Traffice Survival School was a one day 8 to 5 class that you have to take to get your license back. Basically just lots of 'horror' movies that luckily I was sitting far enough away from the TV that I couldn't see them too well. What was very interesting is that the majority of people in the room were first time red light runners who had been caught on camera. Apparently AZ has a very bad record of red light offenses, so in order for the Gov't to keep getting funding they had to take a harder line on red light runners, so they now require them to take TSS with the first offense. Beware.
The interlock is a real pain in the butt. To start the car you have to make a Whooooooo sound. It took me a long time to figure out how to make this just right. You have to make it whenever the beep goes off while driving and if you miss it even just one time, you have to have the interlock for an extra year. This means you can't ever let anyone else use your car or even get it washed or serviced without your being in it the whole time. If you do need to get it serviced, you need to call and schedule with the interlock people so they will have a record, in case it goes off while out of your control. Anyway, the Whooooooo I finally figured out, they are more concerned with the constant sound than a lot of breath being blow into the machine. The machine makes a buzzing sound when you are doing it right and you have to do it for about 5 seconds, which when you are doing it, feels like a long time.
It's great to be able to drive again, even with the interlock. At least now I can run errands, etc.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Freedom & Tent City Stories
You really don't know how to appreciate freedom until you have lost it for a while. 9 days and nights may not sound like much, but believe me, it feels like a long time. The benefit of having gone through this is that I think I will appreciate life more now. The last 60 hours when I didn't get work release were the toughest. DUI is the only crime in which they say you can only have 5 days work release and then 2 days (3 nights) in. Every other crime you can have 6 days work release and 1 day in. The system really screws DUI offenders.
I met lots of interesting people at camp. One lady braided my hair (corn rows), it passed a few hours and was lots cooler. She is a hair dresser and did a great job. I saw 2 people who had friends that knew I was in there and told them to find me. One of the women was in for a year for drugs and the other was DUI like me. The ladies were all very respectful of each other and our property right up until 48 hours before I was released and they put a little 18 year old black girl in with us who was in for theft. Immediately people started having things stolen from there bunks. The other black ladies knew she was the one doing it and were really pissed. She's was in for 5 days, and they were about ready to 'take her out'. They felt she was an insult to the black women and they were right. We were a real cutural mix. Every race was represented.
There was a very pretty woman in for negelgent homicide. She lost control of her car and hit someone. She was in for 6 months. Lots of people in for drugs, some you could really see it on faces - bad teeth, skin, etc. There was one lady who had just had a baby and named it Crystal Beth (get it, Meth) poor kid.
That is it for this Blog. I'm ready to move onto the next phase of life. XXXOOO
I met lots of interesting people at camp. One lady braided my hair (corn rows), it passed a few hours and was lots cooler. She is a hair dresser and did a great job. I saw 2 people who had friends that knew I was in there and told them to find me. One of the women was in for a year for drugs and the other was DUI like me. The ladies were all very respectful of each other and our property right up until 48 hours before I was released and they put a little 18 year old black girl in with us who was in for theft. Immediately people started having things stolen from there bunks. The other black ladies knew she was the one doing it and were really pissed. She's was in for 5 days, and they were about ready to 'take her out'. They felt she was an insult to the black women and they were right. We were a real cutural mix. Every race was represented.
There was a very pretty woman in for negelgent homicide. She lost control of her car and hit someone. She was in for 6 months. Lots of people in for drugs, some you could really see it on faces - bad teeth, skin, etc. There was one lady who had just had a baby and named it Crystal Beth (get it, Meth) poor kid.
That is it for this Blog. I'm ready to move onto the next phase of life. XXXOOO
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I'm finally free
They 'kicked me out' (jail talk for let me go) last night around 12 midnight and transported me to the Lower Buckeye jail, where I sat in a freezing cold cell until they finished processing me let me go at 5:45 this AM. Luckily this was one day earlier that I expected, so it was a welcome surprise. I had to walk about 1 1/2 miles back to tent city to get my car, I gave another lady a ride home so I didn't have to do the walk in the dark my myself. If I never see that part of town again, it will be tooo soon.
Tent city is dirty, in that there is no grass so you are walking in the dirt. They have made a half hearted effort to spread gravel around but there is still a lot of dirt. There a ants everywhere, the little bitey kind so you have to be careful where you step and they come up in the tent. Some of the DO's (Detention Officers) are nice, but most have a chip on their shoulder or at least act like they do and want to make sure you remember that you are a 'criminal'.
The main thing to keep in mind it there is NO FIRST CHANCE with a DUI. The first time you get one, you will go to jail. Depending on how high your blood level is, will dictate the time. The min is 10 days. There were lots of people in there with 15 to 60 days for first time DUI’s so don’t take a chance and have even one drink and drive!!!!
I'll update with more details later, I'm going to take a bath and a nap.
Tent city is dirty, in that there is no grass so you are walking in the dirt. They have made a half hearted effort to spread gravel around but there is still a lot of dirt. There a ants everywhere, the little bitey kind so you have to be careful where you step and they come up in the tent. Some of the DO's (Detention Officers) are nice, but most have a chip on their shoulder or at least act like they do and want to make sure you remember that you are a 'criminal'.
The main thing to keep in mind it there is NO FIRST CHANCE with a DUI. The first time you get one, you will go to jail. Depending on how high your blood level is, will dictate the time. The min is 10 days. There were lots of people in there with 15 to 60 days for first time DUI’s so don’t take a chance and have even one drink and drive!!!!
I'll update with more details later, I'm going to take a bath and a nap.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Hot days ahead.
I was hoping to get work release for then next 2 days, but with no luck. I have to go in tonight Tuesday at 7 pm and won't get out until Thursday at 7 am. Then Friday night and then I'm done. The schedule is 2 days in 5 days on work release. What is interesting is that if you are iin for a crime other than DUI, you can get 6 days work release with 1 day in. The DUI laws, are mandated and there is almost no getting around them. The only way you can get your DUI reduced is if you can show that your blood was within 10% of the DUI limit. In that case you need to have a Blood Expert who can testify that your blood is within the margin of error, without an expert, you most likely will not get the court to reduce your DUI.
Over halfway there, 4 nights to go
The last few nights have been fairly uneventful. I show up at approx. 6:30, I don't want to be late and my check in time is 7 pm. When you check in and out for work release, you have to give the guard your tent, bed number and last name. I'm not sure what will happen if you are late, but I'm pretty sure you could jepordize your work release and you definately don't want to do that.
Other items to note, there is a very small admin window when you first enter. This is where you can go to ask any questions or to get a toothbrush, etc. Very important - you do not knock on this window, you just stand there until someone notices you and you can then ask your question.
I heard a few stories over the weekend that were a little strange. There was one inmate that was going around asking everyone for money. Luckily, since I just laid in my bunk and read, she didn't approach me. There was a couple others that will making a killing selling cigarettes, one for 2 dollars a piece, when she ran out another girl started selling them for $5 a piece. I don't understand why they take a chance on smoking a cigarette, if you get caught you can lose your work release priveleges or be "rolled out" to full custody which is much harder.
There are actually 2 tent cities. I'm in the easiest one. The other one requires that everyone wear striped and work at the jail. They do strip searchs in this one and if you screw up in the one I'm in, you can be stuck into that one. I'm met a few women who have come from over there and they really like it here.
On one side of the woman's area that I'm in there are large 2 story buildings that have windows looking over at our area. I'm told this is where the men sex abusers are keep. It seems to be true since at night you can see these guys silhouetted in the windows and they beat on the bars to get our attention and then make weird sexual images. It's actually kind of funny in a very stupid way.
I met this one very pretty woman in for 6 months for 'neglegent homicide' she lost control of her car and accidently killed someone. Very sad situation. Anyway, I'm signing off for the day. More later.
Other items to note, there is a very small admin window when you first enter. This is where you can go to ask any questions or to get a toothbrush, etc. Very important - you do not knock on this window, you just stand there until someone notices you and you can then ask your question.
I heard a few stories over the weekend that were a little strange. There was one inmate that was going around asking everyone for money. Luckily, since I just laid in my bunk and read, she didn't approach me. There was a couple others that will making a killing selling cigarettes, one for 2 dollars a piece, when she ran out another girl started selling them for $5 a piece. I don't understand why they take a chance on smoking a cigarette, if you get caught you can lose your work release priveleges or be "rolled out" to full custody which is much harder.
There are actually 2 tent cities. I'm in the easiest one. The other one requires that everyone wear striped and work at the jail. They do strip searchs in this one and if you screw up in the one I'm in, you can be stuck into that one. I'm met a few women who have come from over there and they really like it here.
On one side of the woman's area that I'm in there are large 2 story buildings that have windows looking over at our area. I'm told this is where the men sex abusers are keep. It seems to be true since at night you can see these guys silhouetted in the windows and they beat on the bars to get our attention and then make weird sexual images. It's actually kind of funny in a very stupid way.
I met this one very pretty woman in for 6 months for 'neglegent homicide' she lost control of her car and accidently killed someone. Very sad situation. Anyway, I'm signing off for the day. More later.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
3 days down, 7 to go
I was able to drive myself to 'camp' last night, I had to be there by 7 pm. The parking lot for tent city is on Gibson, which is different from where you self surrender on Lower Buckeye. This means if you drove yourself to self surrender you have to walk a little over a mile back to your car.
After I tried to call my hubby's mobile and was turned down, the maricopa sheriffs office called him and he was able to put money into an account, so now I can call from inside tent city and reach him, which is nice.
The weather was nice last night, so basically it's like camping out and at least you have a bathroom. The bathrooms are not too bad, fairly clean, but no doors or privacy. They do give you razors and soap. There is a washer and dryer for furlow girls who have to stay for awhile.
85% of the ladies at tent city are there for first time DUI's Extreme or Super Extreme. The furlow ladies are in for either 2nd + DUI's or other crimes. I was taking to one lady that was in for aggravated identity theft. She figure out how to make her own credit cards on the computer and got away with it for 5 years before the caught up with her. Everyone here (I'm talking the inmates) are very nice, we are all in the same boat. We just compare how we happened to be there.
One of the girls I first came in with was only 18, she had an extreme DUI of .155 which is within the 10% margin of error and was able to get it reduced to a regular DUI, so she only had to spend 24 hours. She was scared and very sweet, she stayed close to me and another lady who had a really bizzare story. That lady was pulled over for speeding and when the officer asked her if there was anything else he should know, she admitted she had, had one glass of wine. He told her she should not have told him that. Anyway they gave her a breathalyzer that registered at .082. She hired an attorney and fought it all the way to jury trial, while her jury was out deliberating over lunch one of the jurors was hit by a drunk driver and had his shoulder and arm broken. An alternate had to be called back in and about 15 min later they declared her guilty. Bad timing. What is also rather interesting about her case is she got her DUI back in March and DMV suspended her license for the 90 days (30 completely, 60 work only), which she did back right after her DUI. Because she took her case to trial and lost, the court is now suspending her license for a second time under the mandatory sentencing law, since the DMV suspension was done previously to the sentencing. Besides all the penalties, she is out $7,500 for an attorney who did absolutely nothing for her. There are alot of attorneys out there who take peoples money and do nothing at all for them, so beware of hiring an attorney.
More tomorrow.
After I tried to call my hubby's mobile and was turned down, the maricopa sheriffs office called him and he was able to put money into an account, so now I can call from inside tent city and reach him, which is nice.
The weather was nice last night, so basically it's like camping out and at least you have a bathroom. The bathrooms are not too bad, fairly clean, but no doors or privacy. They do give you razors and soap. There is a washer and dryer for furlow girls who have to stay for awhile.
85% of the ladies at tent city are there for first time DUI's Extreme or Super Extreme. The furlow ladies are in for either 2nd + DUI's or other crimes. I was taking to one lady that was in for aggravated identity theft. She figure out how to make her own credit cards on the computer and got away with it for 5 years before the caught up with her. Everyone here (I'm talking the inmates) are very nice, we are all in the same boat. We just compare how we happened to be there.
One of the girls I first came in with was only 18, she had an extreme DUI of .155 which is within the 10% margin of error and was able to get it reduced to a regular DUI, so she only had to spend 24 hours. She was scared and very sweet, she stayed close to me and another lady who had a really bizzare story. That lady was pulled over for speeding and when the officer asked her if there was anything else he should know, she admitted she had, had one glass of wine. He told her she should not have told him that. Anyway they gave her a breathalyzer that registered at .082. She hired an attorney and fought it all the way to jury trial, while her jury was out deliberating over lunch one of the jurors was hit by a drunk driver and had his shoulder and arm broken. An alternate had to be called back in and about 15 min later they declared her guilty. Bad timing. What is also rather interesting about her case is she got her DUI back in March and DMV suspended her license for the 90 days (30 completely, 60 work only), which she did back right after her DUI. Because she took her case to trial and lost, the court is now suspending her license for a second time under the mandatory sentencing law, since the DMV suspension was done previously to the sentencing. Besides all the penalties, she is out $7,500 for an attorney who did absolutely nothing for her. There are alot of attorneys out there who take peoples money and do nothing at all for them, so beware of hiring an attorney.
More tomorrow.
48 Hours Later
I'm out on work release for the first time. Here's the story of what happened. The only consistent thing I discovered is that no one gives you any information and what you do hear is usually either wrong or you are told different things by different people.
First I had to turn myself in at 'self surrender'. No one told me that the self surrender area is a ramada with a few benches. There is no door, no window or person to give you any guidence. All there is, is a sign that says "Self Surrender - Leave all items in car". This makes no sense, since they gave me a number to call that told me what I could take in. From asking others around I was told I was at the right place and to just wait. I was there at 6:45 am so I could surrender at 7am. At 8:15, a guard finally opened a garage door and shouted for us to line up. She looked at me and told me I could not bring my bag in. I had my items in a black tote. I looked at the others and realized they all had theirs in white plastic bags, like the kind you get at the grocery store.
She did not explain or allow me to ask if it was the tote or bag that was the problem, so I put my stuff in a plastic garbage bag to try to take it in, but by this time they had closed the door so I had to wait until 9:30 before they opened it again. This time with my garbage bag I was allowed to take my stuff through.
We were then stood against a wall and frisked and taken into the building for admittance. The woman in attendance asks us what we had in the bags and we told her it was the items on the recording, she said, they need to change that recording, you aren't allowed to bring anything in but she did not take our bags from us. The men went to one side of the room and the woman - there were 4 of us went into a small holding cell. They had us fill out a medical records form and then called us out one by one to have us answer the exact same questions out loud and take our mug shots. Around 10:30 we were moved to a 12 x 12 ft cell with a small cement bench and a combination sink toilet and left there until 4 pm. There were 3 woman already in, so a total of 7 of us. We sat on the floor and one by one they took us out to take our fingerprints and put us back in. Around 2 pm the took out the 3 woman that had been there before us. One of the woman that had come in with us, had indicated she had some medical issues, so they took her out also.
At around 4 pm they put us in handcuffs and loaded us into a van that was very much like a dog catchers truck - the same kind of cages. They took us to Estrella, which is a couple blocks away, frisked us again and went through our bags more throughly. Around 6 pm we were then walked in handcuffs to 'tent city' where the handcuffs were removed and were told we would be called to be assigned a bunk and recieve a bedroll. It was about 10 pm before this actually happened.
Tent City is a dirt lot that is fairly roomy. It has 7 tents, 6 that house inmates and 1 that is the TV tent. The TV tent has a TV that doesn't work and a bunch of bunk beds with no mattresses. Each tent is set on a concrete slab. The Tent has sides that roll up, so due to the time of year, late summer, all the sides were rolled up so it was open air. They have 14 bunk beds each. I was assigned a top bunk, but luckily was able to get them to let me switch to a lower one, since they are very high and I didn't want to try to get off one in the middle of the night. They were not bad, the mattress was thin, but OK, they game me a sheet & a blanket that was like a sheet but out of blanket material, which was actually fine for Sept weather and a very small towel. The towel I brought in was good for a pillow.
There was not much to do during the day but read my book and move to different bunks to avoid the sun. They do have a big industrial fan in each tent that provides air movement. Very boring. Most of the other inmates had work release or work furlow so there were only about 15 to 20 people spread out among the tents that were in all day.
What they don't tell you is you can't make a phone call for 24 hours and then when you do, you can only call collect and only to a land line, not a mobile phone. The phones are on a wall about 3 feet above the ground with a cord from the phone to the reciever that is about 8 inches long, so it's impossible to talk comfortably anyway. You have to enter your assigned number which starts with a P and you must enter the P first - #7 on the dial pad and then your number, then 0 then the number you want to dial with the area code. I asked a guard how to use the phone and was told, he didn't know, he had never had to use it. I had to find out by asking other inmates.
Work Release is another trip. You are assigned a card with your picture and number on it and told you need to put it in a basket by the admin area 1 and 1/2 hours before you need to be released. However, what they don't tell you is this is only true for people being released for work after 7 am. If you need to be released 7 am or earlier, you have to give your card to the guard that comes by to do a bed check at midnight. If you happen to be sleeping and miss this opporturnity you will have to wait until 8 or 9 am before being released the following day. Lucky for me another inmate let me know this. I sleep very lightly waiting for midnight so I did not miss my chance to get out at 7 am.
There is a difference between work release and work furlow is on work release you stay at the tents for 12 hours and are released for 12 hours. Work Furlow, you go to your job only and straight back to the tents, they take your paycheck and pay your fines with it and give you back a very small amount to use on vending machines, etc.
While walking to the tents a guard told me that Sheriff Joe spends 11 dollars a day on feeding the horses in his animal resue unit, that is next door to us, but only spends .37 a day on feeding an inmate. They only feed you two times a day, once around 10 am and it is stale bread, meat that has an oil tinge to it, 2 oranges and a package of cookies. The oranges and cookies were edible. The evening meal is a joke, who knows what it is, everyone takes a tray, looks at it and maybe trys a bite and puts it right in the garbage, no one can eat it. Everyone eats the junk food in the vending machines.
I have to be back at 7 pm tonight, I'll update you tomorrow on more items.
First I had to turn myself in at 'self surrender'. No one told me that the self surrender area is a ramada with a few benches. There is no door, no window or person to give you any guidence. All there is, is a sign that says "Self Surrender - Leave all items in car". This makes no sense, since they gave me a number to call that told me what I could take in. From asking others around I was told I was at the right place and to just wait. I was there at 6:45 am so I could surrender at 7am. At 8:15, a guard finally opened a garage door and shouted for us to line up. She looked at me and told me I could not bring my bag in. I had my items in a black tote. I looked at the others and realized they all had theirs in white plastic bags, like the kind you get at the grocery store.
She did not explain or allow me to ask if it was the tote or bag that was the problem, so I put my stuff in a plastic garbage bag to try to take it in, but by this time they had closed the door so I had to wait until 9:30 before they opened it again. This time with my garbage bag I was allowed to take my stuff through.
We were then stood against a wall and frisked and taken into the building for admittance. The woman in attendance asks us what we had in the bags and we told her it was the items on the recording, she said, they need to change that recording, you aren't allowed to bring anything in but she did not take our bags from us. The men went to one side of the room and the woman - there were 4 of us went into a small holding cell. They had us fill out a medical records form and then called us out one by one to have us answer the exact same questions out loud and take our mug shots. Around 10:30 we were moved to a 12 x 12 ft cell with a small cement bench and a combination sink toilet and left there until 4 pm. There were 3 woman already in, so a total of 7 of us. We sat on the floor and one by one they took us out to take our fingerprints and put us back in. Around 2 pm the took out the 3 woman that had been there before us. One of the woman that had come in with us, had indicated she had some medical issues, so they took her out also.
At around 4 pm they put us in handcuffs and loaded us into a van that was very much like a dog catchers truck - the same kind of cages. They took us to Estrella, which is a couple blocks away, frisked us again and went through our bags more throughly. Around 6 pm we were then walked in handcuffs to 'tent city' where the handcuffs were removed and were told we would be called to be assigned a bunk and recieve a bedroll. It was about 10 pm before this actually happened.
Tent City is a dirt lot that is fairly roomy. It has 7 tents, 6 that house inmates and 1 that is the TV tent. The TV tent has a TV that doesn't work and a bunch of bunk beds with no mattresses. Each tent is set on a concrete slab. The Tent has sides that roll up, so due to the time of year, late summer, all the sides were rolled up so it was open air. They have 14 bunk beds each. I was assigned a top bunk, but luckily was able to get them to let me switch to a lower one, since they are very high and I didn't want to try to get off one in the middle of the night. They were not bad, the mattress was thin, but OK, they game me a sheet & a blanket that was like a sheet but out of blanket material, which was actually fine for Sept weather and a very small towel. The towel I brought in was good for a pillow.
There was not much to do during the day but read my book and move to different bunks to avoid the sun. They do have a big industrial fan in each tent that provides air movement. Very boring. Most of the other inmates had work release or work furlow so there were only about 15 to 20 people spread out among the tents that were in all day.
What they don't tell you is you can't make a phone call for 24 hours and then when you do, you can only call collect and only to a land line, not a mobile phone. The phones are on a wall about 3 feet above the ground with a cord from the phone to the reciever that is about 8 inches long, so it's impossible to talk comfortably anyway. You have to enter your assigned number which starts with a P and you must enter the P first - #7 on the dial pad and then your number, then 0 then the number you want to dial with the area code. I asked a guard how to use the phone and was told, he didn't know, he had never had to use it. I had to find out by asking other inmates.
Work Release is another trip. You are assigned a card with your picture and number on it and told you need to put it in a basket by the admin area 1 and 1/2 hours before you need to be released. However, what they don't tell you is this is only true for people being released for work after 7 am. If you need to be released 7 am or earlier, you have to give your card to the guard that comes by to do a bed check at midnight. If you happen to be sleeping and miss this opporturnity you will have to wait until 8 or 9 am before being released the following day. Lucky for me another inmate let me know this. I sleep very lightly waiting for midnight so I did not miss my chance to get out at 7 am.
There is a difference between work release and work furlow is on work release you stay at the tents for 12 hours and are released for 12 hours. Work Furlow, you go to your job only and straight back to the tents, they take your paycheck and pay your fines with it and give you back a very small amount to use on vending machines, etc.
While walking to the tents a guard told me that Sheriff Joe spends 11 dollars a day on feeding the horses in his animal resue unit, that is next door to us, but only spends .37 a day on feeding an inmate. They only feed you two times a day, once around 10 am and it is stale bread, meat that has an oil tinge to it, 2 oranges and a package of cookies. The oranges and cookies were edible. The evening meal is a joke, who knows what it is, everyone takes a tray, looks at it and maybe trys a bite and puts it right in the garbage, no one can eat it. Everyone eats the junk food in the vending machines.
I have to be back at 7 pm tonight, I'll update you tomorrow on more items.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)