Right after I hit submit it occurred to me that I may have been whooshed. Seems to be the case. (But I still don’t get it!) 
Exactly. I’ve had the same feeling when visiting people on locked psychiatric wards.
In my case, I was bringing in an AA meeting to the women’s side of the next parish (county) prison. The women were all respectful and friendly, if a bit full of excuses for their behavior. The only truly disturbing moment was when the male prisoners were coming through the hall, and spotted my sponsor and I through the windows as we waited in the meeting room for the women. There was hooting and hollering until the guards shouted them down. I’ve never felt so exposed.
Let’s see. Hmm.
Rahway.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections facility near the Boulevard in Philly.
Bergen County Jail.
Hudson County Jail.
Sing-Sing ( really named Ossining Prison )
Eastern State Pennitentiary in Philly, built in the 1830’s. ( I age very well. )
I think that’s all.
Every time was in my capacity as a professional cameraman. At Sing-Sing, we staged a knife fight in the yard, using Minimum Security prisoners as extras. ( they were paid one dollar for the day’s work ). I also did shots INSIDE the cellblocks in the Medium Security block. I got spit on. A lot.
At Eastern State, I shot a docudrama on the place. This was around 1985, long before it was open to the public at all. I spent several weeks all over the facility, inside and out. Snowdrifts of pigeon shit and lead paint chips and bits piled up against the walls on the floor. Literally, drifts so that there was this curved aspect to the floor-to-wall junction in lots of cells ad hallways. The spoke-and-hub design was brilliant.
At The Rah, some shots inside and just outside of the main gate for a film.
The most frightening was the Penna Dept. of Corrections facility. It was brand new, and the company that was the architect for it wanted it shot as a point-of-view walking tour. Perfect job for a Steadicam Operator. I was escorted from unit to unit by two guards. The residents of each two-story dorm unit were told in advance of my impending arrival, so that if they chose not to be on camera, they could go into their cells. I was moving in the same rooms as criminals who had nothing ( or not much ) to lose if they went after me. Scared me silly. Cool gig, though.
Bergen County Jail and Hudson County Jail were locations for Dan Rather shoots for " 48 Hours" episodes.
It is unnerving. It is an oppressive environment by very design and operation. I’ve stood in cells as they slammed the doors shut by remote gear. The clang, cliché as it may be, is very sobering.
IRL, I’ve never been arrested.
Cartooniverse
Thanks to the policy of “Proactive Patroling” in Virginia Beach in the late 80’s (is that still the norm there? Anybody know?) I spent a lot of time in the back seat of patrol cars for the crime of taking night courses at college, working a second shift job and not having a car. (The bus service was pretty good and it was only a 2 mile walk to my house from the bus stop.)
I would get off the bus at around midnight on my school nights and most times would have an hour or so wasted by an officer of the law while he conducted an FI. I learned that there is not really much you can do aside from wait to be realeased. That and hope it was not cold or raining. On those nights I would be told to sit on the curb and wait.
I spent 4 days in the Pinellas County jail when I was about 25. Simple stuff, I was drunk, walking home, engaged in a minor act of vandalism and was quickly arrested. I was scared when I got to the jail. There were a lot of corrections officers yelling and moving us through the inprocessing. Basic training was a lot easier than this was. I was stripped, searched and placed in a holding cell. This was about 0330. Around 0500 someone else got put in the holding cell and began yelling. There really was nothing to do. The block was an open bay, but there were individual cells in it. The cells themselves were open to the bay.
We were awakened and marched to court. We returned from court and were left alone. I slept most of the day and woke up only for meals. I could have gotten out the first day, but I really didn’t know how the system worked and I had nobody I could call to bail me out. So I stayed. The biggest problem with lock down was the boredom. Most of the people on my bloclk had been bailed out by noon, so I was there by myself when I got moved over to general population.
Again I was searched, stripped, photographed, and asked if I was a homosexual. The block I was placed on was overfilled and I had to sleep in the dayroom my first night there. I was still kind of scared until I realized that most of the people in there were there for violation of probation, failure to pay support, or something similar. There were still some big tattooed guys and the latrines were open to the hallways. At breakfast I was asked by one of the big mean looking guys for my orange which I gave to him. I was afraid that I had suddenly made myself his bitch. No such thing.
I didn’t see any fights. There was some male posturing, but no fights, no rapes, or anything like that. One inmate did masturbate whenever the female CO came on the ward, but he was quickly removed the second occurance.
In the “exercise yard” most of the inmates played basketball. We could barely see over to the female yard. Some people who had really loud voices could communicate between the makes and females. One female even flashed her breasts at us from the female exercise yard, but at the distance and angle, it was hard to tell that was what she had done.
Overall, the deterrance factor was not there, but when I got the fine and the community service, that put me on the straight and narrow path. Aside from a handful of speeding tickets, I had no more interactions with law enforcement.
YMMV
Sgt Schwartz
Seven days, for multiple unpaid traffic warrants. Never felt in danger. Mainly just boring. Best fried chicken I ever ate. “They strangled it this morning on the honor farm” my dining companion quipped. “Real fresh”. I don’t know if he was joking. Other than that, lotsa starchy food. Very bad air, made worse by the fact that smoking was allowed. I caught the “jail cold”. Heard some interesting stories. Wouldn’t want to do it again.