Prison Guards Describe The Most Disturbing Things They've Dealt With On The Job

From Renotss:

"Once a psych patient, after placed in an observation cell, pulled a razor out of his an*s and proceeded to go to town on his genitals.

The worst by far was a seg inmate slipping his cuffs, removing an officer's bean slot bar (a big chunk of iron with a prong on the end used to open slots in the cell doors to pass trays through / handcuff inmates), and beat him to death with it. I was one of the first responders, and quit shortly after this one."

From vman4402:

"Former prison guard here. I had to escort a new prisoner to medical, but had no idea why until we got to medical. He had bandages all over both legs and he walked stiff-legged (couldn't bend his legs).

When he sat down, the nurse started removing bandages to expose rotted, abscessed flesh. He was a heroin addict and was injecting in his legs, which had grown so swollen and gangrenous that the smell almost put me down. When he tried to bend his right leg, the skin split and infection oozed all over the floor. The doctor looked at me and immediately called for another guard to come to the room. I asked what was wrong and she said, 'You're going into shock, I need you to leave before you pass out.' 

Surprised at what she said, I protested, but she demanded that I leave. On my way out, I started to feel light-headed. I looked in a mirror and noticed that I was sheet-white (normally a brown guy). I've seen people hanging. I've seen people stabbed and shot. I saw a guy blow his head off with a shotgun. When I was in the Corps, I've pulled burned bodies out of a crashed CH-53E. This, by far, was the worst thing I've ever seen."

From Brummiediv:

"I knew a prison guard at Winson Green in Birmingham and he said the most disturbing thing about Fred West was how jovial he was. The officers kept forgetting and laughing at his jokes and stuff and then thinking, 'Erm this guy sexually tortured his own daughter and buried her in concrete.'"

From heyyouwtf:

"I was a correctional officer at a max unit for several years. I'll just make a list.

• I had a guy slice his own neck in front of me.
• Had a guy hang himself on a night we were very short. I had to stand there and wait several minutes for another person before entering the cell. We were able to save him.
• Had a guy collapse in front of me and die. He had a brain aneurysm.
• Had a guy try to connect his tattoo gun to the light. He electrocuted himself. He died.
• Had a guy who had come in with a relatively minor sentence. Now serving over 100 years consecutively due to crimes he committed while incarcerated. He would attack any co he had a chance to. He was notorious for popping his door open and attacking COs.
• Had to fight a psych patient in the back of an ambulance on a transport.
• Had to sit through multiple surgeries because someone has to have eyes on the inmate at all times.
• Once I had to wrestle with an inmate when he was coming out of his anesthesia. He was out of it and freaked out."

From OptimusPitts:

"One of my old roommates worked in the county jail. He came home one day stone faced, so I asked him how work was. All he said was 'I saw a guy eat his shampoo because he couldn't shower, then uncontrollably puke and sh*t himself... that's how my day went.'

Jail... not for me."

From wareeagle3000:

"My dad never told me about this let alone about him working at the prison. My mom told me about the reason why he quit however.

Dad was getting everyone back to their cells and passed by one of the cells that had already been checked, when his face was splashed by a boiling liquid. He had to be rushed to the hospital for his burns. Turns out the prison gave each cell a hotplate of some sort and a prisoner had boiled his pee and threw it at my dad's face. After that he got out of being a prison guard and began doing blue collar work."