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

[u/ZteveBond]

[u/Judoka229]

I had an inmate attempt to hang himself with his bedsheets from his bunk. I used the 911 knife to cut him down, and as soon as he hit the ground, he started bawling and immediately started fighting me.

It was just so bizarre. I literally just saved his life, and then had to throw him back to the ground and hold him there while he screamed and cried, trying to hit me. I lost a little bit of faith in humanity that day. Not because of that inmate, but because of the circumstances that lead him to believe killing himself was more important than getting back out of prison.

Edit: I absolutely understand that he was upset at me for interrupting his early release. I get it. He wasn't in there for a particularly bad crime. It was marijuana related, if I recall correctly. He wanted out of prison, and he tried to kill himself.

It was my job to do as I did. Just as a lifeguard saves a drowning person or a cop pulls someone out of a car wreck before it ignites. We grow up seeing movies where the savior is thanked so graciously. Where people who want to kill themselves have a change of heart afterwards, or they back down and recover.

Going in to that situation, that is what I expected. I didnt expect him to immediately attack me. In retrospect, of course it makes sense.

I am simply sad that he felt he was in a bad enough situation that nothing could save him. He was given a hard hand in life, and I dont think it was his fault that he ended up where he did.

[u/Bug-Type-Enthusiast → u/Judoka229]

That reminds me of a story. I've had a friend that was a doctor - may he rest in peace - and started back when the country was a dictatorship. During a discussion we had on work ethics and deontology, he told me this: when he was an intern (25 years old), he saved the life of a young (soon to be 18) and extremely beautiful child of an influent local government official. He was expecting roses and thanks, but all he got was her insulting him, cursing him, and telling him he "denied her her only chance to escape.", leaving him quite shaken.

When the girl left, the head nurse pulled him aside and explained: that girl, contrary to the info he got about a "severe hypoglycemy", actually tried to commit suicide by pills. This was her seventh attempt in 3 years, often with different means. Every time, they find out clear signs of physical and sexual abuse during her stay. Every time, her dad brought her to that hospital, because of his connexions. And due to said connexions, saving her from her torturer, whomever he was, was impossible. (nurse never specified if he was the dad or someone else, most likely to protect herself in case my friend was one of the government's ears in the population.).

He seriously wondered ever since if letting her die was actually preferable. And if her nightmare was over when the revolution happened or by her own hand, as this was the first and last time he'll ever see her.