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Leisure Time

Interview with Bee, Anthony and Clarence

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.

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