What will they do with the prison inmates?

The other night I was watching one of the many documentaries on A&E relating to prison violence and over crowding. These places are filled with violent offendors, murderers, rapists, gang bangers, pedophiles and everything in between. They go to prison and become even more animalistic and violent in order to survive their violent environment. I thought to myself, in a "doomsday" scenario where the federal and state governments collapse and anarchy takes hold, wht will become of these thousands of potentially dangerous inmates when things fall apart? If there is no electricity and no paid staff to tend to these people, it would lead me to believe that they would be released or set out into the wild to do as they please. Currently there are over 2 million prisoners in the U.S. alone .

usgovinfo.about.com...


Many of these people harbor serious hatred toward other people and would most likely want to exact revenge on society (or what is left of it). Can you imagine how deadly our towns and streets would become if several hundred thousand violent, sexually starved convicts are released back upon us? This goes equally for the mentally ill, the criminally insane and the other folk that none of us want to deal with during a state of lawlessness. How would this scenario likely unfold? If there are no police to regulate them or stop them from doing whatever they like, how would you survive as a man with possibly a wife and children? It brings to mind a Mad Max scenario, roaving bands of armed lunatics tearing across the landscape in search of fresh victims. What would you do?

never thought of that to tell you the truth, that is some scary business

I think you could cut the number down by a wide margin.

First of all, a certain number would be non-violent types in for things like petty theft, soft drugs, burglary, white collar crimes, etc.... These would really be no more, or less violent than the guy next door under sit-x conditions. This is not to say that they would be harmless, but under sit-x conditions, neither is your next door neighbor in the burbs.

And then you have the long term convicts who are career criminals. Many of them will be out to settle scores with other convicts and selected parties, so under the "rules" of sit-x, they will kill off a good third (guess here) of there own type.

There will also be the drug crazies who will think of nothing except excessive use of whatever caused them to go down in the first place. These types are not survival oriented, and they would tend not to last very long under severe conditions and total freedom.

But there would be a core of hardened criminals that would both survive and thrive in an environment of chaos and little or no law. While I doubt that the number would be much higher than one-fourth of the total prison population, that group would be a serious threat to any and all that they encountered.

But the truth is, in a sit-x scenario, a survivor would need to treat every stranger as if they had just gotten out of death row. Unless a person was known and you had a reason to trust that person, then ANYBODY is capable of the most violent action, even the mild mannered guy that bags your groceries at the local store.

Sit-x will, by the loosening of moral restrictions that form a society, cause a lot of people, convicts or not, to behave in a barbaric manner.

In the end, a person must trust no stranger until they show good cause to be trusted. I know that sounds harsh, but life will be harsh if such a day comes.

Just remember, there's more inmates incarcerated for a bag of herb than all violent offenders combined. If they get out (many won't), they'll disappear and start a garden. While some will definitely be out to satisfy some vendetta against society, most will want to start anew, just like everyone else. You'd even be surprised at how many of the really, really violent ones, those that cannot be allowed to integrate into a new society, are dealt with by other inmates before they get a chance to hop the fence.

Prison is a society in itself. You may even find the resourcefulness of most inmates very useful to your own survival. Just remember, for every really, really bad dude in prison, there's two more walking the street today.

Look at it this way.

2 Million Inmates VS 300 Million US Citizens.
You could also look at that the same way, should the government ever try to take complete control.

Originally posted by Unit541
Just remember, there's more inmates incarcerated for a bag of herb than all violent offenders combined. If they get out (many won't), they'll disappear and start a garden. While some will definitely be out to satisfy some vendetta against society, most will want to start anew, just like everyone else. You'd even be surprised at how many of the really, really violent ones, those that cannot be allowed to integrate into a new society, are dealt with by other inmates before they get a chance to hop the fence.

Prison is a society in itself. You may even find the resourcefulness of most inmates very useful to your own survival. Just remember, for every really, really bad dude in prison, there's two more walking the street today.

I agree that all inmates are not mad dog killers, fact is out judicial system has a funny way of locking up the wrong people on a regular basis. Im sure a large portion would scatter and try to survive like everyone else, but there is a segment of our prison population that are master criminals, killers, manipulators, people that will look to make you their mark. Also think of the number of mentally ill people there would be wandering about, both those that were incarcerated before everything hit the fan and also those who lose their grip on reality when such a situation may occur. It would be like the days of barbarians or the wild west where only the strongest and deadliest survive. How many average Joe tax payer types are prepared for such a scenario? Imagine an emergency situation such as Hurricane Katrina only magnified by 1,000. Add into the pot over 1,000,000 violent, pissed off prison inmates. I shudder to think of the fallout.

Well, what choices do we have? Take the law into our own hands and kill
every murderer, pedophile, or any prisoner who has done something
very bad? That would be our only chance, or we can keep them locked up
to meet their doom in the slammer.
Either way some of them broke the rules, so why should they get let out?
Now, I am not saying every single person in there is actually a criminal,
but most of them are.

I would move out to the desert or mountains, bring lots and lots of guns and surveillance equipment, and set up a secure compound.

[edit on 8/6/2007 by prototism]

[edit on 8/6/2007 by prototism]

How would you power them? You would have to purchase too much
batteries. We as a human race revolve around oil. If our oil
economy collapses before we find a new source of energy, well it won't
be pretty.

I wouldn't be overly worried about criminals.

But think about the situation that the supply chain to army units breaks down: That would probably cause a collapse of dicipline and then you would have hungry, but well armed bands of deserters looking for loot... not a pretty image, even if only 10% of the troops would go renegade..

This leads me to a question; what did the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office and the sheriffs in the surrounding parishes and the Louisiana Department of Corrections do with their facilities when Katrina hit?

I remember seeing all the Orleans Parish inmates on the overpasses surrounded by a huge cordon of sheriff's deputies with shotguns and M-16s but I find it hard to believe that more then a few inmates did not escape.

I think that at least initially whenever a disaster hit, the inmates would be left in their cells. I'm sure jails in Japan don't let the prisoners out everytime there is an earthquake.

As already mentioned, when it comes to starvation, it's pretty much everyone you have to worry about. Prisoners might be a little more hardened than the average person, but when it comes down to it, even the secretary next door will bust down your door if it's been a week since they've eaten and they know you have a huge stockpile of food. During any kind of massive emergency, there will be just as many violent and berserk people outside of prison than in. Trained militias and armed mobs are much more of a threat than individual convicts.

Originally posted by BlackOps719...in a "doomsday" scenario where the federal and state governments collapse and anarchy takes hold, wht will become of these thousands of potentially dangerous inmates when things fall apart?

My former bro-in-law spent some time as a guest of the US Federal system. It was made quite clear to them that in the case of civil insurrection, or any other circumstance where...shall we say the space was needed?...the prisoners would be killed. Take it for what it's worth, but he was more nervous about that than any other aspect of his 'stay'.

Sounds quite nasty.

"Hi dude, er, we got some new convicts, but we don't have enough space, so we had a raffle."

"Your name came out, so well, you're going to die soon."

Anyway, I think you'd have to worry more about the criminals NOT in jail, than those that break free.

[edit on 6/8/07 by -0mega-]

Find an island and place all of the violent offenders there. You could give them books on how to grow crops and supplies etc... What they do with them from there is up to them. They are after all not fit to live in a civilized society.

Anyone see the movie No Escape with Ray Liotta?

Your government under martial law would simply give them all a badge and gun, to make enough "bad cops," to fill their quota.

You heard it right. Think historically when Stalin needed more police, he simply released the most violent offenders on the public. Naturally the non-violent will continue, except the government might think about throwing away the key.

How about locking down all the high security prisons, pulling out all the staff and if there are enough supplies provided by the emergency services launch it over the wall by catapult! let them kill each other over control of their new little world.

After order on the outside is restored - staff could try to reenter the prison, only to find the last 2 inmates alive sat ten feet from each other keeping eyes open with matchsticks in case one of them falls asleap!

Okay not realistic ~ but would make a good film no?

One of my motorcycle riding buddies who works at Menard State Prison in Chester Illinois for the past 20 years told me the following.

He has told me many times that in a Dooms Day type of situation at this state prison; his orders go something like this.

If any guards/state workers survive the initial terrorist/nuclear attack/ or natural disaster on CONUS they the guards / state workers have 24 hours to contact the State Capital via phone/satellite/air waves or in person to get instructions on what to do by the Governor or his staff.

If contact can not be established within 48 hours to the State Capitol it is the digression of the highest ranking officer on the prison site to determine what to do next.

If the prison is manageable and sufficient staffing is available then they operate the prison on a day to day basis.

If the majority of Prison personal have been incapacitated and insufficient staffing occurs, then the remaining Prison staff and State Workers would reduce the prison population to a manageable population.

Or the total elimination of the prison population completely to protect the civilian population in and around Menard State Corrections Facility.

Scary stuff,

So after a nuke or terrorist attack or a Natural Disaster on the State of Illinois and the state stops running due to the attack or disaster, it's lights out for prisoners!

It's well known amongs prisoners (I used to be one) that if anything were to happen in the outside world that was catastrophic in nature, the prisoners wouldn't be moved from their cells unless it was deemed necessary and safe to do so. In the case of a doomsday event, most inmates would either be killed by other inmates as a power struggle would ensue or die of starvation, dehydration or something along the lines as most of prison staff would desert to take care of their own. It's a lose/lose situation when you are behind the wall.

So after a nuke or terrorist attack or a Natural Disaster on the State of Illinois and the state stops running due to the attack or disaster, it's lights out for prisoners!

That is crazy!! I would have to assume that if society crumbles and there are no guards or staff left to feed and care for inmates they would naturally have to be released by default. Evidently the powers that be do not see it that way. What a horrible way to die, to starve to death inside an abandoned prison. Imagine the horrors that would take place before the last inmate fell. Not a bad idea for a work of fiction or a movie plot

But seriously, I do find it difficult to believe that they would just abandon two million human beings to die, even if they may be criminals. I am going to research the subject a bit more, I have a hard time believing that this could happen. Then again I am sure prison inmate safety would not rank very high on the priority lists of state and federal officials if society is folding around them. You may be absolutely correct.