Ever been to jail?

I have. I'm going to share some personal info that I normally wouldn't broadcast over the internet. I'm anonymous so what the hell(I've been around the boards for 10 years used to post under my real name), hopefully I can provide a cautionary tale as well as tell it like it is.

I'm in my mid 20's, have a bachelor's in political science from ASU and a terrible drug problem. I've raced moto my whole life until 3 years ago when a bad overdose(heroin and coke) left me in a wheelchair. After 6 months of physical therapy I could walk with the assistance of a walker and within a year i could walk on my own. I used moto as my motivation through all the PT, walking was secondary to riding! Although to this day I still can't run or jump. I have held good jobs as a travel agent making considerably more than my peers. I still had a good job until a year and a half ago I was laid off. I had relapsed by then and was worse off than I ever was, I made it to work on time and wore a shirt and tie to work everyday so appearances were good. I was a mess though. I used my fairly large severance check to "make some investments in the streets".

Those investments eventually paid off! In the form of 5 months at the world famous maricopa county jail! Honestly 5 months was not bad for what they could have gotten me for, but in the end they could only convict based on the evidence. So october 1st a joint Phoenix/ Gilbert PD team kicked my door in and booked me. They threatened me with years and years of prison time but i just exercised my fifth amendment rights.

Jail began with 72 hours at the 4th avenue booking facility. Which might have been the most miserable experience of my life. It would have been a lot more bearable if I wasn't in full blown opiate withdrawals from a daily dose that could kill 20 people of my same size. Picture the worst stomach flu ever, cold sweats, entire body aches and an overwhelming desire to sleep but being completely unable to do so. All while in freezing cold holding cells without enough space to even lay down. Oh and your 2 meals for the day consist of 2 stale loafs of bread, peanut butter that will have you licking your jowls like a dog for an hour and the most rotten citrus ever. I eventually was placed in the Durango jail where I would remain until sentenced.

Durango is a shithole. It is a condemned building due to asbestos in the ceiling. Which to be honest after all the shit I put in my body is not a big deal. They crammed 4 of us into a 2 man cell due to overcrowding, luckily I was not placed in one of the "warehouses" which were large dormitories with rows of bunks 3 high. They were originally constructed as gyms or other recreation areas, which were no longer needed because recreation must have been phased out years ago. I went months without being exposed to direct sunlight or fresh air. I've never seen so many people so excited to go to prison! After an inmate was sentenced they would be so happy you'd think they are being released, but it turns out they are going upstate for like ten years.

I believe that I deserved to be there I committed some serious felonies. But what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Granted most there were guilty like a mofo, but let's just say 1 out of 10 were innocent. Two meals a day, one morning meal consisting of the wonderful build your own sandwich kit described above. The other was simply known as slop. Slop is the mandatory hot meal served it is a 800 calorie, bare sustenance blend of some old meat and a few vegetables thrown in for color. Again I deserved the shitty treatment but what about the people that are just there because they can't afford to bond out to fight their case? Or the people who just owe traffic fines?

Maybe I didn't mind the terrible food so much because I always had money for commissary. I had some money put away when I went in so I was able to order the maximum amount of store($125 a week) every week. I actually only ate 2 bites of the slop the whole time I was there, one time to try it and once towards the end to see if it was still terrible. I would rather starve than eat that shit! And I starved on a couple of occasions, sometimes I would lose a lot on poker. Which was the best thing to do to pass the time, that and bet on sports seeing as espn2 is the only channel we got.

I ended up getting into a fight. I don't like to fight but I had to. You CANNOT let anyone call you a punk or bitch. If you let someone slide on that you will lose all respect and recognition of basic human dignity. If you let that slide people will walk all over you and in jail all you have is your respect and your word. So this juggalo(insane clown possey follower, don't even get me started on these losers, there seems to be a lot of these guys behind bars) called me out and we went to the bano(spanish for bathroom). I actually worked him over pretty good which surprised me, I hadn't been in a fight in like ten years. Well I worked him over too good because there was blood all over the bathroom and his clothes and my fists. The detention officer came in before we had a chance to clean up all the blood and after a little investigation I was thrown in the hole. I was remanded there for 15 days the first 7 of which I was alone in a cell for 23 hours a day. The only human being I had contact with was the med nurse, who was gorgeous btw. I eventually got a cell mate but that was after hours on end of singing at the top of my lungs. I was alone and there's only so much time you have light to read. I sang a lot of Ke$ha(wake up in the mornin feelin like p-diddy) I don't know if that kept me sane or it was a symptom of my insanity.

I was finally sentenced on december 15th. Total term was 5 months with credit for 2 1/2 months served. I was now headed to the tents. AKA the forced labor camps. The tents is where inmates that were found guilty are housed. With sentencing comes a little more freedom, the day room is open 24 hours a day, lockdown only for headcount, and you are outside, which no matter how cold it got is better than the stale Durango air. There was a vast range in the severity of the crimes of inmates. Ranging from armed robbery to unpaid traffic fines and child support.

Throughout my stay in jail there was a wide range of basic human rights being withheld and even abuse by the guards. But I won't dwell on it because that kind of thing is to be expected in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails. My main problem was the treatment of those who were potentially innocent and the harsh conditions those who committed the most minor infractions were subjected to. Conditions like forced labor, seven days a week, 10 hours a day, no holidays off. If you refused to work you were sent to the hole. I had pneumonia and it took 10 days just to see a nurse! Even after seeing the medical staff and getting a note to excuse me from work the guard still tried to force me to go to work. When I got out I went to the ER because I still had trouble breathing and they kept me for 4 days for observation! The hospital staff were amazed that the jail didn't get me proper treatment.

They say they make jail tough to persuade inmates into not coming back. To be honest it did not have that effect on me. If anything I've come out more hardened, now I know I can do the hardest time. Anything else has to be better. Fear of going back has nothing to do with why I am changing my life.

I was released march 2nd . I had to stay at a sober living house for the last couple weeks. I finally have my own place. I hate to say it but being incarcerated was the best thing to happen to me in a long time. I had tried rehab a couple of times but the key to a successful recovery from drugs is an extended time away from them. 28 days just isn't enough time. The amount of time away from drugs exponentially increases your odds of success. I didn't learn a lesson in jail, I already knew what I was doing was wrong, I didn't need the state of Arizona to shove that down my throat. I had a lot of time for deep introspection. I reevaluated where I was going with my life, identified what had to change and developed a plan to change. There's too much I want out of life to just piss away my short time here looking for the next cheap thrill. I am hungry for life now...