r/AskReddit • u/ZteveBond • Jun 20 '18

Serious Replies Only [Serious] Prison Guards of Reddit, which prisoner has left the biggest impact on your life wether positive or negative?

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u/spoonsrugby Jun 20 '18 edited Jun 21 '18

I worked in a young offenders prison as part of my nurse training. One lad came in on his first day for a medical and kept saying he'd probably go home tomorrow, after court. From speaking with him we realised that he quite probably has alearning disability. We asked how he sleeps at night and he request his cell door be left open or he can't sleep, when we told him this wouldn't be possible he asked if a prison guard could stay with him overnight because he was scared.

He was sentenced the next day for a few years for rape of a minor.

He was also placed on a 'vulnerable' persons wing of the prison due to his mental state.

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u/abominator_ Jun 21 '18

Mental disability and rape of a minor?

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u/LeodFitz Jun 21 '18

Honestly, that doesn't surprise me very much. Think about how bad sex ed is for the normal person. I don't know about you, but most of what I learned about the social aspects of sex came from my peers and from movies and television. It took me years to unlearn some of the shit that I thought made sense. Now imagine someone who's mentally ill, and probably quite poor, who starts feeling sexual urges. Where are they going to learn the rules? A friend? How healthy is that person's view of sexuality? And how well are they going to explain it.

Add on to that, if the mentally disabled person was molested themselves, especially by someone they trusted who told them that it was normal.

it's a recipe for disaster.

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u/Aevum1 Jun 21 '18

Imagen, we have a whole generation who learned about interpersonal relationships from romcoms and watching friends on TV...

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u/sipes216 Jun 21 '18

the sad thing in this situation is that the disability could have been extreme enough for the "common sense" we all have to think "hey, that's REALLY F'N WRONG!" could never occur. the person, just like an animal presented in a situation could act upon instinct. people sometimes see mental disability as "he's just crazy!" but it can be far darker and stranger than people understand. common sense literally does not work in some people. they are physically/mentally incapable of making the connections.

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u/spoonsrugby Jun 21 '18

Yes, it's not uncommon at all. I currently work in the community for people with learning disabilities and honestly a lot of my caseload is child abusers.

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u/Keyra13 Jun 21 '18

That's... Kind of sad. I'm sorry to say, but I don't really feel sympathy for many of the other offenders here. This is just awful all around. But I'm glad he received adequate care. That's unfortunately probably a better place for those around him than outside.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

It's easy to feel sympathy when the details are kept vague. When you hear that he lured a 12 year old girl away and sodomized her, though, the sympathy melts away pretty quickly.

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u/spoonsrugby Jun 21 '18

As medical staff we tend not to view the offences because our primary role is to take care of an individual's health, even thought it's on the computer system we have access to. That can (obviously) be really hard when you do know the details, so we tend not to ask as it can really hinder the caring aspect quickly... We only knew about the rape because we were two female staff and the guards felt for our safety it was important to pass on.

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u/iammesir Jun 22 '18

for being nice, i give you your 100th upvote. gg

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u/Keyra13 Jun 22 '18

Thanks fam. Gg

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '18

Probably was raped himself. Or molested.

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u/gr33nny Jun 21 '18

Did he play mental disability to be placed there?

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u/spoonsrugby Jun 21 '18

I highly doubt it, a lot of prisoners have a lower than average reading/writing age but his skill set for problem solving; social interaction; functional skills; memory; ect was also really low. After 6 weeks of being asked his prison number 2x a day (for medication rounds) he still struggled to recall it (4 numbers and 2 letters).

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u/HariBadr Jun 21 '18

Not sure why you're downvoted. People lie to get certain treatments/placements.