While O.J. Simpson’s time at Lovelock Correctional Center wound up being relatively smooth, the beginning of his prison sentence was rather 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 said in a video posted to Twitter. The “Fish Tank” is Nevada’s High Desert State Prison, where prisoners are temporarily held before being sent to the facility where they will serve their time. “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 said the prison’s pastor came to visit and gave him a copy of the bible to read.
Simpson hoped Ruggs would be sent to Lovelock after leaving High Desert. “Compared to the ‘Fish Tank,’ it’s almost heaven,” he said in the Twitter video. Later, he ingratiated himself with inmates, but there was an adjusted period for Simpson.
Due to his celebrity, Simpson was initially kept away from the general population in his first few months at Lovelock. During his first few years, he also put on significant pounds. “I gained weight eating all those beans, but just because I can’t get enough fruits and vegetables,” Simpson told the New York Post in 2013. Eventually, he settled into his life behind bars.
