A Bit of Safety Advice: Jails and Prisons
Hey there.
I just want to offer a few pieces of advice for people in the free world, particular to those of you in the USA. These things are things you can implement now, to prepare yourself should you ever fall into a situation where you are ever jailed or imprisoned.
It's advice based on my own personal wishlist, things that I can tell you will make a world of difference if ever you're issued a pair of linked steel bracelets and a ride in the justice-impacted network of squad vehicles.
Carry a card and some cash.
Not a debit or credit card -- carry as few of these as you can (which is just good advice, period: what if your wallet or purse was stolen?).
I recommend printing a business card with the names, mailing addresses, and phone numbers of two or three of your most important contacts, and carrying a $10 or $20 bill with that card. Consider labeling the card your Emergency Contacts card.
Why?
If you have never been arrested before (don't try it, I do not recommend it), you're thrust into a high stress situation. Your pockets are emptied and inventoried by the officer (there goes your phone), and frequently, your small cash (that $10 or $20) gets put onto your jail books for "safekeeping".
Ask the officer for that card, explain (if necessary) that it's your emergency contacts card. Most booking officers are actually reasonable, typically giving a new intake a few minutes to get that kind of contact info off their mobile device; you're just a step or two ahead.
The money that just went onto your books is there to give you a bit more phone time while you're communicating with your circle of care, assuming your county jail does not simply pocket this as an intake fee (e.g. Hellsburp County taking $35 from intakes just as a "booking fee", even without having an adjudication of guilty by the courts).
Know that the "free phone call" line you hear in movies when someone gets locked up may reach one person, and recharges once weekly at best in most cases. 300 seconds, make it count, and don't expect to talk to your lawyer this way if you can even afford it -- the wall phones are compromised and do not respect attorney/client privilege.
As a note, in the case of the county jail eating cash as a booking fee, it still benefits you, because less of the next deposit will disappear into the debt hole caused by this.
I speak from lived experience, and thank my own circle of care for all the help they rendered, both then and now -- I personally experienced the county jail eating cash situation when I was extradited from the Left Coast to the prison-infested pustule that dangles from the USA. To wit, my home county did not charge a booking fee, nor did they charge a per diem for being housed (think jail cell rent). But, when I made it from my home to thousands of miles away to where I sat single cell, no direct sun light for almost half a year, that jail charged a booking fee. Thanks, Hellsburp County. /s
Build a Circle of Care.
That is, you should engage with your closest friends, and consider establishing a mutual agreement to be a voice for each other. If one of you finds yourselves locked up in the county jail or shipped off to prison, it's that circle of camaraderie, of friendship and care, that very well may keep that person sane. Having people on the outside that can pick up the pieces when the justice system comes smashing down makes so much of a difference.
Know Your Medicines
If you take prescription medicines, you should add a second card to your Emergency Contacts. List the name and phone number of your primary health care team, your medicines, dosages, and frequency of dosage. As example,
- Dr. Poivre, Fizzy County Community Health Center, 313-555-7377
- Losartan/HCTZ 50mg/12.5mg 1× daily
- Atorvastatin 80mg 1× daily
- Trulicity 4.5mg/ml 1× weekly
Why?
Frequently, people who are locked up don't make it to jail with their medicines. They're in a high stress situation, under enough pressure that makes them forget to name a pill or an injection they do take. Your goal is to ensure your needs are met as accurately as possible while you're housed in that facility, and this is just a tool to get you that much closer to doing just that.
After all, Medical at the jail are typically tasked to ask you the questions that require answers from this card. :)
Things I want to do once out
Of course, fully establish this kind of circle, with cash put aside to offer the same kind of financial aid that I've received in my current corrections ride. I know I won't have much cash at first, but if I can afford to shove $200 aside into something that has an interest-bearing yield (preferably compounded interest, not simple), and maybe add to it as I can afford over time, it means I can sit in a position of being able to pay forward the blessings I've received thus far, should someone I know find themselves in this kind of need.
But I also want to figure out a way to address the many states who do not allow their prisoners to vote, and encourage them to be more like Maine and Vermont, who do allow their prisoners to use their voting rights.
For now, I just need to work on survival.