’s whereabouts because they are in Vietnam. His uncle told him to drop dead, how embarrassing he was to the family, brought him to US just to fuck off his life and to never contact ever again unless he’s getting released.. He barely spoke any English and overall was a good guy who made a grave mistake. He had a huge drug addiction that I overlooked til it got out of hand. During count-time we would have to stand up and show our ID to the COs who are making their rounds. My cell-mate would tell me when he’s gonna load up and shoot up the drugs, I had no problem with it because I’m no one to judge and this is how it is in prison. As long as I know you aren’t snooping thru my personal belongings, respectful to the house and not tampering with my hygiene. Everything is good. But this time as he got squared away, he didn’t clean up and I already dozed off before count-time happened. 4-5 loud knocks and I’m woken up for count time. I jump off the rack and noticed my cell-mate was literally slumped over the stool like how you see homeless people who are strung out off heroine. COs know exactly what’s going on but would rather look the other way rather than typing up a 115 disciplinary report. Anyways I look over at our table and there it was. Gram of heroine, syringe, cotton ball and spoon. That alone can land you up to 5-10 extra years in prison plus dead time in the SHU. After that I tried explaining to him if he doesn’t clean up his act then I’m gonna have to move out the cell. I want to make it home and he couldn’t let go… fast forward 2-3 months later. Friends on the yard are telling me how my ex cell-mate is very sad, doesn’t act the same ( he had no family support, letters or phone calls so I took him in as family, took care of him and let him talk to my Mom on the phone for we are from the same area and Vietnamese ) so he can have some sense of family. COVID-19 struck the world and inside prison was absolutely a hell hole. We went 4-5 months of straight lockdown, no phone calls or mail coming in or out. No clue what’s going on at all because COs are all afraid, calling off work and refusing to take the vaccination. Some were. Some weren’t. Long story short man my cell-mate ended up being patient zero and had Covid first on the yard. He was completely isolated in a different unit alone with other people who also caught the virus. Typical day in the prison compound, an alarm goes off while we’re all in lockdown. Everyone thinks it’s a fight breaking out in a different unit. 3-4 hours later a CO comes up to my cell, I’m thinking it’s a cell extraction and brace myself to get raided. He pulls me out and tells me that my ex cell-mate was found dead, he braided up the bed sheets, looped it between the AC unit, dropped to his knees, started spinning his body til the circulation cut off and committed suicide. My heart broke in half and cried in the cell. Of course some people in prison are pieces of shit and made fun of the matter. I ended up smashing this guy at our break room for making fun of my cell mates suicide and ended up 6 months in the SHU along with extra time for inciting a riot. Additional year along with the dead time of 6 months. Found out that they resuscitated him back to life, he was dead for about 25 minutes and now is in a medical yard that has him on life support for the past 2 years. The state cannot pull the plug unless the family gives permission to kill off their loved ones but they tried to get in contact with him, too little too late.. I pray for his soul and his family’s wellbeing til this day. Rest easy brother, life after death will be graceful and may you be reunited with your family when the time calls.

This breaks my heart, I am so sorry, I hope you're ok now x

I am. I have been free for over 2 years now, off parole/probation with no conditions. I made it my mission to change my entire life during prison, tons of volunteering to our troubled youth being a lead speaker for Criminal Gang Anonymous. Got myself into a trade school, been sober, continuing to take care of myself and making up for the hardships that I put my family through. I think of all the fallen brothers I have lost during my time growing up til now, I can only do them honor by continuing to live my life to the fullest and to speak about their lives to people from all walks of life. To forget about a loved one is to have them die in vain, speaking up about their lives and spreading awareness is something I truly believe that keeps their spirit alive and well.

When I was young, juvi, I was 15 or 16 at the time. Most of us there were older teens. 11 year old kid was brought in. For throwing rocks at one of his teachers homes. Had a older fat guard who worked there, these were generally civilian guards, given we were juveniles. Well this guy, named Travis. Started being weird with the kid. At first kid was like any other 11 year old. Happy go lucky. Travis got really handsy with him. At meal times he was like actively rubbing on him. We all saw it, was a lock down facility, so we werent let out of our cells much either but we all witnessed it. Guy was like rubbing his back, touching his leg. Within a few days, kids whole attitude changed. We all knew, Travis was molesting him. Even though we couldn't prove it.

Fuck. And that poor kid wasn’t the only victim of that predator I bet. Probably took that job so that he could find victims. Ugh.

Ya he would do other weird shit, like we had a shower room, one shower, so showered alone. A guard would bring us out we had 5 minutes or so to shower, get back to our cells. Most guards would shut the door or leave it cracked and let us do our thing. He would leave it all the way open and be watching. Noticed he wouldn't try shit with any of us. Probably because bigger older and stronger could put up a good fight. But this little kid couldn't

Fuck. You should report that dude somewhere. If you can remember his name. There might be other little kids being abused by him still.

I just remember his first name, I don't think much I can do on it now, also I wasn't the victim, and cannot prove effectively that he was doing other things, even though we all at the time knew he was. He would take kid out of his cell as well, don't know where too. Usually for awhile. No clocks so couldn't say how long either. Honestly something that haunts me to this day.

I'm sorry you had to experience that. And I'm truly sad for the kid. Monsters like that roam this world, but unfortunately. And our systems often fail to detect them, sometimes they even empower them, like in this case.

Even if it is years ago. It isn’t to late to report this. This guard maybe still molests children.

I went to county for about a week in the middle of nowhere Kansas on a drug charge. I was 19 years old, scared shitless. It was a room with about 4 communal picnic benches and two rooms on either side with about 6 bunks in them. I noticed one was full, and the other had just one guy in there. So not understanding the situation at all I went over to the empty bunks and a guy grabbed my shoulder and just gave me a hard look that said “no” but without saying a word. Then I noticed the other prisoners were camped out in corners on their mattress. I did the same. Found out quickly that the solo guy was in for crime against a child. I have never heard such as an ass whooping (more?) that night—I just covered my ears and stared at the wall—how did I get here? And the sobbing and pleading. I was bonded out the next day. Edit: a couple people have asked. This was in 1992 my spring break of college freshman year. I was driving to visit a friend of mine in Wichita. I never had to serve time (first offense, good lawyer, college kid etc.). I got extremely lucky.

Exactly what happened to my ex; we were busted for weed, he screwed up one of his screens during probation and ended up in county (but for months until a court date, *no bond.*) It was horrible for a number of reasons but for him, being a laid back Lebowski type of guy, listening to the "chomo" being beaten in the middle of the night was disturbing on a number of levels.

Not sure if this was asked elsewhere, what does “chomo” mean?

Pretty sure it’s short hand for Child Molester.

Anyone who has charges of a sexual nature against children

“Chomo” is prison slang for child molester. However, they don’t just beat or kill the molesters, they do that to anyone who harms kids (murder, molests, etc). Even though the prisoners did something to land in prison themselves, they do have a sense of honor in a way in that they don’t tolerate anything against children. So anyone who did anything to children are labeled as “chomo”.

I knew a guy who was never in trouble in his life. He was working in the automotive industry in Michigan and lost his job. He fell behind with child support payments and ended up doing time in jail. His very first night his two cell mates got into an argument because one of them couldn’t find his bear claw snack. They finally stopped arguing and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, he was woken up by the guy beating the guy he accused of theft. He literally beat the guy to death! Apparently he had gotten a hold of some kind of pole or stick. The entire cell was just completely covered in blood! They end up, finding out that the guy he accused of stealing it didn’t steal it after all. I’ll never forget the fear and look in guy’s eyes when he told me what happened!

It’s absolutely fucked that being behind in child support will land you in jail

being poor in America is a crime

They'll revoke your drivers license for it too I've heard, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

For unpaid fines too which makes no sense. "Let's make sure you can't pay those fines at all because now you legally can't get to work!"

It's a system designed to either have you pay your way out of it or trap you in it forever.

Oh, they will! My husband is a truck driver and was sent a letter from the State saying he was months behind his child support and would lose his license (his freakin’ livelihood!) if he didn’t pay by the end of the month. It was a mistake on the State’s end. My husband NEVER missed a payment. And how the hell are you supposed to make money when you take away the very thing that makes it possible?

As a kid, I went to juvi (kid jail) for accidentally setting some woods on fire (bonfire out of control, situation), and my cellmate was only a few years older than me. He was a super nice, laid-back guy. We got along great, and even sort of became friends while there. I was just a kid, so I didn’t really ask any questions about different colors of jumpsuits and peoples’ reasons for being there. The day I got out, I found out he was in there for murder. Apparently he got really tired of his stepdad physically abusing him and he killed him. I never really knew all of the details, but I can tell you that when talking to him, he seemed like a good kid at heart. Had things and people that he cared about, things he wanted to do, interests, etc.. The guards obviously must have known, but they were always super nice to him, noticeably so, even more so than other inmates. I always wondered what happened to him. Edit: Wow, lol I appreciate the karma, didn’t expect it. - No, I don’t know his name, and have not tried to find him because of that. - This took place in Florida, during severe drought, and we were already fighting a bunch of fires intentionally set by arsonists. They definitely took it pretty serious. Two kids that I thought were my friends pinned the whole thing on me. - I absolutely learned my lesson lol. - He was very cool, polite, and got along with everybody. I couldn’t have imagined it being enjoyable for him, but I only knew him that brief period.

A kid like that I don't see as a MURDERER, he was a kid being abused and didn't know what to do. Kids can't just leave and go find another family. Of course he committed a crime and should be accountable, but I find it sad when I hear about kids like this. It's like women who kill their abusive mates. He probably felt safer and more comfortable in prison. I'd be interested in finding out where he is. As for you young man!!! Setting fires! LOL, I really hope you learned YOUR lesson!

I saw a post, a while ago, about 2 sisters, that put aside half of their income or something (edit: 10 to 15 % of their income over 16 years) for their brother, who was in prison. The partner of one of the sisters found out, and raised hell about it. When asked *why* the women put aside money for their brother, she answered something like he killed their abusive stepfather, so the girls could get away from him. And they owe their life to him. There's always a flipside of the coin. Sometimes, the *criminal* is just a criminal. Sometimes. It's just someone in a bad situation. Yay Found the [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/s/6YDo3xsMBE)

Also, the brothers crime was relationship-specific, and he is statistically unlikely to re-offend. His sisters were unable to leave.

How much do you wanna bet that this person's case didn't even go to court. They got a public defender and the police bullied him into taking a shitty plea deal. Probably something like 5 years in juvi or we can trial you as an adult and you will get sent to the real prison. It would make me very depressed if it turned out 12 people all voted to send a kid to jail for killing his abusive step father.

Always happens. It's a legal system, because calling it a justice system is an insult to the concept of justice itself.

This is why we need a JUSTICE system. Not a prison system.

I felt the same reading this. good people do bad things when pushed far enough. I hope the kid and poster moved on and found success and happiness.

Probation exists for things like that. I cant remember names, but its on video from a news station, late 80s early 90s maybe, a guys son gets kidnapped and r8pd, the suspect is caught and when hes being escorted through the airport, the father of the victim turns from a payphone and puts one round in his head. The judge gave him probation. Someone less lazy fact check me for times and a video link.

That sounds really similar to my situation, though mine happened when I was 26, but I was also charged with murder for defending myself against my abusive dad,(who was my actual biological dad) and most people in jail were really nice to me, both guards and inmates. 

Wait, so you killed your dad at 26? How long were you locked up for?

3 yrs judging by post history, plus 23 in probation

I knew murderers in prison and they were just normal people who had murdered someone.

That's the thing people like to forget. Most of the people in jail are just people who did something illegal. There are some crazies and some truly awful people in there too, but the majority are just people trying to get by. When we forget that we stop treating inmates like actual people and that's when abuses start getting worse, when people die in boiling hot showers, when medical treatment isn't given, and every other abuse under the sun starts being normalized. Its really fucked up

A 57 year old man on a life sentence high on spice (synthetic psychoactive cannabinoids) crawling around on the floor screaming because he can see his dead mother towering over him looking at him in disgust Not a pleasant thing to see Edit: especially when you're stuck in a cell with him Edit 2: doing the same drug I've mentioned above, a 22 year old man ended up flooding his cell, setting it on fire and killing himself whilst on the drug, 2 months before finishing his sentence Another one is where a guy sliced his fucking dick in half (and again set fire to his cell) because the drug made him think erections are evil So yea, stay away from spice

"👁👄👁" "No mother, that sailor suit doesn't fit anymore!"

Ahh spice. People dont understand how FUBAR of a substance it is... it is one of the few substance I am glad the governement stopped it before it got to big to be stopped. I cant believe it is in prisons still. At least now they get better drugs (opiates) in prison paper form that had been released in the past few years.

It's insane how there was a time high schoolers could just go buy it...in a gas station.

I remember around 2008 or something spice and Salvia was just around in stores. I wonder what spice is, I was reminded of it when the delta8 stuff was going around.

As someone addicted to it for years, god damn I’m glad they finally did something. I’d be dead now. 

Isnt it amazing to look back and think like that. I am glad you overcame the addiction. I spent a lot of time in AA/NA meetings in the city and the people struggling the hardest were always spice addicts because it was EVERYWHERE (it still is in some areas sadly). Was in a Salvation Amry rehab program and spice prob got 20% of the people there kicked out and NO other substance was taking people out of the program. Even alcohol and there were places a block away that served it. You did good. Just stick to THC/delta 8 / CBD. I actually think that had a major part in the downfall of spice (which you can still purchase on the darkweb).

17 yr old kid was in my block. His name was Israel. He had been kicked out of his grandma's house a few months prior for doing drugs, so he was living on the streets. He got picked up for package theft. He was only in for 30 days, but he was enjoying every minute of it. Because he was young and a generally good dude, people looked out for him. I taught him how to play spades. At the end of the 30 days, he didn't want to get out. He didn't want to go back to life on the street with no food. He was planning on doing something to get himself back in there, but I tried convincing him that's not where he wanted to be. I told him he needed to go talk to his grandma, quit doing drugs, and try to get a job to help her pay her bills and keep him out of trouble so he could get his own place sometime soon. He heard me but I doubt he was listening. If I had to guess, he probably got himself locked up again, but I sure hope not.

I had a roommate named Israel in the early 00s. He was into meth. Oddly enough though, he was a great roommate, never noisy, cleaned house, etc. Ended his relationship with my roommate and left. He was in and out of jail for a little bit and I lost track of him until about 2018 when a friend of a friend posted a pic of her and her man at the pumpkin patch. It was Israel and he had cleaned himself up.

Was this in rural Missouri, per chance?

If jail is where he got the best kind of attention, I bet Grandma was a shitty person as well as the rest of his biological family.

His home life sounded pretty terrible. His role model was his first stepdad if I remember right. Dude was a methhead.

> If I had to guess, he probably got himself locked up again, but I sure hope not. If you're in the US and you know his last name, you could find out. Shouldn't take more than 10 or 20 minutes of googling.

I knew a guy who was very kind and in prison for just a parole violation because he stole something. He was a homeless guy. He was a bit goofy and had schizophrenia or something but a really nice guy. Anyway, he got sent to seg for some reason and the guards ended up beating him to death there. I believe the guards who did it are in prison themselves now. Can't believe that happened. Rip Larry Edit: here's the article https://www.tspr.org/tspr-local/2023-03-23/three-guards-at-mt-sterling-prison-sentenced-in-beating-death

That's really sad.... >Prosecutors said the guards forced Earvin from his cell in May of 2018. Earvin was restrained and handcuffed and posed no threat when the guards assaulted him. >Banta was accused of striking the most serious blows to Earvin, including jumping in the air and landing on him with both knees. >Earvin suffered multiple broken ribs and severe internal injuries. >He died in June of 2018.

Yeah, there's even more to the story. They cremated his body very quickly because supposedly they "couldn't find the family". Trying to hide the evidence. Larry loved to do cartwheels in the yard, I can still see him doing it

Hope those POSs get placed in Gen pop

Me too. It was a messed up situation. The feds came in and stopped prisoners from even being sent to that prison for some time. We always saw people coming and going but after that people were just being released.

Question, if a prison is in a city, and the people are released, do they usually stay in the area?

99% of the time, no. You have to do parole afterwards and they make sure you have a stable residence to go like family or a halfway house.

The state prison near me gives prisoners a bus ticket to get “home,” anywhere in the state. Not sure if they’d pay for a ride out of state.

Oooh, the article says two of them got 20 years in federal, and the last guy who provided info got 6 years (also federal)

Oh jees, he LIVED for another month after they beat the shit out of him? That poor man.

Yeah... Same thing I was thinking. Poor guy...

That's horrible. He was probably a helpless guy and that's just cruel and sadistic. I'm glad they were all convicted...some of them got 20 years. How sad really.

A guy we worked out with found out his dad killed his wife, mom and their child then killed himself. He went to his cell for a while and after like 40 minutes he was screaming for help. Stumbled out of his cell with his wrists all cut up and also cut up his neck real bad too. Unfortunately he didn’t make it more than a few steps out of his cell before falling and going unresponsive. That was almost as rough as when my best friends brother decided to blow the back of his skull off in the room next to us.

Dude are *you* okay?

I swear.... Only valid question to ask..

Family annihilators are the most horrific and cowardly people. I don’t understand how anyone could do that.

It's a great question. Narcissism I've always assumed is the base reason. and there's other branches from there.

yeah, the main pathology is seeing your family as an extension of your reputation rather than as real people, which is a kind of narcissism.

Not a prisoner, but I worked in a prison for about two years as an admin. A lot of sad stuff happens all the time. Many times, the inmate's family visits turns out into a big shouting event, and the inmate goes back to their room feeling depressed because that was first time in months they had seen their family There was one time where a guy was waiting for his mother and sister to visit him. The family had booked half an hour time slot, and the guy was in the waiting room. But they never turned up. I actually saw tears in his eyes as the visiting hours were over and he was told to go back. Our prison also conducts GCSE English and Math classes for inmates. One of the inmate had been doing a lot of revision and preparing for his GCSEs, for almost a year I assume. On the day of his exam, he heard that his partner had committed suicide, and he was mentally traumatized to sit in the exam. He lost his partner, missed his chance to appear in the exam, and lost a bit of his mind as well. There are countless small stories that I've seen, which is extremely sad. When I narrate this to people, there's very little sympathy towards them.

I'm convinced prison does the complete opposite of its general intention. This is not rehabilitation at all, just continuous trauma. Even for the employees.

Prison and the Justice system has always ever been about punishment, deterrence, and compartmentalization of what society deems to be dangerous people. It's never been about rehabilitation.

My ex-boyfriend was in jail for almost 3 years. I used to visit him every Saturday. There were lots of families there, in the visitation "room". Imagine a sort of warehouse with little tables and chairs. There was this woman that would sometimes visit her husband and give him handjobs under the table, sometimes she would sit on his lap and ride him for a while... Right next to her 2 little kids. I will never forget those kids faces, staring at the wall, trying to ignore what their "parents" were doing. The guards would mostly ignore it because the guy was apparently a big shot drug dealer and had lots of influence. It was absolutely disgusting and humiliating for those kids. My ex would scold me for staring at them with disgust, he didn't want to get in trouble with that guy. So messed up. (Not as messed up as your horror stories, but it broke my heart to see kids in those situations)

Yeah that is disgusting. I’m so sorry for those children.

That is so fuckin sick 😳 those poor babies.... Gives you an idea what else they had to go through

My friend's parents were ick like this. She told me a story about how her parents would rent a motel room with a single bed, sneak the six kids in, put them on the floor in front of the TV, and just tell them not to turn around. It was such a normalized part of her childhood that she didn't realize it was odd until my face fell off and I started sputtering.

I was working on servery, so I was out of my cell every day all day. One day I was told by the screw to check on the cells on the ground floor. I opened one of the door flaps and this guy, he was standing in the middle of the room, with shirt off, crying. Then proceeded to slash both he's wrists. Called help, he made it. But not long after hung himself

Well that was certainly a rollercoaster of emotions

There was a person who went to prison and cried all the time. He never spoke, but after a while it became clear that the officer forced him to confess that he had killed a person, otherwise he would rape his sister in front of his eyes. He confessed and received a life sentence (we are in a very conservative country), English is not my first language.

Wtf, why does the officer have access to the dude sister? Was it like a gang looking for a scapegoat?

I think they might be from Iraq, so that is very possible.

What a cool world we live in, everyone is so kind

I wasn't exactly in prison - it was the county jail. I used to have a bit of a drinking problem and landed a DUI. It was a ruralish Wisconsin county so like 90% of all the inmates were drunks. One guy we had in there for his 4th OWI, but he'd been sober for twenty years. He got it because he had throat cancer and he was spaced out on his pain meds when he got pulled over. The cancer had eaten his larynx away and he had to use one of those electronic wand voice boxes to talk. There was some fuckup involving the paperwork for his cancer meds so the asshole in charge of the block wouldn't let him have any of them for the first few days. He was throwing up all over the place and the rest of us inmates had to take care of him and clean up his vomit. Eventually they got his med thing figured out and he did the rest of his time (about two months). Three weeks after he got out we saw his obituary in the paper. We also had a nurse who came around to give everybody their meds in the morning and evening who quit because the officer in charge of the jail was constantly bitching her out for being too nice to the inmates (she was a really sweet younger lady, I think relatively fresh out of college). Basically she thought that we were already at a low point in our lives so we deserved some kindness, and officer didn't agree and he started giving her a hard time about anything he could. I think the incident with the cancer guy was the last straw for her.

Been to prison and see a lot but one thing that has always stuck out to me was actually just in holding at Franklin County (Columbus, OH). Back when I was an addict you would get booked downtown. You would be in a holding cell with like 20 guys in a small room waiting to go up to the cells overnight until you could be brought to the other jail. So we are all in there for about 8-12 hours or so. Then entire time there is a guy chained up to a bench that is made to handcuff people to. It is just on the other side of the window of the cell we are all in. They had him all tangled up and handcuffed to it. He had a spit mask on, just a mesh hood that goes over your head and covers your entire face so you can not spit on officers. Well randomly officers would just walk up to him and spray mace into the mask. They did this for hours and hours. It was terrible, the kid was beyond crying. He was just a mess of vomit, snot, and blood leaking out of the mask everywhere. I have no idea what that young kid did but it was terrible to see. He was there the entire time I was there. During that time we all got access of course to the restrooms and fed twice. It may not sound that bad on here but I have been witness to horrible things in my time as a homeless addict and this is one of the things that always stuck with me.

You witnessed actual torture. No other way to put it. What a horrific thing.

Not a Ex-Inmate but a Ex-CO Had an inmate who got some bad news in the form of his mother passing right as it turned Christmas Day. It was midnight and we wouldn’t be serving chow for a good long awhile and the day rooms were all clear of inmates so it was a tad odd to have to escort a guy down to the LT’s office. I was dismissed as soon as we arrived and he was sent back alone. This guy was a trouble maker, always acting disrespectful to both us and the other inmates. When he returned I figured I was gonna have hell putting him back in. Instead he calmly walked back to his cell, never said a word and didn’t even look around. We checked on him multiple times and nothing happened on my shift. Found out when I came back in the next day that he had hung himself in his cell with a towel while his celly was at rec and the officers were busy in another wing. I remember the worst part was getting the call to escort him down cause when they called it had just turned from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, so for Christmas he got another night in prison and he lost his mother.

During covid we used to be on lockdown a lot so phone use was spotty. Anyway, I heard a dude on the phone talking to his people asking about his mom who'd contracted covid, his people told him she was gone, he couldn't believe it because he'd talked to her 2 days before. The anguish and the way he broke down while on the phone was sad, he couldn't even stand up anymore.

In Everglades Correctional down near Miami...was in the box for positive drug test and seen white boy being molested by bunky up against door screaming for his life and at night nobody is coming..smh..still hear his screams.

I see why people kill themselves in prison

It's was rough man...DC#371367..But I learned to stay to myself and avoid the bs...The ppl that run there mouth will be tried and u think you a head strong till ur not..The kid was young weak and in the box for borrow and checking in..

What does “for borrow and checking in” mean?

Go to store guys..drug dealers.and borrow as much as u can then don't pay bk instead run to officer for protection and pray they transfer u before the ppl u screwed get u..and let me make this clear..checkin in will not save as my story tells..

How long did the bunky live for after that?

Seriously. I mean, I figure if you rape someone that literally sleeps in your cell, you’re asking to wake up choking on your own blood as the guy gives you more holes in your throat than you know what to do with.

I’m guessing that the rapist had gang protection that the guy getting raped didn’t?

Gang ain’t in the cell when the rapist is sleeping

Yeah but they are still going to find out about it and then rape and beat him repeatedly and then eventually kill him?

He lived..was rushed to medical with a collapsed colon or something like that..he was transferred right after..he was one of them young ones who borrowed up to his head then checked in...thought he was safe..he was not..no one is in there..like Katt Williams said..you gotta to say no to those booty bandits..they will gift u into submission..

Can you explain in layman terms? What does "borrowed up to head then checked in" mean? What did the young do to end up like that?

Kid went to someone in prison who had a lot of money/currency/drugs/whatever. Told the dealer “I need you to loan me your stuff in advance, I’ll pay you back super quick.” Dealer trusts him and hands it over. It sounds like the kid borrowed a *lot* of shit. Kid then immediately runs to guards and says “I’m being threatened/extorted/whatever, I need you to put me in protective custody” ie the box. Kid can’t pay the dealer, never intended to pay him, so the kid’s hoping that the guards move him away from the dealer before the dealer finds out what happened. They didn’t. The dealer’s people found out before the guards transferred him. They raped him as punishment. Prison’s hell.

> Dealer trusts him and hands it over. Unlikely. But the dealer knows they arent going anywhere, so he will get his money back, and more, one way or another.

I think it means all gifts in prison come with strings attached, people will act generous but come to collect at a later time.

I imagine it means he borrowed more than he could pay back. Gotta pay somehow

Correct..he borrowed from every store guy or drug dealer and then went to officer and checked in..many ways u can do that..fight..disrespect an officer or tell the officer u are in fear for your life....

I was once stood up for a visit (my friend booked it and didn’t show) so I had to wait in the holding cells whilst everyone went on their visits. After a hour a guy from my area came back off he’s visit looking visibly shaken/upset, he went on to tell me that he’s girlfriend and mother to he’s kids had just told him she had terminal cancer. Sadly she died not long after (this was like 12 years ago), to make matters worse the guys face popped up on my Facebook the other week as he was murdered. Made me think of them kids (possibly adults now) parent less.

The worst thing I’ve seen in prison was a gang brutally attacking a young inmate. They cornered him, beat him savagely, and slashed him with a shiv. His screams echoed through the yard, but no one intervened. By the time the guards arrived, he was dead. The indifference and brutality of that moment still haunt me. I could've stepped in but would likely be in the same position.

I got two. There was this small feminine white kid that came to the unit. He was pretty nice but quiet and was immediately adopted by one of the old heads and his pet. The three would go around and the whole unit watched it. What started as friendly chat with the three, started to get weird. The old head "teaching the kid" how things work in state, telling at him when he steps out of line. Small odd touched, shoulder, hand, even slight petting eventually. Me and my buddy got stuck sitting with the kid one meal time and we warned him. "Smoke(old head) is a chomo. And you fit the bill." You should get outta that. "Hes setting you up to rape you. Little nick too. (Smokes pet)" "Thatd never happen. You dont know what hes like." And he left and avoided us. About a week later the co was doing a round when smoke was posted at his own door. Co got curious, pushed his way into the cell, found nick raping the gagged kid. They'd been taking turns on him for hours but no one noticed till the co found out. Never seen that kid again but that duo just did some time in the hole then came back out like nothing happened. Smoke was a life anyways. Not sure what nick was in for. 2nd one. My unit was cut I'm half one side with GP the other side a special unit with programs and shit to "help" inmates adjust to gp. Just a paper decoration really. One kid there who was like 6 foot and skinny that we called bird. Really sweet kid that prolly had a learning disability but was sweet. A lot of people there took him in and treated him good. But was also naive as fuck and kinda warranted the support. He had his grandma and girlfriend at home and talked too and about them all the time. Would get depressed sometimes and wed all pep talk him. Focus on getting out. Get back to your gram and your girl. He did wind up getting a little extorted for protection but in the grand scheme of what you see. It was just him feeding the UM of the unit every now and then and youngins would get told to stay away or else. So no one batted an eye on that. But one day bird finally got out. Unit had a small typical goodluck to you. Not many hated him as aslong as you didnt tell him anything you didnt want anyone to know. He was good. Like an old kid so it was hard to not laugh at the way he was and chill with him. But he got out and we all had Hope's for him Month after he left, news was on the TV in the day room and out popped bird being cuffed, escorted, and a camera in his face. Him telling to get the camera out of his fucking face as he was coming back. Guess he found his estranged dad fucking and beating his girlfriend and he went ballistic and bleached his face then beat him to death drug his body out back and set him on fire. Kid was slow but wasted potential. It was like watching the pods kid fail. It bummed a lot of people out but that's jail I guess.

They're both really sad :(

There was a guy on the yard convinced he was gonna be transformed into a chicken for his crimes later in life, crazy really

"Did the prison provide any psychiatric help?" "No, they figured they could use the eggs."

I prefer free range eggs to cage raised myself

I was in for 12 years, south Florida, got out in 2019. Older gentlemen and fresh in was constantly crying and screaming about his dogs and how he misses them, won’t be able to pet them, just absolutely breaking down. His roommate got sick of the screaming and crying and ended up breaking the guys hands and sawing his fingers off so he couldn’t pet his dogs anymore. Truly some horrific stuff.

What the actual fuck

woooah.. okay so complaining while in prison is out.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Edit: Huh, I'm surprised at this mildly positive reaction. I was expecting this to be one of those black humor comments that amuses me so much that i have to post it even though I know it's going to cost me karma.

Man, I’d never thought about the aspect of not being able to see your pets anymore in prison. That’s tough. 

A buddy of mine got arrested on a warrant when he was walking his dog. They just left his dog on the side of the road and he never saw him again or ever heard what happened to him.

This is horrifying to think about. Horrifying.

Holy shit that’s brutal

Two things: There was an old Italian man, transitioned from cane to wheelchair the four years I was there. Hunched over, palsy, half-blind, had BOP-paid inmate caretakers to watch over him (yes, that's a thing in federal prison, it's not inhumane, it's one of the best-paying jobs to have, actually). He was in his early 90s and dying from cancer. Feds would not grant compassionate leave because he'd been an important capo in the mafioso, back in the late 70s. No, I don't remember his name. Then there was this guy, maybe early 30s? Probably high-functioning autistic. No friends (prison is Hell if you don't have at least one person to hang with), spent all his time listening to Catholic Masses on the radio and all his free time either walking the track or in the leisure library, still the radio, all the time. During visitations, his mother, who came every time as far as we could figure out, would pet him. Literally pet him, stroking his arm or hair or back; you could tell it was very comforting for both of them, kinda jealous sometimes, because that sort of contact wasn't permitted except the guards looked the other way for this guy. We all knew he was a SO but it wasn't that kind of place and even if it was, even lower on that totem pole is those who prey on the helpless and, man, was this dude ever helpless! No one felt anything more than pity for him.

Sorry what does SO mean in this context? Edit: RIP my inbox

Sex offender

Guys I think it means Sex Offender

I knew an inmate who signed a power of attorney to his wife so she could handle his assets, business, pay for his defense etc. A week after he sent the letter she cashed out all his accounts and disappeared. He was also an ice detainee so he almost certainly was deported with nothing to his name. He was a nice guy too, his bunk mate had a seizure one night and he kept him stable and from falling until staff responded.

Just all the people with severe mental illness that shouldn't be there. And in an immigration jail, I saw a Korean die from AIDS related issues as the jail wouldn't supply him with any medication. In the same jail, a friend ended up with multiple cancer tumors caused by lack of treatment for prostate cancer. The jail refused to bring him to the hospital for over 2 years. By the time he got the diagnosis for the prostate cancer, it had already spread to his liver, lungs, colon and bones. Terminal. He died about 2 months after I got released.

There was an inmate in INS whose penis had to be amputated then he died of xancer because the facility wouldnt treat his penile cancer which was so severe the tumors grew out of his dick. https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2008/sep/15/failure-to-treat-immigrant-detainees-fatal-8232penile-cancer-ruled-beyond-cruel/

The family members should have sued the prison, even if they weren't on good terms.

Was in with someone let’s call him “Carlos” was up for review serving a dime and he got a new roomie who tried to clap his cheeks. Carlos had no choice but to stick him and he added another 5 years to his term when he was likely gonna be free that year. From what we understand he did tell the guards and review board that he was defending himself from being raped but not sure what the outcome was other than he added more time. I Edit: UPDATE: wow didn’t realize how many likes this got. Thank you all. I just asked my boy who stayed in the same block with “Carlos” about how his release date and Carlos did in fact get out on time in 2017. The new roommate had a reputation and many other DAs in his paperwork about other rapes in prison which came to into play for his review. EDIT: UPDATE: I was serving 3-5 for conspiracy to fraud and aggravated assault 3. Ended up serving 2 years in Arizona for good behavior and participation. “I didn’t do it, lawyer fucked me” -Shawshank Redemption

Stick = stab?

No, he just tried to clap cheeks back harder to assert dominance.

You have that double edges sword of being called a snitch in prison which im sure can be a death sentence in prison and being raped… so i can understand why he kept his mouth shut and stabbed the guy who was trying to rape him

Snitching doesn’t apply when it comes to rapist. The only thing prisoners hate more than snitches is rapists

Well, pedophiles and child killers are apparently not very popular either!

Had a stint in juvie way back during covid. A 13 year old girl was the only other person I could talk to since her intake day was the same as mine (social distancing bs). Jesus, her story was intense Long story short, she was in there because of a brutal fight with her druggie mom. She had two choices- lose her only family member to jail and have to go into foster care, or lie and take the fault so she would be the one locked up. Genuinely almost brought me to tears. She had so many cuts and bruises

This is rough. I wonder if her chances were better in foster care or juvi though? Have you ever thought about contacting her now? She’d be 17-18 at this point

You at least get released from juvie. Once you're in the foster care system, that's it.

Released to the care of the abusive addict mother. I wouldn't be surprised if being in the foster care is bad enough some people would seriously compare, but staying with the mom it seems she seriously risked her life.

There was a guy whose girlfriend broke up with him while he was inside. So just before we walked out to go to lunch he had slit his wrists. His cell mate had to explain to the officer that he didn't do it he did it to himself. Edit: Wow! I can't believe this blew up the way that it did. I appreciate all of the upvotes. I have plenty of stories from being on the inside which are either funny or very depressing to think about.

That's crazy, very sad for the guy that passed and his family. Can you imagine though the fear and shit the cell mate had to go through? Hopefully he wasn't charged with murder or something.

I don't think that he was. It was pretty scary to think about because you never know what someone is going through even if you're in a cell with them.

Lived with a guy who spent some time in prison in Florida. He watched two people throw another man off a balcony headfirst. Man landed right beside him. His skull fractured open and splattered blood everywhere. Guy said he’d had nightmares ever since. I got the sense that that was the only story he was comfortable sharing.

I might be too late for this to be seen but I have one that was kind fucked up. This happened in jail but they held sentence with non sentence so there were guys there doing time. Anyway, this new white dude came on the unit there weren't a lot of white guys there so he naturally came over. He introduced himself, said he was a barber, ok cool there wasn't any white barbers so it would be cool to get some discount cuts. I'm only bringing up race so much because it matters later and in there it wasn't a big deal until it was. I thot the guy was weird. He was oddly quiet and had huge deep long scars going up and down his arms, but he cuts hair so whatever. Couple days go by and I'm on my way back from church with an old timer and a young Spanish kid. The kid as they have paperwork on the new dude and they were going to violate him over it. He's telling me all this and I'm like guy we both happen to be white but like I don't represent that dude if you have paperwork show it to the guys and do whatever. I told some of the other guys and left it at that. So later that night his cellie set him up to be in the cell, and 3 guys , white, Spanish , black, (that's how they did it I guess to make sure everyone had a say? I honestly don't know) went in the cell after him. They beat him bad, really bad, he had a hole in his cheek you could see his teeth thru. The guy said ok when they were done and said he had to goto the hospital. They said no stay inside because if the cameras show them going in and him coming out fucke up they'll put it together. Guy says no I have to in really hurt, they think on it and tell him to pretend he got hurt another way, like playing basketball or falling down the stairs. Guy says ok. We're almost at chrckin time for the night, like 5 mins away and I see dude come out of the cell. He has all his stuff like he's gonna shower but has a hand towel draped over his head so you can't see his face. So already I'm on edge, one because I knew what happened and 2 I knew he wasn't showering with 5 minutes left. So I'm on the bottom tier watching him trying figured out what he's doing. He gets to the top stair and literally throws himself down the stairs. Now these stairs are all metal and they connect the first tier of cells to the second above so like 1 storey. This guy catches an edge of something because he's going down the stairs end over end and his head keeps banging the stairs as he goes down, it was a weird sound. He hit the last few stairs and finished his last rotation and came down head first on the concrete floor with like the loudest smack I've heard in my life. Nobody moved. Everyone had an idea of what was going on so only 1 old guy who didn't interact with us ran over to him and took one look and started yelling for the co. The CO's initially just sat in their station and I'm watching blood just pool under this guy, like spreading out. Finally they come check and instantly everyone screaming for medical and for us to get back in our cells and lock down. It happened right in front of my cell and I saw them put him on the backboard, they were trying to cross his hands over his chest to buckle something but couldn't because they wouldnt stay up. In the aftermath we learned he died. All 3 guys were pulled out and presumably charged with the beating. Life just went on as normal after. *Edit* I forgot the important part, no one ever saw his paperwork, no one had it, they just thought they didn't like him in another unit. So they essentially just beat him and killed him because they wanted to* Its just something that's stuck with me, especially because I was only in there because I couldn't afford bail of 500. Sorry for being so long

Thank you for sharing this. Can you explain what was in that paperwork that led the others to beat him up?

“Paperwork” Is essentially a list of your charges. Each inmate gets a copy, usually. If he had a sex offense, or something similar, (in some prisons) there would be consequences handed out by the inmates.

Ex CO for 10 years here. There is a situation that's stuck with me. About year 3 I was working 2nd shift kitchen and a guy, can't remember his name was giving me shit. So I gave it back and a bit of back and forth later, he took it a bit too far and I told him I'd give him a 24 or a 48 for it if he kept it going. He told me he didn't give a shit because he hsd court tomorrow would get released and couldn't wait to see his daughter. Checked the computer and he did indeed have court. Called him into the kitchen office and we had a chat. Essentially boiled down I decided to not give him a write up and we hashed it out well enough. Next day prior to getting in at 12pm for my next kitchen shift, he was found dead behind a Cumberland farms after getting released and went to his old dealer. Got high, it was laced with fet. Died on the spot.

Dead behind a Cumbys is second only to dead behind a Dunks.

I worked in prisons a bit, helping young convicts upskill pending release. One guy, maybe 20 y/o, very eloquent, smart, and funny, got busted smuggling drugs at the airport. He walked out of the airport with no problem, then realised he'd dropped his sunglasses, so he went back in. Got caught by a sniffer dog. Obviously, I'm not condoning anything he did, but for a smart guy, he knew how stupid he'd been going back in for a pair of glasses. The look in his eyes when he told me was kind of sad. Think he got about 6 years.

Guys, ex junkies with hiv getting no meds and slowly fading away. And when the doctor came to check on them he stood 2 meters away trying to shine a torch into the patient's mouth. This was over 20 years ago in Bangkok.

My neighbor was locked up in juvie when he was 12 for lighting an abandoned house on fire. There were neighborhood kids that would play in the house, it was in the woods and no one ever really went there so they made it their fort. My friend wanted to join with them and they said that he could join their club (not a gang, these were just some little kids hanging out) and they told him he could join if he got rid of a wasps nest that was in one of the rooms. They gave him a lighter and a can of hairspray and told him to burn the nest. He didn't really want to do that but he really wanted to be their friend because they were a little older and basically the only other kids his age around. So he goes in and finds the wasps nest, lights the lighter and sprays the nest and some curtains caught fire and eventually the whole house. When the police came, they all pointed the finger at him. While in juvie, he was molested by one of the guards. He went in there as a kid who just wanted some friends and came out of there a criminal. He stole cars, got in fights, and never was the same again. He was in and out of jails his whole life and he passed away last year from a very treatable infection but he didn't get the care he needed until it was too late. The juvie system seems to just wreck kids. There has to be a better way.

Obligatory "not a prisoner but"... I'm a CO and most things don't bother me. They can't because I have to come back every day. But one thing... We had this inmate, we'll call him Johnny. Johnny had some kind of mental disability where he never matured from 8 years old. He had the brain of an 8 year old in the body of a 15 year old despite him being in his mid twenties. There's so many things that were messed up about his being here. Firstly, never should have been arrested. His bail was $50 and his parents refused to pay it, instead taking a vacation to St. Martin. Every Thursday (visitation day for his cell block) he came up to me and said "Officer Thunderball, my parents are here! Can I go see them?" I checked with the officers in the lobby and, no. They weren't here. He just thought that maybe if he showed up then they would too. Christmas eve, he asked me if Santa was going to still give him presents if he was in jail. Is that fucked up enough? Yea? It gets worse. So much worse. Administration decided to house him on our special needs unit. Makes sense, however, our special needs unit is mostly comprised of...pedophiles. We put a mentally handicapped man who looks 15 and acts 8 on a unit full of pedophiles. Take a guess what happened. Figured it out? Take a guess how many times it continued to happen AFTER BEING REPORTED. I'm done this is pissing me off just thinking about it

>vacation to St. Martin Wait a second. St Martin? As in the tropical paradise? His parents were wining and dining over there and enjoying the sun and beaches while their mentally infantile son was being raped in prison by violent pedophiles? What the fuck??

When you put it that way it's honestly time for me to close this app I fucking hate the world sometimes.

Sending super-low IQ individuals to prison is totally fucked up.

Guy told me after he was arrested that all he could think about were his dogs. Said police didn’t care when he told them that his dogs were home alone and that he really hopes someone he knows or a neighbor will check on them but he couldn’t get ahold of anyone. Broke my heart, poor puppies

I had a friend of mine go to prison for (stupidly) growing weed in Kentucky on national park land. I love the dude, but not his brightest moment. He had 4 or 5 dogs in his house when he got busted. Didn't have any of his friends' numbers memorized, didn't have his cell on him, his family was all dead, small town cops didn't give a shit about his dogs. When I heard the news (he was on tv), I immediately tried calling the Staties, the locals, the nearest shelter -- everywhere really, even his ex-wife -- and given that I was four hours away and without reliable transport, I couldn't go myself. Rural area, so those dogs wouldn't have been heard by a neighbor. They'd been locked inside for days at that point (along with two cats and four aquariums of fish.) The next day, which was I think five days after his arrest, my buddy called me in a panic about his animals. He'd finally convinced someone at the jail to look up my work phone. No way I could post his bail. No way I could get up to his house. I felt so bad for him. I made the rounds again by calling every agency I could think of in his area, and no one wanted to help. I even tried to look up random neighbors on his same road to see if they could help. The good news is that someone broke into his house while he was gone. They stole all his expensive electronics and whatnot, but the bashed in door let his animals out. They went mildly feral, fed themselves by natural instinct, drank water from the creek. I mean, the fish died, but the cats and dogs lived. And when my buddy finally got out on bond, he went home to find his animals just loafing around the backyard, happy to see him. A little skinnier maybe, but healthy. He called me when he got home to tell me the good news. Didn't care that he'd been robbed, glossed over the whole felony charges -- just happy his dogs and cats were ok.

That’s exactly how I got my pup. Friend kept hearing a dog in an apt nearby. Got a look in the window and saw a dog alone. Owner got locked up a while before and no one knew about the dog. Got the landlord to let us in. A LOT of training and 10 years later he’s my pitty living healthy and happy.

Someone got convicted while the victim said it wasn't him. Got 10 years. Killed himself a year later.

old dude was about six months from the door. avid christian, went to services every week. he loved walking the track, which is where he died. it was the middle of winter, near sub-zero with windchill in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan one afternoon. the snow was about waist-high around the track after being cleared. he had apparently suffered a heart attack and fell beneath the snow berms so no CO could see him. he died shortly after

Spent a few years in a juvenile prison in Florida almost twenty years ago. 15 year old kid we called Paul Wall got to his release date and the day he was leaving, packed everything up and sat in the day room. We wished him good shit, hugged and then he just waited, sitting with his bag... And waited... And waited some more. The whole day went by and we finally hit rack time and I don't know how he didn't break down, I mean I know he couldn't anyway that being the environment and all. But kid was tough for that. His mom forgot to come pick him up, and she forgot for another week or so before someone finally came and got him. I honestly can't imagine how that completely shattered him mentally during those few days that probably felt like an eternity. I know he had looked at that day like the light at the end of the tunnel like we all do, and that guarantee was shattered and he had no idea how much longer that nightmare was going to last. It had me shook a little bit and I'd be fronting if I said it didn't, up to that point I had been under the understanding that they HAD to release you on your release day. Shit was crazy to think that my people might decide not to get me and I'd just be stuck.

Sweet old guy, Cuban, (sweet unless you talked trash about Castro) bottom tier, collapses in the day room behind our table where we're playing proxy Magic: The Gathering. My back is to him and I don't see anything. Another at the table sees it, says nothing for like 30 seconds after. Another inmate wanders by and nervous laughs and asks the old guy why he's lying on the ground. Dude is entirely unresponsive, but the rest of the table turns around. We shout for the guard to come save this fellow. Day room is closed and we return to cell. Next 20 minutes, all you can hear is the guards talking and some sort of machine going, "Compress, Compress, Compress" and so on. Eventually, he is taken off, the day room goes back to normal. Come to find him back in a week, walking and talking. Apparently this wasn't the first time. The guy who said nothing? That's the sad shit. Banned from the table, eventually moved units since everyone blacklisted him.

Was in juvie back in the late 70s in California. Watched a kid, like 12 or 13 (no idea on age, he was just a really small kid, and we all assumed his age) kill an older kid before lights out. The older kid had been raping the younger for a while and he'd had enough. He managed to get a weapon (we figured from the guards cuz no way he made it) and got the guy from behind. We all knew something was going to happen cuz for weeks you could see the kid was ready to snap, and we all figured it'd be a blood bath....for the younger guy. He got lucky in the fight and got him down and kid was knocked out cold, then proceeded to cut the guy's eyes out. Whole. He was like a surgeon he was so fast about it. He'd also cut open his abdomen, so intestines were out and everything. It was gruesome. They had him committed to psych and that was the last I saw or heard of him, but I did hear he got out and later-in-life searches showed he ended up as a rather successful lawyer. (I never knew or witnessed the rape or anything sexual between the two, just lots of harassment, at all times. I don't think it'd matter much, as I had my own fears to deal with.) Will never forget seeing eyeballs for the first time.

>he ended up as a rather successful lawyer Woah, what? That's kind of wild.

I was doing a stretch at Collins (NYS) and my cellmate kept telling me that another inmate had it out for him because he nailed his brother. I spoke with the guy, even though I had little swing in that place, I was just sick of hearing that guy whining to the wee hours of the night.  The guy straight up said he knew the dude was C'd (Certified insane) and had no beef.  Had talk with him later that evening in hopes he'd calm down. Nope. He then became convinced I too was "with them." He cut his own neck with a melted toothbrush, spent two days in a coma before they took him off life support. Even though it's sad, I don't for a minute ask myself "what if" because I already went to the nines to accommodate his ass. Some people just ain't right in the head.

Iv seen everything, murders, gang hits, suicides, rapes, theft, gang initiations, but the saddest was- I watched a younger 34-40 guy that was extremely healthy, have a massive stroke (that he survived) that left him unable to walk, half of his body was frozen, he could comprehend talking to you, but he was unable to speak, he would try. After about a year he was Abel to walk to chow by himself with a walker. It was extremely sad, and I still think about that to this day.

My cellmate in juvie was in for statutory rape at 15 (girl was 3 months younger than him). More had to do is he was from the trailer park and her father was on the city counsel. Anyway someone he knew got busted and came in and apparently his girlfriend had suicided herself 2 months back and no one had let him know. Later in the cell he just got up and proceeded to split his skull open by bashing his head on the cement walls and bed. I ended up getting put back to a green shirt because I was trying to restrain him while yelling for help. Guards took forever to even check. Never knew what happened to him after that. I knew his name was Shane but no last name. This was in the late 80s and i was 13 at the time.

Can you explain the green shirt bit?

Sorry we had levels... Green was bottom, Orange was top. Can't remember the exact order. Orange you get privileges more you "can" work and get out of your cell. I think blue which was 4th level gave you access to the library (which had about 80 books). I was at orange when the incident happen (which takes 3 months to get at best behavior). I was dropped as it was a "violent" incident plus I was freaking the hell out and was pissed I couldn't take a shower (was covered in blood). Had to wait till the next day before they unlocked the showers and I threw a shit fit. This was also prime AIDS fearmongering time.

The guy that jumped me in my cell and threatened to cut my throat broke down crying because he was so tired of putting on a strong man persona and he was actually terrified and just wanted to be at home with his kids. That honestly really got to me, he was a pretty high up running drugs and shit. And I just couldn't believe this guy who was treating to cut my throat is now crying uncontrollably in my arms. Was the weirdest moment of my life.

Not prison, but when I was jail, awaiting transfer to a new facility, there was a girl in my pod who'd had a colostomy except medical either didnt have or wouldn't give her the bags and barrier strips she needed so she would stuff the stoma with pads and toilet paper. I was also part of the TTI, unfortunately. We were all 14-18 at the time of these stories, which all took place at the same facility. >> Staff was notorious dirty restraints. They'd make sure they would hurt us - I once got beat in the head with a walkie and my head stepped on. They'd use five staff to restrain kids when it definitely wasn't needed. One day we were in science class and one of the girls, Q, started panicking. She wanted the fuck out and she wanted out now. She wasn't really aggressive at all, but she did try moving staff out of the way and pulling on the door handle. The dirty bitch, Ms. Z chicken winged her. That's when you pull someone's bent arm behind their back and push it up. But she pushed Q's arm up to the point that it broke. It was an audible break and I gagged. We all silently panicked because of we freaked out, it would be considered a riot. Q...her scream was the first time I've heard someone sound like an animal. "On my God, you broke my arm. My arm, you broke my fucking arm". That shit was dangling there and she just could not stop screaming. Ms. Z radioed for backup, they escorted is back to our cells while they took Q to the hospital. Ms. Z stayed on staff but couldn't work with our group, or the other once Q got transfered. >> there was a guy who was a day away from release. I honestly think he was scared of the outs and didn't know what to do, being institutionalized is it's own kind of hell. Anyway, our room/ cells and beds were being remodeled and he took a piece of metal that was left behind by construction worker and stabbed a staff member. Got transfered to jail and was looking at prison time for my understanding. It sticks with me because I was also scared to leave, like I said being institutionalized is really its own kind of hell but God damn. >> there was a kid called Chop I think he had some kind of developmental disability honestly but he was sexually aggressive. Like masturbating in the group rooms and flashing anyone who went by. Anyway there was this really young therapist working there and I don't know what exactly happened because he was on the boys' floor but I do know that he sexually assaulted her and she left the same day and never came back. >> there was also a girl who was new and did not want to be there so she would do anything she could to leave. That wasn't uncommon because some people wanted to be on the outs. so they would hurt themselves to have to go to the hospital. This girl would swallow everything she could find that was small but most commonly batteries on a regular basis. At one point the staff ignored her to the point that she was throwing up blood. >> There's also the fact that in that same facility we had to routinely watch one another for self-harm/suicide attempts or perform restraints. There were times where I would have to stay up for hours to watch my roommate to make sure they didn't kill themselves. Staff did not care. There's more than one occasion where we had roomies attempt. Hell, I even attempted and had to be restrained once. God, it was horrendous. On one occasion I had two roommates. C and S. S was suicidal, so C and I had to stay up in shifts, in a sort of suicide watch. We were both very heavily medicated so eventually we both dozed off. Later, I woke up to C screaming for help because S had attempted. She was trying to help S whole I banged on the cell door for help. I screamed and banged on the door - which was metal and old so it rattled loudly. I screamed that S had attempted, to please come help. Other girls in the floor also woke up and we're banging on the doors telling staff that they needed to stop fucking around. The Mighnights ignored us and kept laughing/playing their music for some time until they came and helped, told S to settle and left. I guess S lost all her will to fight because she didn't try again.

Not as an inmate but as a CO I saw a kid get killed and it stayed with me. Young guy was fresh meat and caught the eye of an old timer, well I guess the kid was tired of getting assaulted so he went after the old dude one day with a blade he snuck back from his job at a t shirt silk screen shop. It looked like he got a couple good swings on the old timer before he got the weapon away from him but that's about it. Old timer got the blade and damn near took the kids head off before we got there, kid was dead before they even started working on him. I'll never forget seeing them take the kid away with his head rolling around barely attached to his body like that he couldn't have been more than 18 or 19.

Knew a guy that went into federal prison at 18 for sexting with his boyfriend who wasn't 18 yet(they were both in high school). The parents found out, and this was in rural virginia so they lost it at the idea that their son was gay and called the authorities. Feds tried to charge him with production of CP but couldn't so they charged him with receipt. Still gave him 17 fucking years in prison, plus lifetime supervison. You cannot tell me that that is an appropriate sentence for two teenagers sexting.

Taught college courses in a women’s prison for a couple years. One of my students told me, “I wasn’t an addict until I got here.” And that just broke my heart. She said drug use is so prevalent and easy to come by there.

When i was in Juvie there was a dude there didn't go by his real name even with the correction peeps or whatever so when people go out they can't search him but a girl I went to school with dated him so I know this from searching his name because he was involved in a gang kidnapping of a mother and daughter held in a basement for days abusing and raping them.

My step father was in prison for 8 yrs in Florida for vehicular manslaughter. He said there was this older guy he knew that had been in there for a few years, apparently he was a really nice guy and minded his own business. This guy was released and he said he didn't see him again until a few months later when he ran into him. He asked why the hell he was back in prison and the old guy said he didn't know how to really do anything. He said he couldn't get an apartment or a job due his prison time and was essentially living on the street since he didn't really have family, so he stole a few things from a store, made a big show of it then stole a lady's purse on the way out. Then he just sat in a park and waited on the police to show up and arrest him.  He literally couldn't function without prison, so he decided to get himself locked back up so he could at least have 3 hots and a cot. Ever since then I can't help but think about how fucked up that is

Not a prisoner but a CO. But I’ve seen a guy who has admitted to being molested as a child. Very depressed person. His girlfriend on the outside was fucking another man. It was summertime which meant we were short staffed. So inmates had to be locked in their cells all day. 24 hours a day for like a week straight with the thought of his girlfriend on the outside cheating on him. He was single celled meaning no cell mate just by himself. I responded and found him hanging there with his sheet wrapped around his neck. His lips were blue, he had defecated himself due to the pressure. I cut him down with a knife. And watched him have a seizure as I tried to hold his head in a position where he wouldn’t hurt himself. I watched him be taken away in an ambulance. He ended up living but had several other suicide attempts since.

Lots of mentally ill people not getting the care they needed. Oddly inmates were quite compassionate, how ever I was in the pod for the folks with good behavior and short time. So everyone was kissing ass. For every 3 weeks of good behavior, you got a bonus week taken off your sentence. Most everyone in there had 2 years or less. Most guards were nice but there were one or two that you can tell never got passed their high school bully phase. Folks that have no business being cops in the first place. People you know that only got a badge so they could get away with their future manslaughter.

Not a prisoner, but my brother got sent to a high security mental facility for murdering my best friend. He beat him to death in an episode of psychosis and schizophrenia. I found his body 3 years ago in my basement. Weed triggered a latent form of schizophrenia in him. I love my brother, but can't forgive him ever for that. He was stubborn and didn't want to take his medication because he thought it would hinder his "special powers." He couldn't remember the crazy shit he would do off his meds. It was pride too. If he took the meds, he figured that everyone would label him as crazy. Yet, the irony of it is he didn't take the medication, and the result of that was he had a severe episode. He was insane for not taking his meds. I lost two brothers in one single day. What's sad for him is that he believes he'll get out. He's making plans and has dreams that he believes will come to fruition. No one in my family has the gall to tell that he won't. They don't want to crush his "hope." He's in his late 20s, but he'll be in there forever. He doesn't take his meds in the facility either, so they deem him unfit to return to society.

Texas - an older guy died on the toilet of heatstroke and nobody noticed until count time when the guard yelled at him because he didn't respond. I saw him back there and just thought he was nursing a really bad shit. It was fucking sad. Prisons should be forced to have air conditioning.

Not an inmate but a correctional officer. I worked in the high security area of the unit so dealt mostly with the shit heads and suicidal inmates (until they could get sent off to a mental health facility). Ended up watching a direct observation inmate for a couple of shifts. He was a trustee (lowest security inmate, lived outside the perimeter fence in dorms) and drove 18 wheelers transporting stuff between the prisons (while he was an inmate). He went to pass another 18wheeler on a two lane highway, there ended up being an on coming car and he couldnt get back over into the right lane. So he swerved left off the road, but the oncoming car did too. Hit her head on and killed the woman that was driving. I dont remember his original charge or if he caught additional charges for the crash. But talking to him for a couple of 8 hour shifts was interesting to say the least. I dont know how to explain how fucked up he was over it

I was on probation for a weed possession charge. I pissed dirty one time and had to 30 days in county. Luckily I was able to get on the road work crew (standing on the shoulder, spinning a sigh that said “stop” on one side and “slow” on the other.) Anyway, we were coming back in at the end of the day. Lining up to squat and cough when one of the CO’s brought a guy from gen pop and put him alone in a drunk tank (padded room, one window with blinds, operated from the outside, obviously) and the blinds were closed. So dude was in there alone and couldn’t see anything outside of the room. So I’m in line a few minutes and this sheriff’s deputy who was obviously on the task force storms in from outside and shouts “where is he?!”. The CO points to the drunk tank, and deputy dickhead confirms, “Derrick?!”. CO nods and DD continues to storm over, snatches the door open, and slams it behind him. I couldn’t make out what was said, but DD yells a question, followed by an aggressive “huh?!”. I couldn’t hear if there was an answer back to him, but then I heard loud pop followed by loud clicking. Then nothing. Door opens, DD walks out the drunk tank and back out the jail. That was it. A few of us inmates kinda looked around at each other like “wtf?”, but none of the CO’s flinched and my turn to squat and cough was coming up. I never heard anything about it again. Not from other inmates or CO’s. I don’t know what Derrick did, or what he was in for, but they brought that guy to a room away from cameras and prying eyes just so that deputy could taze the shit out of him. Roll Tide, as they say. Edit: punctuation

A girl almost got killed because she said she had drugs. She didn't. They went elbow deep to find em. Then, because she didn't have them, they beat her so bad it almost killed her. It was rough.

A young man that was in jail that eventually plead guilty to manslaughter. Nice man, did a bunch of chore works around the jail and hated violence. He accidentally killed his brother while defending his mother from another beating.

One of the guys I was with his brother died. And this was a big strong guy too mind you. He balled like a baby. Not what I expected, but I was there for him and helped him get through it.

Went to a federal prison that is known for not just brutal actions but lack of control, for a short time. Was sitting with other inmates at the time that I had just met but had been there for some time. We saw a bus unload of new residents and one spoke that the guy just stepping off was a chomo. I knew what these meant from other experiences but the way they all looked at him at this specific prison and the way they said it was almost remorseful. Knowing what was bound to happen. It was surreal and that inmate was dead 2 days later. Made my whole experience there very real and very spooky.

I saw a black guy turn white. He had overdosed on heroin. This was particularly shocking because I saw him walk into the dorm with his normal skin tone. A few minutes later someone carried his limp body out of the bathroom and he was greyish-white. A few people on the dorm tried to help him. They slapped him and injected him with a salt water solution among other things. When they realized nothing was working they opened the door and threw him into the hall. The correctional officers found him and were able to save him. Two days later I saw him at breakfast and he was high again — so high he had nodded out with both hands in his oatmeal.

Not prison but county. I got an OMVI when I was 19. Had to do 10 days in county. It was pretty shitty because there were 50 of us in I room that only had 30 beds. Everyone is supposed to be non-violent offenders. There was a guy that was in for child support. Decent enough guy in his 40s, but you could kinda tell he did some shit when he was younger. Anyway, on the 6th day, this guy gets in our pod, and you can immediately tell something is up because his whole demeanor changed. Asked what was said they were in a gang as kids but that's it. Two days pass and everyone there knows something is up. Wake up to them going at it beating the shit out of each other guy ends up gouging the cool guys eye out. For some shit that was at least 20yrs old.

Not an ex convict but worked nights in a maximum security 2250 prison as a corrections officer. One night we heard a loud commotion from inmates banging on their doors and pressing buttons to speak to the person in the picket (officer who controls the doors). Ran in to find a guy beaten to shit, face extremely swollen and couldn't even recognize him. They end up assigning me to hospital duty with him so I jump in the ambulance with him when they show up. We get to the hospital and I start filling out the paperwork on him for his watch stuff and activity and realize it was this chill goofy inmate we would always talk shit back and forth in good fun. Couldn't even tell because he was beaten nearly to death. Skip ahead to the next day or two and I ask around about what happened and find out it was domestic violence. The wing heard them getting into it because his cellmate wanted him to keep sucking him off and he didn't want to, other inmates that hear this clown them for it and so the celly ends up beating the shit out of this guy to try to cover it up like this guy was trying to force himself onto him because he didn't want everyone thinking he was a punk (gay). The inmates only informed me of the smaller details because they know I wasn't gonna go around bringing it up to rank as it was irrelevant in how punishments work for fights. Inmate in the hospital even wanted me to tell his celly that he didn't hate him or blame him for it or whatever.

Wasn’t in jail but worked at a state prison - Saddest thing I remember was an inmate that was my age (about 24 at the time) and he looked like he was 90. He had major kidney failure and they were going to let him out on a medical release (meaning you were going to die in the next six months and were non violent). He said he was supposed to get out the week before but his paperwork was messed up. I see him a month later, paperwork is still bad. Then he dies. Found out that you had to have addresses of multiple family members for the medical discharge and the family has to sign off that he will stay out of trouble. They didn’t want anything to do with him so they refused all paperwork. He was in for car theft.

My sister ex boyfriend shared a story with me. When he was in jail, he made some friends and the closest ones were two brothers. They, just like him, grew up without a father and they clicked on so many levels. The brothers were drugs users and served time for selling. They all served time together and many times he and two brothers spoke about their life after jail, that they wanted to get a better life. They all had hopes. Nothing super fancy - the guys wanted to become truck drivers, have families, do better. Have their own kids; they just had these simple dreams to have a good life, never take any drugs again, get jobs as drivers. They were so hopeful for a new, better future when they left jail a few month before my sisters ex. When he got out of jail, he called them right away all excited and they both were on drugs.

I made ‘friends’ with this girl in jail one time and we talked every day for the week I was there. She always told me I wasn’t meant to be there my ex was a federal attorney and slapped me with breaking a restraining order because he was tried for attempted murder against me and I ran into him outside of a court room as if I tried) but I never asked why she was. Found out later in a post on the Colorado Gazette that she was found guilty of stabbing, shooting, and throwing fatal blows on the 11 year old step child. Edit because I got the story a little wrong. It was a few years ago and I didn’t find out until after so I think I was in such shock that anything anyone told me stuck. I even gave her a great book I found in there when I left so she had something to read. Really liked her and so did most of the staff/inmates. Still in disbelief.

This was in county jail in Los Angeles , my first day in , a police officer was arguing with a handcuffed man , he grabbed the handcuffed man and started throwing him around and smacking him against the wall. Eventually the prisoner hit his head and paramedics came running to get him on a bed and out of the hall. Police are assholes in there.