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Interview with Sarah, Paul, Allan and Erik

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Sarah: Lord.. I have no idea... 3 4 story's worth?
Paul: 12 different cell blocks were open when I was there. The center floor was women. top and bottom were the guys
Allan: I don't know how many floors there were but there were 4 pods to every floor
Erik: Shast county has three floors with 4 pods on each floor. Max was 32 guys per pod. Susanville har 4 yards with as many as 2000 guys per yard. Yard were assinged based on offense points. There's a calculation as to how many point your assessed.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Sarah: usually names of numbers & colors....
Paul: the first number designated floor. Then a letter A,B,C, or D designated block. Then an individual cell number followed
Allan: A, B, C, D I was in D3 and C3
Erik: Shasta county was just marked by floor and pod. C3 is on the 3rd floor pod C. Susanvile named the yards A,B,C and D. There was an E yard technically outside the prison

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Sarah: They are several different... catagories. Medical No Bail Bails Those dangerouse to themselves or others.
Paul: the first block I was in was nicknamed the "sandbox". It was people who were in jail for the first time, and kids being transferred from Juvenile hall. Across the hall was what they called the prison pod. It was for inmates who had been to prison, and were going back or serving the remainder of a prison term in county jail. Downstairs was the workers pods. I had no contact with the other ones, and did not really want to get involved with the whole program. I wanted to be left alone, so I left everyone else alone
Allan: inmates with prior prison time were housed together in separate pods, PCs were housed together in PC, youngsters together, and older men together in separated pods, women were housed on the A level
Erik: Shasta county broke up the inmates by separating drugs, violence, repeat offenders and duration of stay. Women were housed on a single floor and wing. Susanville seperates the inmates the same way but takes into consideration gang affilitations. Women are housed an different prison.

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Sarah: They were always pretty much the same to me.
Paul: The "sandbox" was hell. There were kids screaming cursing, and trash talking from behind their doors. In the lower tier of that pod was the cells of the people on protective custody. There was always someone yelling threats. The water was really hot for coffee there though. The hot water was really only lukewarm in the worker's pod. The workers got extra time out of their cells, with everyone else locked down. It was quiet then. There was always a card game going when only the workers were out, and the guards really did not bother us about having extra food. When we did get caught we were just told to eat it or throw it away
Allan: The worst part was when the deputies would let the inmates run the show and terrorize other inmates for the deputies entertainment, and that deputies allow inmates to interrogate/threaten other inmates about their "paper work" (charges) and beat them up badly if not kill them. D3 was a good pod to be in
Erik: First off it was nice to be a basically non violent offender. Also at my age nobody really tries to recruit you into a must fight situation. Shasta county had a workers pod of inmates that work in the jail house. Always the best option. Workers are segregated into a single bed room. With a job you had something to pass the time away. Susanvill did the same thing. Workers were pick by behavior and had better accomitadions.Prison pays their workser up to 39 cents an hour

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