When you break the law...at least when you break a serious law...you ought to go to jail...I guess. Anyway. I went to jail Friday.

(More after the jump)

Didn't break any laws, I was there as a reporter. Only I'm not worthy.

 I had my camera and a note pad but as it turns out I didn't need either one. I was with an attorney who is also a crusader and a newspaper columnist. I have a gift for looking at large amounts of data and drawing interesting conclusions so there I was ready to look at jail records.

 I shook hands with the Jail lady after introducing myself and she smiled uncomfortably and said she knew who I was..."Really?" I said...and I wondered what that meant.

The local Bail bondsman had once called me at home about a blog post I had made. He was mad at me for saying he had gone to lunch with Tommy, the Judge who was going to jail. Said he hadn't..but I had had lunch at the same restaurant that day...I pointed that out..."Oh," he had said..."Oh yeah." I suggested he go to my blog and tell his side of the story...say whatever he wanted to say in the comments...but he never did.

 Officer Hall was very efficient and handed us copies of the jail records we had come to inspect. Gerald the attorney had originally asked to see them in June of 05. Nearly a year later, they had decided there was no legal way to prevent anyone who asked from inspecting public records, and now we had them in hand. Several interesting things jumped out, as we looked at the incarceration records but that will have to wait. For now, we were inside the jail and wanted to see whatever they would show us.

 We were led into the cell blocks. Cramped and badly designed, the cell block nonetheless seemed absolutely secure. I don't see how anyone could escape. Last Fall, a guest had walked out of the jail and gone to McDonalds to pick up several cheeseburgers and some cocaine. He got caught breaking back IN to jail.

 I swear!

We looked through the small glass portals at the prisoners in the secure wing. They had a tv but nothing else. I did not see a single piece of reading material anywhere in the jail. When I put my face to the glass, they all saw me instantly and stared back. I waved at them and some waved back.

Another officer unlocked the door to a dorm area and we went in. Gerald smiled at the ten or twelve men in the room and apologized for disturbing them. Far from being disturbed, we were their entertainment for the afternoon. They stood and stared at us. I nodded at each one when we made eye contact. Some were wearing orange jumpsuits, some were wearing orange and white stripes and some were wearing black and white stripes. Were these designations of rank or were they just handed whatever set of clothing the jailer had handy?

 Outside the jail, we had seen several prisoners doing yard work. They were wearing similar garb.

In the narrow room, the men looked at us, as we inspected their accomodations. We smiled at them but no smiles came back. Their eyes were open wide, trying to take in everything they could see. "Help me"..."Can you get me out?..."Who are you?"..."What is going on?"...The looks were in their faces...seemimgly obvious, btu who knows for sure?

"We can't help you" should have been transparently obvious on our faces also...Even though we smiled at them. I had a camera but I decided not to take their picture. They would have let me, but somehow, it would have been wrong. This group of men were misdemeanor offenders who were simply unable to make bail. A joint here, a probation violation there, petty theft, and other small time offenses, and  a hundred bucks to the bondsman would set them free. "Misdemeanor awaiting trial" the report to the State of Tennessee would say. As a category, there would be between thirty and forty of them somewhere inside the concrete block walls of this building.

It costs the County more than $50 a day to keep them inside and, after two days, the taxpayers of Roane county will have paid enough in costs to have paid the bonding company to have them released. The average bond amount seems to be $1000. Pay the bondsman ten percent and you walk free. If you decide to pay a cash bond without using the bondsman, it will cost you about $268, but you may get it back if you show up for court. The prisoners who cannot pay the bondsman will sit in jail until they are brought before the judge. At their actual hearing, most of them, found guilty, will be sentenced to... "Time already served." Those who are found "innocent" or are simply not convicted will be released but will have served exactly the same sentence.

A statistical sampling of the bonds that are posted shows a large amount of money paid to the bondsman. The laws of Tennessee require offenders who are not at risk of flight to be released on their own recognizance. It appears that the bonding company has never had to pay off a bond...In 27 years, they have all showed up at court, according to the information I have been given...is this true? I want to know more.

At this point, I can tell nothing for certain, but I have some thoughts...The jail is an oppressive place. This is fine for the people who deserve to be there, but how do you tell who that is? The jailers deserve better working conditions if no one else...But a large part of their situation is due to administrative procedures. Between thirty and fifty people could be released immediately on their own recognizance. They have done nothing as bad as what Rush Limbaugh did except have less money.

I don't know what to think just yet. I know that Roane County has greater needs than a new state of the art jail that can house three times the number of prisoners they have now...But they need something.

We'll start with a little sunshine.

More later,

Steve