Actually, Red Is the New Black

King County (Seattle area) has two jails for their inmate population; the main facility in downtown Seattle (KCCF) and the Regional Justice Center (RJC) in Kent. Having been a prescription drug addict on and off for a number of years, I had been housed in the downtown facility for a night or perhaps two, a couple of times. However, in March 2014, I had failed out of drug court for relapsing and was faced with a total of 180 days. I had already spent about 30 days in KCCF awaiting the hearing when I was given this sentence. (In King County. if you have no major infractions, you only do 2/3 of the sentence which includes “Good Time”) With time served, I was looking at three months total. I was terrified.

I had to go directly to jail from the courtroom. After I was strip-searched and booked, I was led through a maze of cement blocks. I was handed a plastic cup and told to grab a bed roll and a mat. If you’ve been to jail before, you know to grab the blue mat as it has a built-in headrest; there are no pillows in jail. The bed roll consists of a blanket, two flat sheets, a towel not much bigger than a hand towel, a small bar of soap (marked “luxury bar”), comb, short-handled toothbrush and toothpaste. (And the blankets are exactly like the ones on “Orange is the New Black”.) Once you get to your cell, you are instructed to make your bed. Your bed must be made properly whenever you’re not in it. If you’ve never been to jail, making your bed is difficult. The polyester sheets slip off the vinyl mat. If you’re cellmate is not puffing herself up, she’ll tell you to tie together the two corners at each end to help hold the sheet in place.

I had spent about a week in KCCF when I spoke to someone who had been housed at RJC. She raved about how different it was from downtown. She made it sound like Disneyland and, walking in, I absolutely felt the same way. While KCCF is dark and dirty, RJC is bright and clean. You have a cell to yourself, which is a blessing. (I had two very scary roommates at KCCF.) In the “day room” there is a two-story atrium which lets the sun in with a courtyard directly off the unit. There are two separate areas in the day room; the carpeted “quiet side” where one can watch TV quietly. And a tiled area with another TV and tables and chairs where you can talk freely, play cards or games and generally hang out. There are also vending machines with soda, food items and actually decent coffee along with a microwave.

The days in jail are spent on a strict schedule that is essentially two hours out of your cell (rack out) and two hours in your cell (rack in). If you’re out you’re out; you cannot go back and forth into your cell. (Though the guards will let you in pretty freely.) You can also been “racked in” for various offenses such as not making your bed or arguing with another inmate. While I was terrified for my safety downtown, I never thought twice about it at RJC.

Lights come on at 6:30 and breakfast is at 6:45. Breakfast includes cold cereal or oatmeal, milk, two pieces of bread with margarine and an envelope of “milk substitute” which is basically Kool-Aid. After you eat, you go back to your cell until 8. You are racked in at 10:30 where a bag lunch is served at 11. It consists of a piece of fruit, bologna or salami sandwich, crackers and cookies. And “milk substitute”. Dinner is served at 4:30PM in the day room. After dinner, you are racked in until 6 or 7PM depending on whether the guards have “training”. In my 90 days at RJC, I got up for breakfast exactly twice. I am not a morning person and decided it was simply too irritating to have people asking if they could have my food. I couldn’t stomach the bologna and not once ate lunch except some Wednesdays when we had PB&J. Rack in is at 8:30PM with lights out at 10PM.

One of the benefits at RJC are the worker programs. For 50 cents per day, you can work as a Trustee, in the Laundry or as a Baker. There are six Trustees for the unit and they do most of the cleaning, organizing, helping the guards, etc. They also can stay out of their cells nearly all the time. There are multiple laundry workers who go to work at 3PM, return at 8:30 and can stay out of their cells until 10pm or so. The best job, and the one I did, was baker, of which there are only three. We went to work at 9PM, finished up around 1AM, came back to the unit, showered and then we could stay up for an hour or so. We were also the only people allowed to turn off the lights in our cells until noon or so. Super bonus.

If your only exposure to living with a bunch of women is in a college dorm, you’re in for a big surprise. There are some really funny things you learn but it takes awhile... For one, just like in “Orange is the New Black”, maxi pads are used for all kinds of cleaning. You can also pull out the narrow string that holds a tampon string in place and use it for dental floss or for threading your eyebrows. You definitely want a friend to work in the Laundry so they can bring you back brand new skivvies and bras. And the most coveted of jail uniforms are the soft, old-style, cotton ones that have a V-neck instead of the stiff crew necks. Since you’re in a uniform basically all the time, these comfort factors are important. I had new skivvies, white socks, soft pants and two V-necks by the time I left. (Thank you Maria Apodaca!) Yes, I was a Princess even in jail.

There are also some really silly things that go on in jail. Bakers and Trustees don’t get their cells searched very often but I got caught with too many books, extra clothing and once a sugar packet that I swear wasn’t mine. Lots of women get in trouble for keeping food in their rooms which I never did. (Why save something that’s bad anyway?) The “training” the guards did some evenings consisted of going into a dorm and randomly choosing six rooms to search. (“Toss” is a more accurate term.)

Commissary is probably the most important process that exists in jail. Once a week, you place an order for food, hygiene items and, most importantly at RJC, coffee. People would get so excited for commissary delivery. Plus, there is a huge commerce opportunity with commissary. One woman sold items for double the price towards the end of the week when everyone had run out. Some people could never catch up and get ahead with commissary.

There were some funny times in jail that I will get into next time. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. The time spent there really was fascinating in a bizarre way.