Everybody knows that prison is awful; that's part of the point. But while everyone dreads the danger and the isolation, other parts of locked-up day-to-day life can weigh on you even more. These 26 former inmates took to Ask Reddit and shared their worst things about incarcerated life. 

Any movie or TV show with a prison sequence includes the stereotypical "alpha" dude whose respect you have to earn. While that guy definitely exists, and inmates can be serious threats to one another, multiple people cited the correctional officers themselves as their biggest threat. "We feared the COs more than the fellow inmates," one person wrote. "If you anger them they can make your life [miserable] and there's little to no recourse. " Not to mention they can have control over your sentence. 

Other former inmates described living with health problems. "If you have dental issues and complain about it, you get this blender diet," one person said. "Thus it is motivation to not complain about dental problems." Mental issues, asthma, and other health problems also only resulted in more difficult living situations, rather than solutions. Not to mention decreased access to immediate care. Keep scrolling to hear more first-hand accounts about the horrors of day-to-day prison life.