A former prison guard who spent ten years in prison has recalled the most inhumane moment of her time inside – and revealed the worst happened before she was even officially behind bars.
Jen Gomez, who was sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison in 2011 for burglary, grand theft and trafficking stolen property across state lines, shared this insight in a video on YouTube.
One of the experiences that still haunts her are the daily searches for cartoon characters – which she admitted could never get easier.
‘Strip searches are part of daily life in prison; you better get used to it,” she said matter-of-factly.
Jen Gomez, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Florida in 2011 for burglary, grand theft and trafficking stolen property across state lines
One of the experiences that haunts her is the daily quests for comic strips – which, she admits, you never really get used to. In the photo: Jen’s mugshot
“You can’t be shy and you can’t be funny because if you do, they’ll think you’re trying to hide something and they’ll harass you even more,” she added.
Jen’s advice was to just “find a way to mentally check out or just get through it.”
“They’re not going anywhere – it’s always going to suck for the record,” she warned.
Jen then recalled the details of her very first strip search in prison, saying that they don’t give you time to “acclimate” or get used to the idea – and it’s very invasive.
‘They throw you right away got off the bus and immediately started looking,” she said.
Jen also delved into the “dehumanizing” welcome experience of showering with the other inmates, starting by untying everyone and leading them off the bus.
“They start taking us in small groups where we go into the shower area and get hosed down like dogs because they want to make sure we don’t have lice,” she explained.
Once they were clean, they called groups of three to six prisoners into a small room where two to four female officers were waiting.
The search begins with the officers assessing each inmate one by one — starting with their mouths as workers slide a gloved finger around to swab the inmates’ teeth, gums and under their tongues.
Jen (pictured) was released from prison in 2020 after nearly a decade behind bars
‘THey will stand in front of you and they will tell you to take off every piece of clothing you have on and place it in front of you,” she explained.
“They don’t give any directions other than just telling you to remove everything, and so of course you feel very uncomfortable because you’re taking everything off and dropping it into a pile.”
She then admitted that the vulgarity of the whole experience was unbearable.
The search begins with the officers assessing each inmate one by one — starting with their mouths as workers slide a gloved finger around to swab the inmates’ teeth, gums and under their tongues.
“They’ll look behind your ears, they’ll look in your ears, they’ll make you lift your chest, they’ll look in every crease, crevice, crease – everything you have, they want it,” she recalled.
“They’ll make you lift your feet and look between your toes, they look between your fingers, they make you pull your hair down when it’s up, they make you shake it out,” she described.
“They’re looking everywhere – there’s no nook or cranny they won’t look in,” she added.
Then comes the worst part of searching for a strip: the “god-awful” squatting and coughing.
“I didn’t even know there were two types,” she admitted. “So they say, grab your thighs with your hands and bend your waist – don’t bend your knees at all.
“So you bend your waist and you bend over, so now you’re at a 90 degree angle and [you] They are told to take the cheeks and spread them like a curtain, as if they want to see your flower pucker,” she described.
“These are the exact words I heard coming out of a cop’s mouth, okay,” she said bluntly. “She said, ‘I want to see that flower bouncing girl.'”
Jen admitted she didn’t know what she was talking about, but started “coughing and coughing.”
“I found out later that the flower was the back entrance and when you cough it bends,” she said.
After being sentenced to 10 years in prison in the state of Florida, Jen shared the traumatic and invasive experience of her first strip search
Jen often shares her prison stories after serving ten years in prison for burglary, grand theft, and trafficking stolen property across state lines
Jen is now out of prison and raising her son, whom she gave birth to in prison
Jen then went on to describe the second squat and cough maneuver – which she says is “totally different” from the first.
“So at this point she says, ‘Okay, cool, now I want you to bend your knees and squat all the way down to the floor — don’t do anything with your torso, just bend your knees and go all the way down’ — as if we were trying to squat and pee outside or something,” she described.
“Once you get there, they do the same thing: three big coughs,” Jen explained. “And they better be sturdy, because the idea is that if they’re sturdy enough, if there’s something in the front entrance, it’s just going to fall out.”
“I don’t know who came up with this one,” she joked. “Maybe it was a man, because as a woman your anatomy doesn’t biologically allow that.”
Jen said she followed the officer’s instructions and was completely “mortified” by what she saw.
“One of the worst things is that women who cycle just drop clots,” the former inmate added.
“I’m sorry to be vulgar, I’m really sorry, but they make jelly balls fall out, okay – it’s just not hygienic, it’s not good.”
Jen also described the smell, saying it was “terrible” and unsanitary.
‘There are women who cough so hard that they fart, it stinks. There is a green cloud around us, [there] Are there people farting, are there people queuing,” she listed.
“There are people who literally cough so hard that little puddles come out, little puddles,” she continued. “I mean, it’s a really hot mess.”
At the end of the search, Jen said the room not only smelled, but was wet and slippery.
“I’m ready to get out of there. I don’t even feel awkward anymore because there’s so much going on that I can’t even concentrate on the fact that I’m naked in front of this lady.
“It’s madness, anyway guys, that’s how the first strip search went, it sucked,” she concluded the confrontational story.
‘It was terrible that it happened like that the dehumanization of it was so humiliating,” Jen said.
She often shares her experiences in prison on her TikTok and YouTube channels.
Jen, who gave birth to her son in prison, clarified in an earlier TikTok that she did not spend ten years in prison for a burglary alone, but was also involved in her then-boyfriend’s criminal activities – and after he left the country escaped and was hit with additional charges.
She previously made a video in which she talked about what she would look for if she were going to rob a house to rob.
Jen cited bad weather, security systems and animals as a green light to rob a house, while the ex-burglar shared her surprising insights into how thieves spot potential targets.