Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with jail

Los Angeles County Men's Jail

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:09:46 -0800

I have to go to Los Angeles County Men's Jail for 96 hours. What is the likelihood that I would have to serve the whole sentenced time? I'm a white male, early thirties. Last year I was (very regretfully) arrested for a DUI, and now I have to serve 96 hours in the LA County jail. My other option is to serve those 96 hours at a 'private' jail where I'd pay to have my own cell and can bring a book. I can break the 96 hours into two 48 hour blocks over two weekends if I wanted to.

However, I've heard that LA County jails are pretty overcrowded (especially the men's jails) and that Sheriff Lee Baca has a 10%-time served rule where most first-time, non-felony offenders are released after about 12 hours. I am thinking of turning myself in on December 23rd if its likely that I will be released soon, otherwise I'd probably wait till around the 28th. I have a year to do this in, but would like to get it over with as it is hanging over my head, and I want to start 2010 off on the right foot.

Thank you for any advice you may provide.

Jail question

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:50:33 -0800

I'm looking for first-hand experience or information with regard to the LA county jail system. My cousin was arrested for a DUI recently. As part of her sentencing, she has to spend 96 hours in jail in Los Angeles. Apparently she can split these over a weekend. However, her lawyer (who seems to know what he's doing) is fairly certain that if she were to show up at LA County jail and surrender for 96 hours, they're basically going to book her and turn her right around - she'd be in there for maybe 10-12 hours. Has anyone, or anyone you know of, experienced this? What are the chances that she will actually be kept in there for 96 hours?

She does have the choice of spending two weekends (48 + 48) in a city jail (where she pays about $90/ day for nicer facilities).

Thank you very much for your input.

family law question re: NJ

infostud — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:49:29 -0800

What happens when a baby is born in jail in New Jersey? What departments/agencies are automatically involved? We are looking to get legal guardianship of a sister's soon-to-be-born child while she is in jail and need to know what agencies we should be dealing with beforehand.

Costuming for the Overly Ethical?

tejolote — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:14:23 -0800

Prison party fashion...without the prison? I'm going to a prison-themed party at the end of this month, and I'm having trouble coming up with something to wear because quite frankly, the prison theme creeps me out a little. I see prisons and jails and guards as something real, and it's impossible for me to fetishize something that seems so large and close and terrible.

However, I do want to go to this party, and I like costumes, and I want to have a good time and look good, or at least interesting. And however much it bothers me, I don't want to rain on anyone else's parade.

Is there anything vaguely related that I could do that would be a little farther removed and not so squicky? I've thought about actual prisoner-created fashion like http://www.Haeftling.de/ , but I'm not sure enough about getting something from overseas in time for the party.

I may end up going with something generic like a sailor uniform, which is somewhat in keeping with the spirit of the theme but seems more fun to me. Any other ideas?

How do I send books or magazines to someone in jail?

electroboy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:24:21 -0800

How do I send books or magazines to someone in jail? A friend is going in for about a month and besides visiting, I'd like to be able to send him some books or magazines. However, the Detention Center rules state that "Requested books, publications, etc., must come from the publisher."

I've heard anecdotally from another friend in similar circumstances that shipping directly from Amazon isn't acceptable either.

So, has anyone had experience sending anything other than letters to someone in prison? Is there any way to get publishers to ship directly?

How to get rid of a new roommate who, it turns out, has a rap sheet?

UrbanEye — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:44:58 -0800

Just signed a 5 month lease with 4 roommates found on Craigslist, then found out one guy has a criminal record a mile long! How should I begin to deal with this so things don't get physically dangerous, or legally murky? I am a current tenant at an apartment which will soon have 3 new tenants on a lease, and 2 (including myself) who have been there for a month or so. The landlord wants everyone to be on a one year lease, but one tenant is moving out in mid July. So, we signed a lease that's good till July and we will need to find a replacement for the person leaving in July before signing the one year lease.

Anyway, myself and the other tenant staying on found two really cool, nice people for the apartment. Unfortunately, the landlord sort of went over our heads and gave our fifth room to someone we had shown the place to, but had not confirmed as someone we liked.

Turns out that the 5'th roommate got out of jail two months ago, (a fact learned due to alcohol). A quick check of online court records brought up a substantial list of retail theft, drug, and criminal mischief charges. We (obviously) knew nothing about this beforehand.

The 5'th roommate has also made our lone female roommate, (the other tenant staying on from before) very uncomfortable with his lewd commentary. Upon finding out she was married, he said "that must be hard, but you have guys on the side right?" *wink* *wink*

I foresee a very complicated situation developing very fast. I don't want to live with a thief and a creep, but I also don't want to try kicking out a man who's been to jail and has been charged with "resisting arrest", "simple assault", and "criminal mischief".

My landlord may or may not know how to handle this in a mature way.

Prison-themed presents

lunalaguna — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:53:04 -0800

Help me think of prison-themed presents for a Down by Law screening party. My best friend is turning 35 next week, and we'll be having a screening of one of his favorite films, Down by Law, and an accompanying Italian-themed potluck. I'd like to make him a gift bag with prison-themed presents (soap on a roap, a shank, etc.) or gifts related to the movie. Any ideas?

How are pre-op transsexuals divided in short-term holding areas after incarceration?

Unicorn on the cob — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:17:23 -0800

Where are pre-op transsexuals placed in short-term holding tanks when they are arrested? The men's area, or the women's? I would definitely prefer an answer from actual police enforcement officials, but if you happen to know, I've wondered this forever. I used to live in a shady neighborhood and there was a well-known transsexual person of the evening that got arrested at least six times in front of my building. My understanding from the local convenience store clerk was that she was pre-op, but had breast implants and obviously hormone treatments.

In smaller areas, I would imagine there is a sort of "hold-all" cell area where people get put to sober up, get picked up by their parents, that sort of thing. But I live in a larger town where you are definitely divided in the holding tank areas by gender.

So, cops/transsexual workers/whomever: When a pre-op person gets arrested (prostitute or not, but I'm especially interested in the prostitute side of things, considering there may be violence in the holding tank), where does that person get assigned? The women's holding tank, or the men's? Is a strip-search done beforehand? I pray to god I'm not offending anyone by asking this, it genuinely is a question that has plagued me with curiosity for years.

I would assume that if you are transgender and busted on a larger charge and convicted, therefore serving time, you'd be assigned to whichever prison you belong to based on the genitals that you still retain at the time. Please feel free to clarify this better for me, too. I have seen various documentaries on gender reassignment surgery in prison and know that is an option/possibility; I am more concerned with where people go in the 24-hour holding tank areas for short-term offenses.

Algebra-filter: when will I get out of jail? (good time credit forumla)

unclezeb — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:25:58 -0800

Algebra-filter: help me create a formula to calculate "good time credits" for California jails: ([{actual days in jail/4} - any remainder] x 2) + actual days in jail = number of days sentenced to jail Solve for "actual" Show your work When my clients are "sentenced" to county jail, I know that they will serve about two-thirds of that sentence (i.e., 30 day sentence = 20 "actual" days). But there is a (relatively) complicated formula for determining the "actual days" which is, in fact, finding for the "days sentenced":

(((actual days in jail) divided by 4) less any remainder, i.e., rounded down) x 2) + actual days = sentence
or
([{A/4} - remainder] x 2) + A = S

So if someone is sentenced to 30 days, they serve 20:
(20/4 - remainder) x 2 + 20 =
(5 x 2) + 20 =
10 + 20 =
30

Or as the courts put it:
The proper method of calculating presentence custody credits is to divide by four the number of actual presentence days in custody, discounting any remainder. That whole-number quotient is then multiplied by two to arrive at the number of good/work credits. Those credits are then added to the number of actual presentence days spent in custody, to arrive at the total number of presentence custody credits. (People v. Smith (1989) 211 Cal.App.3d 523, 527; People v. Bravo, supra, 219 Cal.App.3d at p. 731.)

I want to find out how many days someone will actually spend in jail (actual days) based on how many days they are sentenced to serve (sentence).

Dude's going to the clink for 5 days. What to expect?

nomad73 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:36:04 -0800

What can someone expect when they go to jail for five days for a DUI? A person I know decided that he did not want to do over 200 hours of the community service to which he was sentenced for a 2nd DUI. Instead, he is opting for 5 days in jail. This is in a smallish (pop. ~200,000), somewhat economically challenged city in the eastern USA. I am just wondering, out of curiosity, what kind of experience can he expect while in the clink? He (stupidly, in my opinion) thinks it will be a cakewalk and he'll be out in about 24-48 hours. Anyone out there know what he might expect?

Who needs to know I went to jail?

AloneOssifer — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:26:39 -0800

Who needs to know that I was in jail tonight? I'm embarrassed by the whole thing because it was for an old outstanding ticket I forgot about. I'd never been arrested before and it felt like a movie, with the phone call, booking, etc.

Anyway, I missed a good amount of work earlier this year due to a hospital stay, and now I'll have to use vacation time to go to court.

Should I level with my boss? Also, is there anyone else that should know I went to jail? Would anyone find out without me telling them?

Therapist with patient in jail?

PostIronyIsNotaMyth — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:05:18 -0800

Any therapists out there? What would you say/do if a patient called you from jail claiming they were innocent? Basically, how do therapists respond when one of their patients has been incarcerated. Where does their commitment to the patient end? Would they get up in the middle of the night to rush down to the station or would the patient have to wait until morning?

Missed Community Service

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:54:39 -0800

How can I best help a friend get out of jail? He accidentally missed his community service gig. The background: About 7 years ago he was partying with some friends at one of their houses. He was 18, everyone was drunk, and out came the BB guns. He shot a guy in the ass. Nobody thought it was a big deal until a couple of weeks later when the cops showed up. Apparently the victim's mother doesn't appreciate jackass humor. His family was poor, they couldn't afford a lawyer, and he ended up being found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. The judge gave him time served and ordered him to do community service (I'm not sure how many hours were ordered). This was in Hays County, Texas.

What happened: Hays County required him to do 8 hours a month. He lives and works in adjacent Travis County, and they told him he's required to do 12 hours a month. He's married, wants to get on with his life, so he's been doing 16-21 hours per month for a while. In July he missed the weekend of July 4th, thinking that it would be a holiday. He has monthly probation meetings, and when he went in for his August meeting last Wednesday, he was immediately arrested and sent to the Travis County jail, where he's been ever since. Bail is set at $100,000. He was under the mistaken impression that his community service hours roll over month to month. He was on track to have all of this finished by January 2009. Apparently it either doesn't work this way at all, or it does, and it's just a clerical matter.

What's going on: Travis County is holding him until Hays County requests him to go before a judge. At that time he'll be moved from the Travis jail to the Hays jail. We've been told this could take ten business days, so he might not see the judge until nextWednesday, which means he might sit in jail for two weeks. His wife tried to call his probation officer to explain what's going on, and that he was far ahead of schedule for community service, but she can't get past the assistant. The assistant has been curt and bluntly said "We don't have to tell you anything".

His wife has talked to a lawyer in Hays County, and his first order of business will be to try to reduce the bail. That's not going to happen, however, until she retains the lawyer for $2,500, which is far beyond her means at the moment. She's working on putting a lot of things on Craigslist, and a few friends are throwing some stuff into a garage sale, but even if bail is cut in half, she's still looking at $2,500 + $5,000 = $7,500 just to get him out on bond, and there's still the possibility that he'll go back to jail for missing community service.

Does that seem probable? We can't get anyone to give us a straight answer here, and the court-appointed attorney is completely overwhelmed, and has basically suggested a "mercy of the court" defense. We're really hoping that this finally gets to the judge, who will hear the back story, see that he's been doing 21+ hours of community service a month when only 8 is required, and declare this upstanding, tax-paying citizen free to go.

We're kinda looking for any advice we can get here. I know you're not a lawyer (but I hope you are), and you're specifically not his lawyer. We're working on getting a lawyer, so until then, hope us.

On the Mundane Aspects of Imprisonment

sleslie — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:14:21 -0800

When one goes to jail for a long time, how are the mundane aspects of one's previous life handled? What happens to the pets? If there's a mortgage and no one to assume responsibilities, is the house sold for the prisoner? Who pays the cable bill? Do you have to pay to cut your cell phone plan short of the contractual ending date? Who returns the library books?

Warden threw a party in the county jail!

sourwookie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:57:27 -0800

Any idea where to find a black-and-white horizontally-striped t-shirts reminiscent of old style prison outfits--like what Elvis had in Jailhouse Rock? I've found whole costumes (jumpers, etc.) but I just need t-shirts.

Might wanna watch your speed in Wyoming, partner...

konolia — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:17:00 -0800

So...what's with jail terms for speeding tickets in Wyoming? My twenty-three year old son got a call last week from one of his fellow newly graduated buddies...seems the buddy was pulled over for speeding in Wyoming and given THREE DAYS IN JAIL for it.

THREE DAYS.

My son got pulled over for speeding in Colorado and just got a warning.

Granted, from what he tells me, the roads in Wyoming are long, straight, uncrowded, and very tempting to use when trying to see what your car will do. But three days in the pokey?

So, what is the scoop on this?

What happens if you go to jail with braces on your teeth?

melodykramer — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:16:13 -0800

What happens if you go to jail with braces on your teeth? The thought just occurred to me. Some people must be sentenced to lengthy jail sentences with braces on. Do jail-orthodontists take them off? Let them be? What if you're 18 and you have braces, and are given a lengthy sentence? Could you go through all of jail with your braces?

(This doesn't apply to anyone I know or a story I'm writing or anything -- I was just driving today and thinking about braces, and how they were expensive and hurt when they came off, and sharp, and how some people must have braces and go to jail....) :P

I don't want to be the new fish!!

brain cloud — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:51:21 -0800

My Drivers License is expired. So are my car's tags. A lot. How do I renew both without getting arrested on the spot? I'm kinda freaking out here. I went through some moderately bad emotional shit right around when my license & tags were supposed to be renewed on 2007 and...I kinda didn't. I kept meaning to, but I didn't. Then time passed, and here we are. I realize this is a bad thing. I want to make it right, but I'm terrified of being arrested on the spot for either or both infractions. How do I get legal again without going to the pokey?

For the sake of info/argument: This is a southern state, beginning with the letter F. I am past the 4-month mark of expiry on both, which I learned last week changes having no license from "lil slap on the wrist" to "criminal" infraction (there does not seem to be a criminal offense related to expiry of tags, but you have to admit...driving around on expired tags is asking for trouble. Don't ask how I've gotten away with it this long, I sure don't know myself). I am fully insured on my vehicle. In my state, the renewal of licenses is handled from a different branch of government than the renewal of vehicle tags, which I always thought was pretty stupid until now...because at least this way there's some hope for me.

Yes, I know I'm an idiot.

Help??!

Getting jail time in california?

SECONDHANDSMOTE — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:04:56 -0800

What would a person have to do in order to get a one year jail sentence in the California penal system. I'm working an idea, and I need someone to disappear. What sort of crimes could a person commit that would have a high probability of landing them in the slammer for a period of (around) one year. I'm thinking California, but I'm not set on it. Non-violent crimes would be useful.

A Novel Method of Escape

Tube — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:45:04 -0800

Has anyone ever escaped from jail or prison using this novel method, either in fiction or in real life? As a child I remember hearing about an escape by a prisoner using string and an abrasive to saw through the steel bars of his cell. I believe the story involved the string being coated with soap, which was used to adhere powdered mortar or concrete. The improvised "saw" was then pulled back and forth against the metal bar until it cut through.

I honestly can't remember where I came across this idea, whether I was told it as historical fact by my father, or if I read about it or perhaps saw it on TV as a work of fiction.

Has anyone else heard of this? I'm not so much interested in speculating whether it is really possible or not, rather if anyone can provide any specific examples.

Why the drop in incarceration for public order crimes?

painquale — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:43:18 -0800

According to these pages on the U.S. Bureau of Justice site, imprisonment for public order offenses suddenly fell by a third in 2002. Why?

Got an electrical outlet?

gbinal — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:57:38 -0800

I have heard that prisoners will use a trick involving sticking a bit of metal in electrical outlets to get a spark in a rather Macgyver-esque process of lighting a cigarette. Is this more urban legend than reality. It shouldn't surprise you that part of the reason I'm asking is that I entered a bet on this subject, telling the other party that this seemed rather like an urban legend.

I wouldn't guess most jail cells have electrical outlets; in the commons areas as well. I would also guess that with so much smoking that goes on in jail, there would be plenty of matches going around.

The idea that a process involving lighting some lent or cotton off of sparks made by sticking pieces of metal in electrical outlets... well, I'll just say again that it reminds me of grand daddy long legs supposedly being the most poisonous spiders except that their mouths are too small.

I've googled all around but not found anybody addressing this. Thanks in advance for any thoughts and if we cross paths, I'll buy you a cup of coffee with the $10 bucks you folks help me win.

What makes for good jail reading?

suki — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 06:54:18 -0800

What books should I buy for someone in jail? My beloved motorcycle mechanic is in jail for a few weeks and I'd like to send him some books to help him pass the time. I can only order the books from Amazon and have them sent directly to him.

The last books he read were by Dostoyevsky and Flannery O'Connor. He says he'd like to use the time to read more classics and non-fiction books that address large philosophical issues. Or anything that explains internal combustion.

I was thinking about buying him three books - one big fiction classic (perhaps V or Gravity's Rainbow), one non-fiction book, and one "light" read.

Thank you!

i'm going to jail (for 2 hours).

twistofrhyme — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:04:27 -0800

what fun, performance-related activities would you teach in a high-security prison? i have a background teaching & working with under-served youth, mostly in the field of drama / performance. next week, i am leading 2 guest workshops in a high-security british prison. the content can be whatever i want- communication, improv, acting, group dynamics, whatever. it should have some performance component, and it should be fun and playful.

i'm allowed to use audiovisuals (although i'm not sure what i'd use, nor how compatible my DVDs would be) and handouts (although at least 50% of the inmates can't read).

i will have 2 groups of 20 inmates for 2 hours each.
group 1 are "vulnerable inmates" facing threats from the mainstream prison population. apparently they like this kind of guest speaker session a lot and tend to be engaged & participatory.
group 2 are the mainstream population, who tend to also be pretty open to this kind of stuff but are a bit more rowdy and disruptive.

i thought i'd like to do stuff involving improv, acting, self-expression, comedy, or performance.

i want the inmates to have fun, feel that i like & respect them, and feel safe with each other in the workshop. i want them to all feel talented & successful at the end, and maybe get to practice some kind of communication skill that they can apply to their daily life or get some sort of self-esteem boost from (like "hey, i didn't know people thought i was funny!" kind of feelings). and i want them to be able to laugh good-naturedly at each other in a way that won't exacerbate any tensions that may exist within the group. i worry that i'm overthinking things a bit, but that's how i feel. frankly, i'm a little nervous- i'm a young, innocent-looking canadian woman, i speak in a kind of nerdy overenthusiastic cadence which usually makes "tough" people tease me (good-naturedly, and it doesn't hurt my feelings, but i don't want to come off as some nice, clueless suburban girl who thinks she can teach MEANINGFUL LIFE SKILLS or whatever- even if that's kind of what i am), and i'm not particularly street smart, especially compared to prison inmates.

i like the idea of them doing performance stuff, typical improv games like clap-focus, freeze/switch, hotseat, and those games where 2 people tell a story simeltaneously or one-word-at-a-time. simple open scenes, maybe, make-a-story, genre opera, etc. but i don't wanna limit my options to just improv, i feel like there may be other activities that will work well in this context.

in short, my questions are:
1. what kind of performance, expressive, or group dynamics stuff would you teach in this situation?
2. is there any meta-advice you can give me, about what to expect, or how to think about my position in this situation, that will help me relate well to the group?

any advice would be so helpful- thanks in advance!

Please don't let this become Brokedown Palace

i less than three nsima — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:34:23 -0800

My fiance just got arrested in Malawi for an expired visa, what can I do? She is in the country for an extended volunteering position (personally organized through in-country contacts), and was told when she went though passport control that she had been given a 90-day visa. It has been 35 since she landed - apparently she was only stamped for 30 days.

Pertinent info:

--As far as I know, she hasn't broken any laws, other than the visa violation.

--I've contacted the American Embassy in Malawi, they are working on the case, are getting the consular involved, and will "get back to me in a couple of hours."

--I've called her mom.

I'm sorry if this isn't much to go on, I'm just freaking out and don't know what else to do!

Confounding problem - her cell phone is dying!