Whitney Fitzgerald
Outside Activity 2, Jail Tour
Criminal Justice 1010, Anderson
05/01/13
For my second outside activity I decided to do a jail tour. I did the tour April 13,
2013. The actual tour was about an hour and a half. While on the tour, I got to see the jail layout,
how the jail operated, as well as how the prisoners lived. I did some extra research and found out
the history of the jail, and inmates opinions on jail. The jail tour opened my mind to life behind
bars, and helped me to see the part of our society that most citizens choose to ignore.
One of the reasons why I chose to do a jail tour was because I wondered what life in jail
was like. While I was on the tour I got to see firsthand the way that these prisoners were living.
In an interview with the prisoners they tell us what; life really is like living in jail.
The prisoners are given three meals a day. Breakfast usually consists of biscuits with
gravy, grits, or corn flakes depending on the day. Lunch is either a bologna sandwich, or ham
salad which the inmates call “cat food.” For dinner the inmate’s usually get a hot meal such as
spaghetti, or hamburgers. Once a month the jail will have a special meal were they may have
things such as burritos, or cake. The food proportions are very small, and only fit the basic
nutritious needs of the inmates. The inmates do however have the option of buying food and
other things from commissary. They recommended that every inmate have an account so that
they may, buy things from commissary, to make their stay a little nicer (Salt lake county Jail).
Jails not surprisingly do have violence and crime that goes on. Inmates stealing others
commissary items is very common, although not as common as it is in the prisons. Rapes
happen, as well as gang violence. One officer said that one day he was working and he walked
past a man raping another man, and he had to stop it. The inmate later said that the reason why
he raped him was because he owed him some commissary, and he didn’t have it. Violence and
rape is more common among the men than the woman. Men tend to use sex in jail for dominance
while woman use it for companionship. The woman in jail tend to have less violence because
they work together in a family unit were the men work against each other trying to prove who is
the most dominant (Frank Schmalleger, 2012). This did not surprise me because what salt lake
county has done is taken all the criminals; put them in one place, with nothing to do most of the
time so I can see how crime and violence would occur.
One of the main reasons why there is violence and crime in the jails in because of the
lack of things to do. They said that one of the hardest parts about serving time is getting past the
boredom. The salt lake county jail does provide the inmates with books, and a variety of different
board games. Sometimes there is racquetball that they inmates can play in the courtyard.
Televisions are also provided in the main living area (Salt lake county Jail). I thought that it was
interesting that inmates had so many choices of things to do. I always thought that the inmates
sat in their cells all day every day. I found out that the prisons have even more programs than the
jails, such as G.E.D programs and even college courses.
History is an important part in understanding any concept. I did some research about the
history of the salt lake county jail. The first jail in salt lake county was built in 1850, prior to that
all convicts were held in a cabin and while outside of the cabin they had a steel ball connected to
their ankle. The first jail was very small, and was a basement that only held about 10-15
prisoners at a time. The first actual build that was used as a jail was built in 1855, and was
located next to the court house. It was known as the Rotary Jail. The design of this jail resembled
that of a church on the outside and on the inside had revolving doors that actually allowed the
prisoners to leave and enter their cells whenever they wanted. An article from the Deseret news
in 1927 explains the jail a little better,” During its existence, only one man was hanged there.
Charley Thied was executed for murdering his wife. There was only one entrance to each floor
and the cells had to be revolved before a prisoner could be admitted or discharged from any
cell.” There was a total of 22 cells, 10 on each side.
This jail eventually went out and a new jail was built in 1910 across town. The new jail housed
150 inmates, and had four floors. Only 5 prisoners ever escaped from the jail. It was torn down
in 1960 and replaced with the metro jail in 1966. The metro jail was built to hold 311 inmates. It
had three floors and was partially underground. The metro jail is still here today and is actually
going under construction soon. Another jail was opened in 1991 named the oxbow jail (Office,
2013).
In order for me to understand how the jail operates I found it important to look up some
of the inmates and why they are there. There were some inmates that I saw who were only there
for one night due to drunk driving. A lot of the inmates were being held there awaiting trial.
While on the tour the man said that most of the people here are either here for a couple days or a
waiting their trial dates, there is less who are serving their sentence here. Our book said that the
majority of the inmates in jail are male, so while touring the jail I wanted to see if there were
more male inmates or more female. I found that it was actually really hard to compare the two
because in the jails, the male and females are separated.
While on the tour I got to see the layout of the jail. I got to see the main control room, in
this room there was a bunch of computer monitors that showed the cameras from inside and
outside of the jail. They said that the main control room is the most secure room in the building.
The door is always locked unless the deputy is entering or exiting. All the entry in and out of the
jail, including cell doors are controlled in this room. The jail also has a room that they refer to as
the drunk tank, where they hold all DUI or intoxicated inmates. In this area they have an
intoxilizer machine that determines how much they have in their system. They also showed us
the booking area where all the convicts are processed. They said that for security reasons only
three convicts were allowed in the booking area at a time. This is the area where they
photograph, the convict and put all their information in the system. After they had been
processed they took them to get fingerprinted. After being booked they then determine where
that inmate is placed. The jail has four main sections were prisoners stay; there is the minimum,
medium, maximum and super maximum sections, within those section they are broken into pods,
then into cells.
We got to see the library that they have there. It’s not like a typical library it’s a very
small room with books on shelves, and concrete walls and floors. The kitchen was very massive
and looks similar to a school kitchen. They said that they often let the female inmates work in the
kitchen under supervision. There was the courtyard which was just a gated concrete block with a
basketball hoop. I saw the medical facility which again looked similar to a schools sick room.
They said that this facility was open 24 hours, with medical personal always on staff. The jail
had a lot of really long hallways and no doors were really ever opened unless someone was
going in or out.
The jail had a certain feel to it, it felt cold a dim, it was the exact opposite of the feeling
you would get from being at home. It definitely is not somewhere that I would want to live. I felt
scared and sad; it was not a happy place to be. I was slightly surprised at how restricted
everything was even for the people who were touring. I was surprised at the amount of staff that
was involved. You really don’t think about all the aspects that go into it, the jail system is far
more complicated then I could have ever imagined.
Overall I felt like the jail tour experience was good. I learned a lot about our criminal
justice system, and a lot about the daily lives of a prisoner. This experience has made me
appreciate my freedom, and opened my eyes to a world where everything is restricted. I think
that the thing I’m going to take away the most from this experience is to follow the rules, to be
careful in my everyday decisions so that I never have to be there. I’m going to be extra careful in
my life, and make good decisions. In the future I don’t think I will go on a jail tour unless it’s
like Azkaban, or a really historical jail. I do believe that every person should have the experience
of seeing a jail at least once in their life because this was a life changing, and humbling
experience.
Works Cited
Frank Schmalleger, J. O. (2012). Corrections in the 21st century .
Office, S. L. (2013). History of Salt lake county jail. Retrieved april 30, 2013, from Salt lake county jail:
http://www.slsheriff.org/metro-jail/history-of-the-salt-lake-county-jail
Salt lake county Jail. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 30, 2013, from Salt lake county jail: http://slcojail.com/