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Leisure Time

Interview with Eric, Dominic and Carlos

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
Eric: Neve use thm i rather stay where iwas more secure. All inmate in there are bad people. Yes there are facilitiesvfor leisure. I never use thm i never care about it. Who wants to have leisure time when you are going tru a nightmare. Do you really think i couldave Good timevin there. No way.
Dominic: I dont know what they had available. I stayed in my housing unit which provided a day room where the televisions were and you could congregate with other inmates to pass the time. The facility is not that large because its just a county jail so there isnt that much freedom for movement on a daily basis.
Carlos: There is tv all day long except during the night at "lights out". There is a guard that comes by once a week with books that you can check out. There is also checkers, chess, dominoes and decks of cards. But everything is limited to the cell that you are in. You do not go anywhere for entertainment.

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
Eric: I did not have the chance to participate at any entertainment during my time there. But if someone is having fun in jail. Then they must be sick or something. Who goes to jail to ha a good time. I had the worst time of my life while in jail. Who cares right, who care....
Dominic: I had regular access to the entertainment which means the television. There wasnt much else to do there unless you played a game like cards or something there. It wasnt like there was arts and crafts available. Most people communicated with each other or played various games. some watched television.
Carlos: Yes, I had regular access to entertainment but didn't really took advantage of most of them. The majority of my entertainment or how I passed the time was by reading books. Besides the books that they let you check out you are also allowed to have your family send you books. The competition for the tv can become fierce however. I seen a couple of fights over the tv over what channel to watch.

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
Eric: Like i said never did any of that i was not allowed to many things, but at the same time i did no care a bit.
Dominic: I didnt have a hard time staying in shape while in jail because i exercised in my cell by doing pushups and situps.
Carlos: Not really, I did push ups and situps by my bunk almost every day. Actually, I think I got myself into excellent shape as there was nothing else to do and did a lot of exercising. However, that has to be done in hidden as exercising is not allowed in the cell at Metro West. Some officers turn a blind eye and don't care but others will enforce it and write you up.

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?
Eric: Yoga in myil that is all. Inwas not alowed to many things . Iave fond out that a guy working in there wassome kind knowing my sister in law , tht how they make my life harder. I can not proof that , but i find out after i got out.
Dominic: The jail is designed in a pod layout, with self contained housing arranged around an outdoor yard. Each pod has a central control station and a common room, and the inmates take turns in using the yard. The jail is designed this way to keep certain inmates together, and others away from the general population.
Carlos: About three times a week for an hour weather depending. They have basketball and pull up bars. Outside you can exercise like jogging and pull ups, push ups and any type of calisthenic you can think of. Technically that is the only time you are allowed to exercise is when you are outside. The days that you stayed inside you were not allowed to do any type of exercise.

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
Eric: I do not belive in anything no god for me. You want to know where god is,mintell you is in your wallet. I call money.
Dominic: At the time there was a church program available to inmates. They also had a pastor who came around a visited with the cell blocks also.
Carlos: Yes, they had different denominations each once a week. There was catholic, christian one in English and one in Spanish once a week. They were held in a church in the jail. The Jewish and Muslim services were held in the cell in an informal gathering. Those were held in the cell as they were to few guys in those religions.

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