Prison guards of reddit, what is the most heartbreaking thing you’ve had to witness within the prison?

1. Former prison psychologist: a lifer who kept messing up when progressed to open conditions. He couldn't face life after prison, so kept purposefully making small mistakes leading to him returning to closed conditions. He was a decent guy who made a crap decision in his early twenties and the idea of starting life again in his fifties was too much for him to deal with.
   — Gingersnapandabrew


2. Not a prison guard, but had a loved one in prison for years that I would visit on a bi\-weekly basis. 1. There was a weird dress code \- no khaki. no open toed shoes. no sleeveless shirts. Would watch people get turned away from seeing loved ones. I actually helped a woman out once because I had an extra pair of shoes in my car I let her wear so she could see her husband. Sometimes people would try to run to a store to buy something, but we were so far away from any stores, the prison was in a very rural area. 2. Visiting hours were twice on Saturday, twice on Sunday. But you couldn't get visitors during multiple times. So if someone had already visited the person on Saturday and you showed up Sunday, you'd be turned away. They'd send families home in tears that had traveled for hours to see their loved ones, but didn't realize a friend had stopped by that morning or the day before. This was also during a time when prisons couldn't call cell phones, so nearly impossible for some people to get ahold of each other. 3. When visiting hours were over they'd make all of the prisoners leave and all of the visitors would need to line up. They'd literally be ripping kids away from their fathers as the kids cried and screamed out to their dads.
   — lipsticknstockings


3. Not a guard but the daughter of a prisoner , a few years ago I was on a visit with my dad a couple of years ago , who is a very large , heavily tattooed man who is doing a minimum of 21 years for murder randomly break down and cry in front of me for the first time in my life because it was around the 10th anniversary of him being in prison for this sentence and it had occurred to him that he will never be released ( due to health problems and bad behaviour in prison that would extend his sentence)
   — Tildooo






4. One of my friends was a volunteer tutor at a prison. She was working with a young prisoner one day, a teenager. He paused during the lesson, looked out the window, and said, "You know, this is the nicest place I've ever been."
   — Swedishpunsch


5. Suicide attempts, people dying from the consequences of a life of addiction, fighting with family members visiting. (Jail not prison)
   — Grizzly227


6. I worked in a alternative sentencing place; deferred sentence and reintegrating people coming out of prison back into society. I got a call from a women who said she was John Does wife and she was coming in because John and Jane Does son was found dead from a drug overdose and she needed to tell her husband. I knew that Jane had a court appointed restraining order against John and I knew that John would try to escape with that level of news (he himself is an addict and talked on and on about his kids). I had to make sure John was no where near the front where he could see Jane, try to comfort her, but tell her that I couldn't grab John at the moment, and wait for a Victims Advocate to show up for Jane and John. In the end Jane sat in a room, in the dark that backed up to where the Victims Advocate told John that his son was found dead, but that he wife cared very much and didnt want him to run away. It was utterly heartbreaking news to begin with, but when Jane couldn't see, tell, or be there for John, even for a minute it became a new low for me.
   — Hamboneable






7. My mother is a prison guard and the one story that has really stuck with me thus far was about a cleaner designated to the paedophile and rapists ward. The prisoners would never say anything in front of the guards, but if it was just the cleaners they would apparently open up and have a laugh while exchanging their stories with one another. It was enough for the cleaner to leave work weeping and quit immediately. To imagine the kind of evil he was exposed to elicit that kind of reaction has had me reevaluate my entire perception of what a bad person is capable of.
   — napoLeondynomyt


8. ~13 years ago. Father and son had not seen each other in 15 plus years bc both incarcerated. Just happened that son was being transferred through dad's unit. Dad was a model prisoner and convinced warden to let them have a 30 minute sit down in the medium security Day room. I had to watch son and dad do this and then be broken up once again.
   — jep275


9. Not me but my SO is a prison officer: He told me about a con a few months ago who was a really nice guy; well behaved, attentive, interesting to talk to and an all-round good-seeming fella. The prisoner told him one weekend about how some of his family were coming to visit, because it was his sister's birthday. He was nervous because it was the first time seeing them since being inside, but really excited too because he missed them. Turns out his sister was dead...the prisoner in question was in for death by dangerous driving. Guess who the death was? Poor bloke, terrible how such a stupid mistake can cause such pain and guilt forever.
   — zostarrr