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Interview with Raymond, Brenda, Reta, Ronnie, Germz and Jimmy

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Raymond: There were 14 barracks with a total of around 300 guys in there.
Brenda: In Fire Camp we were all in barracks like the Army. we had different crew Crew 1 to Crew 5 and they each had 10 to 17 girls on them and each were assigned a captain(fire captain for Cal Fire).our barracks were called dorms and they were labeled dorm 1 to dorm 5 like the assigned crew.
Reta: 3 dorms with 4 pods in each dorm... 300 or more women. There was medium security and maximum security along with medical and observation dorm.
Ronnie: 8 floors split into pods. 4 pods per floor. 65 per dorm.
Germz: there are 5 lock down blocks in san jose jail
Jimmy: There was just one multistory building.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Raymond: Just numbers like 1,2,3,
Brenda: Dorms 1 -5
Reta: Just letters.
Ronnie: They named them by letters.
Germz: snake pits, the basement, old jail, new jail, sixth floor, fith floor, asd the bird cage
Jimmy: The different parts of the jail had only numerical and alphabetical designations.

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Raymond: There was a place they called RCP which was like bootcamp for drug cases that didn't want to go to prison. Other than that we were all mixed together.
Brenda: All the inmates in fire camp had to be a level 1 which meant no violence are body harming crimes. we were all in the same area not separation.
Reta: Once you were brought in you were taken to minimum security until your sentencing. They did seperate the violent offenders from the non violent ones.
Ronnie: They would seperate you by race and keep the violent offenders in the single cells because they were always worried they might start trouble.
Germz: all the inmates were general population. everybody lived in them. the sixth floor is for the crazies or the ones that pretend to be. the fith floor is for protective custody and ad seg
Jimmy: I was housed in part of the jail for people awaiting trial who couldn't make bail. My dormitory was termed the "pussy ward" because the inmates there were not hardened criminals or gang members. Anyone who even threatened violence was taken to a different section of the jail.

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Raymond: Nicest part was it was contact visits and there was vending machines. The worse is just being away from your family.
Brenda: The nicest thing about our dorms were that it had less people, huge windows and doors that didn't and never locked. The worst thing is that you had no privacy at all. everything was opened no doors in the bathrooms or showers it was all open.
Reta: The worst part was just being locked up period. Spending nine days in the hole wasn't nice I can tell you that. That was a dark period. The nicest part was when I was in the PRIDE program. It gave me a chance to get away from the negagtivity. The way people talk, the loudness, the joking... its overwhelming.
Ronnie: Single cell living was better sometimes just to give you peace and quiet to figure things out. But dorm living was better to help pass the time because you could talk to people. The food is the worst part. The portions are small.
Germz: well if you go to 5 block its really nice if you like solitude because its not only pc but its ad seg too. they are single and two man cells. the worst is you never get out.the other blocks there are always fights over the tv or a card game or somebody knows somebody on the streets and owes money
Jimmy: There was absolutely nothing nice in the one block I was housed in. Perhaps the worst part for me was that there were no private restrooms: I consider this to be an unjustifiable affront to human dignity, especially since most of the inmates had not even been convicted of a crime. Another horrible thing was that you couldn't see the sun and the lights were never dimmed so I couldn't tell whether it was day or night.

Read about telephone access in the Santa Clara County Jail