Exploration 2 - Interview.

I spent 3 hours Thursday evening (04 March, 2010) with “the other side” of the DUI STEP Task Force Community. I spent it in the Canyon County Jail, with Sergeant Chuck Davlin. He has been employed in the Jail for 18 years and is shift supervisor. His is also the area Intox machine (breathalyzer) calibration and repair expert. With this position he is also responsible for training and certifying area police departments and their officers in the use of the staged and portable breathalyzers and the laws that govern them and their operation.
While the DUI patrol was exciting and action packed, the jail is quite the opposite. By the time the DUI offender has gotten to the jail, they have gone through the entire emotional process and stages are most often indignant. They are now a “victim” and are either, extremely sad about their arrest and sure they are not guilty or they are extremely angry and are sure they are not guilty. There are few exceptions, much like the fact that the majority of people pulled over for DUI only report having two drinks, when asked.
The jail itself is well lit and very clean. The smell is of industrial cleaners, which from my time in the U.S. Navy, is a sign of lots of people living in very close proximity to each other. The walls are painted a brownish off white, which I am sure is meant for a calming effect on the inmates. The entry into the jail is a single room with padding, head height, on the walls. This is where the new arrivals, get strip searched and change into their jail uniform. Two heavily locked doors lead from this room, one into the Breathalyzer room, the other into the jail booking area. On this night, a 26 year old, illegal alien was in the Intox (breathalyzer) room on his 3rd DUI arrest. He was pleading his case that he had not been drinking and was being harassed. Officer Poore from the Nampa Police DUI STEP Task Force was called in to evaluate him. He was found to have been driving under the influence of Methamphetamine. During his strip search they found a large bag of methamphetamine hidden in his crotch between his testicles and anus. At this point he was absolutely positive, those weren’t his drugs and he had no idea who they belonged to or how they got there. Which was funny because in the booking area was a gal who had just been strip searched and the officers had found a paper cup folded around 23 pills of Norco Hydrocodone, which had been found under her right breast in her bra. She too, had no idea where they had come from and was positive the officer had put them in there to set her up.
The jail staff are now the subject of ire by most everyone at this point. They put the offenders through finger printing, drug and alcohol screening, showers, pictures and allow their phone calls with ease and integrity. They are constantly cussed at, ridiculed and insulted by the inmates and offenders. They maintain control and for the most part laugh off the verbal abuse. One guy had gotten out of hand was strapped to metal chair, in a locked room, facing the wall. He was on a two hour (or so) “time out”. There are various rooms around the booking area that lead to the main jail, and various rooms for the infamous (drunk tank) and people who are on suicide watch.
This portion of the DUI STEP Team is in sharp contrast to the excitement I felt in the ride-along with the patrol officers. The officers act as emotional counselors to a degree for the new inmates. They offer them food from the galley, allow them to make phone calls and stay on the phone as long as possible. The night I was there, one gal had been on the phone for almost two hours. The officers talk these people through their mood swings. They listen to what the inmates have to say about what is going and calmly reassure them. They are part counselor, part jailer, part parent and part friend. I was not prepared for this, especially knowing my brother. This interview with my brother and the walk through at the jail opens the possibility of several areas of research one could follow. What do officers do to handle their jobs mentally and emotionally? What is put into place in case of an uprising within the jail? What efforts are in place to ensure the inmates and the jailers are have a good working environment? I had questions on the number of inmates the jail had? How long a person may stay at the county jail before being transferred to a state prison? What complaints do inmates have against their jailers? I found this interview opened my eyes and surprised me as to what goes on within the jail. I am amazed at what the average, law-abiding citizen does not get to see and realized how much goes on behind the scenes, by the entire police force in an effort to maintain law and order.