For those who don’t know, and that might be almost everyone reading, I have been a county jailer in the past. I worked for a pretty large county, but I was still a county jailer in Texas. Well, someone close to me is currently serving in a small(ish) county jail. He is, for the most part, in “good spirits” (or as good as can be expected in this situation. He is currently awaiting transfer to a state run rehab facility, but it seems that the transfer will not come. He is a trustee, so that at least lets him out of the cell to work, and plenty of people write letters to him, and visit when possible. However, a few things have come to light in recent weeks that make me wonder if I might have a case to sue this county on his behalf because.

Situation one - while working as a kitchen trustee, his job was to spray off the trays before being loaded up to go back to the contractor to be washed, and used again. While using high power water to do this, he attempted to shield his eyes with his hair net to avoid getting food in them, but had the CONTRACTOR (not an officer) YELL at him that “he does not have the right to eye protection”, while also berating him and using plenty of “colorful adjectives” to describe his current situation.

Situation two - After surrendering to the county to await transfer, he knew he would need to meet with a probations officer first to coordinate what will happen after his time with the state. After nearly a month, this had not happened, so a call was made, and finally he was scheduled. The officer, a female, conducted the interview in a closed office, with no one but herself and the inmate present, and no audio and/or video recorder. Having supervised females, I know that this is a HUGE no-no. All she has to do is say he did something “inappropriate” and he is charged with more offenses, and has no real defense. Conversely, if the inmate were to charge that she told him that he must “do something for her” to avoid negative “things” while under her supervision, she could lose her job, or worse!

Situation three - Last week (June 17th), while I was visiting him, he was noticably ill, and told me that he was having chest pain, a bad cough (and I could hear liquid in his lungs), a bad headache, I could tell he was at least mildly feverish from his skin tone, and he said he wasn’t eating as most of the foods made him feel sick. He told the officer at the pod, who called the infermery. The person there proceeded to ask questions of the guard, who asked the inmate, who would answer, the guard would then relay back the “nurse”. After this exchange, it was “determined” not to be a “medical emergency” (despite chest pain, difficulty breathing, fluid in his lungs, and refusing meals), so he could not even be allowed to see the medical staff. After a phone call from his family, they did bring him some Tylenol and Benedryl. I don’t really know what happened after that, but I also visited him today, and he did have a better color to his skin, so he is eating. He told me that he was able to finally cough up stuff, so he is finally expelling the foreign crud, and he told me his head ache and chest pains are all but gone. The question though, is who has the final say as to who is “really sick” and sees the med staff, and who is just “being a baby” and has to tough it out? I’ve worked in a jail, and I was told POINT BLANK to call the nurse (RN not LVN, not CNA, she is an RN) to come talk to the inmate FACE TO FACE to then tell the MD what she thought, and if the MD thought it was bad, either the inmate was moved to sick bay or the hospital, or the MD came out to see him.

The last issue I have is a lesser one, but still rubs me the wrong way. After being booked in, all inmates have all property not approved for possession in general population placed in storage. Normally they are allowed to keep medical needs (glasses, dentures, ect…), under garments, religious supplies (Bible, ect…), but all other stuff is either sold via comissary, or provided by the jail (razor, tooth brush, soap, ect…). It seems that this county has chosen to mandate that ALL undergarments must be ALL WHITE, not even the little red thread on socks is allowed! Families are not allowed to bring clothing to the inmate, so if they are not wearing “county approved underwear” when they are booked it, IT IS TAKEN FROM THEM and they are made to PURCHASE underwear from comissary at over FIVE DOLLARS A PAIR! Could this be extortion?

Well, as I said above, the inmate in question is someone close to me, so naturally, I am a bit angrier than most, but still, everything about this just seems a bit wrong, what do YOU think?

Said The Smoke Eater @ 12:52 pm | Permalink   

1. I think you should stop worrying about your criminal friend. 1) His being allowed to work as a trustee is a privlege and is volluntary on his part. If he doesn’t want to spray trays without eye protection, he doesn’t have to. (And who the hell needs eye protection from BOUNCE-BACK spray?) 2) Speculative concerns about less than ideal interview procedures that DID NOT go awry hardly seem like anything to get upset about. 3) Your friend sounds like a first-class whiner. He is a frickin criminal! Quit cutting him so much slack.

   It sounds like because this person is your friend, you are looking at this in ways you would never indulge otherwise.

   Comment by Alec — 6/26/2006 @ 8:26 pm

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2. First, Alec, I feel very sorry for those people whom you call friends, if you are willing to drop them when they are in trouble. Second, you know NOTHING about this case. Due to my decision to pursue a law degree, and having declared pre-law at my university, I try to follow any case I can, so I can get a feel for what my job will be soon. With this case being as close to home as it is, I have followed it from day one.

   The arrest - My friend was driving to the store for sodas in a friend’s car, and the owner even verified that fact for the police. When the officer pulled my friend over for a busted tail light, he asked (almost immediately) to search the car. My friend, knowing he had not done anything wrong, stepped out and agreed. The officer then found an INCREDIBLY SMALL amount of marijuana in the car. My friend’s breathalizer, FST, and all subsequent tests WERE NEGATIVE for canabis. The thing that clenched for the DA, the arresting officer ADVISED my friend to write a “letter of apology” to the judge. This being the first time for this situation, he did, which is a defacto admission of guilt, and NO OFFICER OF THE LAW, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, is to advise a suspect to plead one way or another, they are simply to read the Miranda rights, THEN SHUT UP!

   The county’s subsequent ambivolence toward this situation has only made matters worse, such as telling him to silence his own mother because she was concerned FOR HIS HEALTH and the lack of care being given.

   Lastly, as to the comment you made about the food, I HAVE done this job, at a hotel, but it’s the same job. The water being used is HIGHLY pressurized, and is heated to near boiling temperatures. The steam actually does burn dish washers quite often, as it did me. I was REQUIRED to wear eye protection in that situation, even though I didn’t want to as I (used to) think that it was no big deal. As to my friend’s situation, for A CONTRACTOR to actually use the words “you don’t have the right” when denying him the ability to try to protect his eyes, is nothing short of IDIOTIC on his part.

   Now, any further comments, or are you willing to accept that you do NOT know about this case, and I do, therefore I will NEVER let you speak ill of my friend again! He made mistakes in the past, such as driving a car he knew to be owned by a drug addict. He has admitted that the situation was his doing, as he chose to go to that person’s home, and drive that car. He has accepted that he needs to face the consequences of his actions, and has been a “model inmate”, yet the county seems DEAD SET to get another charge against him, therefore I will not rest until he is away from that county and never has to go back.

   Comment by The Smoke Eater — 6/27/2006 @ 3:21 pm

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3. Our jails of full of folks just like your friend. My own son at the age of 14 was stopped by a police officer and asked to empty his pockets because the officer thought he had bought a pack of cigarettes-a criminal offense for a juevenile in the state of Virginia. My son didn’t have cigarettes but he had a glass pipe in his pocket. My daughter’s boyfriend sent it to him from Amsterdam where he and some other kids went upon graduation. The officer brought my son home and confiscated the pipe. My son submitted to a blood test that was also negative for drugs. A week later my son was arrested because residue -marijuana residue was found in the pipe. You couldn’t make this stuff up. He was charged with possession. Under federal law my son cannot get a federally funded student loan for college because he has a marijuana conviction. I am not stupid. My son was off to show the pipe to his friends. If any of them had had something to put in it they would have smoked it. So my son goes to school part time and works full time to help pay for his education. It will take him a little longer-well a lot longer but that is the price he must pay. I don’t put up with his whining about the injustice of it all and you should learn to take your friend’s stories with a grain of salt and tell him to quit whinning too.

   Comment by Carol — 6/27/2006 @ 7:01 pm

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4. Carol, trust me, IF he starts actually whining, I will be the first to say something, but as long as legitimate grievances are there and are ignored by the county, I won’t stop trying to bring the county’s failures to light. thanks for visiting.

   Comment by Smokey — 6/28/2006 @ 9:34 am

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