Sunday, January 8, 2012

First Day at Santa Rita Jail

Friday night I turned  myself into the shit hole that is Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA.  I was scared at first because I didn't know what jail would be like but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  However, the jail itself is one of the worst in the Country.  First they book you then I was sent into the drunk tank or holding cell with about 7 other females.  4 of us were "weekenders" so the experience was new to them as well.  The girls were pretty cool.  I soon realized that no one is really there to start shit with you, everyone is pretty much in the same boat.  Every one is just as miserable as you are and doesn't want to be there just as much as you do.  The main goal is to suck it up and get it over with.  As long as you don't have attitude or start crap with anyone you will be fine.  I picked the wrong or right weekend to turn  myself in because it turned out to be one of their busiest.  We had to sit in the holding cell for 18 hours.  That's 18 hours of not being able to sleep and sitting on a cold cement block.  The gave us a nasty baloney sandwich and a cup.  We were supposed to use the cup to fill with water that came from the toilet........no thank you.  So far I went 18 hours with no food and nothing to drink.  Then we were taken out to get fingerprinted and talk to the nurse.  The nurse gave us a TB and pregnancy test.  After that I was taken to the dress area which is just a bigger holding cell where you change into your "uniform."  Once I got changed I started to feel like a low-life just wearing the outfit I see murderers wear in jail on television.  Slowly more girls started coming in and changing as well.  My costume if you will was blue which is for low level offenders.  A lot of the women there were in for shop-lifting, drunk in publics and being caught with pipes and pot.  Alameda county is no joke, so if you plan on partaking in even the slightest illegal activity don't get caught there.

So we sat there in the dressing room for 3 hours before the deputy told us we were finally be taken to the pods where our cells were.  For the first time I was looking forward to it because at this point all we wanted was a bed and a hot meal.  I made friends with the girls I was stuck with in the 18 hour period.  All of us had a plan to go to bed, wake up for dinner and then go back to bed again.  We lined up and took a long walk through the yard to the jail.  The only thing that made me nervous was wondering what the other women in there were going to be like.  The deputy then told us that me and my "friends" would all be housed together so that made me feel better.  We were taken to the multi-purpose room where we would have to strip down naked, bend over, spread our cheeks and cough.  I was not looking forward to this as you can imagine.  I stood in the line waiting for the female officer.  At this point the women were telling stories about what had happened in that situation the week before.  One girl said that someone bent over and the officer shouted "are you having a baby?"  I guess a bunch of hair started coming out of her cooch.  Turned out she was trying to smuggle in her weave.......ghetto....fabulous?  Sidebar, let me just tell you no matter how respectful and nice you are the deputies are complete and total dicks there.  They are young, attractive and they know it.  They walk around with the biggest ego's and treat you like shit no matter how little your crime.  That was by far the worst part of the jail besides the stank smells and dirt everywhere.  So while I'm waiting to get molested by the female officer, she comes in and asks for two inmates.  One of them happened to be me and I immediately knew what that meant.  I was getting released early.  They took us back to the dressing room to put our normal clothes back on so my new friend and I could go.  Since we were weekender's and the jail was becoming over-crowded they needed more beds available for people that were going to need to stay there before going to court.  Those two girls were in the dressing room in yellow uniforms.  They got busted with AK 47-s in an armed robbery.  The deputy told us he would be back to get us in 3 minutes after we got dressed.  Those 3 minutes turned into a long 3 and half hours.  There was a shift change between the officers and no one cared that we were stuck in the room waiting for release.  I was stuck listening to those two women involved in the robbery talk and talk about the most disgusting, ghetto shit I've ever heard.  I slowly started to feel a panick attack coming on and needed to get the hell out of there.  Finally an deputy showed up and took us out.  He gave me what I came in with, my cellphone and my passport.  I walked out of there a free woman one day early.  Unfortunately I have to go back again next weekend.  I'm hoping the same situation will ensue.  I'll be there for 24 hours due to overcrowding and released.  If not, I'm definitely not as scared about it as I thought I would be.  As long as I get a bed this time I'll be fine.  Stay tuned for next week......

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