Hey all,
I resolve to keep asking this until I get an answer... I've asked this question in various forms before, but never received much interest (and no answers), so I'm tossing it out into the mysterious reddit void again to see if the winds have shifted. Perhaps the happy occasion of the sub birthday will generate good fortune, and an answer!
Here are some examples of sub-questions which spring to mind (but this is by no means an exhaustive list of discussion possibilities):
How am I getting fed?
When someone comes to visit me, what is that like?
Am I chained up in a dungeon? Can I pay to upgrade my physical conditions of confinement?
Is there any such thing as bond?
Visiting someone in a contemporary American prison is a very different experience than it might have been in other time periods, obviously. I remember reading that in some periods of history-- English debtor prisons, if I remember correctly?-- being imprisoned did not imply that you would be fed by your captors, so you had to hope visitors would show up and feed you. So in that sense, 'visiting someone in prison' would have a whole different meaning that what it means now, which is more about the (not unimportant) providing of human contact to the 'outside' world, etc.
I'm sure it's obvious that I'm thinking of a particular Christian scriptural passage when this question comes to mind, but of course, this is AskHistorians and I expect only purely historical responses. (Well, actually, given the historical trend of this question, I don't expect any responses, but hey, why not try?) Thanks in advance!
EDIT: Egads!!! Upvotes! Thanks for the interest, friends. Perhaps there will be an answer!!!
EDIT 2: I can't believe this has 500 upvotes and no answers... but I appreciate people giving this visibility. And I wait patiently. Surely someone has something to share on this point!
I'm on mobile, and I'm sure the New Testament types can answer more thoroughly than I can; however, I think the closest thing we have to actual data on such experiences is going to be Paul and his Prison Epistles (Galatians, Philemon, Philippians, and Colossians--three of which are genuinely Pauline, one of which is questioned as far as authorship is concerned if I remember correctly [Col.]). In Paul's case, he was a house prisoner, and we have some details on that from his explanations in his epistles. This seemed more lax than things like dungeon imprisonment (although certainly still not ideal).
I think the major problem your question encounters is one of data. Prisoners were not often the writing type and I think in most cases, because this was the Roman period, many or perhaps even most of them, were not incarcerated but sold off into slavery instead. (If anyone has a source on this, please let me know. Josephus may have things to say on this but I'm uncertain.) Certainly, many prisoners wound up as fodder for fighting pits so the only visitors they got were likely lions and swords.
Your best bet, since you alluded to New Testament texts in your post, may be some of the more historically oriented commentary series on Paul's letters (check Hermeneia, WBC, Anchor, etc.). These volumes tend to contextualize things rather well and will also point to more secondary literature on the issue.
I know this is all still a little vague, and doesn't directly answer the question in a more substantive manner, but I hope it helps guide the discussion toward more viable solutions.