Lyle Menendez was constantly injured during his early days in jail, his ex-wife says … but, he kept a sense of humor through it all and never spilled on exactly what happened to him.

We spoke with Anna Eriksson — Lyle’s wife from 1996 to 2001 — who tells TMZ she went to visit Lyle quite a bit when he was first incarcerated … and, he was clearly suffering from a series of injuries when she saw him.

Eriksson says she once saw the white of his eye was blood-red … and, another time he couldn’t even walk properly. Anna says she sent Lyle new shoes but later noticed he was wearing some old ones she didn’t recognize — and, she believes the new ones were taken from him by force.

Despite the obvious issues, Anna says Lyle never opened up to her about what he was going through … claiming instead he was injured playing basketball. He never complained, she said, despite living a brutal experience.

On one occasion, Anna remembers the warden at the prison where Lyle was doing time telling her that Lyle needed to come out of his cell to avoid adding more time to his sentence.

When she told Lyle this, he responded by explaining he saw a fellow prisoner’s throat slit one day … and, he didn’t want to leave his cell in the morning after that because he feared for his life.

Anna says the brothers’ phone calls with their therapists and a priest helped the brothers to calm down and care for themselves behind bars. The help allowed the Menendez bros to better deal with their emotions.

As we told you … Erik spoke with Harvey and Mark Geragos on the “2 Angry Men” podcast about the brutal beatings he and Lyle suffered early on in prison. Their treatment has improved over the years, we’re told … and, Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego has been a much less dangerous environment for the brothers.

That’s gonna leave a mark!!! Some serious rough riding went down on world-famous Rodeo Drive as a bunch of mini-motorcycles slammed into a MUCH bigger luxury SUV.

The driver of a white Range Rover was cruising through the Bev Hills intersection — with a green light, mind you — when suddenly 2 speeding bikers ignored a red light … and paid a heavy price!

You can see and hear the intense collision as the bikers t-boned into the Range.

The 2 riders were thrown off their bikes Sunday afternoon — one of them was laid out with injuries — and 3 more of their buddies pulled up … apparently pissed at the SUV driver, for no good reason. One of them even slapped the side of the Range in anger.

We’ve learned Bev Hills cops showed up on the scene. The Range driver was still there, but almost all of the bikers had fled … except for the one who was too hurt to move.

We’re told he’s a minor and had to be transported to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

He could have some insult to go with those injuries — cops plan to forward the case to the L.A. County D.A.’s Office for possible charges.

Liam Payne‘s pal Roger Nores is still wrapping his head around being cleared of manslaughter charges tied to the singer’s tragic drug-fueled death — and the main thing he wants now is an apology from Liam’s dad, Geoff.

Roger appeared on “TMZ Live” Thursday, explaining that even though Liam’s dad is the reason he faced charges, he’s holding no grudges — BUT for that defamation lawsuit to go away, Geoff needs to show some real remorse.

Roger tries to understand Geoff’s actions, acknowledging to us that there’s no greater loss than losing a child … and how that feeling of responsibility could drive someone to blame others, even when they don’t have all the facts.

He also discusses the grief he’s been carrying, admitting that amid the legal chaos, he never fully processed Liam’s death. But now that the charges against him have been dropped, he’s finally ready to confront the loss.