To ask about prison?

[Peanutbutterjelly1]

Hello everyone.. Just started watching orange is the new black... Me and my husband love it!!!

I've always been pretty fascinated by prison whenever I come into contact with anyone who has been inside I'm immediately interested and always ask what was it like? My own mum was born in Holloway in the 70s as my nan was in there for a string of petty crime.

So my question is have any of you ever been to prison? What did you do? And what was it like?

I know this is a weird question but it's a genuine post. I told my husband the other day that doing time is on my bucket list he thought I was crazy and he is probably right. I think its because prison hasn't changed much in the last 50 years and i am always really interested in anything that has remained the same. I remeber when i started high school it was the same school my dad had attended 25 years before it was the same apart from a few licks of paint he once came to a parents evening and he was pointing to classrooms and certian areas in the corridors and telling stories about his school days i thought it was amazing.

You could always apply for a job in a prison? Slightly less drastic than taking up a life of crime.

Words fail me...

KnackeredOldWoman01

I think some people on here are giving you a hard time time

You don't have a fucking clue either.

Don’tdrinkdontsmoke I am curious about the hotel / ex prison - feels macabre/ exploitative and unpleasant to me - but what do others think?

I can’t explain why I don’t like it and of course have visited all kinds of places where bad shit has happened, so perhaps I am being a bit of a hypocrite?

I enjoyed the Alcatraz tour, I have done it twice. But I wasn't dreaming of being an inmate there.

I've taught in them and I wouldn't want to spend an extended time in one. I did teach some lovely women who really wanted to learn though and I was really proud that I helped some of them get the first qualifications they'd ever had - Functional Skills Level 1 English sounds like nothing, but it can be a stepping stone!

And, I should mention, this was the lowest category prison for women, and even that I found oppressive. I think if you value your freedom, as I do, it's very hard to imagine that being taken away from you.

This is what you need:

www.imevents.global/evenrtinfoshrewsburyporridge

I'm a serving prison officer. I work in what most people would know as the segregation unit for men that aren't safe to be on a wing due to violent or someone will try to kill them.

I love my job, at times I know I help people. Wether that be cutting a noose from there neck and saving a life and been thanked by them later or helping someone's family know there son is safe. But the bits I hate are waiting for an ambulance because I'm holding a man's neck together because he has been slashed and bleeding out . I Hate having my jaw broken because I said no. I Hate watching children come to visit and leave crying because they don't understand why daddy can't go to. I Hate that the system doesn't work and some prisoner need to be in mental facilities but the best they have is staff who try their best .

I get that it can be intriguing but prison can be he'll for some people and destroy their lives. Get your prisoner experience by voluntering for a charity and be someone that helps the system not becomes part of it.

Bucket list to go to prison.Familiarise yourself with the stats About inmates
The inmates high experience of Mental illness DV,Abuse,Drugs and sex work
High rates of illiteracy. High rates of having children removed by courts
The level of self harm and violence is high in prison

Still fancy it?

There is something unpalatable at Playing at being disadvantaged and subject to criminal justice

I don't think this is about the Op actually wanting to go to prison, I think it's more about trying to understand her past.

The OP's fist post comes across as flippant and crass, I agree. but I think it's about trying to make sense of her family relationships. It's quite something to have your mother born in Holloway! I hope the OP comes back and tells her story.

I maintain that some people on here are having a go at the OP.

Maybe you’d like to study criminology?

It's far from a merry lark, OP- as far as you can get. I've seen some of the grimmest acts of self-harm/suicide, which are inconceivable to a sound mind, yet common enough in some institutions.
As for your family member who aspires to be inside, that is utterly tragic. They must be in dire straights.
Things have changed an awful lot over the years. You could read up on the penal system, although I think you would find it boring and not exciting enough. Here's a fun fact, though: most shopping malls in the UK at least, are based on prison plans.

She has an interest in it and made what she thought was a funny remark about the bucket list. Lighten up folks.

It was really interesting when I visited one. I saw all the different areas and it was fascinating. Much, much harder to be an inmate than I ever imagined it to be. I think all school kids who are on the cusp of getting into trouble should see what it's ready like

I have visited a category B men's prison in a work capacity.
It's one of the Victorian ones and at the time I went there ( some years ago), it was over run with rats, mice and cockroaches and filthy dirty. Prisoners were sharing tiny cells designed for one person and locked in for most of the day due to staff shortages and the risk of violence.
The prison had a high suicide rate and 40-50 violent incidents a month ( still does).
At one period a large number of prison officers were suspended for brutality against the prisoners, with several found guilty of assault in court, so not just prisoner the n prisoner violence.
There was a special wing for prisoners on drug treatment programs and another for those segregated for their own safety.
It was a truly horrendous place.
Prison tours of closed prisons are fascinating from a historical point of view, but can't give you any impression of the noise, the smell, the fear or the ever present feeling of simmering violence.

“whenever I come into contact with anyone who has been inside I'm immediately interested and always ask what was it like? My own mum was born in Holloway in the 70s as my nan was in there for a string of petty crime. “

Instead of treating people who have had what may have been a distressing/ humiliating / etc experience as your own personal source of “oh Wow!” Interest, maybe do some thinking around your interest?

I think it’s possible that had I been in prison I would be really pissed off with people who saw it as the most important thing about me, started asking questions and being fatuous about ‘bucket lists’.

Go museums. Get counselling. Grow up.

I mean, maybe think more deeply about how your Nan’s /Mum’s past have affected you. Didn’t mean to be so rude. Sorry for that.

There is something unpalatable at Playing at being disadvantaged and subject to criminal justice

Exactly.

Everyone's experience of prison will be different.
Why not write to some actual prisoners who want a pen friend to satisfy your weird curiosity? Mumsnet is a bloody odd place to ask the question.

Oh no, don't recommend she writes to prisoners - she'll be like those women who want to marry mass murderers because they feel sorry for them.

she'll be like those women who want to marry mass murderers because they feel sorry for them

I think you are right. OP comes across as someone who would do exactly that.

I remember seeing a documentary on women who fall in love with murderers in prison. There was a woman who started writing to Peter Sutcliffe, who'd murdered at least 13 women and had attempted to murder 7 others. She fell in love with him, as you do, and they decided to marry, even though he was never going to be let out of prison.

When she went to visit him for the first time she was taken into a room by the prison officers who said, "Do you realise he's writing to several other women at the same time and has plans to marry them, too?"

Well... that was the giddy limit for that woman! She could cope with the fact he'd wanted to kill 20 women, but for him to write letters to another woman? She had her standards! She promptly left the prison and went home to sob over her loss.

Well... that was the giddy limit for that woman! She could cope with the fact he'd wanted to kill 20 women, but for him to write letters to another woman? She had her standards! She promptly left the prison and went home to sob over her loss

Shouldn't really laugh @HollowTalk but the way some people's brains work is ridiculous
At least she found out he was a cheat before the wedding! Ha ha.

I was watching it thinking, "You bloody numpty."

OP - you could try volunteering g as a custody visitor for your local police authority. You will visit the custody suite of your local police station, rather than a prison, but you are providing a service to your community and you learn a lot about custody procedures...it’s interesting if you are that way inclined.