Oakland County Jail

Jail Layout

Interview with Girliegirl, Paul and Tyler


JM: How many different blocks were there?
Girliegirl: 750
Paul: A few
Tyler: I was in the East Annex. Broken into four sections each with 32 bunks (64 people). Each of the 64 person sections have there own community bathroom/showers. All 256 inmates share a common day room and outside yard. The day room has four T.V.s that are elevated and hard to hear. They regularly showed movies on the T.V.s and with the closed captions this was functional. No cells, no bars, more of a camp or dorm like environment.

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Girliegirl: I don't remember
Paul: there where names but dont remember what they where
Tyler: Only saw East Annex

JM: Which inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Girliegirl: They housed us by offenses. A murderer wouldn't be housed with an embezzler.
Paul: Dangerous criminals.
Tyler: East Annex is minimum security

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Girliegirl: some of the blocks were newer than the other ones. Some blocks were cleaner or had new beds or had better lighting.
Paul: Dunno
Tyler: East Annex is the only area that has access the outside.

There are basically three section of OCJ for most "visitors." The first area one will experience is the "R tanks" for recieving. Some may never leave the "R" area, and they are indeed aptly nicknamed tanks. These areas do not have bedding, are all concrete. Though each tank is clearly designated with "max pop" number, these are seemingly ignored often housing twice the amount until space is found, or in some cases made. There are secondary holding areas, mostly makeshift where inmates may be ushered temporarily such as they gym, or back rooms in the jail. The gym evidently can hold up to 150 inmates, in what is, or used to be a gym. Other holding areas are random rooms sprinkled around the grounds. These are meant to be temporary, but some inmates have reported spending days if not weeks in these rooms. The second type of cell are the 10 mans. Again appropriately named, these areas will be designated as "A-block," or "B-block." These cells were traditionally used for medium to high security inmates, but it's quite common for non-violent minimum designated inmates to find themselves there for the bulk of their stay. The situation in these rooms vary from cell to cell, and it's really luck of the draw. They do have tv's in some of the cells, but again, this is not a democracy, you watch what that cell watches. There are up to 4-6 cells per block, and each cell will have its own personality from very mild and considerate (meaning the 10 that share the cell are considerate of one another, don't or try to avoid fights and generally try to make the best out of a bad situation) to rowdy, confrontational and very alpha competitive. The annex is the next type of housing area. It allows inmates to get out in common area during certain times, and back to "pods" at others. Trusty status brings it's own area, and own privileges. In most areas, not including "r," annex and trusty, you may find yourself sleeping in "boats," which refer to conoe shaped bedding holders, sort of like half of a coufin, but linterally look like lego peices. It's pretty much a function of overcrowding and makeshift measures to house as many people as they can. Hope this helps

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ck23931
Saturday, June 26, 2010