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Leisure Time

Interview with Reggie, Sarah, Brenda, Mike and Will

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
Reggie: Ther was a smalll recreation area
Sarah: None whatsoever. I tore up a piece of paper and made 1" playing cards to pass the time, but they were confiscated.
Brenda: wake county you have games and watch TV and had church playing cards talking with other inmate shower clean up the pond help other with there papers they to make them feel better and try to understand why they there and try to help they person figure out what to do next
Mike: You had a T.V room a "living-room" like area.. and Outside for a short period of time per-day. I never wanted to watch T.V though, It was all shows about people being put in jail and crime... It wouldn't help me pass time, It would only reminded me of what I did.. and how long I'd have to stay in here for.
Will: We had a weight pile, a basketball court, a volleyball court, and you could check out various activities like board games. We had cable TV in the dorms but we were not allowed in the dorms until after the evening meal, around six at night. There was a gravel path that served as a track.

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
Reggie: You generally had access to what ever you needed
Sarah: No. Nothing.
Brenda: no you have to stay in a cell on sitting on hard chair or walk around the block which people talk shit to you because you are in the way of them watch TV or playing game or the officer want let you workout no that why so min people are come out jail gain a lot of weigh
Mike: I did have access but there was a large amount of people claiming things and property as "theirs" as I mentioned before.. So I strayed away from anything that could even possibly get myself into some sort of trouble. I stayed in my cell most the time and when I did get to use the phone thats the entertainment that got me through the day.
Will: I was on a pretty laid back camp and so many of the convicts left the camp each day to work on road crew or go to a class, like GED or welding. This meant that during morning rec time there was less than a third of the convicts on the yard and after the rest got back, the dorms were open so guys could watch TV, read or write mail, and sleep.

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
Reggie: no You could exercise in your dorm
Sarah: Yes. For 3 1/2 days I was in a small holding cell with no bunk (slept on the floor) and a view of the main intake desk, seeing people taken in all day and night. I paced back and forth for exercise, 6 steps, turn, 6 steps back, turn. I'd keep it up until I felt fatigued, so I figured that was exercise. On day 4 I was moved to a smaller cell with a concrete bunk and a view of a cement block wall and a solid steel door across from me. I could see nothing unless someone walked by. No windows to the outside. After I passed out and hurt my back when I fell, I couldn't walk back and forth anymore, or even sit comfortably. (After I got out, I was diagnosed with 2 crushed vertibrae.) The pain in my hips from lying on the hard surface got worse with a thin worn out mat got worse. I passed the time writing in every little corner of every piece of paper I could get my hands, mostly the court papers or a couple sheets from my attorney's daily visit. I sang, too. One day I sang the Stars Spangled Banner most of the day to remind me what the freedom it stands for that I had lost. I never have felt truly free since, knowing our courts can throw people in jail so easily.
Brenda: yes because you could only work out in your cell and we all know the not much room in the there so if it was 3 people to a cell you didn't workout
Mike: No, with the small amount of food they offer.. and the taste of it in itself is enough to make a homeless man not want to eat. And from lack of eating.. I lost a lot of weight.
Will: I got in ridiculously good shape. The forty five days I spent in the hole gave me a chance to do push ups and situps in the neighborhaood of 700 to 800 a day. When I got back in general population, I worked out every day with free weights and I had a partner that trained in running marathons so I stuck with him and got in full beast mode asap.

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?
Reggie: never
Sarah: Outside never. Out of the cell, only when someone would allow me to take a shower about every other day, or use the phone, and once after I had passed out and they did an EKG, and twice when they took me to another floor for psych evaluation. The first was a man who said I obviously don't understand why I was incarcerated. Don't know that he did either. The second was a lady who said I seemed to be adjusting well. Don't know what the psych evals, when I needed a dentist -- I broke a tooth the night before the hearing. The root started to get infected.
Brenda: you just walk around the block or tables if you went outside you couldn't see they ground all you see was the sky that it
Mike: 5 hours? no one wants to go outside though there's only a view of the tree tops, everyone exercises in their rooms anyway. its not a very enthusiastic place
Will: We were forced out of the dorms before nine in the morning each day until we had lunch meal and then we were outside again until after the dinner meal.

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
Reggie: You basically organized your own church services. I think once a week or every two weeks The Gideons would come pray and passout Bibles
Sarah: Not that I ever heard of. I would have liked it.
Brenda: wed, sun night 8.00 if you not like church you went to bed for the rest of the night that wrong
Mike: yes. but they were held by the mexican inmates on sunday . the jail wouldn't know it was a hush hush thing
Will: We had a wide variety of religous services and we also had AA / NA meetings that were led by local church leaders.

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