January 26, 2010
I am out of jail and back home,
Arriving at the jail the door was locked. There were 3 woman bussing the attendant who let us in. Interring into the lobby we were instructed to go up stairs and join the others. One of the women stopped at the bottom of the stairs and said I can't do this I'm leaving and went back outside.
As I entered the jail I was told to face the wall and spared them and searched. I then joined 6 others and assigned to pod C We were given orange and white striped clothes, the chief is a Beaver fan. We lined up in single file and were taken down the hall where we had our mug shots taken. As we moved within the jail if someone else was walking toward us we were told to stop face the wall and not make eye contact with anyone.
I was placed into solitary confinement cell #203 a place where an inmate will stay for 23 hours a day. The 24th hour they can go to an outdoor courtyard where there is nothing but concrete. The cell had a bed with a 3 inch foam pad covered in plastic and a small pillow covered in plastic. A small table with attached stool. The toilet when flushed sounded like it was from an airplane, whoosh, very loud. I could hear them flushing throughout the jail. The air vent in my cell was very noisy I thought I was sitting by a jet engine and it never stopped. Had some trouble sleeping because one light in my cell was left on all night so they could see me during the one hour bed checks. If that's is not bad enough the jail correction officers moving through out the jail made a lot of noise opening and closing doors, which are made of steel. I think they slammed them to remind you where you were.
When they closed and locked me in my cell I was alone, unable to get out. An officer would walk by once an hour to make sure I was breathing then I was alone again. I thought about my freedom unable to go to the kitchen for something to drink or make some popcorn, watch my big screen TV, check my e-mail free I was not. The goal is to be a good inmate and get moved to the worker pod where you get to be a part of the cleaning crew. Mopping the floors and cleaning toilets is a privilege you must earn.
No coffee, smoking, TV, clock, radio, cell phone, no electronics of any kind allowed. No window to look outside. Inmates are allowed to read paperback books that the jail has pre-approved. After you are given a meal (which is made by the Washington prison inmates @ $1.66 each) you have about 10 minutes to finish it, they come for your plastic glass and plastic spoon which is so flimsy you can barley eat pudding with it. They don’t want the inmate to have them any longer then necessary because they may be turned into a weapon.
Good to be on the outside!