How prisoners can handle 5+ years

[front of me]

I saw a video about a girl who will be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Why don't they commit suicide before going to jail?

 

[FuneralCry]

Suicide just isn't that straightforward for everyone unfortunately, not everyone can access reliable ways to die.

 

[conarc]

Well, there is almost always a train or a highway nearby. Once you know that you have stay in jail fo several years I would not wait until they pick me up...

 

[Gaga786]

It haunts me knowing people are out there suffering, being imprisoned without trial for years. I honestly won't be able to handle being trapped in a place like that for years to come. Just goes to show that there is endless agony in this world

 

[CW36]

I saw a video about a girl who will be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Why don't they commit suicide before going to jail?

Because some people want to live no matter what? There's a chance of overturning a conviction too.

 

[juraviel]

hard as it is to imagine, some people, one could say the majority, are happy no matter what. in prison you have your needs taken care for you. there's certain stability too.

 

[front of me]

majority, are happy no matter what

hard as it is to imagine, some people, one could say the majority, are happy no matter what. in prison you have your needs taken care for you. there's certain stability too.

?

 

[gramh]

majority, are happy no matter what

?

I think what is meant is that a lot of people find value in life even so far as finding value in the struggling against adversity.

 

[Sweet Tart]

Magical thinking can be a powerful force for people inclined to it! I wouldn't say anyone expects to be happy while incarcerated, but people find mental and physical ways to live thru it when they have the drive to live.

 

[edu0z]

I saw a video about a girl who will be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Why don't they commit suicide before going to jail?

because there are people who want to continue living. It is a mistake to assume that everyone thinks like us. The fact that you would commit suicide before sacrificing your freedom for 20 years without thinking about it, does not mean that everyone will have the same predisposition. You don't know what that girl's life is like, what her beliefs are or how her mind works

 

[vitbar]

Also worth pointing out that even those who want it struggle to actually commit.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

Some end up taking their lives after being incarcerated for a while.

 

[Mocon33]

Life in prison is still a life. Some people get so used to it that they only commit suicide a while after they are released.

 

[bluebus]

I also wondered that. I used to think that if I ended up in that situation, I would make a run across the border. I already speak Spanish and have traveled throughout central and South America. Living a life on the run is hard, but going to prison sounds much worse.

 

[Mndcntrl]

Like most other answer says: Life is life. Some people dont want too leave. No matter what.

hard as it is to imagine, some people, one could say the majority, are happy no matter what. in prison you have your needs taken care for you. there's certain stability too.

What he means (In my opinion) was that prison offer you "free" food, bed, a warm place, sometimes work and you have people around you. When you have nothing but still wanna life is prison a "good" choice for someone.
And if you wanna die but cant do it for yourself you can piss off some gangmembers and they probaly do it for you

 

[Kerrtu]

I recently watched a documentary on Joel Rifkin (serial killer in the US) and he said he wouldn't want to be out of prison even if he had the chance. He's acclimated more to prison life than the life he had when he was "free".

In the beginning of his imprisonment, he was confined to solitary at Attica for 3 or 4 years. Rifkin did sue on the grounds of cruel and unusual punishment regarding the solitary confinement. That lawsuit did not go in his favor.

Prior to capture, he was socially awkward, shy, though classmates said they were shocked when it all came out as Rifkin was passive in school, and involved in some activities despite his shyness. He was bullied to the point he developed ways of becoming "invisible" as he described it. He had secret ways of getting home after school where he couldn't be followed, he changed his secret routes often, and once he was home, he stayed home.

Jeffrey Dahmer also felt he should never be released.

John Oliver recently did a segment on solitary confinement for Last Week Tonight - for anyone curious, link to episode on Youtube.

I'm now thinking of Ariel Castro, who kidnapped, tortured and raped those girls in Cleveland. After he was sentenced to life without parole, he killed himself in prison pretty quickly into his sentence. He had been facing the death penalty which I think would've been lethal injection, but he took a plea bargain and chose to hang himself with a bedsheet in his cell. I think he probably knew he'd be killed by another inmate or inmates waiting on death row. No way he would've lasted in general population.

I'm not defending Rifkin, Dahmer or Castro - I very much am interested in forensic science and the psychopathology of violence.

 

[John Ryder]

Self deliverance wouldn't necessarily be the default response. Were I not already suicidal for the reasons I am, I'd have to think long and hard about that as response to the prospect of one or even a couple decades in the slammer. Age and post-prison life likely left would be a factor, as would time frame. Needing to ctb stat will limit your options and while there's the argument one who wants it bad enough will find a way, easier said than done in practice. People here tend to overestimate the willingness of the avg person to just flippantly embrace suicide even in the face of really dire shit, imo

 

[SolomonKado]

I saw a video about a girl who will be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Why don't they commit suicide before going to jail?

It's all in how you think about things. I was on submarines and people would say "how do you do that under water for long periods of time in such a tight space?" For me I just kept myself busy with work and being a cook I had lots to do. Even getting to visit other countries was a good selling point for me.

Then my job as a prison guard. I ran into guys with 5 years up to multiple life sentences in prison. It's all in changing the way you look at things. At first the sentence may scare the crap out of you, but once you accept that this is your life now then you can make peace with yourself and keep living. Just living behind bars.

I can handle submarines, but being locked up I wouldn't want to do. Gangs, mentally unstable guards, messed up legal system getting you even in there. Most just keep their head down and work. Making phone calls home to family and spending time with them at their visit times.

Depending on what country you live in prison might not be that bad of a life. Some of the guards I worked with even made jokes about doing a felony just to get locked up for a retirement. That's because we seen what the inmates were able to get and some have better options available to them than some people outside of prison. Our taxes here in the US pays for each inmate in prison. Not only paying the prison to keep them housed, but if They do a job like as a cook then they get paid by our taxes.

 

[Stormy Raine]

I saw a video about a girl who will be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Why don't they commit suicide before going to jail?

The same reason we are stuck in our mental prisons and homes. It's not that easy to kill yourself, some people could never imagine resulting to such a drastic choice. Even if that person survived suicide you are still going to prison and you don't want to be on suicide watch in prison-trust me it's horrible!