A former jailbird who spent a decade in prison recalled the most dehumanizing moment of her time inside – revealing the worst happened before she was even officially behind bars.
Jen Gomez, who was sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines in 2011, shared the insight in a video posted to YouTube.
One of the experiences that still haunts her is the daily strip searches – which she admitted never get any easier.
‘Strip searches are a part of everyday life in prison – you better get used to them,’ she said matter-of-factly.
Jen Gomez, who was sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines in 2011
![One of the experiences that till haunts her is the daily strip searches - which she admitted you never truly get used to. Pictured: Jen's mugshot](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/19/84084599-13349619-One_of_the_experiences_that_till_haunts_her_is_the_daily_strip_s-m-33_1714070675101.jpg)
One of the experiences that till haunts her is the daily strip searches – which she admitted you never truly get used to. Pictured: Jen’s mugshot
‘You can’t be shy and you can’t act funny because if you do they’re going to think you’re trying to hide something and they’re going to f**k with you even more,’ she added.
Jen’s advice was to just ‘find a way to either mentally check out or just thug your way through it.’
‘They’re not going anywhere – it’s always going to suck for the record,’ she cautioned.
Jen then recalled the detail of her first ever strip search in prison, saying they don’t give you time to ‘acclimate’ or get used to the idea – and it’s very invasive.
‘They throw you right off the bus and straight into a search,’ she said.
Jen also delved into the ‘dehumanizing’ welcome experience of being showered with the other inmates, starting with unshackling everybody and leading them off the bus.
‘They start taking us in small groups where we are gonna go to the shower area, and get hosed down like dogs because they want to make sure that we don’t have lice,’ she explained.
When they were clean, they called groups of three to six of inmates into a little area where two to four female officers were waiting.
![The search begins with the officers assessing each prisoner one at a time - starting with their mouths as the workers slide a gloved finger around to swipe the inmates' teeth, gums and under their tongue](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/19/84083605-13349619-image-m-31_1714070606386.jpg)
![The search begins with the officers assessing each prisoner one at a time - starting with their mouths as the workers slide a gloved finger around to swipe the inmates' teeth, gums and under their tongue](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/19/84083601-13349619-The_search_begins_with_the_officers_assessing_each_prisoner_one_-a-32_1714070612416.jpg)
The search begins with the officers assessing each prisoner one at a time – starting with their mouths as the workers slide a gloved finger around to swipe the inmates’ teeth, gums and under their tongue
![Jen (pictured) was released from prison in 2020, after spending almost 10 years behind bars](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/15/84080203-13349619-image-a-8_1714056472473.jpg)
Jen (pictured) was released from prison in 2020, after spending almost 10 years behind bars
‘They will be standing in front of you and they will proceed to tell you to take every stitch of clothing that you have on off and drop it in front of you,’ she explained.
‘They don’t give any directions past that they just tell you to take everything off, and so of course you’re hella uncomfortable because you proceed to take everything off and you drop it in a pile.’
She then admitted the vulgarity of the whole experience was excruciating.
The search begins with the officers assessing each prisoner one at a time – starting with their mouths as the workers slide a gloved finger around to swipe the inmates’ teeth, gums and under their tongue.
‘They’ll look behind your ears, they’ll look in your ears, they’ll make you lift up the breast, they’ll look in every crease, crevice, fold – everything you got they want it,’ she recalled.
‘They will make you lift your feet up and look between your toes, they’ll look between your fingers, they’ll make you take your hair down if it’s up, they’ll make you shake it out,’ she described.
‘They’re looking everywhere – there’s not a nook or cranny that they’re not looking in,’ she added.
Next comes the worst part of the strip search – the ‘god awful’ squat and cough.
‘I didn’t even know there were two kinds,’ she admitted. ‘So they say grab your thighs with your hands and bend at the waist – do not bend your knees at all.
‘So you bend at your waist and you bend over so now you’re like at a 90-degree angle and [you] are told take the cheekaroos and spread them like a curtain – like they want to see your flower pucker,’ she described.
‘These are exact words that I heard come out of an officer’s mouth okay,’ she said bluntly. ‘She said “I want to see that flower pucker girl.”‘
Jen admitted she didn’t know what she was talking about, but started ‘coughing and coughing.’
‘I found out later on that the flower was the back entrance and when you cough it flexes,’ she shared.
![After being sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison, Jen shared the traumatic and invasive experience of her first strip search](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/19/78561897-13349619-After_being_sentenced_to_10_years_in_a_Florida_state_prison_Jen_-m-26_1714070574068.jpg)
After being sentenced to 10 years in a Florida state prison, Jen shared the traumatic and invasive experience of her first strip search
![Jen often shares her prison stories after spending 10 years in jail for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/19/78561891-13349619-Jen_often_shares_her_prison_stories_after_spending_10_years_in_j-a-24_1714070559250.jpg)
Jen often shares her prison stories after spending 10 years in jail for burglary, grand larceny, and trafficking stolen property across state lines
![Jen is now out of prison and is raising her son, who she gave birth to in prison](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/25/19/78561903-13349619-Jen_is_now_out_of_prison_and_is_raising_her_son_who_she_gave_bir-m-35_1714071528576.jpg)
Jen is now out of prison and is raising her son, who she gave birth to in prison
Jen then moved on to describing the second squat and cough maneuver – which she says is ‘completely 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 ground – do not do anything with your torso, bend your knees and go all the way down” – like if you were trying to squat and pee outside or something,’ she described.
‘Once you get down there they do the same thing – three hearty coughs,’ Jen explained. ‘And they better be hearty because the thought is that if they’re hearty enough, if there’s anything up in the frontend entrance it will just fall out.’
‘Don’t know who made these up,’ she quipped. ‘Maybe it was a guy because biologically speaking your anatomy as a woman is not going to allow it.’
Jen said she followed the officers instructions and was completely ‘mortified’ by what she saw.
‘One of the worst parts is that women who are on their cycle are just dropping clots,’ the former inmate added.
‘I’m sorry to be vulgar, I’m really sorry, but they’re dropping balls of jelly out of them okay – it’s just not sanitary it’s not good.’
Jen also described the smell saying it was ‘awful’ and unsanitary.
‘There are women who are coughing so hard they’re farting, it stank. There is a green cloud surrounding us, [there] are people farting, there are people queefing,’ she listed.
‘There are people that are literally coughing so hard that they’re having little sprinkles of pee coming out, little urination showers,’ she continued. ‘I mean it’s a whole hot mess.’
By the end of the search, Jen said the room not only smelled but was also wet and slippery.
‘I’m ready to get the hell out of there. I’m not even uncomfortable anymore because there’s so much going on that I can’t even focus on the fact that I’m butt booty naked in front of this lady.
‘It is craziness, anyway guys that’s how the first strip search went it sucked big time,’ she concluded the confronting story.
‘It was horrible it was so dehumanizing it was so humiliating,’ Jen said.
She often shares her experiences in prison to her TikTok and YouTube channels.
Jen, who gave birth to her son while in prison, clarified in an earlier TikTok she didn’t spend a decade in jail due to burglary alone, but was also mixed up in her then-boyfriend’s criminal activity — and after he fled the country was slapped with extra charges.
She previously made a video sharing what she would look out for when canvassing a home to rob.
Jen listed bad weather, security systems and animals as green lights to rob a home, as the ex-burglar shared her surprising insights into how thieves scoped out potential targets.
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