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Leisure Time

Interview with Cami, Tombstone, Strawberry, Tonya, Jay, Fred, Alice and Patrick

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
Cami: You could go outside to the courtyard to play ball or just get some fresh air. You could go to the law library to study any information on your case that you need.
Tombstone: None; you were able to go out once a week,into a dog-trot,sort of place,for a hr or two.other than that,it was reading,or watching the tv,which was only about 4 local stations;They did have some sort of law library,but I never got to go look it over
Strawberry: HA...T.V and books
Tonya: TV
Jay: In Jefferson county the only thing you could is walk back and forth in the block or watch TV every floor had a sun room witch was a room with cage windows and a basketball goal but it was rare for the guards to take anybody out there but all the prisons had weight lifting areas library churches and movie nights so time went by a little faster in there
Fred: We was allowed to go to the law library any time of the day to research on our case. Every Sunday morning the church group was allowed to come in and speak with us for an hour at a time. They would sing church songs and read scripts from the bible
Alice: there were no facilities in jefferson county that helped us pass the time. there were a few fiction books that floated around we could read. there was no outside time, no exercise,nothing. chirch came maybe once every two weeks, but other than that there was one television. at times were were locked out of our cells for 14 hours at a time
Patrick: none, except for TV and some chess sets in each dorm. Other than that nothing and people hog the TV for BET and rap music, it is awful and very noisey in the place,all conctete no carpet. ONce a week they give you 30 minutes of basketball, joke, not right

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
Cami: TV was always available, and the books available were endless.
Tombstone: Very fierce,they would only allow a few every week to go out,to exercise,
Strawberry: well when i was in we had i think 12 rooms on our blockor 20...anywayz we had a system...depending on the day it would be a rooms turn to have the TV...like we would go by numbers....and just rotate like that
Tonya: regular acces
Jay: Like I said in the last question there wasn't much to do in the county but yea in prison I would say competition was fierce people would run to the weight pile or on movie night after count people would run to the TV room to get a good seat some people even leave stuff in the seats to let people know somebody sitting there
Fred: Yes there was access to the TV,it was a fierce competition to watch what you wanted to because there was so many inmates in there. Everybody would try and vote on something for everybody to watch so there wouldn't be to much confusion in the dayroom and the inmates would get along
Alice: there were no facilities in jefferson county that helped us pass the time. there were a few fiction books that floated around we could read. there was no outside time, no exercise,nothing. chirch came maybe once every two weeks, but other than that there was one television. at times were were locked out of our cells for 14 hours at a time
Patrick: fierce, I was 46 years old and did not want to deal with youn kids, they are to strong and to physical, situation in this joint really sucks, not right to do this to people over stupid stuff. Prison I have heard will be alot better. I do not want to find out.

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
Cami: Yes, very much so they feed you a lot of carbohydrates and it makes it so hard not to gain weight.
Tombstone: Staying in shape,yes;but you kept the weight off because of the lack of food.
Strawberry: YES...it was redonkulous....i gained alot over 3 mos and still having trouble getting it off
Tonya: No
Jay: No not really I lifted weights a lot and I worked in the kitchen so of course I made my own special food most of the time
Fred: Yes because we didn't have proper things to use to stay in shape. All you could do is push ups
Alice: there were no facilities in jefferson county that helped us pass the time. there were a few fiction books that floated around we could read. there was no outside time, no exercise,nothing. chirch came maybe once every two weeks, but other than that there was one television. at times were were locked out of our cells for 14 hours at a time
Patrick: yes. People make wieghts with pillow cases and trash bags and full them up with water. It works pretty good, I like to bike ride so not much you can do for that.

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?
Tombstone: I didn't go out once in 3 months
Strawberry: i went outside 3 times in 3 mos...only cause of shakdowns
Tonya: Never
Jay: In the county we weren't allowed outside but you could do push ups or pull ups on the steps and walk back and forth now in prison you could go outside to lift weights play basketball or play horse shoes or just sit out there to get fresh air
Fred: We were able to go outside once a week. When we did get to go outside we were able to play basketball or look at the interstate
Alice: there were no facilities in jefferson county that helped us pass the time. there were a few fiction books that floated around we could read. there was no outside time, no exercise,nothing. chirch came maybe once every two weeks, but other than that there was one television. at times were were locked out of our cells for 14 hours at a time
Patrick: never NOt one time, this is a one percent inside jail, it really sucks, you never see sunlight, sunset or the outside, not right. thanks

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
Cami: Yes, Sunday school and mass was offered on Sunday and Wednesday night.
Tombstone: They did,but they would only allow 5 from the whole pod to go,because it was a small room,the church ppl were very good about sending reading material in,its what I missed the most while I was there
Strawberry: yes...2 times a week we would have someone come into our block and talk to us about church stuff...and on sunday mornings we could go to church
Tonya: Yes Sunday
Jay: Yes they offered church services I didn't go to to many of them but the ones I did go to was like regular church most of the time it was held in the evening almost everyday
Fred: Yes they would allow the pastor to come in every Sunday and he would sing church songs and read scripters out of the bible
Alice: there were no facilities in jefferson county that helped us pass the time. there were a few fiction books that floated around we could read. there was no outside time, no exercise,nothing. chirch came maybe once every two weeks, but other than that there was one television. at times were were locked out of our cells for 14 hours at a time
Patrick: some, I did not go. They may have had some services of different types once or twice a week, I have no interest.

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