15. Pregnant Women Are In Prison Too – And They Fight
One of the most disturbing things about all-female prisons is the fact that there are many pregnant women behind bars. And as anyone can tell you, pregnant women can be just as angry and unpredictable as other women. In fact, they can often be more emotional due to all the hormones. And as one inmate remembers, they get into fights just like other female inmates. This ex-inmate tells a story about her first day in prison, where she was put in a cell with an elderly lady and a pregnant woman.
She woke up to witness a stunning scene: “The first day I was there I got assigned a bunk next to an old woman and a pregnant girl. I decided to knock out after being in the holding cell for a long time. I woke up to these two crazy b*****s fighting. One of them grabs a cup of boiling water and pours it on the other.”
14. Orange Is The New Black Has The Race Factor Wrong
13. Orange Is The New Black Is NOT Accurate At All
One prison guard points out: “It is not like OITNB. Inmates have very little freedom. The inmate driving the van around in OITNB? HAHAHHAHAHAHHAA. No.
Inmates have shackled wrists and ankles every time they leave the secure perimeter, regardless of charges.” Many people praise Netflix’s show Orange Is The New Black for its realism and accuracy. But according to one prison guard, the show is actually not very accurate at all. She points out one instance in particular: the character that was allowed to drive around in a van. According to this guard, this would never be allowed to happen. But many fans of the show are willing to forgive these little inaccuracies in favor of an entertaining show. As the real Piper, herself says, the show would be pretty boring otherwise.
12. The Prettier Inmates Are More Likely To Be Abused
11. Lice Is Common And The Solution Only Makes Matters Worse
Prisons are known for being pretty dirty, and many inmates get lice as a result. The conditions for lice are pretty perfect in prisons because people are crowded in with each other in close quarters. It’s not just a problem with lice, but also various diseases and infections, especially given the fact that they all shower together.
But the craziest thing is that there’s somewhat of a catch-22 when it comes to lice. In her own words, the inmate explained: “I had lice for 3 months because they wouldn’t give me enough of that shampoo to kill them all. The infirmary told me to just ‘cut my hair.’ What’s funny about that, is that if I HAD cut my hair, I would’ve been charged with an escape attempt because radically changing one’s hair is considered ‘Altering Your Appearance.'”
10. A Girl Got Attacked With A Padlock
9. Prison Guards Really Can Be Scumbags
One of the things people are most interested in when it comes to female prisons is the relationship between prisoners and guards. This is probably the most common “fantasy” many people have about female prisons, but as it turns out, most guards take their job very seriously. However, other correctional officers definitely abuse their position of power, and there are countless examples of this from people who have actually been incarcerated. One female inmate even reveals that a prison guard stole her Social Security Card in order to get a loan for college!
The inmate explains: “Another officer stole my Social Security card (we could have them mailed to us a few months before we were released) and used it to get a loan for a local college. I got the bill for the class she took while I was locked up. She signed up for the class, never paid for it or showed up for it and pocketed the money. I had to call the college when I get out and explain how that wasn’t me because I was unavailable to the general public for appearances at that time.”
8. Relationships Between Guards And Inmates
7. Fights Get Out Of Hand
We’ve already heard how female prisoners can get just as vicious as male prisoners on occasion. Getting a padlock to the face is not your average catfight. One of the most common places for fights to break out is in the “chow,” or cafeteria. The weapon of choice in these situations is usually a food tray, which can be pretty deadly in the right hands. One guard tells a story of a particularly wild fight, in which a correctional officer and an inmate ended up getting handcuffed together by mistake!
The guard recalls: “We had a fight in the chow hall between two black offenders. We all rushed in and broke it up but the two offenders were still struggling. One officer, a white woman, was trying to help restrain one of the offenders and another officer accidentally handcuffed one of the offender’s arms to the officer’s arm. The officer who did the handcuffing didn’t “miss.” He legitimately thought he was handcuffing the two arms of an offender together. It was hilarious to see one black arm handcuffed to a white arm and it just goes to show you that sometimes you don’t think straight in the heat of the moment.”
6. Crazy Escape Attempts
5. Self-Harm Does Happen
Suicides are perhaps some of the most shocking incidents in any prison, whether that facility holds male or female inmates. And it does happen in both prisons. Sometimes being behind bars for years and years can get to be too much for many to bear. Despite measures taken to prevent suicide attempts, people still find a way. But one prison guard tells a story that suggests that simply being in prison wasn’t enough to push one woman to take her own life. According to the guard, this particular woman took her own life because of romantic issues.
Even more surprising was the fact that it resulted from her ex-girlfriend in prison being transferred and then starting a relationship with another woman. The guard revealed: “We have had 1 suicide “success” in our years of operations. Offender Smith (which is a made-up name for this mentally ill lady) was “dating” Offender Jones, who then got transferred to our re-entry program (6 months until they get out). Offender Jones then started to “date” another offender in the re-entry program and Smith did not know about that. Offender Jones and the other lady got out and started a full-blown relationship, and Smith got a letter from Jones telling her it was over because she had met someone else. Smith . She only had 2 more years of her sentence.”
4. Prison Guards Get Hit On… A Lot…
3. What The Real Piper And Larry Say
Real fans of the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black know that the character of Piper is based on a real woman. The show is actually based completely on her real experiences in prison, and it’s always amazing when stories like this have at least a shred of truth to them. It seems inconceivable that some of the things which happened in the show actually happened in real life. But you know what they say – truth is stranger than fiction. As it turns out, one person on Reddit claims to have met the real Piper and Larry, and she actually managed to speak with her. She said that Piper actually said prison was extremely boring, but the show added certain things in because nobody would want to watch a boring show about waiting around in a prison while nothing happened.
According to the Reddit user, “I met the real Piper and Larry at a conference I attended and talked to them for a while. Piper said that the show is not very much like her actual prison experience. Actually being in prison, she said, is incredibly boring. Boring, boring, boring. When Jenji was writing the show outline, she told Piper that she understands that the show is nothing like the actual experience, but if she wrote it like it actually was, no one would watch it because it would be boring boring boring. Piper and Larry were both extremely friendly and were happy to talk about the show and their own experiences at the time. Mostly, however, Piper talks about prison reform.”
2. Toilet Paper Fashion Shows
1. When The Entire Prison Is Forced To Quit Smoking
There are a few luxuries that inmates are given in female prison. These offer rare distractions from the depressing situation of being incarcerated, and these luxuries are incredibly important to most inmates. The most obvious example of this is cigarettes. Those rare few moments that they can puff on a cigarette make them feel like human beings again, at least for a few moments. So you can understand what the reaction of the inmates was like when it was announced that all prisoners would be encouraged to quit smoking – forcibly. This meant they were no longer allowed to smoke, and things got a little crazy in that prison, to say the least.
Everyone started to go through the withdrawal symptoms, and they were literally at each other’s throats in no time at all. In retrospect, this might not have been the best decision from the prison authorities. The ex-female inmate recalls: “I never really had many problems, only one fight. When I originally got there we could smoke. This changed while I was there so all 30 of us had to quit smoking together, all locked up in a room together and THAT was rough. Lots of fights, and I even saw one girl take a giant bite out of another one’s side like a gremlin.”
When The Entire Prison Is Forced To Quit Smoking
They Can't Take Tampons For Granted
Believe it or not, tampons are considered a luxury in prison, and in most prisons tampons and sanitary pads are not provided to inmates. Imprisoned women have to buy their own tampons or sanitary pads from the commissary. This is a complicated process in itself.
Unlike in “Orange is the New Black,” they can’t just go to a commissary booth and buy the products they need. Often, they need to submit order forms in advance and then hope their order gets approved. It could be over a week before a woman gets her hands on a box of tampons or sanitary pads.
Diseases Aren't Taken Care Of
Being Mentally Ill In A Prison Is A Nightmare
Women who are imprisoned suffer high rates of mental illness. This is often due to the circumstances they have come from before getting locked up. Many of the women who end up in jail have been physically or sexually abused in the past.
Many of them suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of the abuse. Prisons don’t have the proper resources to provide treatment for their PTSD and being incarcerated is a trigger.