Detention

"Loving an inmate is not hard. The distance is hard. The worry is hard. The sacrifice is hard. But loving him. That's the easiest thing I've ever done."  Unknown

" And now abides faith, hope and love these three, but the greatest of these is hope."  Frederick Buechner

There was a meeting in progress, but I had no idea what kind of meeting it was. And I didn't ask.  As I walked by, I glanced quickly at the room full of women to my right and several of them were looking at us. I couldn't help but wonder what they were thinking. I'm sure it was obvious to them that we were on our way back out into the light of day.

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to visit the Catoosa County jail in Ringgold,  Georgia. This jail is located  about five miles from where I live. I was there with a group of sixteen residents of Catoosa County who were invited by the sheriff. Our sheriff, Gary Fisk, gave us about a one hour guided tour of the facility. I had visited a state penitentiary with a chaplain, but had never been inside our jail.  It was an educational and eye-opening experience to say the least.  And just so you know, I asked Sheriff Fisk what I could and couldn't say about the experience and he  said, "Say anything you want to, but I hope you include something good."

So I'll start with that.  Sheriff Fisk was extremely polite, respectful and courteous in every way possible.  I wasn't necessarily surprised by that, I was just impressed with his warmth.and geniality  He explained a personnel situation with a handicapped individual that endeared me to him all he more. Everyone else we met was the same way.    I was also impressed with how clean the facility was.  The floors were literally "spick and span".  Everything looked clean and smelled clean. Again, I didn't expect to enter an unclean facility, I was just taken with how clean it was. All of that was good.

With that said, the rest of the experience was very sad. It was just hard to see so many people locked up.  These inmates still have legal rights, but they have, at least temporarily, forfeited nearly everything else. . They each share a small room with one to three other inmates. They wear jail clothes, eat jail food (two meals a day), buy personal items from the jail commissary, use jail bathrooms and showers. The small outside area where they have limited access is a concrete slab and is still in jail. The only thing they can do there is walk, but at least it's outside. All of their personal mail is opened in front of them by an official.  All of their phone calls are monitored and recorded. They are watched twenty-four hours a day.  We stood in an elevated room and watched them through two-way glass. Some of them were in their cells, others were playing cards,  but most were walking laps around the pod. I asked the sheriff how often they  did that and he said, "Most of the day every day."  Although the inmates know they're being watched, I was not entirely comfortable eavesdropping on their activities so I mostly kept my back turned and talked to the sheriff.

I knew before yesterday that a lot of people were housed in our jail. I could tell that by the arrest records and by the number of bail bond agencies that are within walking distance of the jail. But I thought maybe there were seventy to eighty people there.  The population yesterday was 239.  239 people live in that jail under the circumstances I have mentioned. About 40 are female.  The men and women are totally segregated. About 30 are mentally ill. The worst of the mentally ill are segregated. The others are with the general population. Sheriff Fisk said that some of the mental illnesses are diagnosed and treated, others are diagnosed, but they refuse their medication and others are neither diagnosed nor treated. The latter tend to be the worst. Since the mental health situation in our county, like most counties, leaves much to be desired, the jail becomes the place they end up.

This may sound strange, but I also came away with the thought that if jail is inevitable, you could do worse than to be incarcerated at the Catoosa County jail. But from what I observed don't break the law, don't get arrested and don't go to jail.  You won't like it very much.

It was just a glance, but the look on the lady's face in the room said "Who are you?"  "What are you doing here?" and "What would I give to be on that side of this door? Don't forget us when you leave because we're still  here." Whatever they were doing in that room, I hope it included reassurance and encouragement that their days in jail are numbered and that they too will soon see the light of day.