Do sex offenders and child molesters get beat up, raped or even killed in prison? The actual truth about sex offenders/child molesters in prison.

It's not always what you might think it is.

In prison, there is a hierarchy with drug dealers, successful bank robbers, cop killer and gang leaders at the top and sex offenders and snitches at the bottom. There are other types of inmates who can be targeted in prison, including LGBT inmates, young inmates, inmates with youthful appearances, new inmates (AKA "fish"), inmates who aren't streetwise, former cops, former gang members, former correctional officers, and elderly inmates. There is also hierarchy for sex offenders in prison, with rapists at the top and child molesters at the bottom. All sex offenders, however, are extremely hated in prison, even rapists, but rapists aren't as hated in prison as child molesters.

Many people believe this urban legend that in prison, child molesters get killed by inmates and that very few of them come out of there alive. This is actually a myth. Although child molesters could sometimes get beat up or harassed in prison, they rarely get killed in prison.

Famous former convicts on YouTube like Shaun Attwood, Wes Watson, Big Herc, etc. might say that child molesters and sex offenders get killed in prison or that they all get raped everyday in prison, but there's a problem with what they say. First of all, what they say often contradicts statistics and data debunking this. Second, many of these guys went to very stereotypical prisons. Not all prisons have gang members everywhere and heavily-tattooed men and extreme, omnipresent violence. Those are just the high-security prisons that these guys often went to. Their prison doesn't represent all prisons. Not all prisons are the same (although admittedly, some prisons are similar to other prisons). This is the anecdotal fallacy. Relying on a few famous ex-prisoners isn't the best way to get information. This is the hasty generalizations fallacy. Finally, these former convicts have successful YouTube careers and are possibly sensationalists. They often tell very sensationalistic stories that exaggerate what really happens to child molesters or sex offenders in prison. Additionally, it would damage their career if they said that "prison justice" is a myth or that it doesn't happen as much people think. This could risk them getting a lot of dislikes for their videos on YouTube. A lot of them might just tell people comforting lies instead of the cold, hard truth. Consequently, you can't rely on everything they say when it comes to obtaining information about prison. You can rely on some things they say about prison but it depends on the specific topic they discuss about prison. Moreover, I'm going to rely on what statistics, articles and peer-reviewed research papers have to say (and some first-person anecdotes) instead of a bunch of third-person anecdotes.

Do child molesters and sex offenders get killed in prison?

Not really. This is actually a myth.

It is actually very rare for sex offenders and child molesters to be killed in prison. I'm not saying it never happens, but it is very rare. Nonetheless, whenever a child molester actually does get killed in prison, the news reports on it instantly and it gets shared all over social media like as if this is the norm. When the rare situations happen, it's news. When the usual situations happens, it's only statistics. For example, people continue to believe in the stranger danger myth and assume many child molesters are strangers or kidnappers and murder their victims, but this is statistically rare. 95% of missing children ran away, and most child abduction is done by someone the child knows, sometimes even a parent during a custody battle. Also, only roughly 1% of murders involve sexual assault, and the prevalence of people who get sexually abused in their childhood or sexually assaulted at any time of their life is much higher than the murder rate. Moreover, when sex offenders do kill their victims, it's usually because they worry their victim will report the crime, not because they genuinely are homicidal. Also, 87%-93% of child molestation is done by someone the victim knows, and most rape victims are raped by someone they know. Nonetheless, the media often emphasizes child molesters who are strangers and who kidnap or murder their victim, which is why children like Jessica Lunsford and Megan Kanka received intensive media coverage.

This means that you cannot take some news stories of a child molester being killed in prison and use this as "proof" that they usually do get killed in there. This is the hasty generalizations fallacy and it doesn't debunk statistics showing that it's rare for sex offenders to be killed in prison.

Very few child molesters and sex offenders get killed in prison. Although sex offenders admittedly are more likely to get killed in prison, prisons have a very low murder rate. Very few inmates are killed each year. In some states, it can even be zero killed in a given year. The homicide rate is very low in local jails and even was low decades ago. State prisons used to have a much higher murder rate, being 54 per 100,000 in 1980. Nonetheless, the murder rate plummeted through the 1980s in state prisons, and has been low since the late 1980s. In fact, despite finally becoming low in the late 1980s, since the late 1980s, it has decreased and decreased as time went by. It became 8 per 100,000 in 1990. As of 2005, it is now 4 per 100,000. Some inmates who are killed in prison aren't even sex offenders. A lot of them can be in there for crimes like murder, assault, robbery, drugs, burglary, larceny/theft, etc. Of the 59 inmates who were killed in American local jails from 2000-2002, only 1 was a sex offender. This means only 1 sex offender (it was a rapist) was killed in the 2000-2002 time period in American local jails. Of all the 87 inmates killed in American state prisons in 2001-2002, only 9 were sex offenders. That means in 2001-2002, only 9 sex offenders were killed in American state prisons. In California in particular, homicides do happen more in prison. Nonetheless, even in California prisons not too many are killed in a year. Only 21 inmates were killed in California prisons in 2001-2002. In recent years, the number still is relatively small. Sex offenders in California prisons are more likely to be killed in there than other inmates, but nonetheless, very few child molesters get killed in California prisons. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 1,300 people get sent to prison in California each year for lewd acts with a minor, yet, on average, only 11 inmates are killed because of an assault, and some of those inmates aren't necessarily sex offenders or child molesters. Prisons in England and Wales also have a low homicide rate, being only below 10 (almost always below 5) killed each year, with some years having zero killed in a year. In addition to the fact that prisons have a low homicide rate, prison wardens have also confirmed that sex offenders rarely get killed in prison. In a sample of prison wardens from all kinds of regions from the United States, 97.1% said sex offenders are not in immediate life-threatening danger when arriving in prison. Admittedly, the sample size wasn't too big and it didn't include federal prisons. Nonetheless, although, like I said, not all prisons are the same, some are similar to other prisons. Also, the fact that almost all of them said that sex offenders are not in immediate life-threatening danger when arriving in prison is extremely noteworthy.

When it comes to federal prisons, sex offenders aren't usually killed in there either. Federal prisons also have a low homicide rate. Additionally, sex offenders who get sent to federal prison usually are put in the low-security federal prisons, and they aren't put in the higher-security federal prisons unless they had a very long history of crime. In low-security federal prisons (and low-security prisons as a whole), sex offenders don't often get attacked, and are usually just ostracized and shunned by inmates, and instead hang out with other sex offenders in prison. As a result, violence against sex offenders is less common when it comes to federal prison, and low security prisons as a whole tend to be non-violent. Physical violence against sex offenders is more common among medium and high-security prisons while it's relatively rare in low-security federal prisons and even low-security prisons as a whole. In low-security federal prisons (and low-security prisons as a whole), sex offenders usually don't get attacked and are usually ostracized or shunned instead, given that low-security prisons are a lot less violent. Medium and high-security prisons have more violence against sex offenders. The higher the security level, the more violent the prison is.

Now we shall look at Canadian prisons. In Canadian federal and provincial prisons in fiscal year 2019, only 5 homicides occurred in prison. In fiscal year 2011, there also were only 5 homicides in Canadian prisons. The homicide rate for incarcerated federal offenders in Canada is 22 per 100,000. This seems high, but that is only because there are way below 100,000 prisoners in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, in 2015/2016, there were 40,147 adult prisoners in Canadian federal and provincial prisons on an average day for an incarceration rate of 139 per 100,000 people. Other data shows that in 2017, Canada has 40,770 prisoners with an incarceration rate, compared to 35,533 Canadian prisoners in 2001. The United States has 2.2 million prisoners and, therefore, a significantly higher incarceration rate. Data shows that homicide comprises only 5.6% of deaths in federal inmates in Canada. 

Now we shall look at Australian prisons. In 1999, data about homicide in Australian prisons was analyzed. It investigated the time period of January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1998. Only 62 homicides had occurred in this 19 year period, with 56 being inmate-on-inmate homicides and 6 being inflicted by prison or police officers during escape attempts. Inmate-on-inmate homicide only comprised 7.25% of 782 deaths in this 19 year period. Inmate-on-inmate homicide combined with inmate shootings and killings done by prison and police officers is 7.25% (inmate-on-inmate homicide) + 0.78% (inmate shootings and killing done by prison and police officers) = 8.03% (both combined). Of all the 782 deaths that occurred in Australians prisons from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1998, only a tiny, tiny percentage (1.28%) had an unknown cause of death. Of all 56 inmate-on-inmate homicides, only 25% of inmate-on-inmate homicide victims were sex offenders. In other words, only 14 sex offenders were killed in Australian prisons from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1998. 25% of inmate-on-inmate homicide victims were robbers, 12.5% were murderers, 7.1% were burglars, 14.3% were drug offenders, 5.4% were assault perpetrators, etc. Additionally, of the 39 homicides that happened from 1990 to December 31, 1998 (given much detail on pre-1990 homicides were incomplete), 21 had a confirmed motive while 18 of the homicides didn't. Only 4 of the 21 homicides (19%) were done because the victim was a sex offender. Other homicides with known motives had other motives like drugs, revenge, snitching, or altercation. 

In conclusion, the notion that sex offenders and child molesters get killed in prison is a myth. It doesn't really happen much. Not saying it never happens, but it's very rare. Only very few child molesters/sex offenders get killed in prison.

Moreover, if an inmate kills another inmate in prison, it's usually because the inmate who committed the homicide is in prison for a very long time (possibly even serving life in prison), he doesn't have anything to look forward to, doesn't seem himself leaving prison anytime soon, and feels he has nothing to lose by killing another inmate and getting an extended amount of time in prison. An inmate who is in prison for only 10 years, for example, usually won't kill another inmate, not even a child molester, because he doesn't want an extended amount of prison time, and therefore doesn't consider it worth it to kill even child molester in prison.

Do child molesters and sex offenders get raped or sexually assaulted in prison?

A lot of people assume if you're a child molester in prison, you'll be raped every single day until you die. This is a bit of an overstatement. I can confirm that sex offenders are more likely to be raped in prison, but that doesn't mean all of them get raped in prison. In fact, a fair amount of prison rape perpetrators are sex offenders or child molesters themselves. Sex offenders are, in fact, more likely to commit prison rape. Rapists are more likely to commit prison rape and child molesters are more likely to commit prison rape. A fair amount of rapists, a fair amount of child molesters, and a fair amount of sex offenders as a whole are prison rape perpetrators. Additionally, sex offenders who do get raped in prison almost always have a victim who is under 18. Sex offenders with victims who are 18 or older (eg: rapists) don't get raped that often in prison.

There are also many other characteristics that can make someone at risk of being raped in prison. For example, prison rape victims are disproportionately white and perpetrators are disproportionately black. In fact, it's rare for inmates of color (eg: black inmates) to rape someone of their own race. It's also rare for white inmates to rape black inmates. Over 90% of rapes in prison are interracial and many are blacks raping whites, and most prison rape victims are young white prisoners. It is unusual for black or Chicano youngsters in prison to be turned out. Most prison rape perpetrators are black and most prison rape victims are white. It's unusual for black prisoners to be raped.

Other than being white, other characteristics can make a prison at risk of being raped in prison. Inmates with youthful appearances, middle class inmates, inmates with a physically feminine appearance, inmates with an "unmanly" haircut, inmates with a high-pitched voice, first-time offenders, inmates who aren't streetwise, inmates who are young, LGBT inmates, and inmates who aren't very big and strong or aren't assertive also are at risk of being raped in prison. In fact, LGBT inmates are at an exceptionally high risk of being raped in prison. Some studies show that a majority are raped in prison. One study had shown that 59% of trans women in men's prisons are raped in there, and gay inmates also are at risk as well. Homophobia is very common in prison, and inmates don't rape or have consensual sex with each other due to homosexuality. In fact, most prison rape perpetrators identify as straight. Also, when they have consensual sex with other men, it's usually for exploitative reasons. For example, they'll promise to protect you from inmates if you have sex with them. Inmates rape others in prison either to dominate over them or because there is an absence of women in prison, so they pick other inmates as a substitute for sex. There's a rule in prison that if you're the one perpetrating the rape, you aren't gay and that you are only gay if you're the one being raped.

As we can see, many kinds of people can be raped in prison, but the most common type is young, white, middle-class first-time offender with a youthful appearance and a slight build. Young inmates are also at risk. In fact, the average/median age of a prison rape victim is 21-23 while the modal age is 18 and 19. 16 and 17 year old guys who get put in adult prisons also are at an exceptionally high risk of being raped in there, and are more likely to be raped in adult prisons than inmates who are 18+. Older inmates and inmates who are bigger, stronger or heavier are more likely to be prison rape perpetrators. In fact, older inmates are more likely to sexually assault another inmate instead of physically assault another inmate.

Another thing that also should be considered is that prison rape doesn't happen as much as people think it does. It can happen occasionally, but not as much as people think it does. The media, however, likes to always emphasize and make jokes about prison rape. In many surveys, only a tiny, tiny percentage of inmates report that they were sexually assaulted in prison. Nonetheless, many are afraid to snitch or report out of fear of retaliation, so they might not report it. FBI estimates and other studies say the real percentage is probably somewhere around 9% to 23%, the consensus being 20%. When it comes to sexual coercion and exploitative sexual contact and whatnot as a whole, the prevalence can be as many as 28%-30%. As one can see, prison rape doesn't happen to most inmates. Also, in a sample of 2,000 male Australian prisoners, the percentage who worried about being raped in prison was 33% before arriving in prison. After arriving, the percentage plummeted to 7%. Additionally, inmates who get raped might experience it because they don't fight back or are vulnerable. If a sex offender is assertive and fights back or isn't vulnerable, he probably won't get raped, but being passive or being vulnerable or small would make him significantly more likely to be raped. Inmates tend to target vulnerable inmates for sexual and even physical assault.

It is difficult to figure out how many child molesters do get raped in prison. Given that I couldn't find data revealing how many have been raped in prison, I had to resort to a couple of anecdotes. One child molester who did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit said he was never sexually assaulted in prison but that he was physically abused in prison. On a couple of threads I saw on sex offender subreddits, none of the sex offenders said they were sexually assaulted in prison. Moreover, there are plenty of child molesters in prison who aren't young adults. If all or almost all of them got raped in prison, the median/average age of a prison rape victim would be at least a little higher, because there's more sex offenders in prison than you think.

The answer to whether or not child molesters usually get raped in prison is inconclusive, but this is the best amount of evidence or clues that I have. So, are child molesters raped in prison? Some get raped in prison, but it doesn't seem like all of them do. It seems there are also some who don't. Rapists, however, don't get raped that often in prison. Most prison rape victims are white and most prison rapists are black. Black prison rapists tend to almost exclusively rape white inmates and raping someone of one's own race is rare in prison. It's also rare for white inmates to rape black inmates. It seems that a black child molester won't be raped in prison as much while the white child molester is more likely to be raped in prison (although this doesn't necessarily mean all white child molesters will be raped in prison).

Do child molesters and sex offenders get beat up or physically attacked in prison? How are they actually treated?

Now here's another question: Are sex offenders beat up in prison? How are they really treated? Let's find out.

Anecdotes I found from some incarcerated sex offenders

I did find a few threads or other parts of the Internet where sex offenders revealed anecdotes. Of course, their own experience doesn't resemble all sex offenders' experiences, but I'll reveal what they said before looking at statistical data and research papers.

One a couple of threads I found on a sex offender support subreddit, former sex offenders varied in what they described their prison experience as. Some described knowing a sex offender or being a sex offender themselves. Some mentioned that they knew a guy who went to prison for a sex offense and some themselves went to prison for a sex offense. Their experiences varied. Some mentioned someone who was violently beaten and moved a sex offender unit afterward, some mentioned a few altercations, some said nobody bothered them, etc.

A rehabilitated child molester who is now working to stop child sexual abuse said that in prison, in the general population, the inmates did give him a rough time until he stood up for himself. He said he would experience bullying and name-calling, would receive threats and would have his belongings stolen. A lifer told him he needs to take a stand and that getting help from prison correctional officers would make him a snitch and going to protective custody would make him receive less respect because protective custody is for "pussies" according to inmates. The lifer going to protective custody would lead to him being in the general population again a month later. The child molester said he was asked for perform sexual acts and people thought he was gay, weak, or both. His polite refusals of sex increased their advances. He said one man groped his chest in front of the entire unit. When the child molester told him to stop, the inmate laughed, and patted the child molester on the buttocks in front of 200 men. If the child molester tolerated it, word would spread to 3,000 inmates and the child molester would be raped. The child molester punched him in the face, shouting "Keep your hands off me!" 200 men observed this situation and the word spread. Nobody bothered the child molester again. The child molester made no friends, people avoided him, and he ate alone, with cellmates tolerating him, but the taunting and threats continued. At one point, a white gang member entered the child molester's cell intending to stab him, but fled when an inmate came in behind him asking for legal advice.

In a documentary about prison by National Geographic, it briefly mentioned sex offenders in prison. An incarcerated child molester named Randall Mendoza was interviewed. He was serving 16 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 12 year old girl. He was an inmate in the prison who wasn't secretive about his crime. A female correctional officer said that the inmates know about his crime and he tends to stay to himself and never bothers others and that, as a result, the inmates leave him alone and don't bother him. In the interview, he had zero cuts or bruises or scars on his face. During the interview, which appears to have occurred in 2009, he had already served 15 years in prison, which means he had one year left. Mendoza is currently dead, but he died several years after leaving prison and serving all of his time in prison, so clearly he died way after leaving prison. Thus, no inmate killed him. It's possible that his cause of death was natural causes or something.

On virped.org, a website for non-offending pedophiles who have a sexual attraction to prepubescent children but refuse to act on it, there are some rehabilitated pedophiles on there. I have heard that the ones on there mentioned never being attacked in prison and instead said that sex offenders don't actually get attacked much in prison.

One former convict I found online said that the child molesters at his prison were verbally abused, cussed at and yelled at, but he never saw them get beat up although he assumed they did get beat up at some point.

These, however, are anecdotes. Let's look at research papers and data.

What research papers and data says

In the sample size of prison wardens I had mentioned earlier, they were asked more about what happens to sex offenders in prison. Like I said, 97.1% said that sex offenders are not in immediate life-threatening danger when arriving in prison (67.2% saying "disagree" towards the statement "When sex offenders arrive in prison, they are in immediate life-threatening danger" and 29.9% said "strongly disagree"). When presented with the statement "Most inmates consider sex offenses involving children to be appalling conduct", 98.5% agreed (59.7% strongly agree and 38.8% agree). When presented with the statement "sex offenders are at the bottom of the prison inmate hierarchy", 76.1% agreed (23.9% picked strongly agree and 52.2% picked agree) while 23.9% disagreed (20.9% disagreed while only 3.0% strongly disagreed). When presented with the statement "incarcerated sex offenders are routinely subjected to hostility from other inmates", 70.2% agreed (64.2% agreed and 6.0% strongly agreed) while 29.9% disagreed (28.4% disagree while 1.5% strongly disagree). When presented with the statement "sex offenders are not as safe in prison as inmates convicted of other crimes", 59.7% agreed (53.7% agreed while 6.0% strongly agreed) while 40.3% disagreed (37.3% disagreed and 3.0% strongly disagreed). Finally, when presented with the statement "incarcerated sex offenders are routinely subjected to physical attacks from other inmates", 43.3% picked agree (40.3% picked agree and 3.0% picked strongly disagree) and 56.8% disagreed (49.3% disagreed and 7.5% strongly disagreed).

Although all sex offenders are hated in prison, whether it's rape, child molestation, statutory rape, indecent exposure, public urination, etc., some sex offenders are less hated than others. The sex offender hierarchy in prison is rapists at the top and child molesters at the bottom. This means rapists are hated in prison but not as hated as child molesters. Nonetheless, all sex offenders, regardless of their crime, are hated by inmates, including rapists. The reason rapists are not as hated by inmates as child molesters in prison is, in part, because rapists have a violent personality and because of the belief that women "ask for it" or tacitly consent to the assault (along with the fact that their victims aren't children being another reason). The rapist who rapes an adult woman is not as hated because, by brutalizing the victim, the offender exhibits a characteristic necessary for survival within the correctional institution. Additionally, hypermasculinity is common among rapists and is also common among inmates as a whole, which also helps rapists handle the prison environment more easily than child molesters. Inmates who are docile and passive are often targeted more, and because this trait is more common among child molesters, they tend to be targeted. Rapists, on the other hand, are less passive and more aggressive, and share more traits in common with the general population of inmates, such as aggression and violence. As a result, violent and aggressive rapists tend to receive much more respect from inmates, unlike child molesters. This leads to rapists being targeted by inmates a lot less frequently than child molesters being targeted by inmates, given that child molesters, generally speaking, aren't hypermasculine, are less violent or aggressive, and are more passive or docile. This all explains why rapists rarely get raped in prison.

There are prison slang words for child molesters in prison, including "chomo", "chester", "short eye", "tree jumper" and "diaper sniper", the most common one being "chomo". In British prisons, inmates simply call them nonces. Some sex offenders who arrive in prison might try to lie about their crime to inmates and say that they robbed someone or something. Nonetheless, inmates manage to determine what your actual crime is by seeing your paperwork. If you refuse to show your paperwork, they will assume you're a child molester until you show them your paperwork. If inmates don't have access to your paperwork, they could find out by seeing you on the news in the TV room or by contacting someone outside of prison and having them look you up online or the person outside of prison might ask people across town. Sometimes inmates can simply tell that you're a child molester. If you look like you aren't very streetwise, or have a generic middle-class appearance or look like an everyday middle aged middle-class man without any tattoos, inmates often can assume you're a child molester. Many times inmates can know that someone is a child sex offender if they have inadequate social and interpersonal skills, a common characteristic among some child sex offenders. I have heard that there have been sex offenders who did successfully hide that they're a sex offender, and ended up becoming very popular among fellow inmates, and left the prison before inmates knew what their crime was, but this might be rather a bit unusual. Sometimes correctional officers might reveal to the inmates what the sex offender's crime is. Some sex offenders might try to change their appearance and have a "gangster" or "biker" look to hide that they're a sex offender. Black sex offenders might assume that being black would help them pass as a non-sex offender. If you have a tattoo-free, middle aged Caucasian appearance with glasses, inmates often will assume you're a child molester.

It's quite common for sex offenders to be put in protective custody or their own unit with other sex offenders. Nonetheless, there are still many who can be put in the general population. In British prisons, many sex offenders are put in the Vulnerable Prisoner wing (VP wing). Nonetheless, protective custody doesn't always help prevent violence against sex offenders. For example, studies show that protective custody, which became significantly more common in California prisons in the 2000s (i.e.: 2000-2009 decade), have not helped deter violence against sex offenders in California prisons. Some inmates might join protective custody just to attack a sex offender, and sometimes sex offenders might be put in protective custody temporarily but then will be put in the general population. Additionally, not everyone in protective custody is a sex offender. Protective custody can have all kinds of people who are vulnerable in the general population, including snitches, child physical abusers, child killers, former gang members, former police officers, former correctional officers, mentally ill inmates, elderly inmates, inmates with youthful appearances, young inmates, and LGBTQ inmates. Non-sex offender inmates in protective custody might attack sex offenders in there. For example, studies show that in the VP wing of British prisons, when there are a lot of non-sex offenders in the VP wing, sex offenders are subjected to a lot of hostility, harassment and physical violence, but when the VP wing has predominantly sex offenders, the sex offenders are subjected to a very calm and peaceful environment. In the VP units, some sex offenders can still be in areas of the prisoner together with the general population prisoners, making them more likely to experience verbal abuse from other prisoners, reducing the sex offender's motivation to engage in activities which could expose them to more contact with others. Some sex offenders in British prisons who go the general population might lie about their sexual offense, but sometimes people can know if they're a sex offender when they realize the sex offender was in a separate wing, implying they might be a sex offender. Some sex offenders, however, might be honest about their crime in the general population. While this does lead to bullying and harassment from other inmates, the bullying and harassment dissipates over time. In the VP wing, many sex offenders who have adult victims (e.g.: rapists) would bully the child sex offenders, given that the hierarchy for sex offenders in the prison is rapists at the top and child molesters at the bottom. In the hierarchy for sex offenders, sex offenders would decide that the younger the victim is, the lower on the hierarchy and the higher the extent of the harm was (i.e.: whether or not the offense was contact or non-contact and how severe the contact was), the lower on the hierarchy. Many sex offenders such as rapists with adult victims helped themselves be at the top of the hierarchy by justifying their crime saying that their victim was old enough to consent or old enough to defend themselves. Staff members would treat sex offenders with adult victims less harshly than child sex offenders. In prison, many sex offenders might try to stay away from other prisoners and isolate themselves. Many times they will be reluctant to associate with other sex offenders in prison due to the stigma of the sex offender label, and many sex offenders (especially rapists) will view themselves as better than other sex offenders (such as child molesters).

Other than beating up sex offenders, sometimes sex offenders and child molesters will also be subjected to verbal abuse or will have their food spit on or dumped on the floor inmates. Sometimes child molesters and sex offenders will have their food and belongings stolen or will be extorted or threatened or inmates might defecate or urinate in their cells. In prison, some inmates might contaminate food in the cafeteria if the food is going to be eaten by the sex offenders. In Canadian prisons, sex offenders in the minimum or low-medium security level prisons are often in the general population, but ones in the high-medium or maximum security prisons are often in protective custody. In some Canadian prisons, inmates can see your paperwork but in some Canadian prisons, they can't. In ones where they can't, sex offenders in those prisons will try to pass as a non-sex offender until the inmates find out, and often are extremely anxious about the inevitability of inmates eventually finding out their actual crime. Sex offenders in the general population can go months or even years without inmates finding out, but when inmates do eventually find out, the sex offender has to immediately leave the general population (also known in Canadian prisons as "the range") or he will be victimized. In the lower security Canadian penitentiaries, sex offenders, being in the general population, are simply avoided by inmates, while sex offenders in the higher-security penitentiaries in Canada are often separated from the general population (i.e.: protective custody) due to the high likelihood of being victimized in the general population of a higher-security Canadian penitentiary.

In California prisons, they have had protective custody (PC) units for sex offenders but the PC units didn't help protect sex offenders from harm. For example, in the late 1990s, California began noticing vulnerable prisoners who needed special protective housing. As a result, the Sensitive Needs Yard (SNY yard) was created in early 2002 as a protective custody unit for vulnerable prisoners such as sex offenders, former gang members, snitches, former cops, etc. The SNY yard ended up having so many inmates joining. Criteria was "liberally applied" and soon, every inmate with a drug or gambling debt, a gang issue, or a beef with another inmate was signing up. Gang members were also sent to this unit. Suddenly the SNY yards population skyrocketed to over a third of the California prison population (and 40% of the male inmate population), with all the problems of a general population prison: assaults, homicides, smuggling of drugs, and nearly 100 gangs. SNY yards existed in 20 of California's 34 prisons. A little later on, with later changes, the percentage of the California prison population in SNY yards plummeted to about only a quarter of the entire prison population of California, plummeting from about 45,600 inmates to about 33,000 inmates. Sex offenders comprised 27% of the protective custody population. The homicide rate in SNY yards has been 2 to 3 times the rate in the general population yards since 2011. Studies show that protective custody did not deter violence against sex offenders in California prisons. The special prisons for vulnerable inmates became as dangerous, if not more dangerous than, the general population. Conditions were so bad by 2015 that the department's inspector general called for a complete overhaul. Consequently, people were considering getting rid of SNY yards and other protective custody units. 

Many times in protective custody, there will also be inmates such as snitches, former gang members, former cops, former correctional officers, former judges, former prosecutors, LGBT inmates, mentally ill inmates, inmates who got in violent altercations with others in the general population, etc. These inmates might hate sex offenders and might victimize them in protective custody. Some inmates might join protective custody to assault a sex offender. In sex offender units, the rapists are safe, but the child sex offenders can still be victimized by the rapists because the sex offender units have their own hierarchy, which is rapists at the top and child molesters at the bottom. It is quite common for sex offenders to be in protective custody but it doesn't necessarily ensure safety and peace for them.

In USP Tucson, a high-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, 40%–80% of the prison's population is incarcerated for current or past sex offenses. In this prison, sex offenders are actually pretty safe, even in the general population. The majority of convicted sex offenders in the Federal Bureau of Prisons are not assaulted and are able to program in general population. Nonetheless, if they are high profile and their case is widely known due to media attention, their probability of being assaulted increases. USP Tucson also houses inmates who cooperate with the government and inmates or who are in bad standing with their gangs. Of all high-security federal prisons, only USP Tucson is a SOMP (Sex Offender Management Program) institution.

Most inmates, even those convicted of notorious sex offenses, are not housed in protective custody for long. It is common for those convicted of heinous and notorious sex offenses who are not designated to USP Tucson to be bounced around from penitentiary to penitentiary, either time either being seriously assaulted in the general population or in solitary confinement. Otherwise, such inmates remained in protective custody unscathed, but completely isolated for years on end until the Bureau places them at a facility when they can survive. Sex offenders are typically grouped together in federal prisons both for programming purposes and because they can protect themselves better as part of a group than if they are on their own. Inmates are generally better treated in federal prison than in state prison. But that's not necessarily true if they end up with a target on their back because federal prisons house national gangs that can spread the word from one prison to another if an inmate is transferred for security reasons.

Despite a lot of data confirming frequent physical violence and verbal abuse against sex offenders and child molesters in prison, the prevalence of victimization isn't as extreme as one might think. Along with the prison warden survey mentioned earlier, there is other data confirming this. An inmate's crime plays a rather small role in his social status and safety. Most prison assaults occur because the inmate violated prison norms, not because of his crime. Inmates who steal tobacco, disrespect members of an opposing gang, or snitch are treated much worse than the average child molester. Criminologists say that many child molesters assimilate into prison society perfectly well, even if the inmates know what their crime is. It's often about making friends in the right gang (usually based on what race you are and which county you're from) and relying on their protection. In the general population, many child sex offenders can successfully make it as long as they don't brag about their crime. If they do brag, they could get beat up, and in some places, they could get their throat cut. In the United States, some prisons, sometimes depending on what state the prison is located in, might be less violent toward sex offenders than others. For example, in 2003, a man named Kazi Toure said that although Massachusetts inmates might mock or scorn child sex offenders, he does not see a strict hierarchy of crimes in the state's prisons that would lead to violence. He said: "I left Walpole [a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts] in '87 and there wasn't a P.C. [protective custody] unit anymore ... because that stuff wasn't happening anymore, because people weren't killing other people because of sex offenders or anything like that," he said. "It had died down." Nonetheless, Toure said that hate can cause violence if it gets worse, and as prison services for inmates are cut due to budget constraints, inmates with personal issues can lash out at others who personify their problems. He pointed out convicted murderer Joseph Druce killing infamous child molester and priest John Geoghan in a Massachusetts prison as a case in point.

Repeating when was mentioned earlier for clarity, low-security federal prisons (and low-security prisons as a whole) are relatively safe for sex offenders. In low-security federal prisons (and low-security prisons as a whole), sex offenders usually don't get assaulted and are usually just ostracized and shunned, while in medium and high security prisons, violence against sex offenders is way more common, given how much more violent medium and high security prisons are. The higher the security level, the more violent the prison. The lower the security level, the less violent the prison. Also, some states have prisons less violent than others. For example, according to a sex offender who has been in Pennsylvania prisons, Pennsylvania prisons are very non-violent, and that while sex offenders receive a lot of verbal abuse in Pennsylvania prisons, they don't get physically attacked much in there and inmates as a whole don't get physically attacked much in Pennsylvania prisons.

Moreover, there's a lot more sex offenders in prison than you might think. Sometimes if you're in prison, there will be sex offenders everywhere around you. They're much more common than you might think. 

In conclusion, while it is pretty common for sex offenders and child molesters to get beat up or verbally abused in prison, it doesn't happen as much as one might think, given the prison warden survey confirming this and given the data showing how many child molesters assimilate perfectly well into prison society even if inmates know about their crime and given many can make it in the general population if they don't brag about their crime. It depends on the security level of the prison, depending on how violent the prison is (or even how violent protective custody is) and it depends on how the child molester or sex offender handles prison or acts in prison.

What is happening in prison to high-profile sex offenders who went all over the news?

Whenever a high-profile sex offender, child molester, child killer, etc. gets on the news, people always automatically assume they will be raped or killed in prison. There are a very few cases where a high-profile child molester was killed in prison, like John Geoghan and Richard Huckle (who, ironically, was actually killed by another sex offender). Nonetheless, this is rarely the case. Let's see what actually has happened to them in prison.

Jared Fogle

When Jared Fogle went all over the news after being arrested for child pornography and sexual misconduct involving minors as young as age 9, many people predicted (and even hoped) he would be raped, attacked or even killed in prison. Actually, that isn't happening to him right now. Admittedly, he did get violently beaten by an inmate named Steve Nigg. This also, surprisingly, happened at a low-security federal prison called Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood, a prison in Colorado. When a sex offender is in these types of prisons, they don't have 0% chance of being attacked, but the odds are very low, and given Steve Nigg's criminal history, which includes crimes like armed robbery, it seems a low-security prison wasn't suitable for Nigg. Nigg was then transferred to another prison. Jared Fogle is still incarcerated at Englewood After all that had occurred, Jared had a very happy time in prison, believe it or not. According to former inmate Marc Brooks, an inmate who went to prison with Jared at Englewood, Jared is actually having a very happy time in prison. Brooks said that sometimes inmates might tease Jared from time to time and make humorous jokes like "Hey Subway guy, are you gonna work at Jimmy John's next?", but other than that, Brooks says that Jared is having a very happy time in prison. He said that Jared is cooking meals, going to the gym, etc. and that the prison has a field for playing sports, a gym, and a movie theater. People's predictions about what would happen to Jared in prison were false. Jared was only beaten up once in prison, but other than that, he is having a happy time in prison. Englewood houses a significant proportion of sex offenders.

Larry Nassar

Larry Nassar was all over the news in early 2018. He was a gymnastics doctor at Michigan State University who was accused of sexually abusing at least 250 young women and girls dating back to 1992. He was convicted of child pornography possession and sexual abuse and is in prison for basically the rest of his life. He was all over the news in early 2018, and several videos of him in the courtroom went viral, including statements from victims. Another viral video was when a father of three victims ran towards him to beat him up in the courtroom when the judge said she wouldn't allow him in a locked room with Larry to beat Larry. The judge, nonetheless, refused to punish the father because she was understanding towards the father's anger and aggression.

When Larry was all over the news, many people said he wouldn't last a day in prison. They said he would be killed immediately when entering prison. He's been in prison for almost 3 years now and he's still alive. So what happened to him in prison?

When arriving in late May 2018 in the general population of high-security federal prison USP Tucson, Nassar was assaulted by an inmate. USP Tucson has a lot of sex offenders, and sex offenders are pretty safe in this prison, even when they're in the general population. Nonetheless, because Larry Nassar was a high-profile inmate who was all over the news, this caused him to be susceptible to assaults from other inmates. Other inmates may have wanted media attention by being known as the person who assaulted Nassar. This explains why Steve Nigg assaulted Jared Fogle in prison.

Despite being assaulted in USP Tucson, Nassar was then moved to another high-security federal prison in Florida called USP Coleman II. This particular federal prison is also very safe for sex offenders. Nate Lindell, a former inmate of Coleman II, described Coleman II "as a so-called special-needs prison — a “safe” facility where informants, former cops, ex-gang members, check-ins (prisoners who intentionally put themselves in solitary confinement to be safe), homosexuals, and sex offenders can all, supposedly, walk the Yard freely. At regular BOP lockups, these types of men are in danger of being beaten, stabbed, or strangled to death." This prison is safe for sex offenders and all other kinds of inmates who are generally vulnerable in prison. Nassar is currently still incarcerated at USP Coleman II, and is probably safe right now despite only one time of being assaulted in prison. Larry Nassar was sentenced to both state and federal prison, but has to serve his federal sentence first. The federal sentence is due to possessing and receiving child pornography and tampering with evidence while state sentence is due to ten counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He will be released from federal custody in 2069, when he is 105 years old. After that, he will serve his state sentence and go to state prison, ensuring he will be in prison for the rest of his life. He most likely will never enter state prison.

Richard Allen Davis

I don't know if Richard Allen Davis ever sexually assaulted Polly Klaas, but nonetheless he did kill her, and she was a 12 year old girl. Child killers are just as hated in prison as child molesters, if not more hated. Richard Allen Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Polly Klaas and is still on death row at San Quentin State Prison. He was attacked a few times by a group of inmates and all overdosed on drugs and, as a result, was put in solitary confinement. Despite being incarcerated since the mid-1990s, he is still alive today.

Chris Watts

Chris Watts was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters (ages 3 and 4). Killing his wife would not be frowned upon, but killing his 3 year old and 4 year old daughters is definitely a crime that inmates will be outraged over. As a result, this would make Chris Watts at risk of being attacked by inmates. Many people assume an inmate will kill Chris Watts even if Watts is by himself in his own cell, but probably not. If that was true, why hasn't Richard Allen Davis, Jesse Timmendequas, etc. been killed yet despite being incarcerated for so long? Chris Watts currently is locked up in his own isolated cell all alone away from other inmates. He also made friends with an inmate who was incarcerated for kidnapping a 13 year old girl. Watts is currently safe in prison.

Ian Watkins

Ian Watkins was the lead singer for the rock band Lostprophets, a band that achieved some popular success in the 2000s. In 2012, he was arrested for attempted rape of a 1 year old. Initially, he strongly denied committing such a heinous crime. Nonetheless, in late 2013, he pleaded guilty to attempted rape of a 1 year old, along with also being convicted for possessing and even planning to produce child pornography. He also owned bestiality pornography and was friends with two mothers who sexually abused their own infant children and planned to sexually abuse them together with him. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison with an additional 6 years of probation, while those two mothers (who aren't named to protect the identity of their victimized children) were sentenced to 14 and 17 years in prison.

Watkins is currently incarcerated at HM Prison Wakefield, a Category A prison (meaning it is the highest security level in UK prisons). One woman who visited Ian in prison mentioned him having gray hair and rotten teeth and that he gained weight, but she didn't mention cuts or bruises or anything. Ian said he found prison life "challenging" and was on medication for acute anxiety and situational depression. Ian said the conditions of Wakefield's D wing felt alien to him and he was on medication for anxiety and depression. Ian has said that inmates have judged him for crimes and have given him a hard time in prison. Ian said: "While I've been in prison, because of what I used to do, I have constantly been targeted and constantly getting shit."

Looks like inmates are hassling Ian and he is having a difficult time in prison, although that doesn't mean he is being raped. He certainly was never killed, given that he is still alive.

Austin Jones

Austin Jones was a popular YouTuber who uploaded his own covers onto YouTube of famous songs. He was arrested for child pornography after he received and requested pornographic photos and videos from underage fans. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Many people were wishing prison rape on him and famous ex-convict YouTuber Shaun Attwood said Austin Jones would be raped in prison because of his blonde hair and blue eyes, his youthful appearance and his crimes. Attwood said the inmates would dress him up and put lipstick on him and force him to perform sexual acts, and that even in sex offender units, the sex offenders would do the same to him because sex offender units have their own hierarchy.

Austin Jones is incarcerated at FCI Loretto, a low-security federal prison. For the most part, in low-security federal prisons, sex offenders usually aren't assaulted and are instead ostracized or shunned. If they get assaulted, it's often because they're a high-profile inmate. In FCI Loretto, most inmates have sentences for illegal drugs. Cameron Douglas, the son of celebrity Michael Douglas, was assaulted in this prison possibly due to being the son of a celebrity.

Austin Jones isn't as high-profile as Nassar or Fogle nor is he as famous as Michael Douglas, Cameron's dad. Additionally, according to an inmate profile of Austin, he is located at the minimum-security satellite prison camp of the prison, which is called FCI Loretto Satellite Prison Camp. Minimum security level prisons are safe for sex offenders, and there have been zero reports of Austin being attacked in prison. Even in the non-camp part of low-security federal prison FCI Loretto, Austin would be safe.

It is unknown what is happening to Austin in prison but it is probable that he is safe in prison.

Jerry Sandusky

Jerry Sandusky is in prison for child molestation of young boys and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison on October 9, 2012. If he gets out of prison, he will be 98 (almost 99) years old. Sandusky is currently incarcerated at SCI - Laurel Highlands, a minimum-security prison. Many old or elderly inmates are locked up in this prison and many mentally ill inmates are locked up in this prison. He is probably safe in this prison, given that minimum-security prisons lack violence. Additionally, this is a Pennsylvania prison, and like I said earlier, Pennsylvania prisons are very non-violent according to a sex offender who went to prison in Pennsylvania. Sex offenders in Pennsylvania prisons won't usually be physically attacked but they, however, can be verbally abused. In conclusion, Sandusky is probably safe in prison.

Pearl Fernandez

Pearl Fernandez is not a child molester but she is a child abuser and a child killer who abused and killed 8 year old boy Gabriel Fernandez (her son) with her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre. They abused him brutally for a long period of time and eventually murdered him in cold blood. 

When Gabriel was all over the news and a Netflix documentary was made about him, there was a rumor started by a few women that Pearl was assaulted in prison.

A woman named Isabel Garcia posted on her Facebook: "I just want people to know that the same year I was in Chowchilla State Prison Gabriel Fernandez mom Pearl hit the yard the bitch got cut up so bad with a can top..had hot coffee poured on her face. Got spit on..jumped..slit..got for her tray..before the female c.o popped her door the c.o tells her" you sleep good for having have killed your baby"(that was greenlight the c.o confirmed her charges)doors popped open she got beat the fuck up...all her cell mates got her with their locks..it took a whole day to clean her blood off the chow hall floor...she pc.d up it takes the riot squad for her to get moved thru the prison..fuck that scumbag hope all the scars on her face remind her what piece of shit she is!!!"

So a woman named Isabel Garcia says she went to the same prison as Pearl Fernandez and saw Pearl get viciously beat up by inmates in there. It went viral and she was invited by popular ex-convict YouTuber Savage Studios to talk about what happened. A few other women also claimed to know someone who went to prison with Pearl. Nonetheless, these are all unconfirmed, unproven rumors, and there is some clues that suggest these women might be lying. Pearl is locked up at Central California Women's Facility, a prison in Chowchilla, California. Yet, Isabel Garcia (another woman in the screenshots shown) refer to the prison as Chowchilla prison or Chowchilla State Prison, which isn't the formal name of the prison but seems to be the informal name of the prison. Another woman named Patsy Uribe, after being tagged by Isabel Garcia, wrote: "dammm i remember that day was crazy thats was that bitch get though but she should of got sliced up more it wasnt enough". Pearl entered Central California Women's Facility on June 21, 2018. I looked at Patsy Uribe's Facebook profile and she posted a couple of profile pics in November 2018, just 5 months after Pearl joined Central California Women's Facility and also a profile pic in March and August 2017. She took a long break between August 2017 and November 2018 when it comes to updating profile pics but I noticed that is common for her to do when I looked at the date of other previous profile pics she has. In the interview with Savage Studios, Isabel said she entered Central California Women's Facility about a couple weeks before Pearl did. 

But the stories of what happened are inconsistent. According to Isabel, Pearl told inmates she was in there for child endangerment but that her boyfriend (who was Isauro Aguirre) was responsible for it, not her. However, in an interview with another woman who claims she went to the same prison as Pearl for a year, this other woman claimed that Pearl said her victim was an older man instead of saying it was a child, and that correctional officers told the inmates Pearl's crime. A woman named Bridgette claims that Pearl lied to the inmates that she was in there for DUI and that inmates found out about her actual crime by finding her court papers in her locker when they searched her locker because she was stealing their stuff. As you can see, the stories are inconsistent. Another woman on twitter tweeted "Pearl Fernandez is in my moms prison where she works and she’s been getting her ass beat 😬". I looked at the social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) of the woman who posted this but couldn't find her mom on there, but based on what I saw from her social media, she doesn't seem like the type whose mother would work in prison, let alone be incarcerated in prison. 

Isabel claims that Pearl was beaten by an inmate named Angel Annie Medina. Isabel Garcia's prison records could not be found (possibly because she isn't currently incarcerated but she claims to be on parole) but Angel's prison records were found. Angel's prison records show that she is currently locked up at California Institution for Women and entered the prison on April 19, 2018. California Institution for Women is almost 300 miles away from Pearl's prison.

Furthermore, there were zero news articles from actual news sources (blog posts, YouTube videos, etc. don't count) that report Pearl Fernandez being attacked in prison but the news reported when Larry Nasser, Jared Fogle, Mark Bridger, etc. were attacked in prison. If Pearl was attacked, it probably would've been on the news, which it wasn't.

In conclusion, it could be that Pearl wasn't attacked in prison and these women were making up stories for 15 minutes of Internet fame, or maybe they're telling the truth. Who knows? Nonetheless, it is probable that they are lying about Pearl being attacked in prison because there's some evidence that suggests they could be lying.

Mark Bridger

Mark Bridger was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 5 year old girl April Jones, whose corpse was never found. He was assaulted in prison by another inmate named Juvinal Ferreira, a convicted murderer and rapist (ironically, Ferreira is a sex offender himself). He used an improvised shank to attack Bridger, resulting in facial and throat injuries, for which Bridger received stitches. Ferreira and Bridger were locked up at Wakefield, a prison for the most dangerous murderers and sex offenders in the UK (this is the prison Ian Watkins is locked up at). Ferreira and other inmates talked about attacking Bridger to make him reveal the whereabouts of Jones' corpse, so Ferreira attacked Bridger to get Bridger to reveal Jones' corpse's location. In April 2008, Ferreira raped and murdered a 47 year old woman named Elaine Walpole. Ferreira was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 22 years to be considered for parole. If Ferreira gets out of prison after serving his whole sentence, he will be punished with deportation. Ferreira's sentence was extended because of his attack on Bridger. The attack occurred 3 days after Bridger was allowed to associate with other inmates.

Charles Bronson, a notorious prisoner, went to Wakefield at the same time as Bridger (nonetheless, Bronson is now locked up at HM Prison Woodhill). In 2015, it was revealed what Bronson wrote that Bridger rarely leaves his cell and keeps a very low profile and that "in fact, he is at home" in Wakefield because the prison is a haven for nonces.

Jesse Timmendequas

Jesse Timmendequas is a man who raped and murdered 7 year old girl Megan Kanka on July 29, 1994 in New Jersey. He was sentenced to the death penalty. Nonetheless, when the death penalty was abolished in New Jersey on December 17, 2007, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The rape and murder of Megan Kanka went all over national news at the time and caused the creation of Megan's Law in 1996, signed by 1990s president Bill Clinton.

Jesse Timmendequas was previously incarcerated after being convicted of two assaults on little girls in 1979 and 1981. He spent time under sex offender treatment and at the New Jersey State Prison for compulsive sex offenders at Avenel but refused to cooperate during treatment. After being arrested again for the rape and murder of Megan Kanka, he was put in solitary confinement in prison (possibly due to his risk of being attacked by inmates for his crime) and is currently locked up at New Jersey State Prison, still alive. It's unknown if Timmendequas is still in solitary confinement, although it is very possible that he is still in solitary confinement.

John Evander Couey

John Evander Couey is the man who kidnapped, raped, and murdered 9 year old girl Jessica Lunsford in Florida in February 2005. He was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death in 2007. Despite being sentenced to the death penalty, he died on September 30, 2009 of anal cancer before the execution could happen. Some might assume anal cancer means that Couey was raped in prison by inmates. So was he? Let's find out.

Inmates usually rape young white prisoners and inmates with youthful appearances. Couey was middle aged and looked the opposite of youthful, but his height was 5'4" and he only weighed 125 pounds. If he was raped in prison, it probably was because he was very short and didn't weigh much. Couey looked significantly older than his age. He was 46 when he committed the crime and was arrested and had died at 51 but looked 80 years old. The reason he looked extremely old was because of all the drugs he took in his life. Although anal sex can increase the risk of anal cancer, so can drugs. Therefore, it is very possible that drugs caused anal cancer for him, given that drugs are the reason he looked so old.

Couey was kept away from other inmates and kept away from the general population for his protection and safety, presumably due to his crime. In prison, Couey would bathe 2 or 3 times a week, watched Dr. Phil, and liked to draw with colored pencils. John Couey also drew pictures and read and studies the Bible. Given that Couey was kept away from most inmates, he probably wasn't raped or even physically attacked in prison. Nonetheless, there is a rumor that a man nicknamed Egypt (who was either a prison ward or an inmate) tried to poison Couey or bully Couey by spitting in Couey's food that he had given Couey.

Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson is a professional footballer in England who was arrested and put in prison for engaging in sexual activity with a 15 year old girl.

Johnson was put in the VP wing (Vulnerable Prisoner wing) because he would attacked by inmates for being a sex offender. Inmates were planning on napalming him (for those who don't know what napalming is, it's when you mix glucose with boiling hot water and dump it on someone's face and it burns their face and tears of their skin). Inmates said they would reward whoever would napalm Johnson.

A video in April 2017 was found of Adam Johnson having a friendly conversation with other inmates. They were friendly with him and didn't feel upset towards his crime. It is possible, however, that he was presumably in the VP wing and he was talking with other sex offenders, which would explain why the inmates were friendly toward him in this video. After the video went on the news, inmates refused to be associated with him because a group of inmates have taken against him. Consequently, he was shunned by all other inmates and inmates would often chant "rapist, rapist, rapist" in a football-style song manner every time he leaves his cell, gets food or tries to play football. Johnson was also receiving counseling and was required to attend sessions with other sex offenders if he wanted to be paroled. One time in the shower, Johnson got in a fight with another inmate. Adam Johnson was assigned the job of cleaning the showers. One inmate told him to remove a mass of matted hair from a shower plug-hole. Johnson refused, saying he already finished the job. Johnson told the inmate to "fuck off" before adding "do you know who I am?" The inmate then started punching Johnson but then Johnson fought back, and other inmates stepped in to break up the fight. This fight happened three days after Johnson arrived to HM Prison Moorland, a Category C prison. The fight was over pretty quickly. Moorland is one of the most modern prisons in the UK. Most of the inmates have their own room with a toilet and some even have access to a PlayStation. One former inmate wrote of it: "A lovely place. Three decent meals a day. Only downside is no women - and it is full of nonces. Apart from that, recommended." When the video of Johnson talking about his crimes went online, he was moved to a segregation unit of Moorland for his protection, and a fellow inmate on the sex offender's wing to him to watch out because there were inmates now planning on slitting his throat. Johnson feared for his life and considered asking to be moved to another prison. Approximately 34% of Moorland inmates were sex offenders and the segregation unit of Moorland has a capacity for just 28 inmates, some of whom are held in unfurnished cells so they cannot damage furniture or harm themselves. Johnson then had access to fewer facilities and couldn't play for the prison football team. Adam Johnson was released from prison in March 2019.

Why do inmates hate child molesters and sex offenders? Here's the actual reason.

Many people assume that inmates hate child molesters because inmates have morals or because inmates care about children. Actually, that isn't really the real reason. Sure, maybe some inmates care about children, but many don't. There is a lot of behavior I have observed among inmates that shows that they often don't care too much about children. Here are examples:

When inmates raped another inmate in prison, the inmate who is being raped is often called a "kid" or a "girl" while the inmate committing the rape is called "daddy". That sounds very child molester-ish to me.

Many inmates who are locked up for murder probably didn't care if their victim was a parent or an uncle or aunt and therefore didn't care how children who know the victim would consequently be affected. Many inmates who committed burglary probably would've burglarized homes that had children in them. Inmates who are parents probably didn't care about how their own child would feel about their parent being a murderer and probably didn't care about how being a criminal would negatively impact their child.

Many times when 16 and 17 year old guys are put in adult prisons, they are raped in there. In fact, studies show that 16/17 year old guys who are put in adult prisons are significantly more likely to be raped in there than inmates who are 18 or older. 

In late October 2007, a 15 year old girl was put in a Brazilian jail full of male inmates and was illegally placed among a big group of male inmates. For 26 days, they treated her as their plaything, raped and tortured her for amusement, and some placed crumpled papers between her toes as she slept and lighted them. Consequently, she had burn marks on her feet. She experienced extreme hunger and she began trading sex for food. Other men, however, simply raped her, and tortured her for amusement. Sometimes she traged sex for food, but other times, she was simply raped. The police in the jail did more than turn their backs on the violence. They shaved her head with a knife to make her look more like a boy. The police blamed her for allegedly lying about her age. The girl was accused by state police chief Raimundo Benassuly of lying about her age because she allegedly had a "mental deficiency". Police said the girl claimed to be 19, not 15, during several run-ins with the law. Federal human rights official and lawyer Márcia Soares said that officials, including the judge in the case, a woman, did not press the girl for documentation proving she was an adult, even though she is below 5 feet tall and weighs about 80 pounds. Soares claims when she first saw the teen girl, she thought the girl was 12, not 15.

In 2007, it was reported that women make up 5% of Brazil's prison population, but the number is increasing. States in Brazil have not built enough jails and prisons with separate facilities for women at the time, even though federal law required such separation. Female prisoners were being illegally placed with men or transvestites in five Brazilian states, and being subjected to tortured and sexual abuse.

On a Scared Straight prison tour in a Canadian prison called Oakalla Prison in the 1970s, the inmates raped a 13/14 year old boy, which lead to bleeding and severe trauma for the boy, and he didn’t tell a single person about it until 35-40 years later, in the 2010s. The guard pushed him into the cell of 5 inmates and the 5 minutes raped the boy while the guard stood there and laughed, later telling the boy “that’s what happens to little fuckers like you” and “Nobody’s going to believe you.” The boy’s crime was his first offense and his crime was breaking and entering by invading a house, stealing the TV and drinking juice from the refrigerator, a crime he committed with his friends.

On the A&E show Beyond Scared Straight, a show where boys ages 12-17 who committed crime or other juvenile delinquent behavior are required to visit a jail to see what jail is like, often inmates (and sometimes sheriffs and correctional officers) will scream at and verbally abused the boys. Sometimes boys as young as 12 will be on the show. I saw one instance where the inmates verbally abused a 13 year old boy until he was crying and one inmate told the boy than in jail they make "pretty boys" like him their "bitch" or rape them. The inmate basically threatened to sexually assault or rape the 13 year old boy. I remember another instance where another 13 year old boy planned on joining the Bloods, and a bunch of Crips verbally abused and bullied him for it. I also saw another instance where a convicted murderer yelled at a teenage boy and said he'd slap the boy's 12 year old sister if his sister was in the room (the sister was in another nearby room, and she could be seen through the glass window). I also saw an instance where a 12 year old boy was verbally abused until he was crying and an inmate aggressively held the boy up to wall and continued screaming at the boy.

Doesn't seem like inmates care about children or adolescents.

Many might assume that inmates hate child molesters because some say inmates often are victims of childhood sexual abuse and because inmates might be parents. This isn't exactly the reason either.

Although many female inmates have been victims of domestic violence, childhood sexual/physical abuse, or adulthood sexual assault in their lifetime, this isn't the case for male inmates. Female prisons, however, are a lot less violent than male prisons anyways. The vast majority of male inmates were never molested during their childhood. Only a small percentage were molested during their childhood. There were a couple of other studies that show that many male prisoners were victims of childhood sexual abuse but these studies had a small sample size and only surveyed inmates from one specific prison. In the 1990s, Bureau of Justice Statistics determined how many inmates were abused by using a large, nationally representative sample. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that only a small minority of male prisoners were molested in their childhood. In conclusion, the vast majority of male prisoners were never molested in their childhood.

Now let's look at the parents explanation. Some might assume because inmates might be parents, that would be why inmates hate child molesters. This could be true in some cases but not necessarily. While it is quite common for inmates to be parents of minors, not all of them are parents of minors. There are plenty of inmates who aren't parents of minors at all. 51.9% of state inmates, 62.9% of federal inmates, and 53.33% of prison inmates overall in the United States are parents of people under 18, which means 48.1% of state inmates, 37.1% of federal inmates, and 46.67% of prison inmates overall in the United States aren't parents of people under 18 at all. 51.2% of male state prisoners and 63.4% of male federal prisoners are parents of people under 18, which means 48.8% of male state prisoners and 36.6% of male federal prisoners aren't parents of people under 18. 61.7% of female state prisoners and 55.9% of female federal prisoners have children under 18, which means 38.3% of female state prisoners and 44.1% of female federal prisoners don't have children under 18. This data from Bureau of Justice Statistics was found in the 2000s. In 1997, Bureau of Justice Statistics did a previous survey on inmates who are parents of minors. In 1997, 55.4% of state prisoners had children under 18 and 44.6% didn't and 63.0% of federal prisoners had children under 18 and 37.0% didn't. In 1997, 54.7% of male state prisoners had children under 18 and 45.3% didn't and 63.4% of male federal prisoners had children under 18 and 36.6% didn't. In 1997, 65.3% of female state prisoners had children under 18 and 34.7% didn't and 58.8% of female federal prisoners had children under 18 and 41.2% didn't. In conclusion, while it is very common for inmates to have children who are below 18, there are also some who don't have children who are below 18. Additionally, while inmates being parents of children doesn't mean they care about their own children or children as a whole. They didn't care about how committing crime and going to prison would do a lot of harm for their child so they don't necessarily care about their own children. Sure, some might care about their own children, and they may have committed crime for certain reasons because they felt they had no choice or they committed a non-violent crime such as drugs, but caring about one's own children doesn't mean that one cares about other children, because, as I have explained and proven earlier, it's obvious that inmates don't actually care much about children. Are there some inmates who do care about children or do have morals? Sure. There probably are a fair amount, but that doesn't mean all inmates think this way. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some inmates who feel rather neutral or indifferent towards child molesters but pretend to hate them out of fear of being called a "chomo sympathizer" (A chomo, as I said earlier, is prison slang for child molester.) by other inmates. This is called the spiral of silence. Some inmates do hate child molesters because they are parents of minors, but this isn't the reason among all inmates.

So why do inmates hate child molesters? Here's the actual reason:

There is a lot of hypermasculinity in prison and among inmates. Inmates are all about being as tough and manly as possible and because they all live in homogeneous lifestyles, schedules, routines, and environments in prisons, it's more difficult for them to build a hierarchy than other places in society. As a result, they build their own hierarchy on who is the manliest and toughest in the prison. Docile, passive inmates tend to be the least respected while hypermasculine, violent, assertive and aggressive inmates who fight back and never surrender to others receive the most respect. Hypermasculinity is common in prison because in prison, in order to survive and never get victimized, you have to be as tough and manly as possible and be aggressive and assertive. Due to the hypermasculinity in prison, inmates have their own crime hierarchy of who can commit the most "badass" or dangerous crimes. Crimes that show toughness and rebellion or taking a risk and doing something dangerous, like bank robbery, armed robbery, killing cops, burglary, committing organized crime, etc. receive a lot of respect. Crimes against children, the most vulnerable people, are considered lame and the least "badass" crime and, as a result, aren't considered "real" crimes. Child molesters, child killers and child abusers, therefore, aren't considered real criminals by inmates and are considered too lame to commit a "badass" or dangerous crime. Additionally, inmates also believe in strict gender roles about what men are supposed to be and many believe men are supposed to be breadwinners and protect children. Crimes like burglary, organized crime, robbery, etc. are about obtaining money and wealth and therefore help deter one from being poor and help one remain a useful breadwinner for one's children. As a result, crimes like drug offenses, burglary, robbery, organized crime, killing cops, etc. are considered the most respected crime in prison while crimes against children are the least respected crimes in prison. Ironically, inmates do attack vulnerable inmates, but this is presumably common among some people who say "pick on your own size".

Another reason why inmates hate child molesters is to feel better about their own crimes and even compensate for their own crimes. Many inmates are incarcerated for burglary, assault, domestic violence, robbery, armed robbery, theft, murder, etc. Consequently, society stigmatizes prisoners and views them as "evil monsters" who "deserve" to rot in prison or even be executed. Due to this stigma and hatred from society, inmates often will hate and victimize child sex offenders in prison to restore their own reputation among society, feel better about their own crimes, and compensate for their own crimes. They will act basically like this: "Hey society, I know I robbed or killed people and you want me executed or to rot in prison, but so what? I beat up a child molester! Forget that I robbed or killed people before I was in prison! I beat up a child molester! At least I never molested children!"

People also assume that inmates hate rapists because inmates have mothers, sisters, nieces, aunts, etc. This isn't the reason. First of all, many inmates might have brothers, sons, uncles, grandfathers, nephews, etc., so why do inmates kill, rob, or assault men? Additionally, some crimes against women, like domestic violence and intimate partner violence, aren't really frowned upon in prison. I have heard a rumor a few times that inmates hate woman beaters or domestic abusers, and while I can confirm this is true in Canadian prisons (although that's beginning to change in Canadian prisons) and Australian prisons, woman beaters and domestic abusers aren't hated at all in American or British prisons (I couldn't find any research papers to confirm this so I resorted to anecdotes and information from many ex-convicts I found online as the best proof I can obtain). In fact, in jail, domestic abusers are very common and are everywhere, especially in the misdemeanor block. In New Zealand prisons, 60% of all male prisoners (regardless of what crime they're currently serving a sentence for) have been charged with domestic violence at some point in their past. Canadian prisoners and Australian prisoners might hate domestic abusers because it goes against traditional gender roles about men protecting women or because it isn't a "badass" or dangerous crime because women are weaker. Nonetheless, based on many anecdotes and information I found from ex-convicts and prison experts online (they were the most sufficient data I could find because I couldn't find information in research papers), nothing happens to woman beaters in American or British prisons. In conclusion, I don't think inmates hate rapists because inmates have sisters, mothers, aunts, nieces, etc.

Many also might assume that inmates hate rapists because inmates have morals and because rape is bad. This isn't even remotely the reason. If inmates think rape is bad, why do they rape each other from time to time? Why do inmates often sexually harass female correctional officers. Sometimes female correctional officers will get sexually harassed in prison, and sometimes inmates might masturbate in front of them, expose themselves to them, or even threaten to rape them. Many inmates rape other inmates because they don't have access to women in prison so they pick other inmates as a substitute, and they often picture their inmate victim as a woman while raping them. As you can see, sexual entitlement is very common among inmates. Given the widespread rape culture in prison, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the robbers, drug offenders, burglars, murderers, etc. in prison have raped a woman in their past but their victim never reported, and they instead went to prison for another crime they committed. A majority of rape victims never report their rapist, most rapists are never arrested, and very few rapists spend a single day in jail. A majority of rapists get away with rape. Men who feel entitled to sex and adhere to rape culture and rape myth acceptance, a common characteristic among inmates, are significantly more likely to rape women. Inmates having morals or rape being a horrible crime isn't even remotely the reason why inmates hate rapists.

The real reason inmates hate rapists is because in prison, there's this rule that if you're in prison for any sex offense, you're a child molester. It doesn't matter what kind of offense it is. The crime could be anything. It doesn't matter what the offense is. If it is categorized as a sex offense under the law, you're a child molester. Even if you're in there for indecent exposure, public urination, or having sex with your 17 year old girlfriend when you're 18, inmates still will hate you. It's a guilt by association that inmates use for sex offenders. That's the reason inmates hate rapists. It has nothing to do with having morals and thinking rape is wrong and it has nothing to do with having aunts, mothers, sisters, etc.

Furthermore, when an inmate does attack a child molester or sex offender in prison, it has little to nothing to do with being angry at the child molester/sex offender's crime. They attack a child molester/sex offender to maintain a positive reputation among other inmates. In prison, if you know someone is a sex offender or a child molester, and you don't harass or attack them, you'll get harassed or attacked. Many inmates, therefore, will attack or verbally abuse child molesters or sex offenders to maintain a positive reputation among inmates and prevent themselves from being associated with sex offenders. They also will do it because they don't wanna share the yard or chow-hall with sex offenders or be near sex offenders in the general population, so they attack sex offenders to get the sex offender moved to protective custody or a sex offender unit so they don't have to be near sex offenders. A lot of inmates also might attack sex offenders to compensate for their own crimes and restore their reputation among society or feel better about their own crime. In conclusion, inmates attack sex offenders for opportunistic reasons such as maintaining a positive reputation among inmates, keeping sex offenders away from the yard or chow-hall or general population, compensating for their own crimes and restoring their reputation among society, or feeling better about their own crime. It has little to nothing to do with being angry at the child molester/sex offender's crime. Many inmates might think the reason they attacked a sex offender is because they're mad at the sex offender's crime, but that isn't their actual, genuine reason, and their real reason is rather subconscious.

Conclusion

Do sex offenders and child molesters get killed in prison? Rarely. The homicide rate in prison and jail is very low anyway. Do they get raped or sexually assaulted in prison? Rapists don't. Some child molesters do, but it seems like many child molesters don't, and it seems child molesters are more likely to be physically assaulted or verbally abused instead of sexually assaulted in prison. Prison rape is usually instead done to LGBT prisoners and young, white prisoners. Do sex offenders and child molesters get beat up in prison? Yes. It does happen quite often, but it doesn't always happen. It depends on the prison, the security level of the prison, how violent the prison is, how the sex offender or child molester acts in prison, whether or not they assimilate to prison society, etc. Do sex offenders and child molesters receive hostility from other inmates? Yes, but while the hostility can be situations like physical assault, it can also be more mild types of hostility like verbal abuse, ostracism, being shunned, isolation, or being excluded from activities. Are sex offenders at the bottom of the prison hierarchy? Yes, and so are snitches. Do inmates hate sex offenders? Yes.

Inmates can give sex offenders a rough time in prison but it isn't as brutal for sex offenders in prison as people say it is.

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