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Jail Layout

Interview with Tom, Jessica, Justin, Pat and Sandi

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Tom: in the tent are there was one for females, one for work release, one for work furlough and one for hard time all in the same area with 10 foot fencing separating them
Jessica: 5 per floor in a * shape with the Detention Officer station in the hub of the *
Justin: depends.. in towers you had one tower, 4 blocks and 15 cells per block, in durango you had a house, four pods, and 16 rooms per pod
Pat: I think there were 5 different ones
Sandi: I think that there were four pods surrounding a tower inside the Estrella Jail where I was located.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Tom: the only two i heard was work release called "easy street" and hard time called "little hanoi"
Jessica: T12A, T12B, T13A... "Con-Tents", "Tent City"
Justin: towers was "tower" durango was "pods" and tent city you had tents
Pat: No they went by letters except those in lock down which was ad segi
Sandi: I do not remember.

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Tom: the breakdown was previously answered
Jessica: by classification min, med, max etc
Justin: maximum to medium would be housed at towers and or lbj,, and minumum to medium was housed in the durango jail or lbj or towers.. so it was mixed up pretty well
Pat: I was based upon the level of risk that you are housed at. Min, med and high levels if risk and then those in ad seg is how we were housed
Sandi: Mostly violent offenders were housed in Maximum Security, or repeat offenders. Also we had prisoners from the state penitentiary housed there as they awaited court or new trials. We also had federal parole violators housed there.

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Tom: they were identical as far as number of bunks in each tent the worst was no cooling in 120degree heat or heating in freezing weather and in the rain all the tents leaked and guards would not let you relocate bunk out of water
Jessica: nicest- Being released, the worst- bare minimum food ( peanut butter, 2 6" rolls, citrus, cookies 2 1/2 pt milks - AM ...no additional food was given until 10hrs later- and it was only hot meal supplied per day) LOTS OF HUNGRY INMATES esp those without monetary resources to buy extra food from the inmate commissary
Justin: umm newer houses had nicer ammenaties.. but ofcourse in jail nothing is nice, older facilities suck as teh durango jail which was condemmed back in the 60's had asbestos on the ceilings,, paint chipping from teh walls. windows cracked and or not there..it was dirty, phones didnt work and teh tvs you could never hear
Pat: They all seemed the same depending on your level of security was how much time you were allowed out in the yard for. Ad seg only got an hour out one or two people at a time being locked down would be the worst because you have less privilages available
Sandi: The common area of each pod had about 5 or 6 picnic tables in the center. Around them was enough room to walk a "track" around the pod. Myself and another inmate calculate how many times around the pod might be the equivalent of a mile; I think it was 21 laps. I power walked the whole time I was there. The worst part was having to be there in the first place.

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