I Was A Prison Guard In Arizona’s Most Dangerous Units | Jaycee Reidhead

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 745 Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2025

⏱️ 113 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jaycee Reidhead’s journey from a traumatic incident in high school to working inside Arizona’s most dangerous prisons is nothing short of incredible. Instead of going straight to law school, she spent seven years as a correctional officer in high-security facilities, including housing units for severely mentally ill inmates. During her time behind prison walls, she faced daily violence, chaos, and even survived being stabbed by an inmate. #PrisonStories #CorrectionsOfficer #ArizonaPrison #PrisonLife #COStories #TrueCrimePodcast #LockedInWithIanBick #RedemptionStory Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Use code LOCKEDIN for 20% OFF Wooooo Energy Buy Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:55 Welcome and First Impressions of New York 01:21 Childhood and Family Life 03:09 Family Struggles and Sibling Substance Abuse 04:24 Experiencing Trauma in High School 06:21 Coping Mechanisms and Academic Drive 07:36 Rethinking Law School and Next Steps 08:38 Choosing Corrections and Law Enforcement 09:16 Correctional Officer Academy: Training and Challenges 12:42 Physical Demands and Gender Dynamics at the Academy 15:14 First Impressions: Entering the Prison Environment 18:40 Early Work: Unexpected Realities in Prison 21:20 First Prison Assignments and SMI Units 26:28 Handling SMI Inmates and Unique Challenges 34:32 Rapport and Tensions in SMI Populations 41:11 Moments of Crisis: Suicidal Incidents on the Job 45:00 Heavy Toll of Suicide Watch and Mental Health 53:05 Becoming a Target: Assaults and Trauma 01:03:53 Dealing with Repeat Violence and Not Telling Family 01:15:25 Gender, Respect, and Boundaries as a Female CO 01:28:38 Prison Politics and SMI Population Dynamics 01:31:03 Personal Loss and Substance Abuse in and out of Prison 01:35:01 Compartmentalizing Trauma and Facing Challenges 01:41:15 Questioning the System and Leadership Changes 01:49:00 Looking Back: Lessons, Regrets, and Moving Forward Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is presented by eBay.
0:03.7	Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time, don't they? Absolutely, mate. And you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. there's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.
0:23.7	Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most
0:25.9	importantly, free. It's free, Rob. When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great
0:31.2	deals on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business
0:35.9	sellers. Under normal situations, it might be a red flag, but with SMIs, they do weird stuff all the time. Like, he's just like, kind of walking in front. So I open the gate. And as soon as I open the gate, he turns around and he comes at me. I didn't know that he had a pencil and he's stabbing me in the face. I thought that he was just punching me.
0:55.0	J.C. Reed had grew up in Arizona and a traumatic incident in high school set her on a mission
1:00.0	to change the criminal justice system. Instead of going straight to law school, she put her plans
1:05.1	on hold and spent seven intense years working as a correctional officer in some of Arizona's
1:10.4	highest security prisons,
1:11.9	including units housing severely mentally ill inmates.
1:15.2	In those years, she faced assaults, chaos, and even survived being stabbed by an inmate.
1:21.1	Now, J.C. is finally pursuing her dream of becoming a lawyer,
1:24.7	using the lessons she learned behind prison walls to fuel her next chapter.
1:32.6	J.C., welcome to Lockton.
1:34.6	Thank you. Nice to be here.
1:36.2	Yeah, sorry for dragging you out in the cold here.
1:38.4	I didn't know you came from Arizona where it's 100 degrees.
1:41.1	No, it's kind of nice, you know, not being dying of heat, so.
1:46.0	Yeah. And you're spending a couple days in New York City.
1:48.3	Yeah, yeah. We visited a few places around Manhattan, obviously the big tourist spots, but yeah, it's been fun.
1:55.7	Is that your first time in New York City?
	...

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