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Jail Layout

Interview with Hugh, Cameron, Sarah, Roy and Janicki

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Hugh: 8 different cell blocks on each floor, 13 floors. The 13th floor is a gym and quarantine.
Cameron: I have no idea. WCJ is huge. I do not even know if they still use the old part.
Sarah: 2 floors for women. 4 sections per floor. (2) Large rock and small block on each side. Each large rock and small rock connected by the deputy station. So 4 deputy stations per floor. There were about 10 floors for male mates. Some floors had doors to each cell. Some floors had sliding bars that were open during the day when not on lock down.
Roy: to many to remember,i was on 14
: I have no idea the exact amount. For the women there were 4 blocks per floor. Females occupy the 5th, 6th and 11th floor. Processing is on both the 5th and 6th floor. Processing is awful. Dirty, loud, usually the shower is either broken or so disgusting you avoid it until you get moved to your permanent block.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Hugh: They are named by floor number, and north or south. There is an old side and a new side.
Cameron: I think it went mostly by floors and numbers, or directions. Such as 13 WEST. That was in the new part. I cannot remember about the old part of the jail.
Sarah: They are called Rocks by floor and by compass - NSEW ex 5SW, 4NE
Roy: the gaurds and inmates both have seperate names for them
: 5 north east, 6 south east etc. They also had "the murder pod" which is exactly that. They hold all the violent girls with hard core charges together.

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Hugh: They try to separate violent offenders from nonviolent offenders, they have an area for federal offenders. Psychiatric inmates are on the old side of the jail.
Cameron: WCJ realizes the disparity in the racial ratio. So the blocks were either all black, or half balck and half white. I also think even the 50-50 blocks were chosen by the level of the crime.
Sarah: They had a floor for lessor offenses, bad check writing, retail fraud, prostitution, exc. and floor for more serious offenses, murder, assault. I was in both for a period of time. Try to get in with the people with lessor sentences.
Roy: in the quarantine cells,inmates were housed based on the violence of their crime,i was innocent,but charged with felonious assault,so i was housed with murderers,rapist,armed robbers and drug dealers,and one sex offender,possibly two,the older white guy was lying about why he was there,but i cant honestly say what he was there for,a young black kid that was 18 at the most was locked up for under aged girls,he had an entire phone book with names and had the other inmates calling these girls from the payphone that was in our quarantine cell,some actually got out and hooked up
: Violent females where held on the same block. I think there were 2 "murder pods". One on 5 and one on 6. They go by your charge. My charge was retail fraud so I was held with other girls who had non violent crimes. They will usually bunk you with someone who is close to your age and race.

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Hugh: A lot of guys like the old side better than the new side because they have single man cells over there, and its not as crowded as the new side. The new side is all open with plexi glass windows.
Cameron: The only nice thing was that they did not place an old white man in a block with all young black kids. The worst part was that there were not many prisoners in the fifties. So even when I was placed in a block with an equal ratio of whites and blacks I was still a distinct minority.
Sarah: There are small rocks with 4, 2 person rooms and Large rocks with 10 -2 person rooms. The rooms on the ends to the outside wall were freezing, avoid if possible. Larger rock has more room to move around which is nice but is louder. Smaller rock quieter unless you got a bad person in there, then its hell. Some deputies were good some bad.
Roy: the nicest part was the comradery among older inmates,the worst was the piss fights and sharing off one shower with no curtain in a 14 man quaratine cell.i remember walking in around 3 am to be locked up and they sat us in a holding cell which had a crevice in the floor of running water where people were pissing in,literally something you would expect in a russian or mexican jail,not america
: Nothing is nice in jail, especially Wayne county. Wayne county is the HARDEST time you will do. Dickerson is camp cupcake compared to Wayne County. Processing blocks are always disgusting because nobody stays there for more than 3 days. And since girls are always moving in and out, no one is cleaning. When you are moved off processing, you will be with girls who have been more established. We get cleaning supplies every other day and because you might be there for a hot minute, you want to make your stay a little more bearable and clean.

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