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Leisure Time

Interview with Ralph, Rachel, Fred, Craig and Joe

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.

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