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Leisure Time

Interview with John

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
John: A TV set , some books - Basically , the books were old thriller/sci-fi/cop paperbacks someone had donated , or Bibles/other Christian material .

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
John: The channel selection on the TV set was decided by the guards outside in the conrol , evidently for all blocks in that wing (wih the women's wings receiving a slighly different mix , with no sports-oriented channels apparently and a " playing records with basic info/pictures/advertisments on the screen " channel called Music Choice substuted for the sports channels which males received . I was being held in an emptied-out one of the female wings with some other cons one day (all " well-behaved " ones) that they were painting/cleaning our block and saw that , as well as seeing a paperwork that confirmed my suspicions that the block had a set scheule for what TV channels to turn to at what times on what (daily/weekend) days pretty much always the same schedule . Generally , in other words , the guards decided what was on TV which was probably a good idea , avoiding conflict - and just let Daddy take care of you anyway , your'e in jail , dude ! You might as well " enjoy " it... Occasionally someone would get on the intercom to the guards outside and ask for a certain program/station , I don't think this tended to work anyhow . We had a standard cable-type mix of stations including the " Big 3 " broadcast network stations . I was ther the day th Boston Marathon bombings happened at about 3:00 P.M. California time the guards switched the TV to the emergency news of what had happened , given the fact tha it had happened I'm glad that they did , I would have felt horrible o have found out later that I had missed the happening of it . I remember seeing the NBC?? evening news the night of the OK tornados as well . The FX " Murdoch's answe to TNT " cable channel , recen-ish movies , was a favorte . The old paperbacks I mentioned were , basically , all the reading there was very occasionally a leftover/discarded newspaper would reach us and it was studied/treated like gold ! Looking up county jail rules I get the impression that CJs tend to want to forbid the local newspapers even as they allow other things . One Christian giveaway , Our Daily Bread , showed up at least once too .

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
John: Since I could only get the same three meals as anyone , really , as I never had money for commissary . You know , I think the relative niceness - in THIS , non-violent/" mild " wing - might be creditable in part to the Santa Cruz " surfer dude/old hippie " thing , and being fairly leftie , even among those who go into law enforcement ~ I did have a " confinement " mild stomach ache every day I was there , perpetually , really .A lesser neck/shoulders one , too . Someone else said he was likewise , I guess that's a bodily reaction .

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?
John: Never ever outside , barring going to your court cases in which case you never technically went " outside " you got taken , chained , to the va in the garage and got in which drove out of the garage the about 1 block over to the courthouse . Seeing what green looked like through that window was ALL I saw for three weeks ! You could run-walk around/exercise in the enclosed yeard . I did , as I said , do push-ups/sit-ups , by the end 20 a day , myself , maybe some other vague " keep in tune/throw yourself around a little " moves , some others tried " deeper " exercises but there wasn't exercise equipment they'd try to improvise with repurposed old books .

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
John: I don't think so though maybe I remember once a Catholic priest being mentioned as coming but maybe I'm being too specific/OCSD here since there was a weekly " church class " offered by two elderly Catholic volunteers (More generall Christian than specifically Catholic and I was defining " church services " as " something offered by a , specifically , minister/priest " . I don't know about any others . I went a couple of times I wanted to go more but I guess a slept through/didn't hear the notification those other times .

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