Following his conviction on multiple criminal accounts and being sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences, Jeffrey Dahmer arrived at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin (via Biography). Initially, his jailers kept him in solitary confinement out of fear that other inmates might wish him harm or want to make a name for themselves by killing America’s most infamous serial killer. After a few months in solitary, Dahmer asked to be moved to a less-restrictive environment, and since he’d been a model prisoner up until that point, jailers granted his request. He was moved into a unit for prisoners with “emotional problems” and was able to attend classes, eat meals with other inmates, and perform work duties.
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However, once he was among other inmates, he decided to engage in comedic schtick that was, apparently, only funny to him. He would joke to guards and other prisoners that he bites and delight in their nervous reactions. He would also shape bits of food into body parts, using ketchup to represent blood. In July 1994, another prisoner tried to murder Dahmer but was unsuccessful. Still not wanting to go back into solitary, Dahmer remained in the general population. A few months later, a different inmate would be successful at killing Dahmer.
