Every jail I've been to the only personal property inmates are aloud to have are magazines, books, and the shit off commissary.
Here's my lists of do's and don'ts for surviving county jail
Make a routine it makes the days go by faster. Mine was, sleep in as late as i can, walk laps till lunch, workout till dinner, play cards the rest of the night till lockdown then read till lights out.
Make friends. The experience will be much better if you can laugh it out with your fellow inmates. Pay attention to what the other inmates do to cope, they are trapped in the same experience as you and the ones doing the longest sentences tend to be some of the funnest guys to be in jail with.
Don't be submissive, it will make you a target. Don't hard time it, it will only make your stay worse. Don't think about getting out. Nobody wants to hear about how much jail sucks and how bad you want to get out. Never snitch a fellow inmate out and don't get too friendly with the guards. There are people looking forward to starting fights over anything, expect it.
Most jails segregate the violent offenders from the non violent, so if your a small mellow dude thats not facing serious charges and you don't give the guards a hard time while their booking you they will place you with the nonviolent guys,
If you don't like blacks or Mexicans or think your gonna have a problem with punk gangbangers let the guards know before they put you in your block. If you use racial slurs they will put you in a segregated block.
That's about all I can think of, good luck.
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Flush the toilet after every turd, no one wants to smell your shit lingering. Try to eat as much as possible before turning yourself in so you can avoid jail food for a couple days, it is wretched. Have some sort of hustle like drawing cartoon characters on the letters and envelopes of other inmates, so u can trade for comissary (coffees, top ramen, candy, etc,) Read, play chess, cards, etc. To keep your mind occupied. Depending on where you are you may not want to mingle with folks outside your race, jail is weird about shit like that. Dont fuck with the guards they are sadistic power mad pieces of shit, try not to get on their bad side. Wear shower shoes
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I have a lot of possibly usefull information for this post - I have made an observation that 3/4 people posting on this thread have never spent a day in jail and are going off heresay.
*NUMBER ONE TIP*
Wear two, hell even three pairs of underware. Two pairs of very sturdy, dense cotton socks that arent prone to tearing. Two White T-Shirts, and also Long-Johns long underware.
Jails are kept cold primarily for one really good reason - to keep the spread of bacteria down. Make sure everything you're wearing besides your underware is flat-white no logos or anything, around here they will tell you take them off when you arrive for a clothing exchange.
As you enter the jail, you'll be kept in a tank wearing your clothes, asked questions, and than sent to a laundry area where you will be stripped naked, and observed, possibly even asked to bend over and show your rectal region while spreading your cheeks.
The clothes you wear will be put into a bag and you will be given a slip of confirmation for what you are wearing - IE. 1 Sportscoat - 1 Brown Belt - blah blah, but if your shirts have logos, are blue or brwn, you will not be able to wear them and you'll walk out of there with a your underware and a loose fitting uncomfortablly dry two piece county issue clothing on.
Bacteria thrives in warmer enviroments, so just as a hospital they are kept cold. In the beginning weeks you'll want to have these extra pairs, you'll probably be getting laundry service once a week at most, and even than people steal your undies, weird huh.
Each county jail is run by someone different, and has its own characteristics. Your stay in jail is often a direct reflection of your crime and past history.
Most jails in this country are over-populated, so the beginning two - seven days will be spent in a pre-housing situation, as to say that you will be spending your days on a floor, or a crowded gym on " boats " awaiting a bed somewhere else in the jail - if you are a female, this will be a little different. This time is also to observe if you have drugs, or smuggled in cigarettes, are making a fuss with other inmates, ect.
Depending on your crimes there are different types housing units, usually one or two floors housing between 25-100 inmates, two per unit - containting two beds, one sink/toilet, and a small area to stack your valuables - some may even contain a small locker to store your valuables.
Shower areas located one each floor - I'd say a good estimate would be one shower unit per 25 inmates.
In my county, there are tiered levels of security almost like a prison. Four tiers - gray ( average dui, drug charge, tax evasion... low level of aggression/violence ) Blue ( higher level crimes, violence, felonys ) Orange ( High Levels of Aggression, Home Invsaion, Rape, Felonious Assaults - Violent Crimes ) Orange/White Stripes - ( The highest level, manslaugheter, robbery, murder... things along those lines )
People in gray and sometimes blues will be housed in PODS ( the 25-100 man units I wrote about earlier )
Some Blues will also be put into what they call 10 Mans here - Small Housing units, three per tier, containing one shower, toilet - Eight beds and two boats ( beds on the floor ) A cable television located outside of the bars - and one picnic table in the middle of the room for board games cards.
When I went, I went under a higher level low aggresion crime, but due to the felony status of the crime, I was placed in a ten man with other blues. In 28 Days, I was only allowed to leave the cell once per week for laundry exchange ( a 20 meter walk down the hall and back.) Two times for a visit to my lawyer ( again 20 meter walk down the hall, five meter walk around the corner into a room. ) And one time for an hour to excersize, it was the first time I had seen the sun in just under a month.
Commisary is a gift, and can be taken away. Your friends and family will be allowed to put money onto your account, and normally once a week you can fill out an order form of extremely overpriced items like instant coffee, candy, liquid cheeses, potatochips, pepsi bottles, and things of the like.
Phone cards are expensive, and the pre-setup services abuse your inability to plan ahead, you can set up calling services prior to going to jail that will cost 2-10 cents per minute, rather than a baseline 8 dollars for a ten minute call they had where I was. Good thing to research.
Books and magazines can be ordered off amazon and other services can bemailed to the jail ( softcover only ) but cannot be mailed by family and must be ordered through these allowed organizations.
*NOTE* You'll want to buy the cofee for yourself, it acts as a really, really good digestive regulator.. In a place where everything jams your intestines, the coffee really helped me maintain regular bowell movements. Make sure you're not giving it to anyone, dont be a dick, but dont offer it to just anyone, because once you tell them no... some people will find that as disrespect and probably try and rob you/call you out.
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