# Ask a former prison guard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554 "2003-02-07T20:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/21 "2003-02-09T11:23:01Z")
What are the ropes you have to learn when first going to prison? Like, the schedules of when to eat, where to go for exercise, etc. Are you just thrown in and left to fend, or does someone tell you what to do? Does everyone have a job to do, or is that a privilage to ward off against extreme boredom? What facilities does the average prison have (library, mess hall, exercise yard, license plate making room, ???) -Tcat ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/22 "2003-02-09T14:16:29Z")
A friend of mine spent several years as a guard in an Indiana prison. Here’s some of the things he told me: Most of the guards were members of the KKK. His supervisors tried to recruit him. When he refused, he was harrassed. and his cars were vandalized. The only drug that was hard to obtain inside the walls was alcohol. The rest were smuggled in. The official position was that the stuff came in the mail, with visitors, or in food shipments. In truth, a few corrupt guards brought most of it in. Alcohol, on the other hand, was made in-house as small batches of crudely brewed hooch. It was described as nastier than the worst booze you can buy on the outside. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/23 "2003-02-10T04:46:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ralph124c \* > \*\*Suppose you are a middle-class guy who has never been in prison…how do you: > -make clear to the prison “boss” that you don’t want to be placed with a 300 lb. prisoner called “jamal X” > -secure a nice jon (like cleaning the warden’s office) > -get out of prison withoput being raped. > What kind of bribes do you have to pay to get all of this? \*\* If you had specific reason for fearing another convict, a request to be housed away from him would probably be approved. If it was just case of you happened to be afraid of him because he was scary, then you were SOL. Good jobs were gotten by a combination of good behavior and cozing-up to whatever prison employee was in charge of where you wanted to work. As far as I know, bribery played no significant part in the relations between inmates and prison staff. There were, of course, exceptions. Those cases would usually end in the staff member involved getting in it over his head, the tables turned, and being black mailed into doing something like smuggle drugs. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/24 "2003-02-10T05:08:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pool \* > \*\*Whats the most horrible or violent thing you ever saw whether it was a conflict between just convicts, or convicts and guards? > Did you ever personally get into any potentially life threatening situations? \*\* The most disturbing experiences for me personally related to when a convict would go over the deep end. One day he might be the polite and reliable orderly who cleans your office, the next day raving in solitary confinement, stripped naked because he was using his clothes to hang himself and flinging feces at you when you brought him his meals. Another prisoner for some twisted reason refused to allow a leg wound to heal. He would pick at it and put filth in it and he finally died from it. Self-mutilations, probably as an attempt for sympathy, were common. A convict had to be _very_ crazy to actually get sent to a mental facility. Some were on daily doses of thorazine to keep them calm. You had to keep in mind that just going in to work every day was a potentially life threatening situation. This is different than, say, a cop. A cop stops a car and it is potentially dangerous. But when he gets back in his car and drives off, he can rest easy until the next encounter. In contrast, at the prison where I worked, most deaths on the job were the results of planned murders and happened while the officer was doing something routine like sitting at his desk. Wrestling two fighting prisoners to the ground was the most violent situation I ever faced personally. But once I worked a cellhouse and the next day another officer was speared with a modified broom handle (but not fatally). ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/25 "2003-02-10T05:18:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*Do you believe in the death penalty? \*\* I think that it is appropriate in primitive societies without the benefit of our modern penal systems. But I’m against it for us today. But this is too deep for me to adequately address here. > [@](#): > > **What was the worst crime any prisoner you knew was convicted of?** I purposely tried to not know what each prisoner’s crime was. That made it easier to treat them equally and fairly. But there were some well-known serial killers and child molestors (but no one I knew was both of these). > [@](#): > > \*\*Does anyone in prison ever admit to being guilty? \*\* Sure. Most of them. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/26 "2003-02-10T05:20:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by whiteboy \* > \*\*Who’s the top gang in your prison? \*\* I didn’t know. Gangs were active but kept a low profile. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/27 "2003-02-10T05:24:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*Is it true what they say happens to child molesters? \*\* Some were successful at keeping their crimes a secret from the rest of the convicts. But many end up entering Protective Custody, a sort of prison with the prison to keep them away from the general population. For the lowest of the low, there was Double Protective Custody, amounting to a self imposed solitary confinement. But I guess the answer to the question would be yes, since that is what they are trying to avoid by entering PC. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/28 "2003-02-10T05:45:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > \*\*What kind of programs are offered to prisoners to help them either stave off the boredom or learn a trade to support themselves when released? \*\* Lots. Aside from the usual kitchen and janitorial work and making highway signs for the state, private companies employed prisoners for various factory type jobs. Some of these were inside the walls and some outside (for minimum-security prisoners). Companies liked being able to pay minimum wage and the prisoners liked getting it (regular prison jobs paid a little over a dollar a day). > [@](#): > > **Why are you no longer a prison guard?** The salary was too low. Even if that weren’t an issue, my wife didn’t like it. > [@](#): > > **Do you think most prisoners learn their lesson and when released ( or paroled) try to change their lives, or is prison really a big revolving door?** With exceptions, mostly a revolving door. For some families, going to prison is like a rite of passage, like military or college is for normal people. We sometimes had fathers and sons or brothers doing time together. For others, it is just part of doing business, or what passes for them as “business.” > [@](#): > > **I read somewhere a long time ago that most prisons were self sufficent, earning their own money through the way the prisoners could do jobs for the outside world at a rock bottom rate that outside competitor’s could not touch. How true is this?** I suppose there are some spartan facilities out there that do this, but large maximum security state prisons usually cost the taxpayers on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per year per prisoner. > [@](#): > > \*\*What would a prison do if there were a fire inside? Are there fire drills and tornado drills? \*\* We did have fire drills. Tornadoes caused almost no concern (and this was Kansas!) You couldn’t ask for a safer building than those late 19th century limestone cellhouses. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/29 "2003-02-10T05:58:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackeyes \* > \*\*What’s your take on _The Shawshank Redemption_? \*\* Probably my second favorite movie (after _Jaws_). But that is more because it is a finely crafted work of art with a catharsis unequalled by any other film I can think of, than because it holds any similarity with reality. One of Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies”, read his review [here](http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/shawshank.html). My great grandfather was a guard at a Federal prison during the 1920’s through the 40’s and from what I know, the life was pretty much as depicted in _Shawshank_ (sans corruption). But a **lot** has changed since then. My next favorite prison flick is [The Hill](http://w1.860.telia.com/~u86014447/hill.html) with Sean Connery. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/30 "2003-02-10T05:59:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Splanky \* > \*\*I’m not even going to ask what you think of the HBO series _Oz_. > > Ok I am. \*\* I’ve never even heard of it. I don’t watch much TV anymore and I don’t have cable. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/31 "2003-02-10T06:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TV Casualty \* > \*\*Who was the worst prisoner you ever encountered? By that I mean the most violent, psychotic, evil inmate you knew of. \*\* The most infamous that I had to deal with personally was [Richard Grissom](http://www.thecrimeweb.com/richard_grissom1.htm). Trouble with him as that he was so charismatic that he pretty much got to do what he pleased. Most people liked him and were very friendly with him. But not everyone. Then one day he was shipped off to another, more severe facility because he had set a booby trap to electrocute a guard. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/32 "2003-02-10T06:16:58Z")
Do prisoners use threats against family members on the outside to control/manipulate prisoners on the inside? what protective measures do prisons use to prevent this from happening. What security level prison do you work at? ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/33 "2003-02-10T06:17:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Splanky \* > \*\*How much murder/suicide is there? My mom had her residency in a prison hospital and got some pleasant stories out of it. Not as much as one would think, though. \*\* There was probably a murder where I worked on average once every couple of years. Attempted suicides happened a lot. Some for attention probably, but some for real. Few succeeded because the available methods take time (cutting wrists, OD’ing) and they were usually discovered by guards in time to receive medical attention. With regard to murders of staff members: I mentioned above that a lot has changed since the 40’s. There is much less cruelty. Interestingly though, at this prison’s 140+ year history (measured from 1998) more than half of the staff murders had taken place in the last 25 years. Fear does have its benefits. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/34 "2003-02-10T06:20:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by China Guy \* > \*\*I grew up in Folsom, and a lot of my buddies parents were guards. They were also by and large all alcoholics. Did you drink a lot when working? What made you get out of the biz? \*\* I’m not a drinker. My impression was that there weren’t any more drinkers at this job than any other blue collar job. Low salary was my reason for leaving. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/35 "2003-02-10T06:24:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Calculus of Logic \* > \*\* > What level prison do you work at? i assume III or IV. > > Do prisoners use threats against family members to keep ‘punks’ in line? i read a story about a guy who was coerced into being a punk for a black prison gang because the gang found some mail from his family, copied the return address, and said they’d send members on the outside to rape his wife & kill his kids if he resisted. \*\* I’m not sure of the levels you refer to. This categorization might vary from state to state. There were actually three adjacent facilities where I worked: maximum, medium and minimum security. I worked at each of them, but mostly the maximum. Out of preference. I like my prisoners behind bars. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/36 "2003-02-10T06:29:49Z")
i think (perhaps you have a different system) maximum is IV, medium is III, and minimum is II. Level I is where they send rich white guys who swindle the stock market. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/37 "2003-02-10T06:37:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tomcat \* > \*\*What are the ropes you have to learn when first going to prison? Like, the schedules of when to eat, where to go for exercise, etc. Are you just thrown in and left to fend, or does someone tell you what to do? Does everyone have a job to do, or is that a privilage to ward off against extreme boredom? What facilities does the average prison have (library, mess hall, exercise yard, license plate making room, ???) > > -Tcat \*\* The first few days they send you straight to “the hole” – confined to a cell 23 hours a day, no direct contact with other prisoners. This is to (1) get you used to the idea of being in prison before you have to deal with prisoners, (2) give you a taste of what punishment for infractions will be like (3) give us a chance to observe you to see if you’re a nutcase. There you’re given a rule book. If you can’t read, someone will go over it with you. You do have the opportunity to converse with the other convicts there, so you learn a lot that way too. After that you go to a regular cell house. If you’re the cautious type, you can spend all day in your cell and come out only for chow, refrain from “yard” or getting a job for while. But without a job, no money, and no extras like your favorite shampoo or cigarettes or personal TV. The biggest relief from boredom is work. But there is also sports, cards, and TV. The two most interesting jobs that come to mind are (1) a group of inmate cowboys who take care of the small of herd of a cattle owned by the prison and live in a small house outside the walls (2) an inmate who works with the dog handlers and is chased by the bloodhounds on mock escapes. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/38 "2003-02-10T06:40:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AskNott \* > \*\*A friend of mine spent several years as a guard in an Indiana prison. Here’s some of the things he told me: > > Most of the guards were members of the KKK. His supervisors tried to recruit him. When he refused, he was harrassed. and his cars were vandalized. > > The only drug that was hard to obtain inside the walls was alcohol. The rest were smuggled in. The official position was that the stuff came in the mail, with visitors, or in food shipments. In truth, a few corrupt guards brought most of it in. Alcohol, on the other hand, was made in-house as small batches of crudely brewed hooch. It was described as nastier than the worst booze you can buy on the outside. \*\* The KKK thing sounds like a local problem, but the drug situation is exactly the same. Sometimes they brewed the hooch in their cell toilets and pissed in the sink. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/39 "2003-02-10T06:46:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Calculus of Logic \* > \*\*Do prisoners use threats against family members on the outside to control/manipulate prisoners on the inside? what protective measures do prisons use to prevent this from happening. > \*\* Sorry. I meant to answer this earlier. I suppose this is possible but I was never aware of an instance. See my earlier remarks about punks and rape. This would probably be more likely in a place that had more mafia-type organized crime members. They usually end up in federal prison. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554/40 "2003-02-10T07:39:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TGWATY \* > \*\*Stupid escape attempts are by far the most common. \*\* This rang a bell. I worked as a painter at a state mental hospital the summer after I got out of high school. Also at the institution were minimum security (trustee) prisoners from the state men’s reformatory. One of them decided to escape and was so proud of his initiative that he told just about everyone but the superintendant. They picked him up about a half mile from the grounds and then he went to Fort Madison, the state penitentiary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-a-former-prison-guard/153554.md?page=3)