CountyJail.net

Find King County Jail inmates...

Leisure Time

Interview with Jenna, Mel, Bonnie, Ashley, Aaron, Walter, Shawn, Mimi, Saul, Heather, Ricky, Sterling, Doug and George

JM: What types of facilities were available to help pass the time?
Jenna: T.V., books, magazine, cards, some board games, yard time (basketball) and some meetings.
Mel: Most of the Dorms had no TV's. they had been broken and removed. AA was offered once a week, and every once in a while Non denominational church services were offered. Once a week you could go to "yardout", basically a large gym with a basketball hoop, and a chinup bar.
Bonnie: Maybe three types of romance novels. As if people that read on a regular enough basis want to read that crap. And a television that offered only the soap channel.
Ashley: very little. Some old tattered books, a TV (BUT there is a pecking-order about who controls the TV channel) NO pincils or paper that I saw.
Aaron: Reck. Once a week if your lucky and the gaurds feel like letting you go out to get some. "Fresh air" in a cement cage. And you get to look at bbasketball hoops without getting. The privalege to shoot a basketball. It is quite. Depressing honestly but atleast you get a glimpse of the streets and you know its. Not going anywhere.
Walter: There was a tv, a few books and playing cards. We didn't have outdoor rec time or anything like that. We would work out to pass the time. It went really slowly in there. More books would have been wonderful but there wasn't much to pick from to read there.
Shawn: There was a yard out time with basketball and it had a pull up bar there too. During the winter it was far to cold for me to go out to the yard so I did no go out if it was cold weather out as the yard time was usually a hour
Mimi: There weren't any facilities they I could access. We were not allowed to leave our unit. But in the unit we had a small collection of books and magazines that we could read, as well as a few decks of cards and board games. And we had a tv to share.
Saul: There was a gym / court area available a few times a week for walking and stretching out. There were some reading materials and a few decks of cards. TV was available during rack out time. We were also allowed to attend religious services once a week. Otherwise there was a lot of pacing in from of your bunk.
Heather: You were allowed to have a few books and a couple sets of playing cards. cable television was provided as long as the noise stayed down, once in a while an activity like yoga would be available if you signed up in advance and they did have this program where you could go record a book on tape and send the book and the tape to your child,.
Ricky: As far as King County jail there is not much at all to pass time except reading, writing, sleeping, and any exercise you may get. Television is available but not all the time. Most everyone who has been there already is very anxious to get to DOC because of more things to do.
Sterling: Nothing. There is no video games or girls, no text books and most of the good books are already taken. The best thing to find are drugs and just get high and laugh at the situation, maybe mix food and make a spread, maybe if you are lucky you can sneak a girl in the bathroom. People are savages in jail. If you want to know what its like listen to Katt Williams. Walk into your closet and just stay there for days. I dont do anything but weed out of jail. In jail I would do any drug on this planet.
Doug: There was recreation but I dont know what they had for that cause i never went out for rec. but They had a tv in each room and there were books to read and there were dominos and [playing cards that inmates ordered from commissary. you could also draw or write letters.
George: the jail provided books, and a person would come once a week to redistribute books around the jail. we were only able to have 2 books at a time in our cells. the jail also allowed to go to church. The clergy would come, and you could chose to use 45 minutes to go to church.

JM: Did you have regular access to the entertainment or was competition fierce? Give details.
Jenna: No. We scheduled times for the T.V., there is a list that you have to get to quick to watch your show. Everything else was up in the air, you pretty much did what other people were not using. Although when they come around for volunteers for classes you would have to be quick, or run to get out of the cell.
Bonnie: No.
Ashley: competition
Aaron: What entertainment? The tv? That's the. Only entertainment that I can think of to the best of my knowledge. If you end up in a pod. Where. People can be. Civil usually we can discuss. And decide. What we. Aall are. Willing to watch without a conflict. It should be so easy aall the time.
Walter: Books were not very sought after. Most people worried about what's on tv or who had the deck of cards. I ended up making a chess set and a deck of cards from blank paper and that helped pass time a bit faster. There wasn't much to do but there wasn't much argument over who had what
Shawn: I like playing cards and would do that alot but there was alot of argueing over the tv which resulted in alot of fights between inmates so I pretty much stayed out of those kinds of argruments and avoided getting into any fights over the tv which would result in being tanked for fighting
Mimi: Yes, there was always something to do with plenty to choose from, and there wasn't really any competition. The girls for the most part were nice and polite and would take turns with things. I personally love to read, so I would just keep to myself with a book or magazine.
Saul: For the most part everyone was polite and asked the group if they could change the channel. Every once in a while there would be the belligerent person who just changed the channel with out asking. There were some of actually thought that the TV was there's but that was usually short lived.
Heather: Like i said before..you had to sign for things in advance and most the times how you would get in to the classes is because the correctional officer liked you and went ahead and signed you up. the tank only got a certain amount of playing cards so someties arguements would arise about those
Ricky: Entertainment was limited to cards which we could buy, certain board games, and television on a regular basis. We did however have access to regular and legal library where reference cases could be ordered in case some one was representing themselves. Almost all books were soft back and mostly current.
Sterling: We played hoops and most of the guys were black so we went at it but this isnt prison it was still a pick up game and a social thing. We went at it harder in spades, dominoes and betting on sports games. There wasnt really that much to do.
Doug: Yes i had regular access to entertainment cause if i could watch what i wanted on tv then I could read or start up a game of daminos or start a game of spades or gin rummy or poker and bet dinner trays or items from commisary for the following week.
George: there was only one television in most units, and most of the time the show cops was playing. I do not know if that due to choices made by the staff, or the inmates. sometimes on sunday they would let us watch a movie if we behaved, and followed the rules.

JM: Did you have a hard time staying in shape while in jail?
Jenna: There not much time out of the cell, you get 1or 2 days in the yard (a concrete basketball court). I tried walking laps around the cell, but some cells are very small. But you can do sit-ups and jumping jacks, but the floors are still dirty.
Mel: yes.
Bonnie: No, because the food was so terrible I didn't eat one thing while I was held against my rights.
Ashley: I was only there 1 day
Aaron: Obviously. Once you make it to a kitchen. Job you are fed well and are. Definately. Going to gain atleast 10 pounds. Minimum. This is. Because your starved during. Regular meals so. You feel you have to stuff yourself to survive.
Walter: I actually gained some weight and muscle. There wasn't much to do except push-ups and working out. The food portions could have been larger though.
Shawn: I am not a big exercise person but I do enjoy playing sports so I played basketball once in a while when I felt like it
Mimi: The longest I was ever in at one time was 2 weeks so I really didn't have to worry about staying in shape.
Saul: The first week I was sick and for the two weeks I did not eat any of the prepared food. I ordered snack food from the commissary for nutrition. I lot about 20 pounds.
Heather: Yes, I gained thiry pounds and came out bigger then i had ever been in my life.. the food is horrible and there is no exercise and you have to eat what they give you or you will starve.
Ricky: I did because of the high carb diet and because I had stopped all vices that had kept me skinny like alcohol and cigarettes. I gained nearly 70 pounds.
Sterling: Nah I didnt like anything but the apples so I always traded cookies for apples until I learned how to make apple pies. I jogged and did pushups so I was not in worse shape.
Doug: kinda, some weeks id be lazy and didnt work out so i started getting out of shape other times i was working out and stayed in shape.
George: there is plenty of time to exercise. unfortunately there is no equipment, and no weights. The rations are small also.

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?
Jenna: Once or twice a week.
Mel: once a week.
Bonnie: Not once.
Ashley: not at all. I was only there 1 day
Aaron: Push. Ups inside your cell. That's the main thing. Everyone does. Its caalled having the pprison body. Bbig chest and strongg arms with everything else malnurished.
Walter: We didn't have outside time. They said it was being worked on. So we did push ups and crunches to stay in shape. A few people did other exercises too.
Shawn: Yard outs where usually once a day for a hour and as I said you could play ball or exercise some of the other inmates did push ups in the tank
Mimi: No, we weren't allowed to go outside. If I did want to do something for exercise you could do crunches in your cell, or run in place, or do pushups. Basic stuff.
Saul: I did not go out side because I did not feel safe in the larger areas. I did a lot of exercise right at my bed.
Heather: You never really get to go outside.. its called yard when u do get to go and only a certain number of people can and if its winter its freezing,
Ricky: We were allowed to go outside daily regardless of most weather conditions. It was up to the individual as to whether he wished to go out or not.
Sterling: Not often. Only when we played hoops. We were allowed to walk around the block so it wasnt a cramped cell most of the time. Then there were times when I wanted to be in my cell to read and jerk off.
Doug: You were able to go outside once a week. I never went out. What i did for exercise was I did pushups and situps and jogged in place.
George: we could go into a small cement area where we could see the sky through razor wire. we were alloed to frequent that area every 30 min while out of cells.

JM: Did the jail offer church services? If so, what were they like and when were they held?
Jenna: Yes. It's basically a volunteer group that comes in, you sit in a circle in a room and they say what they came to say. We prayed together and got to ask them questions, that is always good when someone else is praying for you.
Mel: Yes. once a week, non denominational, and catholic.
Bonnie: No, never.
Ashley: I don't know
Aaron: A. Couple times a week volunteers would show up and if you wanted to attend you put yur name on. A. List and showed up. When it was time and. Then you sat and listened.
Walter: I am not sure if church was available. I'm not a church goer myself. They did have lots of bibles on the book carts though.
Shawn: Yes the jail had church services but I did not attend any of them so I don't know what they were like. I think they were once a week
Mimi: Yes, they offered you to have visitation with your pastor and I think that they hold a service on Sunday but I never attended.
Saul: Church services were offered once a week. For my floor it was Thursday evening for an hour in a separate room.
Heather: there was chapel once a week if the volunteers showed up and it was alright it was cool when they did some worship with music
Ricky: Church services were held on a regular basis for any and all denominations. Group bible studies and self help like AA meetings were also popular.
Sterling: It was cool. All kinds of church services for different religions. They were good people so even though I have issues with religion I went for the wisdom. I didnt want to make the same mistakes.
Doug: Yes the jail offered church services and they were held on sundays. I dont know what they were like cause I never ed attended.
George: the jail hosted jehovahs witness, christian, catholic, and muslim services. the services were held usually on sundays while out of cells.

Read about visitor policies in the King County Jail