[navane]

I have previously worked as an officer with the California prison system, which, arguably, is considered one of the rougher systems. I spent time as an officer in the Administrative Segregation Unit ("solitary confinement") as well as regular housing units and on the yards.

I know what I'm talking about.

Prison is not like what people think. Yeah, it's not great; but these men don't seem to be struggling too bad. On a Level IV (max security) yard, it can get hairy sometimes; but inmates are not dodging stabbings around every corner like people think.

The prison where I worked has housed a number of "famous" and "celebrity" inmates and they are treated like everyone else. In fact, I had both Sirhan Sirhan (Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassin) and Erik Menendez in my housing unit. On my first day working in a new housing unit, I saw an inmate on the inmate pay phone singing raps to somebody. My partner mentioned that the inmate was some well-known rapper guy named Big Lurch who had murdered his roommate and then ate parts of her body. We also had Tex Watson (Manson Family), Roy Norris (Toolbox Killers) and Lyle Menendez just showed up. I believe that Roy Norris was one of the inmates that helped paint a highly detailed mural for us in our receiving area. Not exactly a "rough life" for a rapist and murderer.

Lots of "famous" people go to prison. They're just regular inmates. No special treatment and usually no special protection. For their part, they acted normal and didn't ask me for any special things either. I never noted any inmates trying harder to get after the more "famous" inmates. <shrugs>

I imagine that Mr. Cosby might be treated rather fairly/nicely by other inmates due to his age and status as a famous actor. He could have a little trouble due to the sexual nature of his offense; but, he has some "claim" about the contacts being consensual that might fly. If Mr. Cosby does get attacked, it would likely be specifically because his offense is a sex crime and not because of anything else.

The experiences vary from location to location with some prisons being considered "harder" than others. Though, overall, the inmates that seem to have the most trouble, that is, the ones who the experience the most danger, do it to themselves by getting involved in drugs, gangs, gambling and politics. The ones that owe drug money or gang debts or snitch on the others are the ones that get beat or stabbed. They usually know it's coming. Child molesters are also looked down on and can find themselves getting targeted sometimes. So, don't act foolish and just follow the program and you'll usually be ok. Also, I speak from first-hand knowledge when I say that inmates have a tendency to over-exaggerate their experiences to their friends and family back home in order to elicit sympathy.

Phrozen Sands, to answer your specific question, I don't know Pennsylvania's specific in-house policies, but inmates go through an intake process (we designate those prisons as "reception center") where they are evaluated for risks to themselves and others. Having looked at physical health, mental health, case factors, gang affiliations, etc, the prison will determine if Mr. Cosby is double-cell eligible. If so, he will have a cellmate.

I hope this helps. If any of you have questions that you always wanted to ask, I might be able to help answer.