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Leisure Time

Interview with Mish, Sally, Pace, Baby, Jamie, Gerard, Manuel, Raella, LKai, Josie, George, Terry, Pebbles, Miles and Jessica

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
Mish: TV, books, cards
Sally: READING, PLAYING CARDS.....WRITING....
Pace: bullshit time
Baby: I was on 23 hour lock down you lucky if you have a pencil, no paper except kotex boxes. Which I used the kotex boxes to clean the cell. So I guess washing down my cell ever day with kotex and hand soap was what I did. Oh I found a used book but the ending was tore out/
Jamie: ged parenting church roof
Gerard: As I mentioned, we get an hour of yard per day. Just seeing the sunshine made me happy. Other than that, we pretty much had full reign of our barracks when we didn't have yard time. We had board games, cut-up magazines (lots of the pictures of female celebrities got cut out), old ass books and day-old newspapers. The deputies might turn on the TV for an hour or two every day but it's always on some crappy show like Maury Povich or America's Funniest Videos.
Manuel: dayroom they have tv and tables with card games an chesst if you get lucky they take you up the roof to plat basketball
Raella: Tv during day room, books, magazines. Sometimes inmates can go out on the roof and play handball for an hour on mondays.
LKai: I wasn't there long enough to explore any 'facilities', but I think you get to visit the library every week.
Josie: lots of books, and some dayroom time when you could watch tv.
George: There was a dayroom with old, torn books. There were broken chess sets, outdated magazines, and a television with a horrible picture. We also had decks of cards, which was the real lifesaver because it helped us to actually pass some time. Other than that, there really was nothing. Every week or so, we could get outside time on the roof.
Terry: MOST OF THE FACILITIES HAVE SOME TYPE OF REC YARD(RECREATION AREA), BE IT INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. MOST HAVE OPEN AREAS, MAYBE BASKETBALL COURT, AND OR EXCERCISE AREA, DIP BAR, PULL UP BARS ECT... INSIDE THE FACILITIES MOST HAVE OPEN TV AREA, WITH CARD TABLES CALLED THE DAY ROOM THAT HAD FEW BOOKS AND OR MAGAZINES.
Pebbles: You could go to school, workout, go to church and different groups. School was to obtain your General ED. We had rancho Santiago canyon portables. They also offered computer classes and food handling classes. The church groups where mostly Christian or catholic. Those were available a couple days a week.
Miles: We had a all day construction shop where the premise was to learn how to do construction trades by performing construction jobs on the property. That was eight am to four pm five days a week. Then you had yard time twice a day for an hour, and a chance to go out and play softball on top the regular yard time.

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
Mish: Regular access
Sally: REALLY THE ONLY ENTERTAINMENT WAS AA, CHURCH, READING WATCHING TC CABLE(BUT YOU COULD ONLY HEAR IT IF YOU WERE IN DAYROOM AND BESIDES I DIDNT HAVE GLASSES WITHOUT METAL, SO I COULDNT SEE EITHER)
Pace: entertainment is what you make it
Baby: NO, and the TV did not work for the half hour I did
Jamie: only when the day room was opened which was froom 8 in the morning to 8 at night for count then opened til 11
Gerard: There is some competition for the various forms of entertainment. I just ended up sleeping a lot so I didn't have to deal with the bother of trying to find something to do.
Manuel: regular if not in lock down
Raella: not where I was, but I was in medical. Only on girl per room and shared day room with only 3 other girls.
LKai: There was a room to watch TV. Usually everyone watches it at night when the drama shows come on, like CSI.
Josie: yea everyone is good about sharing fairly
George: There was regular access, it just wasn't all that wonderful. Ultimately, reading was the only thing to do on your own, and poker required a group of people. There were times when different races used the room for "meetings" but there really wasn't a situation I can recall when I wanted to use the room and someone else kept me from it.
Terry: WELL, AT THE LEAST IT WAS REGULAR ACCESS TO ENTERTAINMENT, BE IT THE TV OR OTHER INMATES. COMPETITION IS ALWAYS FIERCE IN JAIL FROM FOOD, TO CELLS, TO PROPERTY, AS LIVING WITH MEN EVERYDAY IN CLOSE QUARTERS IS. MOST OF THE TIME THE ENTERTAINMENT COMES FROM OTHER INMATES ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES...SINGING, DANCING, TELLING STORIES, BOXING, TELLING JOKES, ECT...
Pebbles: The only entertainment was the tv and we had lawn
Miles: The tv was the only entertainment, and that wasn't much of a competition as there wasn't any options to argue over when it came to channels to watch. We had books, but the number of books per inmates interested in reading wasn't at a high level of competition, because most inmates wanted to play cards or talk and share war stories

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
Mish: I just got fat eating so much
Sally: NO I LOST WEIGHT BECAUSE I EXERCISED (PUSH-UPS, SITUPS, ETC) AND CHOOSE NOT TO EAT ALL THE GRAINS THEY GAVE US, OR COMMISSARY
Pace: no, you figure that out yourself. 24 hour fitness
Baby: I went from 117 lbs to 98 lbs I have had38 surgeries seven surgeries on my stomach and the food is not a bariatric diet so if I try to eat it I would have probably died I had 6 hours of surgery after the last stay lets see if I make to live out of this next one
Jamie: no
Gerard: Many of the guys actually didn't work out much. A few guys walked back and forth in the barracks and a few guys did pushups but it wasn't anything major.
Manuel: no working out is mandatory for each ethnic group to prepare for riots
LKai: Hardly. You could work out as much as you want in there. And there are so many creative ways to work out without using weights and such.
Josie: nope
George: Not really. I did exercises, and though I was officially "exempt" from mandatory exercises required by my race (because of my age) I wanted to pass the time.
Terry: WELL IN SOME FACILITIES IN THIS JAIL IT IS VERY HARD TO STAY IN SHAPE UNLESS YOU GET CREATIVE AND LEARN JAILHOUSE WORKOUT METHODS.
Miles: No I did not have a hard time, it was avaialble through your own discipline of doing sit-ups, push-ups, or not.

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?
Mish: I got to go outside maybe once a week
Sally: A COUPLE TIMES A WEEK BUT, WE WERE IN AN AREA THAT WAS ALL BLOCKED OFF EXCEPT THE ROOF SO ID HARDLY CALL IT OUTSIDE BUT ITS BETTER THAN NOTHING AT ALL
Pace: As often as they let you
Baby: Never, I never even seen the light of day.
Jamie: once a week at dark thirty in the morning to the roof
Gerard: Once a day for about an hour.
Jessica: 5 days a week, usually for about an hour.
Manuel: once a week
Raella: never, unless you're sentenced to the farm or are able to go out on the roof.
LKai: OC Jail doesn't have a yard, but if you want a yard, you get sent to the other jail right down the street.
George: Very rarely. Once a week, and I didn't enjoy it. It was essentially a rooftop, and it wasn't at all like being in the outdoors at all.
Terry: IN SELECTED FACILITIES YOU GOT TO GO OUTSIDE EVERYDAY, SOME MAYBE TWO OR THREE TIMES DAILY. IN HORIZON AND PARTS OF MAIN JAIL...NO DAYLIGHT, YOU HAVE TO BE CREATIVE, DIPS OFF THE BUNKS, JOGGING AROUND THE DORM, LIFTING BAGS FILLED WITH WATER, ECT..
Miles: You had yard time twice a day for an hour, and a chance to go out and play softball on top the regular yard time on the weekends.

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
Mish: Yes. I don't know I never went
Sally: YES AND THEY WERE VERY INSPIRING THE TIMING DEPENDED ONCE OR TWICE A MONTH.
Pace: Fortunately, the catholic church has much influence and I was allowed my sunday or saturday mass
Baby: LOL you are funny! I requested a priest but that is all it was a request on a piece of paper
Jamie: yes in the evening
Gerard: I'm not very religious so I didn't keep up on the church services. I think they had one weekly service for everyone, regardless of faith.
Jessica: Yes
Manuel: yes never attented
LKai: I'm not sure, but I'm sure they don't.
Josie: yes
George: They did offer church services, but I did not attend . There were various denominations held at different times by different local churches.
Terry: SOME FACILITIES OFFERED CHURCH, WHEN I WAS IN HORIZON, THEY CALLED CHURCH ON WEDNESDAY EVENINGS, CHAIRS SET UP IN SMALL VISITATION ROOM, VOLUNTEERS READING THE BIBLE AND HANDING OUT LITTLE TRACTS.
Miles: Yes there was church services, I never went to church though. They also had AA meetings I would go to those. The meetings were good, it was outside AA members allowed to come in and run the AA meetings.

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