JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time? Bee: I stayed in my cell and read all day. I would
also exercise in there. Anthony: they had tvs and you could buy cards on
commisary to play cards but you couldnt bet and
they had a chess/ checker board and monopoly and
on the 6th floor they had a basket ball court in
the outdoor rec area but you could only shoot
around you couldnt play any games and you would
get locked down if you were caught playing any
games Clarence: Not much - playing games (chess, checkers, dominos, board
games); watching tv & reading (there is an area where they
keep books). There was also the gym area, but you only went
there once or twice a week. So you had to bide your time
doing other things & for me, reading helped out.
JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details. Bee: Competition was very very fierce. Not fierce as
in you wanted to fight but as in there are a ton
of women with 1 tv, 2 packs of cards and 1
container of dominoes. Anthony: there were 3 tvs per floor and only like 5
chairs per tv so sometimes it was kinda
difficult to get a chair for a tv and the
corrections officers had to change the channel
and the volume so it was kinda difficult to get
people to agree on what to watch Clarence: There is always an argument as to what to watch on tv. There
is only one tv per pod & as you can imagine, nobody agrees
on this. Often times the c.o. would have to control this.
Because of the occasional confrontation at the tv area, I didn't
go there often.
JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail? Bee: No because you never really eat except for
commissary which I didn't have any money for so I
easily stayed in shape. Anthony: no I never worked out before jail but i decided
as a way to pass time to start working out while
i was in there and they had no machines or
anything but i did alot of push ups and sit ups Clarence: Yes, there wasn't much of a workout area in this facility. What
your find yourself doing is light workouts in your cell (push-up,
sit-up).
JM: How often did you get to go outside? What did you do outside if you were allowed to? If you were not allowed to go outside what could you do for exercise? Bee: I never went outside!! Some county jails let you
outside????? Anthony: they had the outdoor rec center that you could
use either in the morning or afternoon depending
on if it was dry out and you could shoot around
but thats it Clarence: No, we did not go outside but there was a small gym with a
basketball court & some weights. Because there wasn't much
of these items, you went there and walked around to at least
get exercise that way.
JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held? Bee: They offered church services. They were on Sunday
and only for the Christians. Actually the church
didn't even hold it now that I think about it. It
was a volunteer Christian church from Chicago
Mount something. Anthony: yeah they had church services on sundays and
then bible study groups once a week but i never
went i didnt go to church before jail so i didnt
wanna start going just cause i was in jail Clarence: Yes they did, although I did not participate. There were
services for a few denominations & a priest or nun would
come to talk & being books.