JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time? Ralph: books, cards, domino's, television, and baskeball Rachel: We had movie night, we did each other's hair.I was brushing
up on my Spanish with workbooks. You read,etc. The facility
didn't provide much, outside when we were able to go not
much to speak of. Fred: well thats a good question, there are made up
weights that can pass time also they do offer
certain classes like alcohol, ummm other classes
as well. they offer church as well to pass the
time. you can walk, you can also work inside the
jail which helps pass the time the best. Craig: Are you serious?! I know of a basketball court
outside. THATS IT. They finally installed these
calistenic powered workout stations in SOME of
the pods. Otherwise, the only excerise one
really gets (via the jail) is that which goes
with trustee work, or that which invloves
walking the halls to things like meals, or
court, or a group one has signed up for. For
some, fighting is a viable option. Joe: Working a job, depending on the job you may even
get paid 10 dollars a week for doing the job. You
also were fed the leftovers from the officers
mess. There are also several classes offered, a
small rec yard to do exercises, play handball or
basketball. You also had access to a book cart
within the pod.
JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details. Ralph: pretty much majority rules Rachel: Not much entertainment but movies on tv. Not fierce at all. Fred: Sometimes it was pretty available to everyone,
mostly it was determined off of a vote or even
when it was football season it was pretty much an
unwritten rule amongst the inmates. Ummm pretty
much anything on tv you had access too. so it was
pretty much majority rule type of deal Craig: I didn't care too much. I wasn't trying to
be "entertained". I was trying to prepare a
brief for the Court of Appeals since my PO never
bothered to tell me that the deadline to turn it
in had passed. He was stealing my mail for said
case. He finally gave it to me - OPENED - and so
I had to deal with that while also fighting my
revocation. Being denied law library access by
racist and power-tripping law "enforcement" was
no fun. Joe: In my pod there was not much competition for
control of the TV. The guard will take suggestions
but generally the guard had control of the remote.
Books were scarce because people would use them as
weights or have several books in their possession.
The Tv was shut off at 11PM on weekdays and
sometimes left on until midnight on weekends.
JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail? Ralph: yes Rachel: Yes, the food is extremely starchy, fattening. Not too
motivated to exercise, especially since we did t to go outside
to often. Fred: yes only because you really dont have any weights
but also dont have the best of foods to stay
healthy or get any kind of protein Craig: One is kept strong enough to be able to do
whatever slave labor they can give you upon a
conviction. Joe: I wasn't in shape when I went into jail and kept
that tradition alive while incarcerated. AS
mentioned earlier you did have access to the rec
yard. 44 times around the perimeter of the yard
was equal to a mile.
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? Ralph: twice the whole time i was there, has to be a
certain temp in order to go outside
Rachel: Not much, maybe once the whole time I was there. Fred: we got to get out only if its over a certain
degree outside and once there we had basketball
weights and a nice walking path. Craig: No, I wasn't allowed outside. I did what I could
on the the workout thingy. Stuff like dips,
pushups, pull ups, so on and so forth. No cardio
at all, though. Cardio is actually DISCOURAGED. Joe: You were allowed outside from about 6AM till 9PM
except during headcount, meals and productive day
videos. If you were not allowed outside you
usually had to stay on your bunk. If it was
because of the weather you could walk round the pod.
JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held? Ralph: they did, usually at night Rachel: I believe they had bible study but in ever went. I was on
release when they had them. Fred: yes they do and there similar to what we have on
the outside, praise god, preaching the bible and pray. Craig: Yes. The different services depended upon the
volunteers that were accepted. Its all politics
anyway. Ive seen jail employees get fired and/or
re-assigned for trying to help an inmate that
the badge carriers have something personal
against. Joe: Yes they offered church services, just about for
most major religions. They had services during
different times of the week.