Hygiene in Azkaban?

[rynne]

Am randomly curious, so of course, I go ask the flist. :p

Was rereading mysid's Go Back to Being Friends for the billionth or so time, and was at the part where Remus and Sirius were talking about non-bathing records.

Do the prisoners in Azkaban get to take baths? I mean, twelve years without a shower is a pretty disgusting thought--twelve years without a shower, or brushing teeth, or combing hair, and all that hygienic stuff. Sirius's teeth would go pretty rotten, at least, wouldn't they? But you know, I can't really imagine that the Ministry would think the prisoners' hygiene all that important--most of them were mad or going mad, and all they had for company for the most part was the Dementors and each other, so what would be the need of spending money to keep them clean? And more psychological torture, maybe--going even a day or two without a shower makes me feel gross...

Not that the state of Sirius's teeth is all that important now, really, after OotP. But I can't imagine him having been all that concerned for cleanliness during PoA while on the hunt for Peter, and maybe he picked up diseases. Like ringworm, which of course wouldn't have been treated or anything. Another possible explanation for his misery during OotP. *snerk*

Okay, this has degenerated into 2:00 am babble, and I still have to get those stitches out in six hours. Just thought I'd leave you all with my random thought of the day, though it's probably just that JKR didn't think she needed to describe how icky Sirius was likely to have been in the Shrieking Shack scene. Er, good night. :p

Comments

[teawithvoldy.livejournal.com]

Did people in prisons before the 18th century get to have bathes and shave, and have clean clothes etc etc? I don't think they really have the privilge.

ANyway ... Prisoners in Askaban would be so insane from the Dementors they'd be wallowing in their own bad memories, i'd doubt they even know they stink.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Don't know all that much about prisons before the 18th century really, but hey, at least they didn't have the psychologicial torture of Dementors!

Yeah, the whole madness-by-Dementor thing is why I doubt there was much hygiene at all, but in my four-hours-of-sleep and two-am musings, I was more focusing on Sirius and not the prisoners in general, and how anyone could stand him, and what he'd be like hygniene-wise after escaping, because in the Shack scene he really doesn't seem all that bad, but he would be, after twelve years of prison conditions, wouldn't he?

Meh. Probably JKR toning it down because it wasn't important :p.

[teawithvoldy.livejournal.com]

Lol, the last thing on your mind, as you face your parents traitor and convicted murderer ... is B.O.

Dude ... if it was important, JKR would be writing about Harry having a shower. Remember the Harry hygiene outrage a while back? LOL.

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Heh. Not like I'd mind a Harry in the shower scene. *whistles innocently*

[teawithvoldy.livejournal.com]

*drools*

wouldn't mind that either.

[marauderthesn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember the "hygiene outrage". That was hilarious! Who wants to read about Harry taking a shower?

Well, maybe some people who like imagining him naked...

[lafina.livejournal.com]

Mmmh, I think 12 years in Azkaban is some kind of reconrd. Not many people survive that long when left alone with their own worst fears/ bad thoughts/ guilt. So yeh... they don't need showers if they're dead.

[hiddendaze.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for the conditions Sirius suffered under in Azkaban but I'm pretty sure Remus would have fixed his teeth/breath with some nifty spell quick smart after the Shack :) mmm, I've been thinking about that obsessively a bit.

[pockettheroach.livejournal.com]

Wow. Now that you mention that, it MUST be love for Remus to put his arms around that...canon proof, I'd say *nodnod*

[poufywerewolf.livejournal.com]

Like ringworm, which of course wouldn't have been treated or anything.

... *Shudders at the memory of a squicky fic.*

[rynne.livejournal.com]

...Don't tell me you've actually read a fic where Sirius has ringworm. *incredulous*

[poufywerewolf.livejournal.com]

Worse. It was smut. The warning was just that it was squicky, and usually I can handle that because I've read, like, everything.

And Remus was rimming him.

[canicula12.livejournal.com]

I'm sure, after his escape from Azkaban and on the run, when Sirius at least 'lay low at Lupins' he did some sort of magical thing to his teeth and other cleansing methods.

I feel like magic could help the whole rotten teeth thing (I'm not saying they went back to pearly white. but something along normal).

I feel like, actually, magic could help the whole package. Uhm. That sounds so bad.

I'm trying to say that Sirius with a wand probably cleaned himself up a lot. And I can see him taking showers obsessively at Grimmauld Place, even after he and Remus had sex and were laying together comfortably, and he just had to get up and then Remus followed him...

nevermind!

[rynne.livejournal.com]

Well, he doesn't really have access to a wand and enough free time to worry about his hygiene until at least post-PoA, and possibly not even until post-GoF if Remus didn't go with him to the tropics. But dude, in the Shack...he was probably just disgusting and JKR neglected to mention it *g*.

[canicula12.livejournal.com]

He did swim in water.

I'm sure...

Oh hell, I bet you're right.

Remus must have loved him still to embrace him like a 'brother'. Which from experience is very tightly. And touchy.

Woo.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose Padfoot could lick himself clean. ^____^;;


I imagine every now and then (maybe once a week or every other week) someone came around and doused the prisoners with hot water or something. Just to prevent the spread of disease, which is all right for the prisoners with life-sentences, not so good for the ones who are only incarcerated for a short time or for the people who just come to visit.

[marauderthesn.livejournal.com]

Maybe he swam as a dog from time to time and got cleaner that way. JKR does describe his teeth as yellow in PoA.

[marauderthesn.livejournal.com]

After he escaped, of course. I imagine in Azkaban they mostly leave you to rot.