Growing up, my dad snored very loudly, which was always a running joke in my family. It was really bad and I could never figure out how my mom put up with it.
One year we were on vacation and we stayed in a motel for one night on the way to our destination. My dad – who we also jokingly refer to as “the cheapest guy in the world” – booked a double room for our family of 5 and I ended up sleeping in the tub in the middle of the night because I couldn’t stand the snoring. It didn’t help because I could hear him sawing logs through the walls.
Being in the same room as someone who snores loudly can drive you crazy, especially if you’re trying to fall asleep. When you are in the free world, you can choose to leave the room or wake up the snorer and turn them over.
On the other hand, if you are a snorer, there are things you can do or buy to help you reduce or eliminate your snoring. But what if you snore in prison?
In this blog post, I will cover the following topics:
- What is prison like for someone who snores?
- How do inmates deal with snoring roommates?
What is prison like for someone who snores?
This is a difficult question to answer because each inmate has a unique experience while in prison. There can’t be a huge, one-size-fits-all answer, either, because what happens in prison is not a universal experience.
What you have to deal with and how you have to deal with it varies greatly between state and federal prisons, men’s and women’s prisons, maximum and minimum security prisons, cell and dormitory style, etc…
One thing I’m sure of is that the snoring inmates are not given any type of medical treatment or equipment to help them fall asleep or stop their snoring. You will most likely not receive any medical care unless it is a life or death situation.
If you snore in prison, your roommates may not like snoring and have trouble falling asleep because of it. But, there’s really not much you can do.
During my four years in prison, I was lucky to have only one roommate who was snoring…and loudly. I have no problem waking her up and turning her over, but I’m an OG and she’s new to it. If it was the other way around, I promise I wouldn’t do that.
Of course, you might get bullied or beaten because other people can’t sleep. However, the snoring prisoner did not intentionally disturb everyone.
How do inmates deal with snoring roommates?
Again, this situation is handled differently depending on the prison and the inmate. Prison is rarely a quiet place, so you can learn to sleep in almost any situation. However, people in extremely violent prisons may not be able to sleep at all out of self-preservation.
Prisoners with snoring roommates can try to fall asleep first, sleep with earplugs and music, put a fan over their head to drown out the snoring, or even ask to change rooms. Everyone handles it differently.
I did find a story about a prisoner in South Africa who was released because of snoring. Apparently, the judge agreed with his contention that his snoring put him at risk, so he was granted bail on appeal despite having been convicted of murder.
That’s some serious snoring!
What would you do if your cellmate snores? Let us know in the comments below.
Sources: Snoring Gets Murderer Out of Jail