# If it isn't wise to be near a military base, what about the prisons?



## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I have lived near these prisons all my life and while young never really gave it much thought, other than I didn't wanna end up there. But when I got older and saw that we have 5 (there used to be 6 but one closed) prisons from just the sheriff's county lock up to a huge Maximum security prison. I was at the local state park and just got off the trail and heard this very loud alarm, I just happened to be with the ranger at the moment and she told me that it was the minimum security prison alarm that they probably misplaced a prisoner!:gaah: Told me not to worry cuz most of the time they are not out, just "misplaced".. Yah right.

So now I wonder what is gonna happen with them if the SHTF?
Can we hope that the guards leave them in their cells to just rot or are they gonna overpower the few guards that show up and escape and then run riot around the countryside? Are they gonna make a beeline back to where they came from?
What do you all think? I only know what one of the guards is gonna do and he said that he would probably just lock them all in the cells and just lock the door and throw away the key and never look back.


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

My first reaction would be "Lock and Load". eep:


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## TrackerRat (Mar 24, 2011)

Hard to say, they will either run right by to get as much distance as possible or they will drop in to get your ride.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I should point out that I am 15 miles away from them and where I am in MI I am north of them (they are in Ionia)I am hoping that since that is not too much of interest north of us that they will all head south to Detroit or Chicago.


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## BadgeBunny (Nov 2, 2010)

lol ... All I know is that when I drive through Lexington and the highway has signs all over the place that read "Hitchhikers may be escaping convicts" it makes me a little less likely to use cruise control and a little more likely to speed ... just a bit ... 

Oh and according to that one corrections officer who posted over in the other thread, he's gonna take over the prison. I guess that means he's gonna let them all out.


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## MrSfstk8d (Jan 20, 2011)

Where many of them got arrested in the first place, lol.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

there are 5 large prisons within 40 miles from me and i've often wondered what they would do if the trucks stopped rolling and their food supply was cut off, I'' have to ask one of the guards if they have MREs stored by the thousands to feed them or if they have tranquilizers or sleeping gas to controll them after the 3rd day with no food.


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

I think I'll just wait until the prisoners all leave, then I'll take over the prison. I think it would make a real nice, well fortified homestead in which to take a stand.  :2thumb:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

HarleyRider said:


> I think I'll just wait until the prisoners all leave, then I'll take over the prison. I think it would make a real nice, well fortified homestead in which to take a stand.  :2thumb:


BWAHAHAHAHA! The hubby and I think the same thing about the one that got closed, it was a small minimum one but it still has double razor wire walls and a huge football field and a green house etc... get a few windmills/solar arrays to run the pumps and get the garden growing put your chickens and animals in between the two fences you would be set for a long time! 
The boy and I keep joking that it would be the best place to be in a Zombi apocalypse!


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

I think that's what the group led by Samantha Willis in BBC's *Survivors* (remake) series did...


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## Doomskull (Mar 25, 2011)

I work in a prison and I can say for sure the prisoners will definitely riot and take the prison the second their amenities are taken away. It's a sad fact that the inmates control the prisons as much or more so than the staff. They throw fits instantly when they don't get what they want or if they feel disrespected in any way. In my opinion the inmates will escape and, like a plague, swamp everything in a 5-15 mile radius for food and supplies in order to get where they want to go. Some will just bolt but most will remain cool and calculated. They are not all dummies nor do they all look like criminals. They will change clothes to blend in and most will look harmless enough. 

My advice if you live near a prison and things go nuts....hide. Remember, there will be thousands of them roaming around looking for vehicles, clothes, food and just...fun things to do.

Much like the poster above, my plan of action is to take over my institution with the help of some trusted staff AFTER the inmates move on. Trust me, we do not have the manpower to stop them if they ALL riot and escape. In peace-time, ya we do, when SHTF no we don't. Nor will most CO's WANT to stay and fight with inmates to stay in jail when they have their own families and friends to run home to and try to protect. Most CO's will bolt and forget about the inmates. The few that stay to fight will be quickly overwhelmed.

Most prisons are VERY defensible and would make great places to hold up after SHTF. Where I work we have our own maintenance shops, water treatment plant, generators, vehicles, fuel storage tanks, fresh water supplies and enough food for about 10 families for maybe 2 years. Plus it's virtually in the middle of nowhere...50 to 100 miles from anything resembling a major city. 

Just my 2 cents...


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

Doomskull said:


> Most prisons are VERY defensible and would make great places to hold up after SHTF. Where I work we have our own maintenance shops, water treatment plant, generators, vehicles, fuel storage tanks, fresh water supplies and enough food for about 10 families for maybe 2 years. Plus it's virtually in the middle of nowhere...50 to 100 miles from anything resembling a major city.
> 
> Just my 2 cents...


 Like you said, many are not your everyday back woods dumb bubbas, some may even have the same idea as you do, put on civilian cloths,confisticate the weapons,food storage ,guard towers,ect,take over the prison, the smarter ones could have everything up and running in no time. It would be just a matter of the smarter prisoners taking controll of some the weaker prisoners to do the work. Although I think if any serious happened in the country the prison authorities would know it before the prisoners and they wouldn't even get out of the cells, they could scream and yell all they wanted to, mess on their floors ect. and it would do no good as they probably wouldn't even get fed til they shut up, just the cooks and kitchen help would be let out with 3 guards on each and 0 tolerance. If there is an oil embargo so there are no deliveries of food to prisons, they'll definitely be locked down and put on rations just enough to survive, by the time the guards left, the prisoners would be too weak to do much. Joe Arpaio would be in trouble though,those tents would be easy to get out of.


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## Jaspar (Feb 3, 2010)

if i ran the prison when tshtf and prisoners were about to go ape sh#%, I would hope that I would be able to do away with all of them, but then again, I probably wouldn't be able to. I'm guessing I would lock the prison up and get the hell out of there. I would also predict that the prisoners would take over the prisons and hold up there for a while, if not a long while. Even the abandoned prisons would be taken over by other people. Prisons all over the country would become like the castles of the middle ages.


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## kreativemuse (Oct 11, 2012)

Jaspar said:


> if i ran the prison when tshtf and prisoners were about to go ape sh#%, I would hope that I would be able to do away with all of them, but then again, I probably wouldn't be able to. I'm guessing I would lock the prison up and get the hell out of there. I would also predict that the prisoners would take over the prisons and hold up there for a while, if not a long while. Even the abandoned prisons would be taken over by other people. Prisons all over the country would become like the castles of the middle ages.


I have to agree here. I would lock that place up and try to prevent as many from getting out as i could. If it becomes me vs them, set fire to the place. It is sad to say, but i dont want a pedy comming after my children or myself. Let alone the rapest, killers, physicos. If it is a good foundantion it will still be there after and you could build it up again. I would not do this if there were trees and what not around it. that would just cause a hell of a fire. A lot of them will die right after anyway. The strong ones will off the weak and create a mob of strong killers. Less to worry about but even worse in the long run.


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

I talked with someone about this. They may let the non violent offenders out, but the others will be shot in their cells, if things are bad enough. They shipped that bunch up here from Angola during Katrina. I will get in trouble if I tell any of those stories. That was a bad bunch of inmates, as you can imagine.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

BadgeBunny said:


> lol ... All I know is that when I drive through Lexington and the highway has signs all over the place that read "Hitchhikers may be escaping convicts" it makes me a little less likely to use cruise control and a little more likely to speed ... just a bit ...


I laughed when I read this. We have the very same signs here in Texas. We have a lot of prisons here.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

The prisons I worked in (which was 20 years ago) would go in to lock down the second the SHTF. What inmates were not locked in their cells would be controllable with a variety of munitions and counter-riot technology until EVERYONE was on lock down. Then you would just have to make the decision to walk away, release some or all of them, hold down the fort, start executing prisoners or some combination of the aforementioned options. There was another similar thread to this one a few weeks ago where I expressed my thoughts on the matter.

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f74/know-your-area-14164/


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