O.J. Simpson spent the majority of his time in Lovelock Correctional Center relatively smoothly, however the early days were harrowing. In August 2023, after former NFL player Henry Ruggs was sentenced to prison for causing the death of a 23-year-old woman while driving drunk in Nevada, Simpson detailed his own experience after being sentenced in 2008. “They put you in something called holding lockdown. We called it the ‘Fish Tank,'” Simpson in the video that was posted on Twitter. The “Fish Tank” Nevada’s High Desert State Prison is where inmates are held temporarily before they are sent to the institution where they will be serving their sentence. “They put you in a room. They give you absolutely nothing. I mean nothing,” Simpson added. “After about three days, I went crazy. I said, ‘Guys, I need help.'” Simpson told reporters that he was given a bible by the prison’s minister.
Simpson had hoped that Ruggs, after leaving High Desert, would be sent on to Lovelock. “Compared to the ‘Fish Tank,’ it’s almost heaven,” In the tweet video, he made a statement. Simpson was allowed to adjust his period of time in prison.
Simpson, due to his fame and celebrity was kept apart from the rest of Lovelock’s students during his initial months. In his early years, Simpson also gained a lot of weight. “I gained weight eating all those beans, but just because I can’t get enough fruits and vegetables,” Simpson tells the story New York Post 2013 Eventually, the prison life he lived behind bars became his normal.
