Prison is scary, it is by no means normal, what goes on inside these prisons with prison inmates might be one of your worst nightmares. Those who managed to get out of the cells will do anything to not get back in there. While some inmates saw someone “Got beat senseless with a padlock in a sock, over a dessert,” on the other hand, some were scared of starting their new life after being released from prison and having just $20 in their pocket.
A Redditor asked what happened to people who have been to prison, what is the scariest memory of your time there? These stories are from what happens inside the prison, and the result can be quite disturbing to readers.
You learn as you go
By user: Being raped by a kid 10 years younger than you is humiliating in itself but being forced to french kiss the kid is even worse. You learn very quickly, that if you are a targeted inmate that you stop taking care of your oral hygiene. Nobody wants to kiss you if you have green teeth.
How not to be assaulted
By user Hipolymerduck: “When I first got there, I had to watch an instructional video on how not to be r*ped… That was legitimately the scariest memory I had of it.”
Everything is scary on Day 1
By user: Day 1: Everything is just scary as can be. You don’t really know where you will be safe, if anywhere. Every time you are passing someone, are they going to shank you? Are they going to cold c**k you in your face?
Chow time was the total panic mode. Hundreds of violent thugs in a close group outnumbering the guards, 25 to 1. If something went down, you would be dead before the order was restored. When incidents happen, you have to hide, but not cower. You have to keep your back to the wall so you can fend off any incoming attacks. So the first chow time a fight broke out was the scariest time I was there. As days went on, you become more aware of when to be alarmed, but there are plenty of sneak attacks that come when all is calm.
Guards used a taser on him several times while his head was in a metal toilet and water
By user: ndrdog: While I was proceeding one of the “guests” was screaming nonstop about suing everyone and making the cops his b***h. He was still very under the influence. All the cops were generally laughing about it until one decided that it needed to stop, so they all suited up and went in to shut him up. They were more jacked than any HS football team I’ve ever seen. Off they went and about 3 minutes later – silence. I walked by his cell on the way to my new room, and he was just sitting there naked.
A few hours go by, and he decides to kill himself by drowning in the toilet. This will never work. Well, to go about eight cops in full gear. I would think 8 professional guards could move one guy, but they decided to taser him several times while his head is in a metal toilet and water. For two days he just sat naked on the floor rocking back and forth with a blanket thrown over him. Then he just disappeared.
Life moves on
“Honestly the worst thing that happened? Life kept on moving outside the walls. It doesn’t inside. All my friends went on trips, made memories, met new people, and I missed all of it. Lock up was generally pretty tame, as I kept to my own and was in a low-risk tank (perks of being a 20-year-old in jail for weed).
Unrelated, but I also think people underestimate how much our prison system really hurts people. Being in for not a long time and in a low risk tank? Didn’t matter. Ended up with some PTSD. I couldn’t fall asleep without a knife in my hand for the first four months I was released. I had nightmares and didn’t sleep a night through (sober) for the same period of time.
Our system does nothing to rehabilitate anyone. They throw you all together and take people who made stupid mistakes and expose them to hardened criminals who happen to be pretty good at leaving impressions on people.”
Some are just like Storming clouds
By user: The first week of my 12-year set was the worst. I was a skinny 20-year-old with no criminal history, and it takes a while to learn that most people are mostly talking. I accidentally sat at the black table at chow, made a point of staying there and eating with them when they showed up to avoid offending them, was labeled a race traitor by the whites, and was told someone would be coming to slit my throat.
Nobody came, as most people don’t want to be inconvenienced with a long stint in the hole for killing someone for something so small, but I slept with a pen cap hooked to my watch band holding a sharp pencil against my wrist in case I had to stab someone in defense. Living for days with the crippling fear of imminent death fucked with my nerves. My hands shake a little now.
Razor blade in soap
By user natalie2727: “My friend is in a Texas prison, and she said one woman prisoner put a razor blade in a bar of soap and used it to cut up another prisoner’s face. Cuts and blood everywhere. The scariest thing as far as I’m concerned is that she said the guards didn’t do anything for a few minutes– just let the two keep on fighting.”
Inmates were beaten randomly
By user TuDuenyo: An officer was attacked and killed by an inmate. Every night, for weeks, 3rd shift would come on and A half dozen officers would pick cells at random and just beat the shit out of whoever was unlucky enough to be in there. Imagine sitting in the dark, hearing a grown man, just 100 feet away screaming in pain and agony. Did I mention the co’s were laughing in between blows.
6′ inmate Broke 5’4” prison guard jaw and fractured her cheekbone
“I wasn’t an inmate, but I was a Guard. I have a couple of different stories but the one that always got me was when I was walking down the mile to get to another block and the inmate in front of me decided the 5′ 4” female guard was the one he was going to let his anger out on. She stopped him to ask where he was going and if he was ok considering this certain inmate was normally a happy person. When he stopped he’s just starting hitting her over and over. Before I could tackle him and yell for help he managed to break her jaw and fracture her cheekbones. By the end of it, he had to be taken to the infirmary as well for some broken bones.
Another time I was doing my count and the inmates on row 3 started yelling for a “Boss” (what they call guards). When I got up to see what was going on one of the inmates in the first cell had his pants at his ankles, a shiv in his hand, and was wiping (what I found out to be his own) blood despite there not being any visible cuts on his arms or legs. I couldn’t see his midsection due to his long shirt. He looked me dead in the eyes and said “I am the rosary and my blood is the ash. I will cleanse this place of all that believe in the false god above.” All the while his cellmate was in the back with his hands up saying “I haven’t touched him.” After getting the Sarg on duty he was taking to the infirmary. I was told he is known for doing this kind of thing to get transferred to our psych unit during the summer. (our unit was a concrete building with no a/c in Texas. Needless to say it got super hot even at night.)”
Beaten for turning sprinkler system
By user produce_this : Honestly, the scariest moment for me was my first walk back to the dorm. You had no idea what you’re walking into. All you can think about is what you’ve heard about and seen on tv. When you get to the back with your clothes and mat roll, everyone is just staring you down. Some are cat-calling you basically. Usually, this is just to fuck with you though. Other than that I didn’t have any issues.
We did have the one guy that was in ISO outside our dorm. He kept being a dick and hitting the sprinkler head in his room. The caused the hall to flood which in turn flooded into our dorm. The is a locked room between the hall and outdoor. After about the 3rd time it happened and a few guys had gotten their stuff wet, they told the guard “next time he does it, just lock his ass in that room, and we’ll take care of it”. Not sure if they were joking or serious at the time or not. But sure enough, the hallway flooded the next day. They told us all to step back by our rack. In comes 2 guards with the guy from isolation. They left him in the locker room and walked out. Then the door to our door unlocked. 4 guys whipped that dude’s ass for a good 2 minutes before they came and got him.
Even an innocent can turn into a deadly monster in these conditions
I visited the prison of Okasha in Casablanca, Morocco, as a part of a project of a criminology course during the last year of my business and commercial laws studies back in 2015/2016. I later did not finish that project because I couldn’t stand being there inside that prison and I switched to another more humane legal project that was centered on civil responsibilities in know-how, technology transfer contracts, negotiation, and arbitration since I can not stand the fact that I have to witness people suffering in pain before my eyes. I think I saw the face of the ”civil hell”. I saw prisoners living in extremely inhumane conditions with shit in walls and rotten food and dirty beds! I saw other prisoners eating soil and licking the walls because they were incredibly hungry.
I was sad because I did not bring with me any food or water to give to some hungry prisoners. There were a lot of flies and bad smells everywhere. I saw a man being beaten cruelly by a group of guards with no mercy because he was screaming and wanted to see his wife and children and that was one of the cruelest and hideous moments I have ever witnessed with my naked eyes. I was terrified. Nobody wants to end up in that prison, so next time be careful with anything you say or do if you live in Morocco and be careful of insulting either intentionally or unintentionally The Moroccan God, or in other words, ”The Royal Family”. They are no ”prisoners rights” in Morocco because here in Morocco, prisoners are considered animals with no ”human or civil rights” behind the scenes of course and not what you see on TV or in front of the cameras. Moroccan prisons are ”monsters factory” where even the innocent can turn into a deadly monster under those terrible life conditions inside the prison.
Saw someone slashed on the first day
By user: My very first time in jail when I was 18 was a bit of a trip. Went through the whole entry process where they check your butt for stuff, make you feel like a piece of shit, threaten you, etc… It was pretty fun. Then the group I was with was split up to head to different cell blocks. My foot was barely through the cellblock door when a siren started blaring, and we were told to face the wall and not move. A bunch of guards rushed the cell block and after a couple of minutes, they rushed a guy covered in blood past us followed by a guy I assumed was the cause of the blood. Find out later that they had an argument about a fucking book, so one guy slashed the other face repeatedly with a razor blade melted into a toothbrush. I thought that my entire stay was going to be filled with shit like this, but I lucked out and knew someone in there, so I actually had it pretty easy.
Welcome to hell
By user I-am-Legion- The first time the metal doors slammed, I am in eastern Europe, we still have heavy, solid doors. That, combined with the jiggle of keys was nerve-wracking. When I entered the cell, my cellmate said jokingly welcome to hell, I was terrified.
Wedding dress for raping rapists
By user: The first time I went to visit a prison as a law student, one of the prisoners knew a law class was coming, sh*t on his hand and smeared everywhere outside the cells. This was also my first encounter with prison torture. The guards showed us the wedding dress the inmates used for dressing and raping rapists and other criminals, according to the prison “ethics”.
