iRayneMoon

This was awhile ago to be fair, and in a somewhat rural area that tends to be easy to overlook if you know what I mean. Even then it is a really bizarre situation.

When the guy was released he just went back to being a hermit and living on his small farm. Guy was polite, easy going, and kind of reminded people of a shell shocked war veteran, so everyone tended to be careful with him. He lived a few towns over from here.

If prisoners aren't aggressive, but scared of guards how are you suppose to handle the situation if it happens the one time before you have them sent to the hospital? Is it the same as an aggressive prisoner threatening violence?

Good timing and thanks for doing an AMA!

I have a strange question from an article I read awhile ago about prison abuse and I would really appreciate your professional opinion.

Let me see if I can sum it up clearly because the article wasn't online... So it will take a bit to get to the question.

This one prison had staff that was abusing this prisoner who was emotionally and mentally not all there to begin with. He wasn't violent in the least, in fact quite the opposite, he was well known for being anxious and jumpy, but also gentle and soft spoken. It was so well known that other prisoners actually left him alone and told new inmates to not bother him.

Long story short, a few guards would abuse him. They'd go in his cell and kick him around and blame the other prisoners, they purposefully humiliated him by asking him to "speak up" and "stop shaking", and taunted him by making sudden loud noises to startle him.

A few of the specific incidents were pretty bad. One incident he had started to lose weight from stress and three guards came into his cell at night and made him eat dirt and rocks. The guards that abused him also had a running bet to see who could get him to "jump the best" by making a loud noise or alarming him someway. Another, he was having night terrors and yelling in his sleep and one of the guards started to beat him in his sleep to make him be quiet.

Then later he got really bad insomnia from being too afraid to sleep so he had to see a doctor. The doctor saw marks on him and could tell he wasn't mentally sound. Further investigating led to the guards being fired and charged with several different things. Also the abused prisoner's case was reopened after interest in him grew a little. Turned out a glaring piece of evidence was overlooked and he hadn't committed homicide, but had acted in self defense. So the story had a happy ending...

While the guards at his first prison were being investigated he was staying in another prison, for obvious reasons. The guards there didn't really know how to handle him because he'd just hide under his bed and rock back and forth. He wouldn't talk very much, wouldn't make eye contact, absolutely hated being touched or having people in his space...

So the question I have is about a prisoner like him...

How are guards/staff suppose to handle a prisoner like that? A prisoner who isn't violent or aggressive, but just scared and upset? The guards at his second prison tried dragging him out of his room, which turned out to be a bad idea because it terrified him so much he'd faint on occasion... I mean, seriously, what do you do?

Story time...

I know a woman who was in some Private Military/Security groups for a few years. I honestly wouldn't believe anything she says if it weren't for the photos, souvenirs from her work, and other ex-PMC friends of hers. Sweet lady though, hard to imagine her in that line of work sometimes. Other times when she barks orders at her ex-PMC friends it seems more believable.

I can never remember the name of the group she was employed under, and for all I know they go by a different name now, but she said she did PMC instead because military "annoyed" her. I assume issues with authority came into play. Also she did mention, "How they treat the women royally pisses me off." Charming woman, really.

She was employed with a somewhat shady Private Security/Military firm in South America that did drug related activities under the table for extra cash, which really shouldn't surprise me considering the region. Although she left after 9/11 because a bunch of new positions in PMC and Security firms opened up, for obvious reasons.

She moved around over the Middle East and North Africa doing security jobs for politicians, military employees, local leaders, "local leaders" who were really more or less criminals, famous people, rich people, or whoever payed the bills I guess.

I think things started to take a bit of a dark turn though at some point. From what I can tell, mostly gathered from bits and pieces of different stories, her PMC group started to get in with the drug trades, especially opium, that Afghanistan is famous for. Never really asked too many questions about it. Doesn't seem appropriate to ask veterans/survivors about things like that.

Anyways, girl lives around here now. She's smart, tough as nails, and was a pretty solid leader as far as I can tell. She would have done great in the military, except for her issues with authority figures. Well, actually, authority is really big in the military and she doesn't play well with others, so never mind.

But she's a good person and works with homeless shelters, women and children shelters, rape crisis centers, or any place that needs security and someone who's patient enough to handle the residents.

Although from what some of her ex-group members say PMC life is a bit... dark. Even compared to how dark the regular military can get, which is pretty difficult to imagine. Although I could guess it's just not as tightly regulated as the military?

Thank you for your service. My Pepaw was a military policeman in Germany just after WWII, but he died before I was old enough to really appreciate it and talk about it with him...

I have a somewhat random question.

What do you think of Private Military Companies? Did you ever meet any PMC people? Or work with any of them?

I've talked to ex-PMC workers and some of it sounds pretty... bad.