I was just wondering about jails and booking in a jail

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve been watching “Cops” (you know the “Bad boys, what you gonna do when they come for you”) show. That morphed into watching “Jail”.

It’s all about arrested people being booked into jails in different places
Quite interesting the types of people that are brought in.

I was wondering if any Dopers have had experiences like this.
You don’t have to tell pertinent info that would out you. Or feel free to say " my cousin" or “my friend” if it makes you feel better.

I just can’t believe how rough they are on the arrested individuals. Clearly some are drunk and belligerent and need it. And this chemical tazing stuff they spray is just awful. I couldn’t understand why a high, 115 lb. Hooker was thrown to the floor for throwing a cup of water.

If you’re not in the category it’s ok if you’re outraged and tell me “How dare you think I’ve been arrested!” :blush:

2

How is your Weather?

3

What do you think happens when there’s no cameras? Or when one happens to be the wrong color in the wrong state? Or you’re unaware of your rights? Or you’re poor? Or . . .
Not suggesting it’s all bad, but those protesting such largely have reasons.
You must be living a sheltered life.
Corporations operating prisons for profit would be a different thread.

4

Two incidents, described here (straight dope link), incidents 1 and 5.

The specifics of Incident #1 arrest are covered in that thread. Incident #5 doesn’t describe the actual arrest and detention very much, so…

After handcuffing me and putting me in the back of the cop cruiser, they searched my car for 10 minutes then drove me to a local holding cell somewhere in or near Shirley Long Island. Officious and peremptory but not abusive. Then along with a handful of others, I was put on a bus and taken to a large jail facility in Riverhead and that’s where it got kind of nasty.

• They took my eyeglasses from me claiming they were a risk. I can’t see a damn thing without them, badly nearsighted.

• Very little control over the inmate behaviors. I was asked a question by another jailed person, gave a “don’t have any idea what you’re talking about” kind of reply, and had my head on the ground in a headlock, with police officers all over the place not intervening.

• Long interview with nosy questions. Including whether I had a psychiatric history. As y’all know, I’m out and open about it. Normally. Not this time. This did not seem like an environment where I wanted to see firsthand what different experiences I’d be subjected to if they jotted down that I was a lunatic.

• Met a lucid intellectual, relaxed and amused and conversational, who said he’d been kept here for two years with no access to attorney, bail, outside conversation of any sort. He said he had some vague suspicions about why but still didn’t know; the important thing was no, discard anything you think you know about rights. You have only the rights they choose to recognize. I saw him being beaten with those police billy clubs by two corrections officers a little while later; he wasn’t fighting back or trying to get away from them, caught my eye, shrugged and smiled and called out “Just everyday life, you get used to it”.

• Finally got to make a phone call 24 hours after arrest and got someone to bring bail. Very glad to be out of that place.

5

You might enjoy and educate yourself by watching some Larry Lawton videos on YouTube. He is a convicted jewel thief and explains much about what goes on in jails and prisons in an entertaining way.

6

My son works in a prison. When he first got the job I was curious and would ask him if anything interesting happened at work. I’ve stopped asking. The things he told me went way beyond what I imagined.

7

Yeah. I’m somewhat sheltered.
And being an angelic, :innocent: perfectly innocent law abiding citizen I have had no personal experience.
This is precisely why I want to know if it’s really happening or are these shows jacking up the drama for viewership.

8

I’ve visited hundreds of people in our local Seattle jail (mostly in late 80s early 90s). I heard very few horror stories of that type.
There are bad things happening in the jails, including lack of adequate medical and mental health care. But routine booking violence is not something the inmates complained to me about.

9

I overheard something like this at a Law Enforcment-Related Convention… (somewhat paraphrased from a long-ago hazy memory)…

This cop was in a small resort town. There was a rash of home break-ins of unoccupied vacation homes. Lots of theft and vandalism. One of the homes trashed was a relative of this cop… who worked in the jail.

Guy was caught, brought to the station for booking and all that. Cop says the guy was the most clumsy and accident-prone guy he’s ever seen. Managed to trip several times, usually in the many doorways, hitting the door or the metal frame. Sometimes just hitting the floor, face-first, not being able to break his fall since his hands were cuffed behind his back. Said he had the Constitution of a Camel, because he never seemed to drink the warm apple juice he was offered.

Cop said he felt sorry for him and wished he had “been more careful”.

10

Dang, clumsy inmates.
Falling allover the place. Bloody-ing up the joint.

Y’all need to watch these shows. Of course most brought in are high or drunk. Belligerent and screaming. The women are awful.

I know, I know. They show the most dramatic ones. But just 2 of those a shift and you’d be done in. I don’t know how they do that job. It’s poop, pee, spit, blood. Cursing and crying. Throwing anything they can put a hand on. Fighting back. It’s just nuts.

I especially like the tie down chair. They fight going in it but come out sweet as lambs. I’d put them all in one. First thing.