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Interview with Bill, Rochelle, Joyce, Mikey, Eric, Kirk, Janelle and Claudia

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Bill: 6 Floors, and a basement floor. Sentenced/Internal Jail Workers (Trusties) were housed in basement floor. All other floors were for unsentenced Each Floor has "East" and "West". 1st floor was female only. 3rd Floor West was also female. Most regular inmates on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors. 5th and 6th were often inmates with violent behavior, and includes dorms for medical and suicide watch.
Rochelle: 12
Joyce: There are 3 pods with about 40 cells each both up and downstairs. There was one pod for the mentally ill.
Mikey: 6 floors 4 blocks per floor
Eric: There were 11 cell blocks
Kirk: Each floor has four cell blocks with 48 cells and three people to a cell.
Janelle: There were many. Some had two stories.
Claudia: There were three cell blocks on each floor.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Bill: No special names for blocks, just floor number and dorm number
Rochelle: Yes, Bethune, Stowe, Roosevelt, Ross Hall, Kiddie Hall and I do not remember them all.
Joyce: I do not know of any names. I never heard of any names
Mikey: they were called pods and they were alphabetized ex:cell 13 block c
Eric: The cell blocks were identified by a letter, beginning with "A" and ending with "K".
Kirk: They were named after the floor they were on ie. 4west1 , 2, 3, 4
Janelle: I remember 3w3 that stood for 3west 3. I can't remember any more
Claudia: 3W1 3W2 3W3 3E1 3E2 3E3 The first floor housed females, too. These were the same for the men housing.

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Bill: 0: Basement, Sentenced, Jail Workers, Male-East Female West 1: Female Inmates, Unsentenced 2: Male Inmates, Unsentenced, Mostly Misdemeanors 3: Male-East Female-West, Unsentenced, Felony 4: Male, Unsentenced, Felony 5: Male, Unsentenced, Felony (Higher risk classification) 6: Male, many smaller dorms. Medical, Suicide Watch, Life-Sentence inmates awaiting transportation to state prison
Rochelle: Maxium, medium, and minium custody
Joyce: Regular population was in 3 pods and the mentally ill or inmates with contractable illnesses were in the other pod. We never interacted with them although we each could see each other
Mikey: murders had there own block phyciatrics had ther own pods juviilles had there ownown pods and then it was also split into mistemenor and felony i dont have anything else to say about this
Eric: The inmates were separated according to the type of crime committed (allegedly), the age of the inmate and the number of times each inmate had been arrested. Any record of violence was (supposedly) also considered, as was mental illness and some other diseases, such as AIDS.
Kirk: Sentencted inmates were housed on the first floor in the trusty dorms. Second, third, and, fourth floors were for unsenteced inmates. The six floor was for isolation and life threating inmates.
Janelle: The most violent offenders had there own block, the high profile ones had there own, and the minimal offenders had theirs. So they sort of separated them accordingly . There were several for each group.
Claudia: They did not discriminate, but did isolate inmates with psychological and severe physiscal disorders. Sometimes there were mother daughter inmates, aunt niece. They were sometimes placed in the same cell block, if requested.

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Bill: The actual blocks are pretty much the same in terms of what they have. It's the kind of inmates you experience that determines what is "nicest or worst"
Rochelle: Bethune was the niest and this is where I was housed, and kiddie Hall was the worst, because there were always fights and stabbings going on.
Joyce: Seems to me the worst part was that the people who were fighters and trouble makers stayed upstairs or somehow seemed to be neighbors of others who were like themselves. The nicest part for me was that I did not have to climb stairs when it was bedtime or showertime
Mikey: was only in the mistomener block and there really isnt anything nice about the duval county jail but i can tell you about the unpleasentries of it and that is that they dont feed you enough they pack to many inmates into one cell the shower water is never hot and the guards are very prejudice
Eric: The answer to both is people. In some cell blocks there was a certain camaraderie, a brotherhood sort of developed between the inmates. In others, it was more like a pack of snarling, snapping, ruthless dogs waiting to seek out a weak arrival to abuse. Sexual abuse in very common in such cell blocks.
Kirk: The worst part of being on the first floor is the toilets. they emitted a gas smell like the plumbing was not properly vented and the gas smell would linger in the cells while you slept.I cannot recall anything about any of the cells that i would consider nice at all.
Janelle: The bigger ones you had the ability to walk around freely, and interact with other inmates. The smaller ones were more confined. I guess you can make the best out of it by walking around, interacting, playing dominoes,or cards, and using the phones at will. The worst part was showering in front of the whole block.
Claudia: Nicest: When they played music on Fridays. But then it would turn into the worst night because the strippers would dance. Worst: Strip or contraband searches at midnight. Also, the inmates that had psychological problems would be up all night screaming or talking very loud or if someone had an episode, they would keep the floor on lock down until the problem was resolved.

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