Families of SOs Community Group
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how does one go into prison with a sex offender status? of course i was fearful for my sons safety, some have said that you go in with a cover story, and hope for the best, well this did not work out at all for a young man in the prison my son is at.
after being in federal minimum for three days, my son decided it best to own up to his charges, knowing that he would not be able to differ the questioning about his charges, he chose to just get it over with and take whatever they were going to dish out (which turned out to be non-exsitant). he said that when he got inside, he noticed that there were groups of mexicans, mexican americans, blacks, and native americans but the whites seemed to be scattered into small factions. he somehow made connection with the native americans and was invited to cell with them, and he was left alone by the others.
not long after, this kid around my sons age was admitted. he got in with the whites, telling them he was in on bank robbery. well, the whites found out otherwise and beat the kid to a pulp...then told him -he has to beat up another s.o. to get himself into shu, if he knew what was good for him-.
i am sure he looked around and thinking my son was the easiest target he went over to him and started attacking him. from what i am gathering, it was not affective in actually hurting my boy, however my son handled it, it did not land him in shu as well, thank goodness, but this could have turned out so much worse than it did.
a valueble lesson, i think. watch out for the newbs that think they can play these guys, no one likes being made a fool of.
after being in federal minimum for three days, my son decided it best to own up to his charges, knowing that he would not be able to differ the questioning about his charges, he chose to just get it over with and take whatever they were going to dish out (which turned out to be non-exsitant). he said that when he got inside, he noticed that there were groups of mexicans, mexican americans, blacks, and native americans but the whites seemed to be scattered into small factions. he somehow made connection with the native americans and was invited to cell with them, and he was left alone by the others.
not long after, this kid around my sons age was admitted. he got in with the whites, telling them he was in on bank robbery. well, the whites found out otherwise and beat the kid to a pulp...then told him -he has to beat up another s.o. to get himself into shu, if he knew what was good for him-.
i am sure he looked around and thinking my son was the easiest target he went over to him and started attacking him. from what i am gathering, it was not affective in actually hurting my boy, however my son handled it, it did not land him in shu as well, thank goodness, but this could have turned out so much worse than it did.
a valueble lesson, i think. watch out for the newbs that think they can play these guys, no one likes being made a fool of.
It is my understanding that the flack from other inmates differs depending on the population there... In WI they are making 1 in 99 males over the age of 18 in to sex offenders that the population of SOs is higher than most other crimes (other than DWI, but this is WI) So the amount of flack is less cause there is just more of them. Which is where I see the whole RSO list going. Once everyone is on it, it will lose its meaning and will be nothing more than a Social Security number after a while.
I can only tell you what my experience was and how the other inmates felt about sex offenders in prison or people who lie about their charges.
The biggest factor is what security level the inmate is at.
If an inmate is going to a MEDIUM security level prison, he had better either make some story up and stick with it, or he had better just keep his mouth shut and be evasive when other inmates ask him what he is in there for. Of course, when they ask about his charges (and trust me, they will ask) and he is evasive, that will raise a red flag. So it is best to make up a story.
Coming right in and telling other inmates that you are a sex offender will get a person badly hurt at a medium. There are eight medium security prisons in the state I live in, and I am here to tell you that if you tell them you are a sex offender the day you walk in, you will not be at that prison at the end of the day. They will either beat you half to death or tell you that you "have to leave", which means you then have to go to security and "catch out". Then they will put you in protective custody and ship you off to another prison.
But at this point, the cat is out of the bag. They all know you are a sex offender and this will follow you to every prison they send you. Once you tell, you can't go back.
The inmates in mediums are doing long prison sentences. They don't really care if they get a misconduct by stabbing another inmate. If they already have 200 years, what's another 60 years or so to them? They consider that prison their home, and it will be their home for the rest of their life. They are not about to share "their neighborhood" with a sex offender.
The problem in Jackie son's case is that now the cat is out of the bag. If he ever gets shipped to a rougher prison or a higher security, then they will already know his charges. Also now that they know his charges, just for fun, some of the other inmates will put other inmates up to harassing her son. If he had never told them, this would not be a problem.
Now I know that someone is going to come along and tell you that they will always find out, that all they have to do is have a friend look up your case on the internet. We are in the electronic age, and that is true to an extent. This was not a problem when I was in prison.
Here is what I think about this. Many inmates do not even know someone on the outside who has a computer who can look your case up. Hell, many can only read and write at a third grade level, so their circle of friends are not professors or college grads. But some do, and that can be a problem.
But not immediately disclosing your crime, even though they can find out someday, does have one advantage: it gives you time to figure out a plan.
If you immediately tell them, then you have no time at all.
The guy that came in with the bank robber story just was not convincing or she slipped up in some way because I have seen sex offenders fly under the radar in mediums for years.
I have seen many guys go into a medium and do this for years, and it worked. On the other hand, I have seen guys come into a medium and admit that their charges are sexual in nature, and these guys usually get beat up pretty badly.
At a lower or minimum security, the inmates do not care that much. They are at the end of their sentence and they want very badly to go home. They are not about to get into any kind of violence by beating someone up for fear they will get a misconduct, lose their good time, and delay their discharge. At mediums they will really hurt a sex offender, but at minimums they will just shun you. They don't really care what you are in for at a minimum.
But I will tell you this: the number one reason people get beat up in prison is because the other inmates really do not like you (snitching and getting in debt and not able to pay) will get you beat up 100% of the time.
Inmates DO NOT beat up other inmates they like. Period.
Here is the number 1 reason I suggest that guys make up a cover: it gives you time to find a few friends in there and to make the other inmates like you (or at least not dislike you so much they want to hurt you).
Then, if they like you, EVEN if they do find out at some future date that you are in there on a sex crime or even if they find out you lied, they will not usually care. They will usually dismiss it as "well, he had to do that", or "he's a good guy, we don't really care".
It is never a good idea to go into prison and just right off tell them that you are in there for a sex crime. That is not only my opinion, but the opinion of most anybody who has ever been to prison. Telling the other inmates at a medium is just stupid, and telling them at a minimum is foolish.
Don't believe me? Go into any medium and tell them you are a sex offender. See what happens. It might be better to go to some forums like Prison Talk and see what other inmates say about this subject.
At any rate, it is a roll of the dice. Inmates have to do their time as they see fit.
rewdiazepam
I understand your point about googling. The inmates may very well find out someday, but to go right in and tell them your charges, if they are sexual in nature, is nuts. That is, if you are at a medium. That is just asking for an ass whipping that day.
rewdiazepam
He did see that those that made up some story ended up getting called out because of it and their time made rougher for the story, since the truth is really only a phone call away.
I would never advise someone to make up something, for in today's technological world, it is too easy to be 'busted' for the fib. It is probably better to try to keep your head down, mind your own business and if you are asked keep it simple and verifiable.
I can imagine that some states are not like the way Wisconsin is in their mediums. I would imagine that the Bible Belt states can be rather scary, just due to the culture... But as they add more and more SOs in the prison system, the less scary it will be for them for they will outnumber everyone else.
What I am about to tell you is what I experienced and what I saw with my own eyes. Also, keep in mind that this scenario only applies to medium security prisons.
Within the first several days of my medium experience, I saw several guys who admitted being in there for sex crimes carried out to the infirmary, the equivalent of a hospital. These guys acknowledged their crimes when asked, and they certainly paid the price. The guys beat up were not killed, but they were hit in the head with mop ringers, locks in socks, and essentially hurt badly. One was thrown off the top run onto the floor below and another was stabbed in the neck with a makeshift knife. I never heard from them again because they were immediately shipped to another prison.
Now I know this to be true because I saw it with my own eyes. This is not something I read in a book, I witnessed it.
The other inmates with sex offenses or crimes against children managed to lie, make up a charge and stick with it. They pretty much flew under the radar buy minding their own business and managing to keep a low profile. After several months of doing that, the other inmates didn't ever bother with them.
The first couple of weeks seem to be the most crucial. If you can keep your secret for the first couple of weeks until some of the other inmates sort of begin to like you, then you will usually be OK. If they like you, they will not hurt you even if they find out your true crime.
True, it is more difficult to keep your crime secret in the electronic age. My prison term was in the 1990's and times have changed.
While it is true that other inmates don't like being lied to and they don't like sex offenders, they hate sex offenders much, much worse.
Making up a story and taking a chance that it will work is better than admitting you are a sex offender and being assured that you will get hurt.
But I saw with my own eyes what happened to guys that went into a medium and told the truth right off when asked---they were beat up, every one of them.
This is not a theory. This is what I witnessed with my own eyes.
rewdiazepam
I believe you, my hubby told me about taunting from people that would have someone on the outside look him up to find out his charge. I think he took the route of flying below the radar and avoiding the question of "what you in for?" as best as possible. He found most people, especially after they found out the age of his 'victim' didn't even give him much of a second look.
I personally believe that how you are treated in prison GREATLY relies on where you are incarcerated and which system it is in, be it Federal or State. I have heard more horror stories from the Federal prison system and the Bible Belt states than any other.
I am sorry that you had to witness that stuff when you were incarcerated, it obviously left an impression on you be it good or bad... With the ability to look up folks on your smartphone lying in prison can do you more harm than good, in my opinion, back in the 90's when it was much harder to find out those things without typing a bunch of letters for open records requests and waiting, I can see where a cover story would be very useful. But now, with what I know from the IT field I work in, NOTHING is secret all one has to know is WHERE to look.
If I had seen what you did, I would have kept my trap shut as long as possible as to my crime, I can't say I blame you after what you witnessed.
You are 1000% correct in everything you said. Thank you.
Things are different in prison today than when I was in. It is much more difficult to keep a fake cover story and lie about your charges today than in was in the 1990"s. Back then there were no cell phones and no internet. You could basically lie about your charges and get away with it.
rewdiazepam
If it were me telling my man what to do, I would tell him what I said before. Keep your head low, try to stay below the radar, and if asked about his crime, be vague. If the 'victim' was a teen rather than prepubescent, that isn't always a bad thing, in their eyes. Inmates don't like 'baby rapers' but look differently upon a vindictive teen girl (which we all know they are, I know I was and I was tame compared to my friends) because most people's morality doesn't condemn the crimes when a teen is the 'victim' in the eyes of the law.
It all depends on the case your son has. If it was some girl that got in trouble for hanging out with an older boy and wanted to avoid parental disappointment so they claimed that they were raped. OR the parents just claim it because they can't believe their precious angel would ever have sex before the age of 18 or before they were married.
What you are going to find out is that your son is probably a lot stronger than either of you know.
I did not mean to scare you; I was only pointing out what I saw when I was incarcerated at a MEDIUM.
Prison is not Sunday School. The medium security prisons in American, and especially the Bible Belt, are very violent environments. They definitely do not play games there.
But it is quite possible that your son will be shipped directly to a minimum. The difference between a medium and a minimum is light night and day.
A medium is a real prison like you see on TV, but a minimum is more like a college dorm.
The ability to use common sense is also important. Any idiot knows that snitching is a no no, but also getting in debt can also get a person hurt.
A minimum, for me anyway, was a piece of cake.
Regardless of where they send your son, the best way to stay safe in prison is to keep a low profile and be an "OK guy" so the other inmates will like you. Mind your own business. This is much more important than the crime which he is in there for.
KEEP A LOW PROFILE AND BE AN OK TYPE OF GUY.
Inmates do not beat up inmates they like even if that inmate is in there for a sex crime.
rewdiazepam
Yes, he is federal and given the amount his sentence will be he will be probably in a medium. It was totally non-contact but I guess that won't get him any points and no they were not young children - but right under 18 so considered child porn.
Because any sex crime is considered violent, yup even those non-contact ones, most will end up in a medium to start, until treatment has been completed. Then the prison will re-evaluate him or he can request a re-evaluation to have his risk reassessed.
Both you and he WILL survive this...