Now of course I’m not talking about them treating you like a guest of your favorite steak house… I’m talking about the treatment of people who are unlucky (or stupid) enough to be picked up by the police for traffic violations. By traffic violations I’m talking about warrants from inspection, speeding, or other minor traffic citations that the lovely cops love to dole out to someone who may or may not have the money to deal with the issue or the ticket. Don’t get me wrong, I love the police… they are a necessity that I think are under paid but sometimes the wrong type of people do become officers and that’s how they get such a bad rep.
Thursday April 24th, 2014 0730
I was awoken by my roommate rapping on my door. “Hey Drew, there is a cop at the door asking for you.” In my mind I’m going… “FUCK!” and then… “Why did you tell them I’m here???” So I throw something on and went to see our friendly neighborhood 5 O. He tells me of 3 tickets in Fort Worth gone warrant and that it totals up to $900 or so… can you pay these? Do I have it… no way. So off I go with them… though they were nice enough to let me get shoes, wallet, phone and my smokes. Hell, they were so cool they let me smoke one before I got into the car… no handcuffs. They tell me I’d be out in 1 – 3 hours… this is a white lie I’m used to so I was not upset but they found warrants in two other cities. One was 7 years old and the other 3 were 12 years old… completely sucks. This means I am going to do some extra time… but they couldn’t confirm them so I hoped it was free and clear.
I wasn’t.
Thursday April 24th, 2014 0945
Been in the clink a couple of hours now… it sucks. I notice that the one white boy in there with us couldn’t stop talking about the times he had been in jail. He talked about it like a badge of honor which I found amusing. He had only been to jail for traffic violations… just the same as the majority of us. It is always the white boys.. anyway. I was surprised that after only 15 minutes I had already been pulled out of the cell to be booked in but unfortunately you don’t get a “free” phone call in City of Fort Worth. I had the option to use the $20 per call phone in the cell that hardly worked… so I opted out. So chillin in a cell with a drunk wearing his shoes on the wrong feet, and probably homeless, plus some other random Blacks, Mexicans, and on Arabian guy freaking out because he had never been in jail. The “veterans” were giving him false information and adding to his fear… I tried to help the kid but too many other voices saying bad things weighed on him.
Thursday April 24th, 2014 1230
Finally got my arraignment and I found out the bad news that Frisco, Tx popped up and hello… off to Mansfield I go! The judge was efficient but she wasn’t the cheeriest of people… she was almost a bitch but I stress that she wasn’t. I know all too well the annoyances of talking to stupid people day in and day out, so I forgive her lack of professionalism. I personally didn’t receive her slightness but I watched and listened to her giving it to others. It would not be until around 1530 that I was transferred to the hell hole that is Mansfield Correctional Facility. Now just for the record… it is 1530 (3:30 PM) and I was picked up at 0730 (7:30 AM)… I was not fed, I have not had a phone call, and to everyone concerned I was chilling at home probably asleep. Now off into the van that the inside resembles what might be a dog kennel and we have to climb inside. The only light is the little bit coming through the windshield of the van coming through the slits. The Arabian guy is so pissed and freaked out by all this…
Thursday April 24th, 2014 1615
Arrival at Mansfield holding cell room 52. Saw some familiar faces from the City of Fort Worth down there transferred hours (HOURS!!!!) before and still not booked in. One guy was transferred 5 hours before me and it still took another 4 hours till he was booked after my arrival. For those never been to jail… the idea of a restroom area is a joke. It is a very non secluded area with one or two toilets… and the kicker… if you are thirsty, the water fountain is built into the top of the pot. I don’t drink from those… the “hardened” white boy (another one) drank from it often. Also it is cold as a witch’s titty in that mug so you are cold as shit! They try to freeze you and only recently do they give you a blanket that is typically too small for your size and provides very little actual warmth… the first time I was in there was 2005… and they didn’t give us a damn thing to keep us warm. The floor is the worst part. Sitting on a hard cement floor for hours on end will numb your ass. For the record it did take a full day for my ass to recover. The floor also is obviously dirty… but that is where you sleep… or at least lay down to alleviate your pained bum. First time I was in Mansfield the floor was sweating… it was horrendous.
Isn't that shitter beautiful?
Thursday April 24th, 2014 2200
Booked in almost 6 hours after arrival. Six Damn Hours! This is standard procedure for them too. They had no reason to keep us waiting so long just to book us in and give us our phone call. They don’t particularly like us and we them… so why not get us out? I imagine it’s to maximize the money made from the state for housing us, but I don’t know for sure. Oh… did I mention this was my first and only chance for a free phone call now 14 hours after being cuffed? Luckily I finally got an answer on my last chance to make a call and got the ball rolling per say. Now back to the holding cell for an hour, then off to general population.
Thursday April 24th, 2014 2315
Sitting in general population is boring. I had it in my mind I was going to get out that night or very early in the morning so I didn’t sleep. At this point I had not eaten or slept since I was picked up at 0730. At some point over the years they got a TV and put it in the common area so we got to watch some playoff basketball games. Now let me do a little description of my surroundings. I am in a room that has four metal picnic tables riveted to the floor. Three on one side and one on the other, and they are all dirty as hell from people sitting on them, standing on them, eating nastily on them, and from the general lack of the guards not cleaning shit in that place. That is the common area… gang and such tags scratched into the walls, tables and some places the floor. Attached to this room are three sub rooms meant for sleeping and these rooms also can be locked down. In each room there are four bunk beds that are really just metal racks for you to put your sleeping pad down. Ok, so do the math… four bunks in each room, so each room holds eight people and three rooms means twenty four guys locked up together in a space that is no bigger than 1000 square feet. Oh… btw, there we not eight guys to a room when I was there… there were twelve to sixteen people per room. It was over crowded… many of the “residents” were there over stupid little tickets that could have been handled better than take these people to jail. In the sub room I finally bedded down in there is more writing on the walls… crude images or phrases etched or drawn (with tooth paste and some of it look like shit) here and there. People would wad up toilet paper and wet it and sick it to the walls and ceilings. You would think that they would occasionally come in and clean these rooms because people have to live in there… but apparently Mansfield don’t give a damn.
This isn't the jail I was in.. but the walls and floor remind me of it.
Many years ago, Mansfield had a juvenile hall… it was so dirty kids died there from disease… I assume they think since we are adults our immune system is better… there were old people in there too… Mansfield is a horrible place.
Friday April 25th 2014 0730
Good news at last. Twenty four hours in custody and I’ve got the info I’m getting out soon.
Friday April 25th 2014 0900
WTF? I’m still in this hell hole. My fines are paid… why am I still in here? Oh, I know… they take just as long to let you go as they do to book you in. Sons of bitches. Oh well… Soon I will get some fresh air… see the sun again… and have that long awaited cigarette. Around 0930 they move me from general pop to the holding cell for Mansfield police arrests (not transfers from Fort Worth) to wait for the rest of my paper work to be completed.
Friday April 25th 2014 1000
Signing my paper work to get my stuff back… wallet, phone, lighter, keys, cigarettes, shoe laces… freedom is only a few doors away. By 1030 I am walking out the front of the jail by two Mansfield cops that I casually say hi to, but I was glared at and summarily ignored for my verbal greeting. I was about to light up a smoke right outside the door but of course… two cops by the door and a sign on it saying you must be thirty feet away if smoking.. if figured it best if I move on. It wouldn’t do for me to get a ticket right after getting out the joint…
Just remember kids… those tickets that you ignore… can easily come back to haunt you. The Frisco, Tx tickets I sat in jail for I got in 2002… 12 years prior and they still took me in for them. There is no statute of limitations on traffic tickets. You can rob a bank… if they don’t know who you are… and you are not caught for it… after five years (I’d wait at least six if I were you), you can walk right into the bank… admit you did it, and they can’t do anything because they have five years to file charges on YOU. Times up… crazy right?
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