Prison and Jail

[Indy]

I did about four months plus a week or two on house arrest starting almost exactly two years ago.

It was actually interesting in a lot of ways for someone who craves new experiences and likes to see different sides of life. The kick from a heavy PST habit was awful, I couldn't eat or sleep for a full seven days, not one tiny little bit of either. Keeping water down was a challenge, and I was so sick I had no thirst really anyway. There were a couple times I actually wondered if I might become one of those rare cases to die from dehydration in withdrawal. But I got through it, people can be strong when we have no other choice.

Anyway I don't know when I'll be able to write up the whole story, but they moved me around so much and I got to see so many areas of both jails as a trusty, especially when I was a trusty of the really old downtown jail. I would clean floors 4,5 and 1 at night, and the first floor included the holding cells and waiting area next to the courthouse it was attached to. It was nice doing that all by myself at night, no supervision, if I wanted to just sit and chill for a while I could, but mostly I was a good worker. My trusty position allowed me to move things between floors and also arrange for smuggling things into the jail, which I was wary of but did bring some chewing tobacco in on one occasion when I ran low on funds (they really don't feed you enough). Mostly I behaved myself and did not partake in anything I would fail a drug test for because I was looking to go on house arrest, and eventually was able to.

There's a lot more to it but you know how when you get clean memories from the last time you were clean come back? People love to say it's the drugs clouding your brain but that's not it, because when I have a habit I can remember anything from when I had a habit. Its called state specific memory, and it's a real thing. Its much easier to remember things when you're in the same state of mind as when the memory happened. still, I plan on sitting down and writing out my whole experience.

 that was actually the first time since catching a habit that I was clean for more than like 5 days tops. it took my a long time to recover, I honestly believe a cold turkey detox is harsh on your brain and body for a long time, I remember day 45 was a turning point but before then not really having energy for more than an hour at a time and then having to lie down. I finally did experience the "chucks" that Burroughs talked about, where you want to eat everything in sight. That would have been torture if I didn't have canteen to buy extra food, I basically bought the most filling foods I could for the least amount of money because for a while after kicking I was ALWAYS hungry. It sounds so minor when I talk about it, but really that hunger can make you so miserable and I am forever grateful to the people that helped me out.

in a way I'm glad I had the experience and I learned a lot about myself and people in general, but I will definitely never repeat it and I stay away from anything that could get me locked up again now. haven't so much as jaywalked for the past two years that I can recall, although there's probably something I did that I'm forgetting.

[Daughter of Dionysus]

1 out of 4 adults, IIRC.

More of a trivia fact that anything else, but only Maine and Vermont let current inmates (no matter the conviction) vote.

When I was in cook county
They gave us ballots
Not trying to be
Confrontational
But I thought anyone could vote

Only lost it if
The conviction was a Fed crime

[Wildcat]

Zoops  A HUGE lol at-  " I may have appeared rather hostile to the untrained eye."   

; )

[Griffin (OP)]

DOD I believe all felonies convictions result in the loss of all voting "privileges" except for a state or 2. I am not sure about inmate voting though if you have no convictions. I like the stories, our judicial system is sad and aggravating but really interesting to hear about peoples experiences, I have always been interested in jail life the tv show lockup is one of my favorite shows, i just hate being there. I wonder sometimes how bad it would be if I wasn't a junkie and wasn't going through withdrawals when in jail.

I am really nervous right now that I am going to go back to jail because I lied to my PO to go home and visit my family last week, and I smoked weed the 22nd. If I have a UA in the first week of april I could fail. I feel like a dumb ass and a piece of shit right now, I have so much anxiety about it i am miserable. I only have one UA a month and its random so it could be the first or the last day of the month or whenever, so I am praying luck is on my side and it is on the last day.

I am going to finish my community service which is what I lied about to my PO about she said I couldn't go home unless I was finished with my community service so I told her I was done and I haven't started it. I haven't been home in 2 years because I got arrested last time I tried and haven't been able to get a travel permit or enough money since. So hopefully she doesn't find out or see that the dates I finished it were after I said I was done and that I don't get drug tested for a few weeks and don't have to goto jail.

Her office is in another county, the county I live in allows you to have your methadone,(denver the only county in colorado that allows methadone in jail) so if I do goto jail I really hope they let me do my time there since I live here but I don't know how that will work since her office is 2 blocks away from the other county jail and I could see her having a cop waiting for me at my next appt if she found out.

[Griffin (OP)]

Sorry to necro another thread but, I didn't get any good info from google. Do jails and prisons in the uk give people methadone? If so is it just for detox purposes or will they let you keep on it indefinitely, does being on it on the outside matter. Are there any countries that give it to you indefinitely in jail and prison, because one of my life goals is to not kick in jail again, and I'd like to live abroad. Also does anyone know of any states here in the US or canada where they give you done in jail or in prison. Denver county gives you methadone but it's the only county in the whole state.

I was thinking of moving to oklahoma next year, and they passed a law about 5 years ago requiring all jails and prisons to give people methadone if they are on it on the outside, but I haven't found one county or prison that is abiding by it. Every single jail, I have heard about it so far has been disregarding it, so I doubt if i went to jail there I'd be able to use that law to my advantage and they'd probably tell me to fuck off if I told them it was state law for them to give it to me. I am curious as to why they can blatantly disregard it after a law was passed and get away with it.

Here's a story from a few years ago about the jails in oklahoma not giving people methadone, after the law was passed.
http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/local_news/many-jails-in-oklahoma-disregard-state-law-requiring-methadone-treatment/article_6a728137-1aa1-5bc2-aadd-93ff7095020f.html

I am curious as to what I could do to change that, maybe I could start calling all the jails and acting like a lawyer who is about to sue them for not obeying the law. I wonder if there has been any reported deaths directly caused by them not giving people there done that could be used to get them to stop being assholes. I find it ironic that they are putting people in jail for breaking the law while at the same time breaking it themselves, fucking criminal justice system is shit here.

Well that's my rant for the day, any info on anywhere that gives inmates the juice would be appreciated, I'd like to know more about it.

[Chip]

This in not about the UK but in Oz they give you Methadone or Bupe depending on what you were on, of course.

AFAIK, they don't force you to detox but if you're locked up then you might as well try to if you want to.

[DeadCat]

I think this is the kind of thing you can find out by going to the stae or county Departement of Corrections/Bureau of Prisons websites for the specific areas in question.

I had to do a 24 hr bid in the county jail on an out of state plea agreement once and they let me bring my Subutex in and aaaImitrex for migraines but only after they confirmed with my doctor or pharmacy (?) that I had current prescriptions for them. I  brought in a 2 day supply of each just in case my release got delayed but it wsn't yet they still managed to "loose" the unused meds.

[Griffin (OP)]

What about in prison do they let you have it there as well as in jail chipper ? That is awesome is it like that in the whole country or just in parts of Australia? I wonder what jail would be like if I wasn't sick, probably shitty but not the torture chamber it was. I wonder if someone in Oklahoma would be able to sue if they told them about the law and were still forced to kick in jail. That might be my next meal ticket hah jk I would use all of that money to force all the jails in the world to require it, I totally wouldn't buy an island and never be heard from again.

Any info on anywhere that gives inmates the juice or subs is appreciated, I'd like to know more about it. Also anyone know if prison life is similar in the uk or in other european countries or Australia as it is in the US? like do they have the same restrictions, privileges, expensive phones, convict code, attitudes, gangs, violence?

Also what about sentencing laws and criminal records abroad? And prosecution of drug crimes? I heard Europe had much more sensible sentences all around and didn't pass life without parole sentences out like candy like we do here in the US. I think they abolished death sentences in Europe which I think is something we ought to do, it seems barbaric. Does having a criminal record there as bad as it is here?
 
Anyone have any clue what drug crime sentences are like in Europe? It's crazy to me how many double digit sentences we still have for drug crimes here. In Kentucky the sentence guideline is 2-10 years for a first offense, simple possession. In Oklahoma they made making hash or distribution of it come with a life sentence 2 years ago.

Here are some ridiculous sentences that have been handed out mostly for pot. In the first article, a guy named todd hannigan was given 15 years for 31 vicoden. He was sentenced that because the mandatory minimum for 14-28 grams of hydrocodone is 15 years, but he didn't even have 1/5 of a gram of hydrocodone but was sentenced for having 22 grams. I don't get how he is still in prison, he is on a bunch of sites that are against mandatory minimums, how does he get sentenced for having that much when it states grams of hydrocodone, not tylenol and filler bs. dude needs a better lawyer.

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-outrageous-mandatory-minimum-2013-4#john-horner-got-25-years-in-prison-for-selling-1800-worth-of-painkillers-9

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/29/ten_worst_sentences_for_marijuana_related_crimes/
https://www.lifeforpot.com/defacto-life.html

[nick]

Jail in England is closer to American prison than the often more liberal European models,but the actual buildings are older and more dilapidated here.We still use Victorian,wheel prisons that employ the panopticon effect.

As I write this, maintenance is still offered,but this only started in the 90's and only because it was enforced by the European court of human rights.Post Brexit,it's possible this will change.

P.S. We don't have anything like the same rates of imprisonment for drug offences or the length of sentences. 

[Chip]

Griffin, we don't have a jail system like you do but there are short term holding cells in police stations and they progress to remand (or get bailed) until sentenced but remand is prison.

In Oz, we use the term jail and prison to mean the same thing.

[DeadCat]

Jail in England is closer to American prison than the often more liberal European models,but the actual buildings are older and more dilapidated here.We still use Victorian,wheel prisons that employ the panopticon effect.

As I write this, maintenance is still offered,but this only started in the 90's and only because it was enforced by the European court of human rights.Post Brexit,it's possible this will change.

P.S. We don't have anything like the same rates of imprisonment for drug offences or the length of sentences.

WIth the possible exception of some of the SE Asian island states NOBODY locks people up like we do fo drug offenses. 5% of the world population and 25% of the incarcerated world population at least half are drug charges, or harsher because of drug involvement.

Everybody except the willfully ignorant knows it is racially based. I learned 2 things recently: 1 That a recent study proved that doctors give [non-White] CHILDREN less narcotic medicatin for the same symptoms because they perhaps unwittingly think minorities of any age or experience are more likely to "misuse" narcotics.

2. Former Nixon aide John Erlichman recently admitted that the "War on Drugs" was drummed up specificaly to target "Negroes and Hippie" whom the Nixon administration considered their "enemies." Kind of remarkable to get that admission from one of the perpetrators such a unjust policy but once people like that get old they either unburden their guilt or know they are past any statutory timeline making them safe from legal repercussions.

I've posted this before but it is such a bombshell of a n admission I thought it merited reposting:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/