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Engine · 04-12-2013, 03:54 PM

The city I lived in during most of the nineties had decided to crack down on graffiti, and two of my friends went to jail for it.

For Trollheart's clarity: In the US, jails are facilities where people are held while they await trial, or serve shorter sentences (as P A N mentioned). Although sometimes jail sentences can be relatively long - a year or more. Cities have jails for people who are accused of crimes within city limits (city jail) and counties have jails for people accused of crimes committed outside city limits (county jail). The size and general condition of the facilities depend on the size, wealth, etc. of the city or county. Prisons are for longer sentences, and convicts may be sent to a prison far away from where the crime was committed depending on many factors (such as security level needed or overcrowding).

Anyway, the two friends I mentioned each served one month in a city jail for their graffiti, which was really quite skillfully done. They were artists, not gangsters.

When they were caught, they received tickets and court summons and were sentenced to their jail time on their court dates. They went to the same jail (different times) in a medium-size city. They were housed in one huge room full of bunk beds with all of the other convicts. And they were let out into a common room to watch TV or whatever for a certain amount of hours each day. Both reported that people were generally friendly but bored, and just whittling away the hours. They didn't need to fight or form strange alliances or anything like that. Both were afraid of what would happen before they went in but ended up considering their terms interesting memories, albeit not good ones. One completely stopped doing graffiti after he got out. The other one continued but acted more carefully.

More recently (2010?) a friend of mine went to jail for DWI (driving while intoxicated). At the scene, he refused to take a breathalyzer and was put in jail overnight where a blood test showed that his blood alcohol level was way over the legal limit - he was apparently shitfaced. The next day he was given the option of being bailed out (for I think $1000), or stay in jail until he was sentenced. He decided to stay b/c he didn't want to pay or to notify any of his family members about his situation. Also, if he was sentenced to jail time, the days he spent awaiting trial would probably count towards his sentence. Five days later, his driver's license was revoked for a year, and he was sentenced to sixty days in prison and they did count the five days as time served. Also, they would reduce the sentence by ten days if he volunteered to work while he was inside, so he volunteered.

The guards liked him because he is very unassuming and compliant, also he's nearly seven feet tall and people tend to like friendly giants. Probably for these reasons, he was given a cake job which was to do suicide watch. He was locked in a hallway with, I think, five cells each with one convict that was considered a suicide threat. And he had to do it from 6pm - 6am every night. His job was to check each cell every fifteen minutes or something and call the guard if there was cause for alarm. Nobody tried to kill themselves but the prisoners occasionally cried or screamed. He said the worst part was that it was very cold where he had to stay. But he got a lot of reading done.

He was expecting 45 days of this but got a pleasant surprise after two weeks when a guard told him that he was going to be released the next day. They didn't explain why. So he spent 5 days in a holding cell by himself, then another 15 days either in a room with bunk beds or in his suicide watch chamber. Overall he didn't mind it - the worst part was losing his driver's license for so long. I don't know for sure but he was never an alcoholic and I assume that he doesn't drive drunk anymore.

That's 3 true stories of young, white, middle class men doing time in medium city jails.

04-12-2013, 03:54 PM	#14 (permalink)
Engine air quote Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: pollen & mold Posts: 3,108	The city I lived in during most of the nineties had decided to crack down on graffiti, and two of my friends went to jail for it. For Trollheart's clarity: In the US, jails are facilities where people are held while they await trial, or serve shorter sentences (as P A N mentioned). Although sometimes jail sentences can be relatively long - a year or more. Cities have jails for people who are accused of crimes within city limits (city jail) and counties have jails for people accused of crimes committed outside city limits (county jail). The size and general condition of the facilities depend on the size, wealth, etc. of the city or county. Prisons are for longer sentences, and convicts may be sent to a prison far away from where the crime was committed depending on many factors (such as security level needed or overcrowding). Anyway, the two friends I mentioned each served one month in a city jail for their graffiti, which was really quite skillfully done. They were artists, not gangsters. When they were caught, they received tickets and court summons and were sentenced to their jail time on their court dates. They went to the same jail (different times) in a medium-size city. They were housed in one huge room full of bunk beds with all of the other convicts. And they were let out into a common room to watch TV or whatever for a certain amount of hours each day. Both reported that people were generally friendly but bored, and just whittling away the hours. They didn't need to fight or form strange alliances or anything like that. Both were afraid of what would happen before they went in but ended up considering their terms interesting memories, albeit not good ones. One completely stopped doing graffiti after he got out. The other one continued but acted more carefully. More recently (2010?) a friend of mine went to jail for DWI (driving while intoxicated). At the scene, he refused to take a breathalyzer and was put in jail overnight where a blood test showed that his blood alcohol level was way over the legal limit - he was apparently shitfaced. The next day he was given the option of being bailed out (for I think $1000), or stay in jail until he was sentenced. He decided to stay b/c he didn't want to pay or to notify any of his family members about his situation. Also, if he was sentenced to jail time, the days he spent awaiting trial would probably count towards his sentence. Five days later, his driver's license was revoked for a year, and he was sentenced to sixty days in prison and they did count the five days as time served. Also, they would reduce the sentence by ten days if he volunteered to work while he was inside, so he volunteered. The guards liked him because he is very unassuming and compliant, also he's nearly seven feet tall and people tend to like friendly giants. Probably for these reasons, he was given a cake job which was to do suicide watch. He was locked in a hallway with, I think, five cells each with one convict that was considered a suicide threat. And he had to do it from 6pm - 6am every night. His job was to check each cell every fifteen minutes or something and call the guard if there was cause for alarm. Nobody tried to kill themselves but the prisoners occasionally cried or screamed. He said the worst part was that it was very cold where he had to stay. But he got a lot of reading done. He was expecting 45 days of this but got a pleasant surprise after two weeks when a guard told him that he was going to be released the next day. They didn't explain why. So he spent 5 days in a holding cell by himself, then another 15 days either in a room with bunk beds or in his suicide watch chamber. Overall he didn't mind it - the worst part was losing his driver's license for so long. I don't know for sure but he was never an alcoholic and I assume that he doesn't drive drunk anymore. That's 3 true stories of young, white, middle class men doing time in medium city jails. __________________ Like an arrow, I was only passing through.