Monday's Work in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

Monday: Not surprisingly… interviews to prepare for court were a bit intense today. Nobody has gone through court since mid-Wednesday.... so anyone that was arrested and could not make their booking bond from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning are all in court this afternoon. After doing those interviews (4 Hours); I came over to the Law Library… very glad that the snow had kept my “replacement” from coming to work. Frankly… I like working on paperwork in silence. I don’t want to have to “entertain” someone else while I’m doing my damned job. However… while doing my paperwork job, I happened to notice that the papers already filed were not correct. My “replacement” had decided to go ahead and file the paperwork that he didn’t know how to do. Instead of calling me; leaving them for me… or even handing them to me when I was right next to him as he was sorting(!!)… he just… filed them. Doubling my work for today because now I need to go through all of the files to see what I need to take care of.

I decided not to do too much more past that, frankly. The paperwork took about 3 hours; then I had to do Inmate Programs Intake interviews which took several more hours. On paper: a 13 hour day. I can deal with that. Wife has been cut back to 32 hours this week (one way Wal Mart makes up the money it spent on staffing during the Holiday) so I’m going to try to bite the bullet and work a full 40 this week. If I come in to the Law Library tomorrow around 9; I can do a 10 hour shift easily. Maybe that will even allow me to get here before my “replacement” does; so I can run things my way for a while. But that is really it for work stuff!

Intake Interviews went well! But, of course, it wouldn’t be a day at work without JCZ. This is the guy that isn’t English Fluent, but he read that certain people can get up to 5 days in the Law Library per week. No matter how many times we explain the qualifications needed to get up to 5 days… no matter how many times we stress up to 5 days does not require us to give you 5 days… he still bothers us every day. If he hasn’t been personally invited to the Law Library; he’ll have his CO call us. Or, days like today where I have to go to the Mods, he’ll jump in front of the person I’m supposed to be interviewing. Like today. “You going to call me in tonight?” No, I’m just here for the interviews. “So have de otha guy do it.” He couldn’t be here today because of the weather. “So nobody calls me in today?!” sigh. He is here for a sexual assault of a woman… he still claims he was charged improperly because if he is guilty of anything it is “negligent sexual assault.” Which isn’t a thing. But all of the little clues add up to encourage me to believe one thing: It isn’t so much that JCZ doesn’t understand English; it is more that he doesn’t understand things he doesn’t want to… he wants the world to be one way, if it isn’t that way… he doesn’t understand.

Monday Editorial:
Being falsely accused and falsely imprisoned for a crime is a terrifying concept. It does happen and that is an awful thing to think about. However, after listening and paying attention to many people during my holiday break… I feel that there is a misunderstanding about the judicial system. I would be confident in saying that at least 80% of the people in this jail are guilty for what they are being charged with… they did beat their spouse, they were a party to that shooting, they did have drugs on them. What the system typically boils down to is… (1) was there enough evidence to convict and (2) was the evidence obtained in such a way as to preserve the individual’s constitutional and civil rights? That is what the system is about. Just because the guy says he didn’t hurt his girlfriend… doesn’t mean he isn’t guilty. Trust me. I’ve had… bizarre conversations. Talking with an inmate who vehemently says he would never strike his “woman”… but as he tells the story for why he’s being charged with Domestic Assault? He admits that he tried to hit her with his car when he saw her making out with “another dude.” He loudly protests his innocence… because he doesn’t see how what he did could be considered wrong or criminal. Largely, because he thoroughly believes that his actions were justified. So… when people say we have “too many innocent people in prisons”… that may be true, if you subscribe to the belief that even ONE innocent person in jail is too many… but it isn’t an “epidemic” by any stretch.