What really happens to child sex offenders in prison?

[LisaR]

I am always reading on message boards comments like, "put him in with the general population because they take care of child rapists & murderers."

I would love to believe that is the truth but I have never seen any proof of that. Have there been wardens that have confirmed that? Have there even been notorious child rapists in prison that have died under suspicious causes?

I guess I don't put that much faith in the moral compass of the general prison population. They are willing to let the guy slide that rapes and decapitates his own mother but if he does it to an 11 year old, they will make him pay? Maybe I am not giving the general population enough credit but I just don't see them caring that much.

Has TV goaded us into believing this is true or does it honestly happen?

 

[MM27]

I watch that show Lockup sometimes and I've heard various guards and/or other prisoners that have commented about sex offenders, especially when their crime was against a child, having a rough time in prison. Sometimes they are not put in with the general population. If they are, I think many keep their charges a secret as long as possible.

 

[golfgal]

Look up Jeffery Dahmer.

 

[Hannathy]

Jeffrey Dahlmer didn't have a peaceful ending in prison......


I think there is less of it now with lawsuits from families, etc than before. Now they segregate them pretty well and are pretty careful.

 

[LisaR]

I forgot about Dahmer. In fairness, he also murdered men as well as boys. Was there any proof that the guy that beat and killed him did it because of his past crimes?

Trust me, I want to believe it is true! I just wondered if it really happens as frequently as people claim it does.

 

[Magpie]

I knew a lady, now deceased, who worked for the Correctional Service of Canada and was on the Parole Board. I once asked her the same question, and she told me that child molesters typically have substandard social skills. They get abused by other prisoners because they can't interact normally with them, and they can't defend themselves.

But a child molester who is smart, charming, manipulative and has high-level social skills, will not be harassed by other prisoners. He'll be just as high on the totem pole in prison as he is in the outside world.

Luckily, most child molesters don't match that profile. They DO suffer in prison. Unfortunately, so do the mentally ill, and many other less heinous criminals who just happen to be weak and easy targets.

Karla Homolka had friends and lovers in prison.

 

[3boymthr]

I have a friend who is a prison nurse at a Maximum Security Prison. She says that rapists, particularly child rapists do NOT fair well in the general population.

 

[LisaR]

I knew a lady, now deceased, who worked for the Correctional Service of Canada and was on the Parole Board. I once asked her the same question, and she told me that child molesters typically have substandard social skills. They get abused by other prisoners because they can't interact normally with them, and they can't defend themselves.

But a child molester who is smart, charming, manipulative and has high-level social skills, will not be harassed by other prisoners. He'll be just as high on the totem pole in prison as he is in the outside world.

Luckily, most child molesters don't match that profile. They DO suffer in prison. Unfortunately, so do the mentally ill, and many other less heinous criminals who just happen to be weak and easy targets.

Karla Homolka had friends and lovers in prison.

This is how I would guess that it worked. The weak are the ones that are picked on and it just happens to be the child molesters are the weakest.

 

[Heidict]

I know a couple people who are prison guards in CT prisons and a child molester does get targeted in prison. Especially if their crime is particularly heinous or if they are old, infirm or unable to defend themselves. They may not kill them but they will have many other things done to them that may make them wish they were dead.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I know a couple people who are prison guards in CT prisons and a child molester does get targeted in prison. Especially if their crime is particularly heinous or if they are old, infirm or unable to defend themselves. They may not kill them but they will have many other things done to them that may make them wish they were dead.

This works for me!

 

[MizTink]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216342,00.html

 

[tazdev3225]

My DH is a Deputy Sheriff but was a correctional officer for 12 years before that. My son is also a correctional officer so they have a fairly good idea of what really happens. Prisoners have a code of honor that they go by. Crimes against women and children are not tolerated. The consensus is that it could have been their mother or daughter, or child. Sex offenders of all types are basically kept in segregation for the duration of their sentence and for court appearances. In PA, at least, the offender is not released into the general population. On the rare occasion that they do get into the general population they are usually severely beaten or worse. I will leave the worse to your imaginations but it is usually on the order of the crime they committed or they are killed by other inmates. Sex offenses are not tolerated by the inmate population.

 

[okeydokey]

John Geoghan was a priest in Boston who was sentenced to jail for child molestation and was killed in prison.

My Dh has a family member that is waiting for trial or plea deals or whatever for possession of child porn and I don't think prison will go well for him.

 

[LisaR]

My DH is a Deputy Sheriff but was a correctional officer for 12 years before that. My son is also a correctional officer so they have a fairly good idea of what really happens. Prisoners have a code of honor that they go by. Crimes against women and children are not tolerated. The consensus is that it could have been their mother or daughter, or child. Sex offenders of all types are basically kept in segregation for the duration of their sentence and for court appearances. In PA, at least, the offender is not released into the general population. On the rare occasion that they do get into the general population they are usually severely beaten or worse. I will leave the worse to your imaginations but it is usually on the order of the crime they committed or they are killed by other inmates. Sex offenses are not tolerated by the inmate population.

Good to know!

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I really hate to judge...I try to leave that up to God, but when it comes to child molesters, I really hope there is a special hell for them. I worked with a guy whose brother was arrested for sexually abusing his own 6 month old daughter. It still makes me sick. And there were rumors that the brothers were sexually active with each other while growing up. That case haunted me for years. I know that people like that are legitimately sick (they'd have to be!) and they can't really supress their urges, but I cannot find myself having any mercy for them. If I had those urges, I would commit myself to a hospital or kill myself.

 

[Darcy03231]

My uncle worked in a maximum security prison and they kept both the child predators and rapists seperate from the rest of the population. The rapists and child predetors were even segregated from each other. If either of them got into the general population things didn't go well for them.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

nothing as they are put into protective custody. I used to be a jail guard.

 

[overlyspoiled4sure]

Works for me, too, if sex offenders don't get treated well in prison. I hope they don't dare sleep for fear of the unknown!! Too bad the taxpayers have to pay for these jerks to get 3 squares a day plus medical care, clothing & a roof over their heads when the families they hurt struggle.

 

[LisaR]

So the general consensus seems to be that they are kept isolated from the rest of the prison population. If that is the case, very few are probably in any sort of unpleasant situation, unfortunately.

 

[CMHusband]

My DH is a Deputy Sheriff but was a correctional officer for 12 years before that. My son is also a correctional officer so they have a fairly good idea of what really happens. Prisoners have a code of honor that they go by. Crimes against women and children are not tolerated. The consensus is that it could have been their mother or daughter, or child. Sex offenders of all types are basically kept in segregation for the duration of their sentence and for court appearances. In PA, at least, the offender is not released into the general population. On the rare occasion that they do get into the general population they are usually severely beaten or worse. I will leave the worse to your imaginations but it is usually on the order of the crime they committed or they are killed by other inmates. Sex offenses are not tolerated by the inmate population.

I love the whole "code of honor" thing in prison. What about the code of honor of regular society? Oh that was different...Guh. Anyhoooo...