Day 22 Month 2 Year 2016 in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

I am Jack’s persistent and inevitable bitching....

WORK. Wanted to be nice, so I came in super early on a Monday (after only 3 hours of sleep) in an effort to help Boss’ Assistant. It isn’t her fault that her boss flew off to Mexico on her third day; and so aiding a little seemed like a good thing to do.

Of course… other elements sabotage the hell out of that. The Law Library’s only printer is broken. Again. Completely down. The IT guy (when he fixed it last time) said the printer was likely having a lot of trouble because of how sweltering it is in the Law Library. Yeah… I know how hot it is in here… I have to be here a lot more often than I should. BUT the jail’s one and only IT guy is on vacation. So we won’t have a working printer until he gets back. Which means dozens of requests will go unanswered until our printer is back up… because I can’t print out “30 Bond Review forms” from anywhere else… and since I can’t print them here, they can’t be printed. Typically… that isn’t a big deal. These freaks (using judgment word because of the # of 8 paragraph kites today) don’t know what they are doing and are wasting my time and the court’s time by getting legal forms from the law library; failing to fill them out properly; and then sending them to the judge.

But then, of course, most of the Law Library gig is about inmates (1) wasting our time; and (2) not knowing what we can/can’t do. For example… kites asking Law Library to settle a child support matter. (1) We don’t make decisions on anything… that would be the judge; (2) the jail Law Library is established to assist in Criminal Defense Capabilities… we don’t do civil or family court; (3) we don’t argue on your behalf… for anything. Or… another common item… Can you please deal with my County X hold so I can go to Programs? Ooo, you’re so close inmate dude. Law Library is part of Programs but we work for Douglas County… I literally cannot access anything outside of this county in a professional capacity. But again… mostly… the thing that I wish was more clear, more understood, or more obvious to the inmates? We are not your attorneys; we do not represent you or your interests; we will not argue on your behalf or assist you in crafting a defense. Our only job is to hand you paperwork, let you read the Law Books.... anything more is why the State appointed you a lawyer and is paying them. If you don’t like that “the State is paying” your attorney… tough. We don’t represent you.

Then there’s the really interesting shit. Every week, I have one or two guys who can’t find what they are looking for in the Law Library and they will flat out demand that I look it up for them when I go home. Typically, I laugh and say… “maybe if I was making a Lawyer’s wages, I’d use my own time on this but no way.” Of course, they don’t like that one bit. Apparently, being in the law library and being competent means (to them) that I am required to provide them with legal advice, expertise, and my free time “in pursuit of justice.” Nope. I get that every inmate hates their public defender because every inmate (honestly) believes that the public defender is working with the prosecution… but (1) that is insane and never true; (2) another lawyer cannot represent you in the same matter if counsel has already been appointed (Appointment Counsel would have to withdraw and then replacement Counsel could advise); (3) even your professional attorney isn’t going to use all of their At Home time searching for some crazy person’s “potentially non existent smoking gun fool proof defense.”

But whereas the Public Defender gets a livable salary wage and may, at any point, terminate the interaction with her client… I am not afforded such luxuries. I make a small amount on a per hour basis and am expressly forbidden from leaving a room with an inmate/client in it.

Yeah… same old bitching. But… it tends to get frustrating. I would like to be a more active part of Criminal Justice… but not the way these inmates want me to be. And then there are the shit storms on the horizon. Most notably: the County Prosecutor trying to throw my department under the bus when a guy wanted for Vehicular Man Slaughter fled the country. Even though… the Pretrial System is built almost exclusively to discuss IN COUNTY PRIOR CONVICTIONS. So my boss, who himself is out of the country at present, is irate that our system was partially being blamed for a dude vanishing… and all I can think is, “I have loads of ideas that could help… but you’ve been acting like a spoiled petulant child for so long… that you’ll never ask and I’ve grown weary of offering solutions to problems that never get taken seriously.