Central Detention
Last fall I left my job at the jail. Ever since the coronavirus barreled its way into the city, I wonder what life there is like.
Jail is all hard surfaces, places the virus would find friendly. Benches and tables. Hardback chairs. Windows covered in metal bars. The jail is also full of tight spaces and long waits. Staff, visitors and inmates stand on the waiting elevator. It can be minutes before the intercom crackles to life. "What floor?" It's a slow, slow drag, and maybe the elevator goes past your floor without letting you out, so you have to wait for the crackle again. And people get off and get on. And sometimes the elevator gets stuck -- old buildings, elevators in constant use (you don't use the stairs to get around in the jail). And you're just there, all awkward together. And inmates are assigned to cleaning detail, but there's only so much cleaning you can do. I mean, the cleaning supplies ran out all the time even before the virus.
And how do you enforce social distancing when you're in charge of so many bodies, responsible for feeding them, for their exercise, for their medical visits, for their visits with their case workers, for their visits to the chapel, and for their visits to the library and to their classes, and for their visits with their families and their lawyers. And if you cancel even one of those visits, the men and women become sad, or angry, or they fight, or they threaten to throw whatever you're carrying in your hands to the floor just because this really sucks.
There's about 1500-1700 inmates at the DC Jail on average. There were already staff shortages, before all this.
By April 28th, 131 inmates tested positive at the DC Jail. 49 staff have tested positive.
855 inmates are in quarantine.
Jail is all hard surfaces, places the virus would find friendly. Benches and tables. Hardback chairs. Windows covered in metal bars. The jail is also full of tight spaces and long waits. Staff, visitors and inmates stand on the waiting elevator. It can be minutes before the intercom crackles to life. "What floor?" It's a slow, slow drag, and maybe the elevator goes past your floor without letting you out, so you have to wait for the crackle again. And people get off and get on. And sometimes the elevator gets stuck -- old buildings, elevators in constant use (you don't use the stairs to get around in the jail). And you're just there, all awkward together. And inmates are assigned to cleaning detail, but there's only so much cleaning you can do. I mean, the cleaning supplies ran out all the time even before the virus.
And how do you enforce social distancing when you're in charge of so many bodies, responsible for feeding them, for their exercise, for their medical visits, for their visits with their case workers, for their visits to the chapel, and for their visits to the library and to their classes, and for their visits with their families and their lawyers. And if you cancel even one of those visits, the men and women become sad, or angry, or they fight, or they threaten to throw whatever you're carrying in your hands to the floor just because this really sucks.
There's about 1500-1700 inmates at the DC Jail on average. There were already staff shortages, before all this.
By April 28th, 131 inmates tested positive at the DC Jail. 49 staff have tested positive.
855 inmates are in quarantine.
Comments