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Interview with Shawanda Miller, Jeremy, Chuck, Charles and Josh

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Shawanda Miller: Females had only 1 block. The males had different blocks I believe 3-4 different ones. Then they had the work release unit for the males also besides the other 3 or 4.
Jeremy: Didnt really tour the jail!
Chuck: Five units. There were to guys to a cell. Sometimes it got so overcrowded they put guys on cots in the gym.
Charles: 5 or 6 I think
Josh: there where seven different blocks in the jail.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Shawanda Miller: All numbered. 2100 the old female block. Males had 7100, work release, segregation. Can't remember the other's but all numbered.
Chuck: They called them by the doors 3100 hunderd 2100 hundred and so on.
Charles: they had numbers like 200, 400, 600 and so on
Josh: The blocks where named 2100, 3100, 4100, 6100, 7100, 8100, and 9100.

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Shawanda Miller: Segregation for people who fought or for the ones who had pysch problems.
Jeremy: The pod that they held me seemed to have them ALL! I saw many men with different crimes all in the same pod. I was told that this is the pod EVERYONE comes to as its on lockdown most of the time. After some time you are transferred to other pods where you have more dayroom time.
Chuck: They seperated the units for pretrial, segragation/max security, sentencing, work release and woman's unit.
Charles: There was general population and then you had different units for inmates that were going to prison or possibly for their alleged crimes. Special units for other inmates like inmate workers.
Josh: They didn't seperate us by crime. But there where people in for all kinds of crimes. 4100 was max where the real crazies went, people going to prison. 6100 was the hole where I spent half of my time.

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Shawanda Miller: The old female unit had a library, and you could go to main library. Otherwise nothing nice about jail.
Jeremy: The COs all were pretty good. Quite down to earth and helpful and polite.
Chuck: The best part about that jail is the programs that they have there. A lot of progams to keep a guy busy like GED classes, gym, AA church. The worst part of it I guess is like any jail; you're fighting depression because your locked down most of the day. Fighting the constant barage of people in denial of the situation and constantly having to listen to the talk and gossip and bullshit. It gets really stressful.
Charles: The nicest was living in the inmate worker dorm where I would get extra food, clothes, soap or whatever. The worst was being locked down in solitary confinement with nothing at all to do except think. In jail there really isn't any "nicest" part, there is only boring, locked up and being baby sat parts.
Josh: Well the nice part about not being in the hole is that you can read books besides the bible. And you get out to the common area from 7am-9am, noon-1pm and 8pm-10pm. But if anybody in the jail gets into a fight the whole jail gets locked down for 23 hours. I was only in 2100 and 6100.

Read about telephone access in the Dakota County Jail

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