CountyJail.net

Find El Paso County Jail inmates...

Leisure Time

Interview with Hillary, Tye, Eva, Richard and Victor

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
Hillary: TV, but you have to order a headset to listen to it. Headset cost is $17 and $1 per battery, (needed 2 batteries). You could buy playing cards off commissary. They had different classes you could sign up for. They have book carts, but most of the books are missing some pages and they are really horrible choices.
Tye: tv of course as well as books and the min units had out door rec stations ooff each unit with access to hand balls or basket balls - the out side area was split between two units with one getting am time then the next day thet would switch units
Eva: there were different church groups that would come in and some mental health groups as well as ged classes however the wait list of those classes and programs were very long and hard to get into. sometimes u would have to wait over a month to even hear back from anyone in the programs dept to be put on the list
Richard: Chess, spades, books, exercise, talk with other people, watch a muted tv unless you had a radio headset which cost 22.50 and $2 for 2 batteries every week,you can make jailhouse dominoes but if a cop sees them he can choose just to throw them away, there was poker which caused alot of fights and tension.
Victor: played with puzzles and boardcames. sometimes cars. don't really understand the word 'facilities' but we could occasionally play cards or what ever. You had to buy a radio so it was impossible to listen to music. I believe music is healing and that would have been very very helpful if we could have had it for free.

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
Hillary: Its competetive. There were only 2 TV's in my ward. One was always on the Spanish channel.
Tye: no competition was fierce becaus they were crammiong all the inmates into the same space and there were numerous fights on whether they would play hand ball or basket ball. as for the tvs there is only 2 of them and 1 is always on the spanish cannel so there were lots of fights
Eva: u were only allowed towatch t.v certain times of the day and u could only watch certain programs. under no circumstances could u watch the news and u were not allowed to watch any tv programs that applied to jail or prison facilities. you could watch soap operas games shows and occasional sitcoms
Richard: what entertainment? maybe tv or somebody acting foolishly in there was really the only entertainment i can even think of occuring, but the tv yea sometimes people would almost get in fights over, why are we watching nascar i want the basketball game, then no im watching nascar go over there and watch the other tv, no theyre watching bones.
Victor: mostly played cards or a boardgame. that is when I was allowed. sometimes we braided each other's hair. There just wasn't much to do and so there wasn't what I would call competition. We just tried each day to pass the time. That's about all ther is to say about this.

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
Hillary: Yes, I got really fat. It was hard to do physical activity.
Tye: no i would work out any time i could where ever i could even if it was only in my room
Eva: yes, due to hardly any outdoor rec yard becuz it was at the discretion of the officer working your block we were never able to get any type of fresh air the gym equipment located in the block pod area was usually off limits for some reason or another
Richard: no other than the food being so garbage its unbearable, but other than that you pretty much better be excercising if you dont want to lose your mind in that horrible place and plus you never know when altercations may happen so stay in shape.
Victor: Not really but food was so bad I could hardly eat. It is possible to stretch and motivate yourself to exercise

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?
Hillary: I was there for 21 days and we went outside probably 5 or 6 times.
Tye: in min units yes daily - u could play hand ball or basket ball in med they had jugle gyms or walk laps max - none
Eva: i think in a 6month period that i was in this facility we were able to go outside once and that was only so they could do cell searches. there was a basket ball hoop but no ball so all u could do was walk around the little court yard
Richard: every other day, depending on what unit you were in, if it was winter time, NEVER go outside in certain units like D C, it has to above i beleive 40degrees or you cant go outside
Victor: When outside we would walk in a circle. Or shoot hoops. Got to go outside every other day when i was in the tower. but it wasn't like being outside outside.

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
Hillary: Yes, they offered church and other classes.
Tye: i dont know i am not religous and wont go to church even if they paid me to show up
Eva: yes they did offer services usually it was twice a week and different religon it was hard to be able to attend bcuz u had to get prior approval
Richard: Yes there was many church services, pretty much another way to stay sane and a positive light, but after a while you start realizing how phony at the same time the services really are
Victor: YES. there were different types and at least once a week. Catholic and Mormon.and jehova's witness. I am none of these. I was raised baptist

Read about visitor policies in the El Paso County Jail