Don't worry, I won't gut you...

nurseangel

nurseangel

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That's what one of the inmates/patients at the county jail where I work as a prn nurse said to me this morning when he asked me for a cracker and I didn't have one to give him. Generally, we keep saltine crackers on the med cart for inmates who take meds that may cause nausea. However, today we were low on crackers and I had already given them away to the inmates that needed them. DH was concerned when I told him about the comment. I tried to explain that some of the inmates I help take care of have psychiatric problems, but that didn't make DH feel much better.
 
natalie_ca

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When I worked in law I frequently got calls at work from inmates. They had phone time but no one to call, so they called me, their lawyer's secretary to chat. At first I thought it was freaky, but I got used to it.

They just wanted to hear about life outside of the prison walls. None of them were in for murder or rape or anything hugely serious like that. Most were robbery or DUI, or drug crimes: not that those aren't serious, but they're not as "scary" as murder.

I used to talk to them about the movies I had seen, or books I had read, or something funny I'd seen while out.

I used to have a prison "pen pal" at one time.
 
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nurseangel

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I do work with people who have rape and murder charges, but the person who made the comment isn't in on anything serious. More than likely, he was tired of living outside in the cold and did something minor to get locked up. (Warm bed, three meals a day). I don't think he meant anything at all by it; I think he was trying to reassure me that he wasn't going to hurt me. I've just never had anyone make that particular statement before.
 
sarahp

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He probably thought it was a funny thing to say


They probably also get used to people treating them differently and acting weird around them, and feel like they want to reassure people.

That's great that you're nursing in the prisons - the prisoners need good people, and I bet it's not easy to get good people in those jobs.
 
catsknowme

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Well, I guess that you have to go with your intuition, but that kind of comment can be unnerving, esp. since you were face-to-face.
My paranoid-schizophrenic nephew had an episode when he & I were out in the forest collecting firewood. The sounds of nearby chainsaws set off the voices in his head & he kinda "zombied" out, and announced that he needed to start kiling someone. Then when he looked at me, he had the "reptilian" look in his eye (I've seen it in a couple of our clients, one who'd murdered her husband) and for a few moments he didn't seem to recognize me
Thank goodness, when I began talking about his revered younger brother (whom he believes to be the Archangel Gabriel who will kill all evildoers), he snapped out of it....I would never have been able to outrun him & he had an axe in his hand. Mental illness is such a tricky thing
 
carolpetunia

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Good lord! Thank heaven you had the presence of mind to bring up his little brother! (Note to self: Don't ever go anywhere with anyone who has an axe!
)

When I was working in the community relations department of a psychiatric hospital in Austin 30 years ago, my boss and I toured the state hospital. The main structures were built in Victorian times, and the place was just perfectly Addams-family creepy. The old woman who took us on the tour enjoyed scaring people, apparently -- at one point, she took us into a pitch-dark room and flipped on the light, revealing that we were surrounded by floor-to-ceiling shelves loaded with human brains in formaldehyde. (I really almost passed out, but struggled not to give her the satisfaction.)

Anyway, later in the tour, she took us into the locked dorm for criminally insane patients, then told us to wait while she did something in the next building. As she left, she called to my boss to come with her, so I was left alone in this long corridor... and as soon as the doorlock buzzed behind them, the men started coming out of their rooms.

These were very scary guys, maybe eight or ten of them, shambling toward me in grey hospital pajamas and plastic sandals. I was a lot younger and cuter at that time, and as they approached, I heard one of them start chanting, "Pretty pretty pretty," which really scared me. I took an involuntary step backward, then glanced behind and saw that I was only a few feet from the end of the corridor -- nowhere to go.

The biggest one, a scruffy giant who had to be almost seven feet tall, called out in a dull, thorazine-slurred voice, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

I was not reassured.

The men were only about fifteen feet away when the guide and my boss returned, and thank goodness, the doorbuzz seemed to send them moving automatically back toward their rooms. I was shaking like the proverbial leaf, and had nightmares about it for months.

Thinking back on it now, I can't believe that nasty old woman got by with such cruel games... but at the time, I was too shy to challenge her.
 
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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Good lord! Thank heaven you had the presence of mind to bring up his little brother! (Note to self: Don't ever go anywhere with anyone who has an axe!
)

When I was working in the community relations department of a psychiatric hospital in Austin 30 years ago, my boss and I toured the state hospital. The main structures were built in Victorian times, and the place was just perfectly Addams-family creepy. The old woman who took us on the tour enjoyed scaring people, apparently -- at one point, she took us into a pitch-dark room and flipped on the light, revealing that we were surrounded by floor-to-ceiling shelves loaded with human brains in formaldehyde. (I really almost passed out, but struggled not to give her the satisfaction.)

Anyway, later in the tour, she took us into the locked dorm for criminally insane patients, then told us to wait while she did something in the next building. As she left, she called to my boss to come with her, so I was left alone in this long corridor... and as soon as the doorlock buzzed behind them, the men started coming out of their rooms.

These were very scary guys, maybe eight or ten of them, shambling toward me in grey hospital pajamas and plastic sandals. I was a lot younger and cuter at that time, and as they approached, I heard one of them start chanting, "Pretty pretty pretty," which really scared me. I took an involuntary step backward, then glanced behind and saw that I was only a few feet from the end of the corridor -- nowhere to go.

The biggest one, a scruffy giant who had to be almost seven feet tall, called out in a dull, thorazine-slurred voice, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

I was not reassured.

The men were only about fifteen feet away when the guide and my boss returned, and thank goodness, the doorbuzz seemed to send them moving automatically back toward their rooms. I was shaking like the proverbial leaf, and had nightmares about it for months.

Thinking back on it now, I can't believe that nasty old woman got by with such cruel games... but at the time, I was too shy to challenge her.
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OMG!!! THat has got to be the scariest thing I have ever heard!!! I sounds like that old woman should have been locked up herself!
 
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