Prison

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I was wondering what happens to people on the high end of the spectrum when they get incarcerated. Would you say being diagnosed with high functioning autism would make you eligible to get a cell to yourself? Being immune to loneliness, solitary confinement wouldn't bother me at all. Having to share a cell with someone and having to socialize with other inmates to survive on the other hand would be a problem for me. Social skills play a huge role in ones ability to survive in prison so people with HFA would have a serious disadvantage in there. Especially the inability to read body language. I think most prisons have a special needs wing where people with disabilities go but thats also where they throw the rapists, pedophiles and informants so you'd probably be better off in general population than there. The most dangerous inmates get cells to themselves but if you only have 5 years or so you don't wanna go stabbing a prison guard and extending your stay for another 50 years but at the same time if your inability to socialize with the other inmates is going to sooner or later lead to a "disagreement" you're going to end up either extending your stay or getting killed anyway.

I was never an inmate but once I got a job as a carpenter supervisng inmates doing construction work. The number one rule is that the prisoners run the joint not the prison guards because the guards are way outnumbered. One day my partner lost his identification badge and I told him that he better keep better track of it because a prisoner might find the badge, steal his clothes and walk right out of the prison. of course when the other prisoners found out what I said there was a major uproar so they transfered me to the minimum security prison.

Once at the minimum security prison the inmates liked my autistic obsession about high definition televison. Although high definition televisions may not be allowed in prison because they may be considered a luxury I could come up with a good argument to get around the rules simply because HDTV is the only TV that you can buy.

Is prison a special interest of yours? What's motivating this question? I'm curious.

I get violent if I can't have my solitude but I would probably just get transfered to a mental hospital anyway.

I would probably be sent to a mental hospital, I would not last in a prison and if things got bad I would end up becoming dangerous to the other prisoners, I just can't be in 24'7 contact with other people like that, in that sort of athmosphere.

I think I would like a good mental hospital, I;ve considered admitting myself several times.

I don't know that they would be able to put me in prison.....I would lose it pretty quickly, I am not even sure if I would make it to the police station without having an extreme anxiety attack, the kind where you cannot breath and then freak out even more because you're not breathing and can't think rationally ect. I hate that I have that reaction to cops, makes me feel pathetic.

I'm a corrections officer for new York state, so I'll put in my 2 cents. Every new inmate is assessed psychologically to determine what facility and program would best suit his or her needs. If a new inmate is considered mentally unfit for general population then he's sent to a facility that has a separate section for those types. I haven't yet run into an HFA inmate, but more often than not they'd be put into general population, in which case you're definitely NOT guaranteed a single cell. My advice to the newly incarcerated aspie who's afraid of interacting with other prisoners or his cellmate would be to ask for PC (protective custody). The officers will probably call you a p**** and b***h about the extra work, but you'll get your own cell and a lot of solitude.

The only evening that I have spent in custody was horrible to me. Not because there were others besides me, there weren't, but I felt so much humiliated and angry due to a petty misunderstanding.

I could not imagine myself among criminals closed up in a small cell. Sooner or later I would be in conflict with them disobeying the unwritten rules of the prison and refusing to submit myself to the will of the ones considered higher in the virtual rank. I hate violence and manipulating by physical force and appearance, I wouldn't be able to interact with them for long, so I would probably have a very low rank. There is a movie with Tom Selleck from 1989 An Innocent Man with similar theme.

I can imagine prison being a lot like high school, only one hundred times worse.

I don't know how I'd do in prison. Women's prisons seem more better and more homey compared to men prisons from what I have seen on TV. And very few of them have a nursery in them for pregnant inmates for when they have their babies but they need to meet a certain guideline for it. The nursery looks a lot like a bay's room in your house. But I wasn't fond of a baby living in prison because then they never get to go out which is sad so it's like they are being punished too because of the crime their mother committed. And also the mother is allowed to sleep in the nursery with them. I forget what show this was on. Also imagine what the kid's response be if they were asked what hospital they were born in. "I wasn't born at a hospital." "Where were you born?" "In prison. Mom did something that was against the law and she got pregnant there and had me there."
I bet the kid would get teased and made fun of and get called Jail Baby.

But I wouldn't want to be in prison. Limited access to the computer and I don't know what access I'd have online and I doubt I could play video games and would I be allowed my Nintendo DS and new video games? I can't imagine not being able to raise my kid and could only see him few times a year and could only see him through pictures. I think I would be isolated in prison and spend my time in the library reading a lot. I would probably be put in a small room for having meltdowns. I don't know if there be a TV in the cell with cable. In Montana, the prison there has TVs in the cells with cable. I don't know if I be bullied in prison and picked on and teased and bam it's high school again and elementary school. Maybe since it's prison and people there are not nice because they are criminals after all and bullying is worse in prison it seems like.

The US prison system is considered brutal in other western contries.

There was a 2 part BBC program on recently called 'Louis Theroux - miami mega jail' the youngest inmate was a 14 year old boy, who was due to be transferred to adult prison. His only hope to avoid that was to go through a tough military 'boot camp' for 6 months, also designed for adult prison population.

There is a well known man in the UK called 'Gary McKinnon' who is probably the most famous person with aspergers syndrome. He did some petty hacking into some pentagon computers some years ago due to his obsession with conspiracies (really basic stuff like looking in the areas where passwords were set to default 'password' ) The US singled him out and trumped up a some spurious damage & endangerment charges and ordered him for extradition. Theres a big media campaign that he should be tried in the UK, partly on the basis that he will commit suicide if hes taken to the US.

I have to defer to your experience but I can't see how anyone displaying anything but very mild autism could be seen as appropriate for inclusion in the general inmate population. I know that I would likely do very poorly in such an overtly confrontational environment.

I like to be able to deal with any situation life may throw at me so I prepare myself for worst case scenarios. Going to jail isn't all that bad, there are far worse things like getting tortured for information but it wouldn't be easy.


I used to think a mental hospital wouldn't be a bad place to be but I think that was fairly naive thinking. I don't know if you'd get a cell to yourself in there either and if you decide you don't wanna be there anymore you can't just walk out of the place. They decide whether you leave or not and god knows what kinda people you'll have deciding whether you leave or not.


Thats not a bad option at all. I know a guy who says he did that so he wouldn't have to share his weed with the other inmates. Is anyone eligible to get thrown in PC though? If they deny your request and someone overheard it then they might get the wrong idea about why you wanna get thrown in PC.


I got thrown in the drunk tank one night and for some reason I had a whole cell to myself. At one point they hauled this angry bastard into the cell next to me and he kept shouting abuse at the guards and punching the bars. The guards coulda been as*holes and thrown him in the same cell as me. Then again I don't think they wanna have to deal with 2 people trying to kill each other.

In order to get a cell to yourself, wouldn't they put you in solitary confinement, which is you staying alone 24/7 with a small window of exercise, say maybe an hour long and a chance to take a shower every now and then. That would be too much for me. I don't know if I would like that, unless a television and cable were with me.
Plus, I heard people bang on the walls, sing and make a lot of noise that echoes, too. It sounds like hell. No noise cancelling earphones, either.
Would you be able to live like that for years?
I would rather be with the people than endure that but I know what you mean by wanting some solitude and not having to put up with other people's' bs and stuff like that. That is what would bother me.

I have a few friends who I grew up with who did time for break ins and for drug dealing. They take you through a process where they try to screen inmates for mental issues. If you are diagnosed as having HFA or Aspergers it would be a good idea to bring paper work stating that from a psychologist it will make the process easier if you could get your psychologist to state general population would be a bad idea for you where you would end up victimized. Thats a nice way of saying raped.

You have to really work your autism angle. No eye contact, flinch or pull away when touched, mumble when you talk you really got to make it look like you would get eaten alive in general population. If they are satisfied you are autistic they will either put you in the mental section where they further evaluate you with their psychologist but they will heavily medicate you or they put you in a more protected area where you are housed with snitches, homosexuals, sex offenders, former gang members and the too weak for general prison population. From what my friends tell me most of the guys in protective custody are better behaved because no one wants to be put back in general population. If the other inmates know you were held in protective custody they see you as being weak there for a punk. We all know what happens to punks.

Once you are put into protective custody my suggestion is to get ahold of some of those prison pen pal magazines write to lonely women, lots of them. When you get them to like you get them to send money to your comissary account and to send you things. My friend made more money off of penpals then he did working at a machine shop on the outside. He also had a girlfriend waiting for him when he got out. If you don't do this you will have to find some kind of hussle to make money and that could land you more time. Using penpals is kind of evil but you have to do what you have to to survive in prison. Besides you are making someone who is loney happy.

They got the same problems but they also have the added threat of ass rape.