Years ago (early 80s) I worked as a guard in the psychiatric isolation tier at a women's maximum security prison. The tier was for inmates who acted out or were considered at risk for self-harm, so the cells themselves were very bare - just a sleeping mat and a toilet - so there was nothing they could harm themselves or others with. This was before things like anti-suicide smocks were used, so all the ladies on the tier had to strip naked before going in their isolation cells. They usually left their cells twice a week, for a 10 minute shower and 1 hour of rec.

There are a couple inmates I remember well from my time there. One was a girl in her mid-20s named Lydia. She was a shorter white girl with curly brown hair and a petite but very shapely, proportional body, serving a 12 year sentence. What surprised me about her was her attitude - despite being in isolation she was very spunky, upbeat, and energetic. We had to do cell checks every 5 minutes and you would often see her exercising and doing dance moves in the middle of her cell, in the nude, with her back to the door and totally in her own world. When she did kicks or squats you could see a tight little patch of dark pubic hair sticking out from between her legs. She also spent a lot of time pressed into her cell door window, smiling at guards who walked by and wanting to chat with them. It was funny, when she heard footsteps she would get right up in the window, straining to see who was coming, and a lot of times her small boobs would be pressed flat into the window. Lydia was immodest almost to the point of exhibitionism and she had really good compliance - she would strip quickly without any fuss, and when ordered into restraints she would usually climb right in (even though she hated restraints).

At the time I wondered how someone like Lydia could wind up in prison, much less psychiatric isolation. I found out one day when I was walking past her cell and caught her squatting in the corner, masturbating. I was pretty lenient about masturbation but when I told the sergeant she freaked out. Turns out Lydia was an SO, so when she got caught masturbating it was a really big deal - Lydia was immediately put into bed restraints and the psych was notified. The next morning the psych visited Lydia's cell and she had to report the full contents of her masturbation session - how it started, the fantasies she used throughout, how she did it physically. I escorted the psych to Lydia's cell and I found it weird and interesting to hear another woman talk about something like that in such detail.



Another inmate I remember well was in her early 30s, named Patricia. She was in prison for attempted murder but managed to get only a 5 year sentence because she agreed to serve it in maximum security and partially in isolation. She was found to be at risk for suicide so when she arrived at the prison it was determined psychiatric isolation would be best for her. When we got to her cell we told her to strip and she looked at us and said "but I was just strip-searched!" We explained that she had to be on full strip status in isolation; she rolled her eyes and took off everything but her panties, then went to walk into her cell. "Whoa whoa whoa!" I yelled, put my hand into the waistband of her panties and yanked her back into the hall. "When we tell you strip, we mean everything!". Patricia sighed, slid off her panties and threw them at me; when she turned to go in her cell I slapped her on the butt and said "now you can get in!" It was quite an amusing scene. Patricia spent most of her time standing at the narrow window at the back of her cell which looked outside; whenever I did cell checks I would admire her lovely round ass.

Patricia had ok compliance (she would often "forget" to take her panties off) but tended to complain a lot and had a fierce independent streak. One day a guard (not me) forgot to lock her cell door and then went on break. Patricia realized this, opened her cell door just a crack and then snuck out into the hallway. The hall had 15 cells along one side and Patricia's was near the end, by the shower area, so she ducked down and crept up the hall so none of the other inmates could see her through their door windows. She got to the intake area, which was empty (we were short-staffed that day) then rushed to the big set of double doors which led to the rest of the prison. This guard had *also* forgotten to lock those doors, which was a huge-no-no, and Patricia was able to get out of the tier altogether. She didn't get far, though; another guard coming out of an office almost walked right into her. Apparently she froze right away and he was able to handcuff her, and then he radioed us and said "Hey, how's it going, I was just wondering why I found a butt naked woman strolling up the hallway." It was funny but the guard who left the doors unlocked got fired. Patricia herself was not charged with an escape attempt (the fact that she didn't resist when caught saved her) but she had her isolation extended and spent the next couple weeks on restraint status - four point shackles to her bed at night and in a restraint chair in the afternoons.