# How are particularly horrific criminals treated by the other inmates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329 "2011-08-19T16:27:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/41 "2011-08-20T16:02:43Z")
I missed the edit window: A big part of the “honor among thieves” is the implicit assumption that it is a dog eat dog world and that every adult is a part of it. There’s no sympathy for the clerk at 7-11 because he is an adult and is a part of this harsh world. He lost, someone else won. That’s how it works. Children have not grown up and are not a part of this harsh world and they deserve protection. Serial killing done for no purpose is likewise viewed as a bad thing because you didn’t have any reason for killing a random stranger. That’s just violence for its own sake. Killing a person for $10, though, is just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/42 "2011-08-20T16:06:34Z")
My favorite prison reveng story: [Katie’s Revenge](http://www.wave3.com/story/5467204/officials-investigating-after-10-year-olds-killer-gets-prison-tattoo-on-forehead-katies-revenge) > [@](#): > > Prison inmates convicted of killing children typically have a rough road to hoe in the penitentiary, the underworld of convict society not looking kindly on such criminals. > > But the killer of 10-year-old Katie Collman now has a particular marking that stands out amongst his peers: a tattoo across his forehead that reads “Katie’s Revenge.” ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/43 "2011-08-20T17:02:47Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Look up the comments section to any news story about a particularly horrific criminal (Levi Aron, Anders Behring Breivik), and you’ll find plenty of comments along the lines of “this creep won’t last a week in jail, the other inmates will take care of him reeeeeal good.” In the specific case of Breivik, it seems like “everyone knows” the Hell’s Angels and/or at least one other disreputable motorcycle gang has a price on his head. So any prisoner with a connection to the motorcycle gang in question has an incentive to kill him. Or so goes the story. It was reported that the other inmates and Ila Prison were very unhappy to hear that he was among them, but settled down when they were told that at least to begin with he would be in solitary confinement. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/44 "2011-08-20T18:32:18Z")
Several years ago, a local mother left her two children in her car, strapped into their car seats while she was in the building, doing drugs and partying. By the time she woke up and dragged herself back to the car, the children were dying. This was a huge case in our local area. Much hatred was expressed towards the mother, to say the least. Before her conviction, because of several incidents at the county jail in her county, it was proposed that she be moved to the tiny county jail where I worked as the Sheriff’s secretary. Somehow or another it fell to me to discuss this with the women inmates in the single cell our jail had for women. These women (all 6 were mothers) were petty thieves, drug users, check kiters, one had a robbery charge but they sure as HELL never left their babies to cook in no hot car! It took a couple of weeks to get them to calm down and get used to the idea. After that we got each one to promise that she would not hurt the mother and wouldn’t let anyone else do it either. They kept the promise, too. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/45 "2011-08-20T21:45:02Z")
When I was in high school, a student at the same school, Debbie Moberg, went missing. After an investigation and the teenager’s little sister testifying that she was in the car when her stepfather dumped the body, the stepfather was arrested, indicted, and held without bail. There was a lot of speculation as to whether there would be enough evidence to convict him. Most of what they had was circumstantial - no body was ever recovered and the little sister’s testimony was shaky. Low and behold, after three days custody in the general population of the county jail, the stepfather made a full confession to murdering his stepdaughter, because she threatened to tell police he was molesting her sister. Part of the deal was that he would be housed - for life - in one of the segregated populations, not the general population. There was a picture of him in the local newspaper when he made the plea agreement. He had very clearly been worked over - multiple bruises, swollen eye, split lip, the works. Yet, I don’t remember a word in the newspaper or on the news about how he got those injuries. Just that all the adults in my world just silently pursed their lips and nodded their heads. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/46 "2011-08-20T21:55:59Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > In the specific case of Breivik, it seems like “everyone knows” the Hell’s Angels and/or at least one other disreputable motorcycle gang has a price on his head. So any prisoner with a connection to the motorcycle gang in question has an incentive to kill him. Or so goes the story. Close, but no cigar. According to rumors, it’s the “[B gang](http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-gjengen_(Oslo))”, notorious in Oslo since the early 90s who have put a price on Breivik’s head. [Cite](http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10080933) (Links in Norwegian, but AFAIK you should be able to read them) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/47 "2011-08-21T01:33:10Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I missed the edit window: A big part of the “honor among thieves” is the implicit assumption that it is a dog eat dog world and that every adult is a part of it. There’s no sympathy for the clerk at 7-11 because he is an adult and is a part of this harsh world. He lost, someone else won. That’s how it works. > > Children have not grown up and are not a part of this harsh world and they deserve protection. Serial killing done for no purpose is likewise viewed as a bad thing because you didn’t have any reason for killing a random stranger. That’s just violence for its own sake. Killing a person for $10, though, is just fine. I think it’s more a case of identification. A criminal doesn’t recognize the 7-11 clerk he robs as an equal - if he did, it would make it difficult for him to victimize the clerk. Criminals tend to divide the world into predators and prey; they’re the predators and the people they rob are the prey. As far as they’re concerned, they have nothing in common with the victims of their crime. But it was a different story when they were young. As I wrote above, many criminals were victimized when they were vulnerable as children. So they hate child abusers because they were victimized by a child abuser - it’s their chance for payback. If your “children aren’t part of our world” theory was correct, then even those criminals who weren’t themselves child abuse victims would attack abusers. But I’m pretty sure you’d find that the people who attack child abusers are almost all child abuse victims (although I’ll admit I don’t have the statistics available). ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/48 "2011-08-21T09:23:07Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > In the specific case of Breivik, it seems like “everyone knows” the Hell’s Angels and/or at least one other disreputable motorcycle gang has a price on his head. So any prisoner with a connection to the motorcycle gang in question has an incentive to kill him. Or so goes the story. > [@Norse](#): > > Close, but no cigar. According to rumors, it’s the “[B gang](http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-gjengen_(Oslo))”, notorious in Oslo since the early 90s who have put a price on Breivik’s head. [Cite](http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10080933) Interesting. I’ve been following that case fairly closely (even read a couple of hundred pages of his manifesto), but I hadn’t heard that aspect of it. By the way, part of the reason I posted the OP in the first place was because I had yet another Norwegian example in the back of my mind: The Varg Vikernes case. I remember all kinds of crazy rumors back then, all variations of the “prison revenge” theme. Either the foreign inmates would kill him, for his outspoken racism, or else other black metal people, as revenge for the Euronymous killing, or hell, who knows, if all else fails maybe even a Christian fundamentalist, as payback for the church burnings! But when some years passed and _nothing happened to the man_, the rumors shifted to “oh, but of course they can’t get at him _in jail_, what with high security and all that – but just wait ‘til he gets out! Why, I myself know a guy who knows a guy who’s just _waiting_ for a chance to…” and blah blah blah. But of course then he _did_ get out, and still nothing happened – from what I know, he now lives a quiet life out on the family farm! So from there I got to thinking if something similar might happen to Breivik, or Levi Aron, or Joran van der Sloot, or whoever’s the “Monster Of The Week” at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/49 "2011-08-21T09:42:31Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Either the foreign inmates would kill him, for his outspoken racism, or else other black metal people, as revenge for the Euronymous killing, or hell, who knows, if _all else fails maybe even a Christian fundamentalist_, as payback for the church burnings! (emphasis mine) This seems just too far-fetched from my POV and is probably based on a false equivalence between American fundies and North European fundies. Basically, we don’t have many - if any - of the gun-toting, abortion-doctor-killing fundie variety over here. I can’t imagine a fundie from this side of the pond killing anybody, not even a church-burning satanist. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/50 "2011-08-21T10:03:24Z")
According to my dad (who served in Leavenworth), it mattered more who your ‘allies’ were and how well you could bribe the guards. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/51 "2011-08-21T10:48:32Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > By the way, part of the reason I posted the OP in the first place was because I had yet another Norwegian example in the back of my mind: The Varg Vikernes case. > > I remember all kinds of crazy rumors back then, all variations of the “prison revenge” theme. Either the foreign inmates would kill him, for his outspoken racism, or else other black metal people, as revenge for the Euronymous killing, or hell, who knows, if all else fails maybe even a Christian fundamentalist, as payback for the church burnings! > > But when some years passed and _nothing happened to the man_, the rumors shifted to “oh, but of course they can’t get at him _in jail_, what with high security and all that – but just wait ‘til he gets out! Why, I myself know a guy who knows a guy who’s just _waiting_ for a chance to…” and blah blah blah. But of course then he _did_ get out, and still nothing happened – from what I know, he now lives a quiet life out on the family farm! > > So from there I got to thinking if something similar might happen to Breivik, or Levi Aron, or Joran van der Sloot, or whoever’s the “Monster Of The Week” at the moment. Good point, although I don’t think Vikernes’ crimes are anywhere near in severity to Breivik’s. The only human victim in the former case was a fellow Black Metal sociopath - I’d guess many thought: Good riddance, one less of those guys around. The latter massacred a huge number of innocent people and destroyed the lives of hundreds more. Once Vikernes got out, who cared? Not so in the case of Breivik. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/52 "2011-08-22T13:27:03Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Yeah, it’s ridiculous, of course. There’s no real honor among the savages that compose the majority of the prison population (at least the ones who aren’t in there just for dealing drugs and not any violent crimes.) They just need someone to feel superior to. “I may be a murderer and a thief but at least I don’t hurt children.”. I have no particular knowledge of convicts, but this rings pretty true for humans in general. Plus, of course, there’s the undeniable fact that when the average human being is casting around for someone to publicly assert their moral superiority over, they’ll tend to choose the person who assaulted a little girl over the one who assaulted three Hell’s Angels. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/53 "2011-08-22T14:20:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Far better than they treated their victims. Either you believe in civilization and an impartial system of justice or you don’t. If you do, then no extrajudicial or vigilante reprisals are ever acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/54 "2011-08-22T18:39:32Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Children have not grown up and are not a part of this harsh world and they deserve protection. I would have thought that this was a widely-accepted principle, actually. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think it’s more a case of identification. > … > If your “children aren’t part of our world” theory was correct, then even those criminals who weren’t themselves child abuse victims would attack abusers. But I’m pretty sure you’d find that the people who attack child abusers are almost all child abuse victims (although I’ll admit I don’t have the statistics available). So what makes you think that, then? _My_ WAG is that child-abusers _do_ catch it pretty generally. > [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > These women (all 6 were mothers) were petty thieves, drug users, check kiters, one had a robbery charge but they sure as HELL never left their babies to cook in no hot car! Yes? They have a point. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/55 "2011-08-22T19:46:37Z")
Crazy question for those not in the headlines: I go to prison for doing something horrific. How would the prisoners know? It’s not like I’d answer “What are you in for?” with “That 7-year-old was askin’ for it.” Do the guards announce a roll call when they bring in the new prisoner? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/56 "2011-08-22T22:20:40Z")
Prisoners are allowed to watch the news. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/57 "2026-03-07T22:55:15Z")
> [@isaiahrobinson](#): > > [Ian Huntley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Wells) had scalding water thrown in his face and separately had his throat slashed. This time he did not survive: > One of Britain’s most notorious child killers died Saturday, days after he was attacked by a fellow inmate in the workshop of a maximum-security prison. > > Ian Huntley, a 52-year-old former school caretaker convicted in 2003 for the murder of two 10-year-old girls, had been on life support after being hit repeatedly over the head with a metal bar at Frankland prison in northeast England on Feb. 26. > > The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman had transfixed Britain for two weeks after the best friends vanished from the village of Soham in eastern England on Aug. 4, 2002 after leaving a barbecue to buy candy. > **[Ian Huntley, one of UK's most notorious child killers, has died, days after...](https://apnews.com/article/ian-huntley-soham-britain-child-killer-prison-955d00a84149b3330abc6dbc48aedc11)** > > One of Britain’s most notorious child killers has died, days after he was attacked by a fellow inmate in the workshop of a maximum security prison. From the Mirror: > **[Ian Huntley battered in prison after sick Man Utd shirt stunt](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/real-reason-ian-huntley-battered-36790725)** > > Soham killer Ian Huntley was found in a pool of blood after being attacked with a metal pole at HMP Frankland. Inmates allegedly despised him over a red shirt with number 10 thought to reference his victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/58 "2026-03-08T19:36:13Z")
No one in this thread has tried to glorify the man who supposedly killed Huntley but I would like to add it’s not as if he was any less of a criminal than Huntley. Anthony Russell killed an adult man, the man’s 58 year old mother and an unrelated pregnant woman who he also raped. He also robbed a woman and later a man, both those victims over 70 years old. All these crimes were characterised by their violence with the victims suffering multiple injuries. Russell was given the rare, in the UK, whole life order meaning he will never be released from jail. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/59 "2026-03-08T19:40:42Z")
For what it’s worth, I’ve done prison ministry work for six years. One inmate, who was a child molester, told me that the reputation of violence against child abusers in prison is exaggerated and that verbal threats can happen but physical violence itself is quite rare. It makes sense that most inmates wouldn’t want to get additional time tacked onto their sentence by attacking another inmate, even if they despise them. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329/60 "2026-03-08T20:01:34Z")
Unless they were lifers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-particularly-horrific-criminals-treated-by-the-other-inmates/593329.md?page=4)