For those of you who have never been convicted of a crime, lived a lifestyle supported by a mid-six figure income, are in your sixties, not enjoying good health and now face years behind bars, take heed. It was a white-collar crime: no violence, no drugs, and no sex. The court has reviewed your pre-sentence report and is now prepared to render its opinion as to what your sentence should be. You are going to jail; the only question is for how long.
Sentencing
The sentencing process deals with more than the amount of time you are to be incarcerated; it involves a determination as to which correctional facility will house you for the duration of your sentence. It is for this reason that the court places you in the custody of the Department of Corrections which has jurisdiction over all the correctional facilities in the state. After you have served your seven-day lockup in the county jail, you will be taken to the Reception and Assignment Facility where that ultimate decision will be made.
Once the court has rendered its judgment, you are handcuffed and abruptly taken from the courtroom to a holding cell situated on the other side of the courtroom wall. Now, for the first time, you will sense that you are no longer the same person you were that morning when you left your home; you are now a number, devoid of any individual identity or personality. You are a criminal, nothing more and nothing less. What really tells it all is the sound of the steel door to your cell closing behind you with that harsh, loud, clanging sound: you will never forget that sound, never.
The County Jail
Your next stop is the receiving section of the county jail where you are placed in another cell with other prisoners who are waiting to be assigned to a dormitory cell. At about this time you become acutely aware of an awful smell that permeates the air about you. It is a peculiar smell that you have never before encountered; it is troublesome and depressing. Your best guess is that the odor comes from a strong disinfectant used in the cell blocks. You can’t ignore it.
When it is your turn, you are released to an officer who records some family contact information and then turns you over to another officer in the shower area. After you have taken a delousing shower and are still completely naked, you are subjected to a “strip search”. The guard will ask you to run your hands through your hair to ascertain whether or not you are hiding some contraband. You are then asked to open your mouth and stick out your tongue to determine if you have hidden any contraband in your mouth. The most humiliating aspect of this search is when you are asked to expose your genitalia and bend over spreading your buttocks with your hands so that all is in plain view. Prepare yourself; this “strip search” is done every time you enter a facility. Following this ordeal you are given prison garb and sneakers to replace the clothes you were wearing that morning.
Your Cell
Upon completion of the shower and search process, you are led to a dormitory cell which you are to share with three other inmates. The cell is an irregular 8’ by 10’ with one double-decker bed, one metal toilet and a sink with a faucet that serves as a water fountain and spigot. Two inmates sleep on the floor; the other two share the bed on a first come first served basis.
This is the first day of a seven-day lockup before you are sent to the Reception and Assignment Facility. You leave the cell for one hour a day during which time you can shower, call home, or try to use the toilet without three other inmates watching. Food is delivered to you in trays at your cell. The only thing that you can eat safely is the fruit. What is surprising is the manner in which the other three inmates argue over who should eat the food rejected by the fourth inmate.
When the seven days are over you are released to the general population section of the jail or you are sent to the Reception and Assignment Facility. Living in the general population section of the jail is fraught with danger since you are vulnerable to serious bullying and theft of your belongings, i.e. cigarettes, shaving cream, deodorant, etc. The inmates sometimes use pencils as weapons.
Leaving the County Jail
On your departure from the county jail, you are shackled and joined at the ankle to another inmate who is similarly shackled. Specifically, you are handcuffed and leg irons are placed on your ankles with a heavy chain running around your waist, through the handcuffs and then down to your leg irons where you are shackled to another inmate. Imagine an elderly inmate chained to a strong and athletic prisoner in his early twenties. You don’t know your partner but you have to co-ordinate your movements quickly. You are reminded of the “three-legged” races your children ran during the Fourth of July festivities, although there are no prizes given here and it is not part of any celebration.
Getting on and off the transport bus is no joking matter and somewhat painful since your ankles and wrists were never exposed to anything more uncomfortable than ski boots or an expensive watch. When you arrive at the Reception and Assignment Facility you are met by several armed guards carrying what appear to be rifles or shotguns. That does not generate a warm and cozy feeling.
Reception and Assignment Facility
You are led up steel steps to a second floor receiving area still shackled but no longer joined to another inmate. Some of the prisoners had been there before and knew what to expect. For those who had never experienced the exercise, it was frightening and demoralizing and left you feeling completely helpless. An “old timer” in the group told me what to expect and advised that I accept the verbal thrashing to which I would be subjected, look straight ahead, and remain silent; under no circumstances should I respond to the baiting or the filthy and vile language screamed in my face. It is perfectly clear that the purpose of all this is to make the prisoner understand that the COs (corrections officers) are running the show and have all the power whereas the prisoner is powerless and completely helpless.
You are once again subjected to a “strip search” but here the COs use specialized equipment designed to detect contraband you may have in your throat or bowels. You are then instructed to shower, towel off and get your jumpsuit which will be your clothing for the duration of your stay at this facility. The physical and psychological testing normally takes one week after which you are delivered to the facility which the administration feels is best equipped to handle you and or your problem.
While you are a resident at this Reception Facility, you are assigned to a two-man cell with a double-decker bed. Unlike the cells in the county jail, your cell is not secured by a steel door but rather by vertical bars that slide open and shut. Your cell is one of 10 cells all situated on one side of a long corridor or wing. There is a protocol generally followed throughout the prison system relating to which of the inmates takes the lower bunk. The rule is that the lower bunk goes to the elder inmate no matter how long the other inmate may have had the lower bunk. As for food, it is served to you at your cell.
Daily Routine
Several times during the week the inmates are provided with brooms, mops, disinfectants and rags of some kind to clean their cell, their sink and toilet. Each cell has one sink with a faucet that serves as a water fountain and a toilet with no toilet seat. The toilet is visible to all inmates as they walk by your cell to and from showers, doctors’ appointments, work details and the like: no privacy at all.
The shower room has multiple shower heads with three or four drains to capture the soapy water from all the showers.The temperature control for the water is such that you occasionally take a cold shower. Also, many of the inmates wash their underclothing while showering by soaping themselves with their shorts and undershirts on their body and then showering again without them..
Once a day, for about one hour, the inmates from each wing are able to go outdoors to a recreational area within the confines of the facility. Guards stand watch on the exterior walls. The inmates can lift weights, play some basketball, walk around the yard or just sit and smoke.
There are also work details that you can apply for which will keep you out of your cell for most of the day; a great deal if you can get it. Failing that, you spend most of your time in your cell. This can be a problem. You will have nothing in common with your cellmate who might be twenty or more years younger than you, smokes incessantly, sings rap music all day and night and has other personal habits or problems that are offensive to you. The safest thing to do is ignore him and make the best of it.
Fear your Cellmate?
In a day or so you start to wonder what crime your cellmate committed that causes him to be here. Was it a crime of violence? Are all convicted criminals inherently evil people? Should we fear for our lives? My cellmate was about 35 years of age and convicted of beating his neighbor to death with a baseball bat. I can’t say that I was pleased to hear of his situation, but I was surprised that he had committed such a violent crime. His conduct towards me from the moment I entered the cell was considerate, respectful, and low key. He immediately offered me his lower bunk which I refused opting to take the upper bunk instead.
As an exception to the normal protocol, every morning he was given a broom, a mop, a bucket and disinfectant spray along with cleanser and a sponge to clean our house; in prison jargon, our “cell” is our “house”. He would first sweep the cell, then mop it, then spray disinfectant along the perimeter of the cell. Having done that, he would then clean the toilet and sink without the benefit of rubber gloves. I offered to help and do my share of the work but he consistently refused my help.
Finally, after two weeks of watching him look after our house without my help, I told him how appreciative I was for what he was doing. His reply was:”I wasn’t born to wealth, but I wasn’t raised in squalor”. He left a few days later. I took his lower bunk. His replacement was not cut from the same cloth. Fortunately, I was sent to my next destination in less than a week.
Roberto Principe - Princeton ’52, Columbia University School of Law ’55, admitted to practice of Law in October 1956, withdrew from the practice ...
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