A FORMER inmate said her time in the can led to some permanent habits.
She revealed why she thinks the way she does.
Jen Gomez (@jenjen.gomez) was in prison for 10 years, and though she’s been out for some time now, old lifestyle habits die hard.
“There are a few things that I did not do before prison, but I can’t seem to shake them,” she began in the clip.
Although before prison she didn’t mind throwing her clothes in the wash with her roommate’s load, she’s no longer cool with that.
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The thought of her clothes being thrown around in water with someone else’s dirty laundry makes her feel “icky” for a reason.
“In prison, if you were a hygienically clean person and you did things your own way, you would wash your own clothes.”
If you didn’t and instead let the staff do your laundry, your garments would be thrown in a “big a** industrial washer” along with all the other inmates’ clothes, for only six minutes.
“You would get it back and it would be stank as hell, so no respectable inmate sends their clothes out to laundry. You wash your own clothes.
“You don’t want blood, urine, dandruff flakes, buggers, feces, whatever you can think of, in there.
“People are throwing their panties, bras, and all their other intimates, in there with your pillowcase.”
She didn’t want her face to touch a fabric that was possibly filthy.
“It’s freaking nasty… And now that I’m home, there is no co-mingling of washer water in our lives.”
Another habit? She rarely remembers to close the refrigerator door.
“Because, hello, in prison we don’t have refrigerators.”
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Next, if she’s in a crowded area and somebody coughs or sneezes, she turns around and looks at them in disgust before leaving the room.
Though she knows its “offensive,” she said it’s an “instinct” at this point.
“I just know that some spittle from your cough or sneeze traveled to me, and your dirty spittle particle is now on me, and I’m not ok with that.
“Because, in prison if you get sick… you’re not going to get the medical attention or care that you need.”
When it comes to showering, she has another rule.
“It is down hard gospel, law, legislation has passed a law in my mind that you must shower twice a day. You’re not getting around it.”
Because she was imprisoned in humid Florida, and the AC was virtually absent, she would sweat all day and night long – meaning there was a build up on her skin.
“There is like this unspoken rule in prison that when you lather up and do your first round, that’s just to get everything off.
“And once you’re done with that, you have to wash your washcloth. And after you wash your washcloth, you have to re-wash your body to now actually get clean.
“The first round was washing everything off, the second round was to make sure you’re actually clean from washing everything with your washcloth.”
She said some months she even did a third round.
“So now, I don’t use washcloths but I have the loofa sponges and I have two – one for the first round and one for the second round.
“And listen, I don’t need to do rounds. I live in a house with AC… I don’t need two loofas… but guess what? I have them.”
Her next habit is one she said was “common” among formerly incarcerated people.
“I wish I didn’t have the frame of reference I had,” she said, before explaining what she meant.
“I wish I hadn’t seen a place with 3,000 women who are the most manipulative, conniving, worst of the worst scammers.”
While she said there are of course “good people” in there, she saw the worst.
“You see the bad side of humanity, and very rarely do you see the good side.
“And because of that, you now have this ground floor level of what people are capable of. You see the lengths people can go to when they’re pushed.”
She said this means she has now “naturally become suspicious,” questioning everything and trying to decide what the angle is.
“It’s exhausting sometimes. It’s draining.”
And finally, she said she learned to get creative with her food.
“You don’t have a lot [in prison], so you learn to make a lot out of a little.”
That even goes for ramen noodles.
“If you ever come to my house on a ramen night, you’re going to get some gourmet stuff that you would think should be in a restaurant.”
She said there are even times she still craves the kind of food she had in the can.
“I was not like that before prison. Ramen was just here and there, boil it up… but now it’s a whole thing. It’s a dish. You could take that thing to the potluck.”
Viewers said she changed their perspective too.
“OMG I never thought about laundry like that,” one person admitted.
“I’m hearing you about the germs and it all makes sense to me,” added another.
