I'll make him think he's about to die haha this will be so funny.

Murrica

Yeah, and that's what I said next. That wasn't the funny part of the story though.

I was locked up in one for a couple of weeks after I tried to kill myself, and the only thing that experience did for me is to make sure I keep the ideas to myself next time so no one can interfere. Must be something about the locked doors that turns psychiatric nurses into prison guards mentally, but none of them apart from a trainee from abroad was pleasant to deal with and one was a proper nurse Ratchet. I'll give you a snippet of her professional behavior and care for the mental wellbeing of the patients.

I was laying on a sofa in the common area reading a book after lunchtime, and had not seen a single other person for about half an hour. Also there was another sofa just like the one I was on and two armchairs in the room. Enter nurse:

-I have to ask you to get off that sofa.

-What? Why?

-Someone might want to come in and sit on it.

-But there's plenty of other places here to sit, also I've not seen anyone around for a good while anyway.

-But they might want to sit right there anyway.

-What about me wanting to be right here now?

-Stop being difficult!

-Did you want to sit here?

-You have five seconds to get off that sofa or I'll get the orderlies and we'll sedate you!

Fuckin power tripping bitch.

edit: So many typos...

Funny you should mention that documentary...

I'll just say it was (and still is) very popular among inmates and many are outraged when they find out what the Nordic system is like, specifically in Norway. Guys were losing their shit when they saw the humane living conditions, especially when it was explained that yes-- even Norway has hardened criminals who are nonetheless treated with decency and the ultimate goal of reintegration/rehabilitation.

I'm really glad you asked about that documentary. I'm guessing it had to have been the same one-- at some point they show the apartment-like living quarters and show the inmates living a very normal looking like, not even dressed in an orange jumpsuit.

But yeah, a lot of guys felt a mix of emotions watching that documentary. Happiness for Norwegian inmates that they actually aren't being treated like shit, happy that even the COs there seem to be genuinely rehabilitative-minded, but outraged and very sad that all this time we've been told all the "soft" approaches like Norway's isnt effective and that Norway doesn't have hard criminals like N. America (low-key racism is implied IMO), only to find out Norway does have hard criminals, many of which are able to turn their life around when they're not dealing with state-inflicted traumatic retribution.

Guys are more likely to open up about their prison experience if they know there's a chance it could perhaps help guys currently inside. Not every formerly incarcerated person is open to this but you might be surprised.

Way more than 50%. I'd say closer to 90%. In countries like Norway they have far more COs per inmate and it generally works out better for everyone, although that's only one small reason why. That place gets it right when it comes to prison in ways inmates in N. America could only dream of.