have you ever been in jail?

[Bertha Venation]

I haven't, and i almost wish i had, just once. I wonder what the experience could have taught me.

Have you ever been in jail? If you feel like it, will you say why? No judgment.

[hobbit709]

1. Yes

Possession. As my lawyer said "A quarter pound in South Austin-that's personal stash"
Ended up costing me $200 and 40 hours community service.

[RedRocco]

16. how much for the lawyer to do his thing?

gotta add that to the $200

[LostInAnomie]

2. Yep, you aren't missing anything.

More than anything, it's boring.

[Throd]

3. I got locked up with a tweeker who wouldn't shut up.

I longed for boring.

[LostInAnomie]

4. Let me guess...

... "My teeth hurt!"

That was a dead give away of the tweekers in our common area. They'd come down and then all of a sudden all the damage they'd down to their teeth started to catch up with them.

We were lucky. We didn't have to stay in a single cell the whole time. Only during lights out. The rest of the time we were let out into a common area where we just sat around and waited to use the one deck of cards.

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. I rear-ended a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy... BAC .09

NOT my best day to be sure. He was okay, until sometime between when the accident happened (the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) and my court date. He claimed whiplash and retired with full medical... but I digress.

I stepped into the drunk tank at about 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday, walked out at 4:30 a.m. Monday. NOT FUN. Not fun AT ALL. Saturday night passed with about 50 guys in a cement room. I had a bedroll that consisted of a thin foam rubber pad and a sheet. Ten different guys tried to take it from me before the weekend was over. Food consided of bologna on a hamburger bun, and a warm box of juice. The bathroom facilities consisted of a stainless steel toilet with no lid next to a stainless steel sink that doubled as a drinking fountain. NO PRIVACY, and NO TOILET PAPER.

Be glad you never have.

All in all, the experience cost me over $70,000 dollars counting lost wages. My license was suspended for a year, and I was sentenced to 60 days house arrest. The State of California suspended my teaching credential while they "investigated" the whole thing, and I was out of the classroom for almost six months. Looking back, I can only say that I deserved every bit of the punishment I received.

[dysfunctional press]

6. yes.

i walked thru a drug sting, and got arrested for 'attempted posesssion'...a guy asked me if i wanted some weed, and i said 'sure, if you're giving it away'. it cost me 22 hours in a cell, and $1000 for a lawyer, but the charges were dropped.

[old mark]

7. Yeah, but I had the keys.....nt

[PJPhreak]

8. Yup,

It Sux!

[rurallib]

9. We used to go to the local state prison and play basketball with the inmates

It was such a strange feeling when the bars clanged shut behind us. Not to mention the pat-downs. Had to be accompanied to the bathroom.
The whole concept of not being able to do anything without being watched was so creepy.

[MilesColtrane]

10. I've been in a low security federal pen.

Strictly to entertain the inmates mind you. (No, we didn't play Folsom Prison Blues or Jailhouse Rock.)

[Midlodemocrat]

11. Yes, In a professional capacity, though, not a criminal one.

[Kali]

12. to visit a relative on their third DUI

mandatory 60 days at the time, best shape she had been in for years or since

[Ptah]

13. Many visits.

I think the experience would teach you to never go there again.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. I've never been incarcerated,

but I've been in jail many, many times, both as a correctional officer for a year and as a visitor of my ex-husband. Long story.

ed. Prison, actually, not jail.

[MicaelS]

15. Just once, for not paying traffic tickets, and

Trust me, it is not an experience you want to have. It did teach me to keep my insurance up to date, and promptly take care of any tickets. But hey, outside the cold baloney sandwiches in the holding cells, the food was pretty darn good.

[rug]

17. 4 times in three different states as a defendant.

Many more, plus a maximum seciurity forensic psychiatric hospital, as a lawyer.

I once counted twelve locked doors from inside to the street.

[datasuspect]

19. i have the death sentence in many star systems

[rug]

24. And it's well-deserved.

[Brickbat]

18. I've been in the same room as the drunk tank in a police branch office in Russia.

That was enough, thank you.

[KittyWampus]

20. yes, smoking pot.

[MiddleFingerMom]

21. Twice -- each for about 4-5 hours

.
First time as a medic in the Army. Taken in for questioning on charges
of "Fraud, Forgery, and Conspiracy' -- or, as I was told, a potential
sentence of 6 years at hard labor. Good friend of ours, 6'5" and skinny
as a rail, came in Friday afternoon with the news that they wanted him to
carry the flag in the German/American Day Parade the next day. We knew him
to be EXTREMELY selfconscious about his height/weight -- and knew he would
feel EXTREMELY humiliated -- or as he put it, "I'll be a big green string bean".
.
We diagnosed him as having a badly sprained ankle (nonono... not THAT
one -- your OTHER ankle is the one that's painful), as our real and
justifiable psychological reason would never have been accepted. Our
dispensary sergeant (an E-5 buck sergeant) forged the doctor's name on what
was called a profile -- basically a medical excuse which included a "no marching"
clause (we couldn't figure out a way to justify a "no carrying the flag like a
big green string bean" clause for a sprained ankle).
.
They busted ME... and as our friend (the patient) AND the buck sergeant were
both leaving the service within a week or two, I didn't dispute their charges --
I simply didn't deny them (I WAS involved on the periphery).
.
The doctor I worked with eventually refused to participate in the whole process
AND shortly afterward, I worked above and beyond on an emergency call and saved
a man who had "little or no chance of survival"... they dropped the charges
altogether.
.
BUT... shortly after the actual incident, I had to sit for four hours in a little
tiny floor-to-ceiling-thick-barred-on-all-sides cell with JUST enough room for me
and my chair. I think they were "softening me up" prior to questioning. They should
have known better -- I was an experienced soldier and simply saw it as a golden
opportunity to take what turned out to be a 3-hour-and-59-minute nap.
.
I'm pretty sure that if I had stayed awake... it woulda been really fucking boring.
.
The other time was not as noble but probably much funnier. I'll save that for
another time.
.

[datasuspect]

22. dupe

dupe

[datasuspect]

23. i slept good at the 19th district lockup in chicago

in by 9 out by 3 am.

boom.

[Roon]

25. I was so stupid...I got busted smoking a joint on a beach in texas

I was arrested and taken to jail. I was behind bars for an hour. My Mother bailed me out by Visa.

In Colorado they just give you a ticket, if anything.

[nolabear]

26. Prison, actually. But not as a prisoner; as a teacher.

And it was a children's prison at that. Pretty terrible all the way around. I learned a lot. I learned a lot I wish I hadn't.

[seaker]

28. ditto

[Lil Missy]

27. Not yet.

[Tobin S.]

29. Twice. Disorderly conduct one time and trespassing another time

Both misdemeanors. That was back when I was legally insane and self-medicating with alcohol. Unfortunately, judges and cops aren't trained in psychiatry or they would have recognized that something just wasn't quite right. :)