What Do The Movies Get Wrong About Jail? Allow These Former Inmates To Fill You In
Ever wonder what the movies get wrong about jail? Well, Reddit user Warlock1509 decided to ask if any former inmates would be willing to answer, and they did, along with a few people that used to work in jails.
Read on for all of the surprising reasons people gave about what the movies don’t get right about being locked up.
“People are generally nice to you. Anything you do to anyone else in jail ends up getting tacked on to charges/sentences. I hear prison is much different.”
“There really aren’t bars on windows and doors anymore. It’s mostly plexiglass nowadays.”
“Most of them aren’t hardened criminals. They simply made a mistake, or came from a bad situation, and are genuinely trying to assimilate back into society.”
“Also, some of these dudes are hella smart. Trying to get a job as an ex-con is very difficult. If they never got involved with drugs or gangs they’d be major contributors.”
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“The boredom is astonishing.”
“Honestly it’s the people on the outside. When you go in it’s not good to have family connections or anything like that really. It really rips your heart out.”
“No guns or cell phones. On TV whenever a cop goes to the jail when they are interviewing the suspect they have a gun and cell phone on their hip. Both items are turned in at the front gate.”
“Don’t forget bad food and cleaner. I think adding the cleaner smell is what made it really sickening.”
“I’ve been in solitary confinement once. I can’t speak for all jails, but the one I was in was a cell just like any other. In fact, it was a bit cleaner than most and I kind of wanted to stay in it.”
“I’m not a social person and would have preferred to be alone, in fact, I got put there basically for arguing with officers over being assigned a cellmate (I was claiming that my anxiety disorder qualified me to be in a cell by myself, which it did…) so I got myself into solitary…which was actually preferable to where I was.”
“There was no stinking, dark hole, although I’ve heard tales of jails in Texas and other parts of the south where this may still be the case…”
“Always laughed at the idea of sending people to jail for drug abuse. I doubt there’s a jail where you can’t get drugs in.”
“Sure, it might take a couple days, at most a week to get an “order” in, but it’s easier to get drugs in jail than it is on the outside in most cases.”
“Having the money to pay for them, however, is different.”
“I worked briefly as a sheriff’s deputy and part of the job was to pull a shift at the county jail. This was a smaller suburban county where all the “rich” people lived so not exactly LA County or The Tombs.”
“Anyway I’d spend most of the shift staring at monitors of the cameras inside the dorms and cell blocks. It wasn’t uncommon to see guys spend up to 18 hours sleeping. Especially the ones stuck in segregation.”
And then, the conversation turned to international lockup.
“Ever check out the ultra-modern prison in Greenland? It’s better than many 4-star hotels and even murderers get access to cooking knives, outdoor time, and just congregate with other prisoners for the entire day.”
“And then they complain in Danish prison and think they have it bad! They should read this thread.”
“(Private rooms with private bathrooms, linen, and towels as much as they need, most have shared kitchens where they take turns cooking. Prison has its own supermarket or they are escorted to the local supermarket).”
“Not an answer to your question, but it’s interesting that not many people are as mean or hostile. Many shows on American tv channels portray prisons as these awful places.”
“The media also portrays the same thing. Meanwhile in other countries in Europe prisoners are treated much better and are given many more opportunities to better their life after prison.”
“It’s sad that American prisons are portrayed in such a manner and don’t offer the same treatment as other countries.”
“If only we had a better view on our prison system maybe we would be more inclined to fix it.”
“Once I ended up in an emigration prison. It was 2002 in Spain. My residence permit has expired and I have not renewed it.”
“They caught me at the airport and immediately sent me to the deportation department. I imagined prison differently.”
“The films show about thugs who immediately want to rape you. Such huge guys in orange suits. In fact, it turned out that in prison there are the same people as in freedom, but who are less fortunate in this life.”
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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