Can You Sleep in Prison?
Getting locked up is never an easy thing to come to terms with. There are certain comforts that you will not get that lead to habitable living conditions.
Most jails and prisons are noisy because of the number of inmates who are incarcerated. As an inmate, you will have to contend sleeping with equipment noises, lights on, and noise from fellow inmates and members of staff. Even if you are a good sleeper, you can be challenged in such a situation.
However, there has been a preliminary injunction that allowed prisoners to get at least six hours of lights out on weekdays. Additionally, the prisoners are allowed to get up to seven hours of lights out on weekends.
Sleep is very important for good health. Sleep deprivation leads to health conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes. Moreover, it brings about cardiovascular and mental conditions such as depression, obesity, and atrial filtration.
Nonetheless, sleep deprivation is something that is exclusive, and it is mostly within an institution’s control. There are prisons that might use sleep deprivation as a way to punish their inmates.
What Time Do Prisoners Go To Bed?
The daily life of prisoners takes place according to a set schedule. It will include wake-up, roll calls, morning exercises, mealtime, work, school, calling time, and walks. There is no clear answer to what time prisoners go to bed, as it will all depend on what task you have been assigned.
If you go to sleep at lockdown and wake up during breakfast, you will get around eight hours of sleep. For those who have chores in the kitchen, they are required to wake up the earliest. They have to wake up before everyone else because, in most facilities, breakfast has to be served by 5:30 AM.
The commotion that ensues as the prisoners move through the heavy steel and electronic doors will make almost everyone wake up. There is very little you can do, as the inmates who are on duty must attend to these tasks.
How Is Life In Prison?
You may be interested to know what prison is like. What do you do all day? Can they allow you to sleep all day? Do you work? Well, there are many activities, which you get to do in prison. Every minute that you spend in prison has to be accounted for.
Most convicts refer to new arrivals as fish. The new inmates will stay in special cells for a whole month before they are moved into new cells. Most of the cells are eight by six feet, and they contain a metal bed tray, sink, bed, and a toilet.
In most of the prisons, a typical day will start at around 4:30 AM; if you want to have your breakfast, you should be awake by this time. Once the inmates take breakfast, there is a roll call. If the prisoners are off by even one, then there must be a recount until every inmate is accounted for.
Once the count is over, most of the inmates have to go to work. However, not all inmate work, as some will be attending G.E.D classes. Moreover, there are those inmates who are taken to drug treatment programs. A prisoner will stay at their assigned location until it is lunchtime.
After every inmate has had their lunch, another roll call is done to ascertain their numbers. If everyone is accounted for, they will go back to their programs or jobs.
When the days work is done, inmates will go back to their holding cells. Most of them will spend this time socializing, working out, drawing, and cleaning their cells. There are those who go watching TV or playing cards in the common room.
Depending on the facility, some will get foods in their cells while other facilities serve food in the cafeteria. After dinner, inmates shower before they head to bed.
Before sleeping, a final roll call for the day is done before putting the lights out. Inmates try to get as much sleep because most of them have to wake up early in the morning to start on their daily chores.
Most prisons will have a yard that allows inmates several hours in a day to relax and socialize as long as they do not have any tasks to perform. If a prisoner has been found misbehaving or found causing harm to a fellow prisoner, they will not be allowed into the yard.
In addition, if a prisoner is released from prison, before going home, they will stay in their cell and not go out incase a prisoner feels jealous and causes harm to them.
Why It Is Hard To Sleep In Jail
Several factors make it difficult to sleep in prison, including the following:
- Overcrowding will make sleeping in jail difficult, and inmates will show signs of sleep deprivation.
- If you perceive the environment as dangerous, it will affect the quality of sleep.
- Security checks every now and then will disrupt sleep. Inmates will become anxious if you are frequently disrupting their sleep.
- Drugs and substance abuse will cause depression or insomnia leading to respiratory disturbances during sleep.
- Sleeping throughout the day will deprive you of sleep at night.
How Can You Improve Sleep in Prison
Being taken to a new environment will affect the quality of sleep for most people. Nonetheless, certain improvements that can be made to ensure that an inmate gets as much sleep as possible. Inmates can practice the following:
1. Be Kind to your Mind and Body
Avoid anything negative before bedtime. Reduce caffeine, especially when it is near bedtime. Eat the right kind of foods and exercise on a daily basis. If you get prescription from your doctor, you can also buy melatonin (a sleep aid) from the commissary.
2. Make your sleeping area comfortable
The prison warders could provide earplugs and disposable eye masks as they address flashlight and sound issues. Additionally, you can get creative with your pillows and blankets. You can fold the blanket to ensure it complements the hard and flatbed.
3. Overcome your worries
You should find a way to overcome the thoughts in your head if you want to get better sleep. If your anxieties go unchecked, then it will remain very difficult to relax, and this will keep you up all night. Medical staff could assist the officers with ways of offering education to the inmates on healthy sleeping habits.
The authorities can also incorporate counseling sessions that will help the inmates have the necessary control over things that are troubling them. A psychologist will help you find a mental safe place and be able to concentrate on things that matter.
4. Develop a consistent nighttime routine
Try having a routine where you wake up and go to sleep around the same time each day. Your body will adapt to the new way of doing things. You will get through night terrors, awful sleep, and cold sweats. Additionally, you should not take naps during the day, as this will only lead to insomnia at night. Keep your day active by engaging in various activities so that you are tired at night, and you can comfortably sleep.
5. Smaller Cell Blocks
The authorities should minimize the number of inmates in each cell to enhance their sense of security. If this is not possible, they should enhance check-ins to make sure no inmate threatens another.
Do Inmates Get The Whole Day To Sleep?
Unless one is severely sick or is mentally or physically ill, an inmate cannot spend the whole day sleeping. There are many jobs in prison, which the prisoners undertake. From kitchen duty, laundry, yard maintenance, and even construction, all are done by the inmates.
If you do not have a high school diploma, you should be prepared to go back to class. You have to attend classes five days a week until you get your GED, which is the equivalent of a high school diploma.
However, there are inmates who are held in their cells for up to twenty hours a day. The inmates held here do not go out except for one hour as they exercise in the pen. The meals for the inmates will be served through a chuckhole or a feeding slot on the steel door.
A few of these prisoners will get yard privileges for one hour in a day. Before the inmate can go out, they have to be shackled, and a guard will accompany the prisoner. For these inmates, they sleep most of the day, as there is minimal activity for them to undertake.
How Much Time Do Prisoners Get Outdoors?
The amount of time that prisoners get outdoors varies from one facility to the other. However, most of the maximum-security facilities allow two hours of outdoor activity in a day. For children, the time is even less, and they will spend around one hour outdoors.
Most inmates say that the best time in prison is when they are outdoors. For this reason, many correctional facilities are adding on the number of hours the inmates are outdoors. However, when the prisoners are out in the yard, they are under strict supervision.