Our class visited the Orient Road Jail this week. The visit was an interesting experience to say the least.Major Robert Lucas has over 30 years experience in the field and gave us a tour of the facility. We visited three main areas: the booking center, the holding area and the lockdown area.
In the booking center, all those arrested, be it for a misdemeanor or a felony, are together. Separation, Lucas said, is based on behavior.
Throughout the tour, Lucas mentioned this phrase: "Our way or the alternatives."
If an arrested individual acts on irritation or aggression toward an officer, for instance, he or she will be put into one of the holding cells on the side of the room. If that person is still acting out inside the holding cell--Lucas cited banging on the glass as one example--and they don't stop when an officer orders, he or she will be placed in a confining chair. The chair itself looks hard and uncomfortable, with straps for arms and legs, a helmet, and a face mask. The mask, Lucas said, would be used if the person is spitting at officers.
The media play a large part in how we perceive jail, so people who have never been arrested or even stepped foot inside a jail might be surprised by what they see. For example, there is no 'one phone call' policy. Assuming that an arrested person is cooperative with officers, he or she can make as many phone calls as needed.
There is also no strip searching by federal law. Instead, arrested people are put in a body orifice scanning chair. It acts as a full body X-ray and detects the presence of any metal on or in the body.
We also visited the holding and lockdown areas. In the holding area, there are no barred cell doors as seen in many films and television shows. There are numbered doors with small windows instead. It was very quiet, surprisingly so. A few of the prisoners were playing basketball outside, and others were cleaning or just milling around.
Unsurprisingly quiet was the lockdown area. All of the prisoners are in their cells all day and night, except for the times they shower, which is once a day.
Lucas let us know what our rights are with regard to the public records we can get. We can get anything in booking except medical records. This includes mug shots and incident reports. Access to property is available, too. Lucas said that officers take jewelry, watches, wallets and all other material things from an arrested person so that those possessions don't become a form of extortion. The police network this information throughout the state to find stolen goods. The property report becomes available to everyone. The jail is under constant surveillance and constant scrutiny, Lucas said. Reporters can access the surveillance videos, as well.
Overall, the tour was an interesting experience. The goal was to learn more about public records available to us. I think that goal was met. Lucas also enlightened us about the reality of jail and that what the media portray is not always accurate.
6 comments:
Somewhat informative and I liked the setup of the blog along with the pictures and spacing used.
Good post. Well organized and informative about the experience.
This post was clean, easy to read and informative.
Your blog was very informative, professional and fun:)
I enjoy the way that she tied how the tour would help her in her efforts to unearth public documents. She showed every document that was at our disposal in the jail.
This post was descriptive. It was written in a way that the reader could visualize what was going on even if they weren't there.
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