Female prison officer reveals what it was like to work in a men's maximum security jail while seven

Release time：2024-05-07 21:17:03 Source：Cultural Crossings news portal

A mom-to-be has lifted the lid on her 'uncomfortable' experience working in a men's maximum security prison while seven months pregnant. 

Bella Aguilar, from California, is a former prison maintenance supervisor who worked in a jail for seven years.

The 27-year-old even continued working at the prison while she was expecting a baby, despite it being extremely 'depressing' and difficult on her mental health. 

At the beginning of her pregnancy, Bella tried to hide her baby bump with baggy clothes, however, after she could no longer conceal that she was bearing a child, working alongside the criminals became terrifying. 

A mom-to-be has lifted the lid on her 'uncomfortable' experience working in a men's maximum security prison while seven months pregnant

Bella Aguilar, from California, is a former prison maintenance supervisor who worked in a jail for seven years

Bella said: 'It's just not a very happy place to work at. I mean, we all know why - it's a prison. So I felt like, sometimes when you're pregnant, you can already feel a bit depressed because you're not feeling like yourself.'

When she first learned she was pregnant, Bella did everything she could to hide it from the men in the maximum security prison. 

Even when it was warm, the California-based mom opted for extremely baggy clothes in an attempt to keep men from staring at her bump. However, it didn't work and she often received unwelcome glances.

She admitted that she started gaining a lot of attention and started feeling uncomfortable with the extra eyes on her. 

Bella explained: 'I tried to hide it as much as I could wearing baggy clothing or hoodies or bigger jackets, even if it was super hot. I would try to wear a big jacket over it. But it just got to the point where I couldn't hide it anymore and that's when we really cut back on the inmate contact. Just because it's uncomfortable.

'It's not something you see often. I'm very little, I'm five foot two, and I look very young. So just being a young little girl that's pregnant inside of a men's prison, it's just going to bring some type of eyes to you, at least for a moment.' 

After the baggy clothes no longer worked, Bella then tried to avoid contact with the men in the maximum security prison, however, it wasn't easy. 

She said: 'Once I was continuing to show bigger and bigger, we kind of tried to avoid inmate contact as much as possible, but it still sometimes had to happen. 

'For about two days a week, I would see them [inmates] and I would go into a factory that had about 65 inmates in that factory. There's plenty of times where we would have to walk the yard to get to those areas.

The 27-year-old even continued working at the prison while she was expecting a baby, despite it being extremely 'depressing' and difficult on her mental health

At the beginning of her pregnancy, Bella tried to hide her baby bump with baggy clothes, however, after she could no longer conceal that she was bearing a child, working alongside the criminals became terrifying

'I was a maintenance supervisor and I was the health and safety coordinator. So I would deal with any health and safety issues, I would run monthly health and safety meetings and I would oversee the maintenance of all machinery and the inmates for the actual labor working on them.

'I wouldn't say that I felt threatened at all. A lot of the time, the inmate culture in California is to be more protective of women. 

'But, it's just an odd feeling. We all know that being in a prison in general, there's always a chance of danger. Regardless, it is filled with prisoners who have done horrible things.

'However, I didn't feel particularly like a target because I was pregnant. I just felt like I was being watched more and it's just already an uncomfortable environment to be in as a woman in general, being pregnant, just added to it.'

Bella - who has been working in a prison since she was 20 years old - used to love her job, but when she fell pregnant, it became hard for her to enjoy work. 

Bella - who has been working in a prison since she was 20 years old - used to love her job, but when she fell pregnant, it became hard for her to enjoy work

She added: 'I think it was more so I felt very uncomfortable but I never had any issue with any of them during either of my pregnancies.'

Although she shared that the inmates never hurt or disrespected her, it was still an unusual situation that brought her more attention than she would have liked.

She explained that the overwhelming amount of attention she received from inmates caused her mental health began to decline. 

Bella said: 'Working in a place like that, for me, personally was extremely depressing and hard on my mental health and now that I don't work there, I can say I'm mentally so much happier.

'The only concerning part was that no one else was pregnant. So you're gonna get more attention than normal just being a female but I never had any disrespect, any negative experiences with inmates towards me being pregnant at all.'

She continued working at the prison until she was eight months pregnant when she decided that she also wanted to change career and focus on her content-creating and beauty dream. 

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