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10 Veteran Prison Guards Reveal Their Stories Of Inmates They Believed Were Innocent.

Prison guards see all kinds of convicts come and go in their line of work.

Below are 10 stories from prison guards who believed that one inmate they had might have been innocent.


1. Was a guard a few years ago, had an inmate in who was in for a parole violation.

He was on his way to his parole officer, got in a bad car wreck and broke his collarbone and two ribs. The hospital called the parole officer to reschedule, but his parole officer said 'too bad. If he does not show up today, he will go back to jail.' Needless to say three days later he walks out the hospital, to be immediately arrested and put in jail.

-IC*MTARANTULAS

2. I work in booking, so I see them when they come in, and when they go out, I also do all of their paperwork and read the criminal complaints the officers file before arraignments.

I have seem people get pretty lenient charges, and a few get something more harsh than I would have charged them with, but I have yet to see someone come into my jail that wasn't guilty of something.

For example, we have a 19 year old female come in a couple times a week on a T-47 hold, which is a non-criminal 12 hour sleep off. Yet she is under the drinking age and rarely does the officer ever charge her with a minor consuming, let alone a minor consuming-habitual. I have watched her kick numerous officers as well, yet she never gets assault 3 or assault 4 on an LEO.

On the other side, I also have an old man who was 74 and no priors come in on a assault 4 domestic violence, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. All because he got emotional and pushed his step-son at his wife's funeral (step-son's mother) and then made a scene and refused to leave when the cops showed up to arrest him after the stepson called the cops on him mid-way through the service.

Step-son was a regular in our facility for theft and apparently told the old man, that essentially he was happy she passed so that he could get her stuff. He was guilty of the Assault IV, but a little tact and compassion would have gone a long ways to avoid the other charges from taking place.

-NWCJ

3. I was a Correctional Officer for five years. The closest I know of someone actually being innocent was the case of the three strikes law. (basically, upon being found guilty of a third felony, you're hit with a MUCH stiffer penalty).

He was a bouncer at a bar, and broke up a fight. Steps outside with the doorman and there happens to be a news reporter there, reporting about the nightlife, and they ask for a interview. He said no thank you. Cameraman keeps filming, and is asked to stop. He get all high and mighty on his freedom of the press speech and shoves the camera in the bouncer's face, saying that he can't do anything about him filming. Natural reaction, bouncer palms the camera lens and pushes the cameraman away.

Now, he did it with some force, but by no means with any malicious intent. Viewfinder hits the cameraman above the eye, and cuts his forehead, he immediately screams causing the two police officers on the other side of the road come running over. One officer ends up recognizing the bouncer from previous charges and arrests him for malicious wounding, a felony. This is the bouncer's third felony and therefore is immediately sent to prison upon being found guilty. Did an extra ten years for the three strikes law. If anyone else had done the same thing, I feel like the responding officers wouldn't have arrested them.

-GregLXStang


Keep going for more Prison Guard testimonies!

4. Actually all the time. Remand times are a big concern, sometimes people can wait in jail for a year waiting for trial and sentencing to be finished, especially if there are witness testimonies to arrange, victim impacts, pre-sentence reports etc.

If you've already got a lengthy criminal record, to the extent you'd be denied bail, which is common, it's in your best interest to plead guilty for minor crimes whether you did it or not. You could sit in jail for a year proving you didn't make that threatening phone call, or you could just plead out and be home in three to six months, because if you sat there a year you'd likely be sentenced to six months time served anyways.

-AwesomusP

5. 19 year old kid at my facility was sentenced 10 years for manslaughter and DUI. Kid was 17 at the time of the accident. Swerved to miss a deer, lost control and ended up hitting a tree, which killed his girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat. Kid blows a '.02' on the breathalyzer. Not impaired what so ever ,but he was under the age of 21 (legal drinking age) and was still given a DUI, which led to the manslaughter charge. I guess this is just more of an example of the f*cked up system in place.

The girl's family visited him every weekend until he was transferred.

6. One guy had been found guilty of sexual assault at a bench trial even though his DNA did not match the perpetrator's. Let that sink in. A judge found a man guilty, even though it was not his semen in the victim.

Possibly the worst case I ever saw involved a man whose daughter was molested at her day care. The perpetrator, the husband of the lady who ran the day care, had molested several children there. After the trial, the day care owner claimed that the father of one of the victims had molested her child several years earlier. The cops asked him to come down to the station to talk about it. Having done nothing wrong, he agreed. After talking to him for hours, the police nevertheless believed they had a case against him. He was arrested, could not make bail, and sat in jail for a year. He intended to go to trial, but on the day of the trial the prosecutor offered him a deal: plead guilty, get time served, go home that day. He agreed, pled guilty, got four years.

Working in a prison gave me a front-row seat to the awfulness of the criminal justice system. Most people in prison really were career criminals and very bad people, but the wrongful convictions were horrifying. I will never agree to talk to the police under any circumstances, and I have no faith in the benevolence of prosecutors or judges.

-rkopicture


Keep going for more unbelievable stories.

7. As an ex-officer, it's difficult to believe anyone in prison. The inmates that you don't want to believe did it will usually admit it to you. The inmates that lie all the time will blame it on someone else. "Well, Boogie was out with Money, and Shante didn't like Boogie. Money killed Boogie, and I took the wrap for it."

You hear sh*t like that all day.

However, there was one inmate would was in for over 20 years with a life sentence that was released after new evidence showed he really didn't do it. He's now writing a book and attempting to sue the state.

-anonymous

8. I have never seen someone that I believe to be innocent but I have seen guys come in that were what I feel to be unfairly imprisoned. We had one guy who was a normal blue collar type who missed a child support payment. Then his lawyer didn't tell him about an upcoming court appointment and he was given 30 days in jail. The lawyer admitted to not telling him but the judge wasn't having any of it.

One guy in my institution is in his late 60's and has a sparkling clean record but is in on manufacturing of a substance charges. His son has had several charges in the same thing before so we all think that he took the charge to keep his son from doing time.

9. I'll share a story about an inmate that everyone I talked to felt was wrongly incarcerated.

I worked with this one inmate an older black gentleman we'll call Mr. Grass. Allegedly Mr Grass owned a lawnmower repair shop that was well respected in the community. One day some guys bring in some lawnmowers to sell and Mr Grass purchased them for a fair price. What these fine young lads neglected to mention is these lawnmowers were stolen. Mr. Grass is arrested pleads guilty and is sentenced to quite a few years.

-JDSt4r

10. Been a CO for a while now, and while I'm sure there are a few, there is only one that strikes me as likely being innocent.

He's an old black guy on my rock. Hes claimed for years that he's innocent. My partner and I read his file (basically contains all the info from his arrest including statements and court docs, along with docs from his incarceration like security level reviews and tickets) and both think there is at least a good chance he's innocent.

He was arrested in the early 60s for allegedly robbing a store and killing a white woman. There were eye witnesses there stating it was a local man by the name of Perry (changed for obvious reasons). The make and color of the car was also reported. Seems like a pretty easy case.

Said car is tracked down being driven by our inmate, let's call him Miller. They immediately arrest Miller and charge him. Even though this is a different man than eye witnesses report (though they aren't really that reliable, it's all they had).

But this is where it gets weird. Instead of charging him as miller, they call him Perry and charge him under that name. So his legal name, which even appears on the back of his DOC ID is Miller, but he's on our count boards and computers as Perry.

Now this is a very old file, and pages may be missing, so maybe someplace in there, there's an explanation for this whole thing, but based on the file doc we have, it seems really shady and weird. Like the police figured they had a black guy driving the right car, good enough.

He is still trying to file appeals and such, but he's so institutionalized he wouldn't even know what to do if he got out. He also absolutely hates when you call him Perry, always says that's not my name. He's one of the better inmates I've ever had, so long as you call him Miller.

-ED1CT

Source

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.