Official link to Inmate Guide in PDF from Sheriff's site

Dear NOEMIS: Are you official? This is the message that the mysterious Noemis sent me:

This guide is available from the following link: http://www.ingham.org/SH/pdf/inmateguide.pdf

I checked that PDF version of the Guide out, and it looks legit.  I'm glad the Sheriff's Office no longer considers the Inmate Guide a classsified document.  It looks like Ingham County Jail Tales has had a positive impact!

For the record, here is a screen shot of the Sheriff's home page, which serves as the starting point for information about ICJ.  This is what the page looked like in 2007:

Click for a full-size image.  Now, here's the Sheriff's home page as of this week:

Ingham County Jail apparently publishes it own inmate guide

The Ingham County Jail publishes an "Inmate Guide" which they are supposed to give to every new inmate.

They didn't give me one.  When I found out the Guide exists, I asked for one, and got one.

When my attorney visited, he asked for a copy of the Guide.  The guard refused to give him one, saying the Guide is only for inmates.

When I got out of jail, I couldn't find the Guide online, so I scanned it in, and put it online for inmates, their families, their friends, and the public to see: http://inghamjail.blogspot.com/2009/02/official-ingham-county-jail-inmate.html

Today I received a comment from someone under the screen name of  Noemis, with a link to a PDF version of the Guide.

I will gladly link to this version of the Guide if Noemis will identify himself or herself to me, so I can check to be sure this PDF is the real deal.  For instance, the real Guide has signatures of the Sheriff and the Chief Judge.  This copy is unsigned.

Noemis, if you're for real, tell me who you are, who you work for, and convince me that this is the actual, official guide.  And can you assure me that this URL will work forever?

ICJ's latest inmate: drunk driver who killed mother and son

A very sad story and a new inmate in the Ingham County Jail: Daniel Burwell of Lansing, accused of being intoxicated when he drove his vehicle through a red light and struck a car with a mother and her son returning a video tape.

It's even sadder to read the comments posted in the Lansing State Journal's online edition, such as:

Dan is not a good man, I know him on a personal level, he has always been a scared little coward with everything he has ever done.

and

theguyoverthere wrote:
and when was the begining lets see, you maybe spent 4hrs with him total before he stole your girl, so now you have a grudge, i dont not in anyway condone what he did, i do not agree with it, its was wrong, but to say he was on drugs and things of that nature well you got him all wrong. Sure he went through an experimental stage but that has long been over. alchohol was always his vice and its a shame that it was like that. i know exactly what your talking about but you dont seem to remember i was there also. dont talk to me about things you dont know. look how angry you get, its because you cant manage your hate, deal with it, he is gone, deal with it, you talk so much crap after the fact but where were you prior, no where in site, he will get what he deserves it will not make the family feel any better, be productive and support the cause, drunk driving is serious, join the cause to fight the crime, stop complaining and act for once
4/22/2009 11:15:25

I wonder how he's being treated in jail. Do they have him in isolation, or suicide watch? If he's with other inmates, I wonder how they are treating him.

Here's the link to the full Lansing State Journal article.

Sheriff Wriggelsworth embraces tethers instead of jail

Awesome news: Ingham County chooses to punish some people without putting them in jail.

Running a jail is mother's milk for a sheriff. The Ingham County Jail has been overcrowded for years. One obvious reason is that there are people in jail who pose no threat to society.

But many of the people that the State of Michigan feels it must punish do not need to be locked up. The Lansing State Journal recently reported that the ICJ has launched a new program using house arrest and electronic tethers. That article didn't quote the Sheriff. Now, WILX TV, NBC Channel 10 in Lansing, quotes Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth, in support of the new program.
See: Special Report: Jail Without Bars.

Here are the money quotes:

"We've suffered under horrible numbers. Sometimes over 100 people more than we should have," says Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth.

....

"If you'd asked me 40 years ago if i thought it was a good idea to let people who were supposed to be in jail go out on a tether, I'd have told you you were nuts."

Very good news: ICJ adopts home arrest

Yesterday's Lansing State Journal carried some very good news on the front page: the Ingham County Jail will use electronic tethers to place non-violent inmates under house arrest.

This is great news, surprisingly enlightened for ICJ. It means that folks in jail for failure to pay child support or similar non-violent crimes can, as deputy Greg Harless says:

It enables us to free up more beds for the people who truly need to be in jail.

The program allows folks locked in-house to go to work and to make other essential trips at times of day permitted.

Unfortunately, the official Ingham County Sheriff's Web site offers zero, zilch, no information about this important new program. Apparently the Sheriff thinks it's his job to give an interview to the LSJ, and not to publish vital information to folks who need to know.

Sadly, the LSJ has recently reorganized their Web site, destroying access to news articles within the last year. Since I don't trust the LSJ to keep their own content online for any length of time, here's Kevin Grascha's entire article in text:

March 11, 2009
Ingham Co. jail inmates may opt for house arrest

Prisoners pay $8 or more daily for electronic tethers

Kevin Grasha kgrasha@lsj.com
MASON

- For as little as $8 a day, some Ingham County Jail inmates now can sleep in their own beds. A new program, which began Jan. 19, allows qualified nonviolent inmates to choose house arrest, their whereabouts monitored 24 hours a day by an electronic tether they wear, rather than be held at the jail.

And there is no direct cost to the county. The program is funded through fees paid by offenders who use it. It is intended to help ease overcrowding at the Mason facility - a longtime problem that typically leads to hundreds of inmates being released each month before they complete their sentences.

"It enables us to free up more beds for the people who truly need to be in jail," said Ingham County sheriff's Chief Deputy Greg Harless. Qualified inmates who have served 50 percent of their sentences may opt for electronic monitoring at home. Also eligible are qualified inmates waiting for their cases to go to court. A judge now can set a bond or give the person the option to pay for electronic monitoring.

The program is available for people charged with or convicted of most nonviolent crimes. An inmate has to be able to pay for the program, which typically costs between $8 and $16 a day, depending on the person's monthly income. There also is a $45 enrollment fee. Harless said the eventual goal is to have more than 100 inmates using it.

Those charged with or convicted of criminal sexual conduct, assault and other violent crimes are not eligible to be released on electronic monitoring. The jail lists more than 125 offenses - from arson to home invasion to unlawful possession of a firearm - that are not eligible for the program.

Inmates set free

Last year, the jail set free 2,011 inmates before they completed their sentences, in order to not exceed the maximum allowed by the state. The jail's capacity is 665,
although the county rents 193 beds to the Michigan Department of Corrections, leaving 472 beds for the Ingham County courts.

The jail houses people sentenced for misdemeanors, as well as nonviolent felonies. Also, anyone awaiting trial or sentencing for any crime, who is not free on bond, is held at the jail.

As of Friday, 22 people were enrolled in the program. Six successfully completed it. Three did not and were re-jailed.
Ingham County Chief Circuit Judge William Collette said having jail beds available allows judges to fully punish people convicted even of misdemeanors, such as spousal
abuse and drunken driving.

"When you lose that ability, I think society goes downhill," he said.

Calif.-based service

A California-based company, Sentinel Offender Services, runs the electronic monitoring program. A center in Irvine, Calif. keeps track of the electronic monitoring devices at all times. A case manager for the company is based at the jail.

The monitoring device, a tether, is strapped to an ankle. If the person goes too far from home, the monitoring center is notified, then authorities are notified.

People, however, can be eligible to go away from home - to work, church or the grocery store - during pre-arranged times of day. Violators are sent back to jail and
lose credit for the time they spent on electronic monitoring.

Another option for electronic monitoring is to have a global positioning system that can track an offender's every move. With the GPS system, the offender must carry a cell
phone, which communicates with the ankle bracelet.
The phone and the bracelet have to be within so many feet of each other, said Amanda Bergquist, case manager for Sentinel Offender Services.

Although the monitoring is restrictive, "they get to sleep in their own beds and eat their own food," Bergquist said.

Additional Facts

Tether fees

• Fees begin at $8 a day, but can
increase depending on the inmate's monthly income. The typical range is $8 to
$16 a day. There also is a $45 enrollment fee.

A look inside the Ingham County Jail

I found a YouTube video that gives a brief glimpse inside the ICJ. This video may be useful for folks wanting to visualize what it's like inside the Mason Marriott; however, it's not entirely accurate -- the narrator describes cells in regular dorms while showing footage of a holding cell. The regular cells have metal bunk beds, not the concrete you endure in the holding cells, and the regular dorms have conventional flush toilets and sinks, not the unpleasant metal combo toilet-sinks found in the holding cells.

He also underestimates the average inmate count by 100.

Still, the footage gives you a bit of an idea.

The official "Ingham county jail Inmate guide"

If you've landed here from Google or the like, this may not be the post you want.  Please start reading Ingham County Jail Tales from the very beginning.

This post publishes for you the official guide for inmates at the Ingham County Jail. The words are what the ICJ publishes in a brochure handed to each inmate upon incarceration. (Well, actually, the Jail often fails to give a new inmate a printed copy of their Guide upon incarceration, but who's counting?)

For some reason, the ICJ treats their inmate guide as confidential. They won't give it out to friends and family, and it's not available on the Sheriff's Web site. You would think that an enlightened ICJ would want everyone -- inmate, friend, family, lawyer, probation officer, judge, public -- to all be on the same page. Much of the inspiration for this blog is to redress the ICJ's failure to provide complete information to the inmate, and to all who surround him or her.

Since the ICJ refuses to publish their Inmate Guide in paper or online, I'm providing it here. Note that in addition I've tried to provide other important information that the Guide fails to offer. If elsewhere on this blog I've gotten anything wrong. or omitted something you need to know, please tell me. If the ICJ has failed to provide information you seek, let the SHeriff's office know.

Each page is a separate image. Click on a page image to see it in a more readable size, or to print it.

Leaving the jail

You will eventually leave ICJ for one of these reasons:

• You've completed your sentence.  Or, at sentencing, the judge reduces your sentence to time already served in jail.
• You go to trial and you are found innocent, or charges against you are dropped.
• You've posted bail, or you are released on your own recognizance (ROR) awaiting trial or a hearing.
• You've been found guilty of a felony, and you will be transferred to prison.
• You've got a charge in another county, and you'll be transferred to that county.
• You died. (Fortunately, a very small percent of inmates leave jail dead.)
• The governor pardons you.  (This is even less likely than dying in jail; most gubernatorial pardons involve prison inmates serving hard time for a long time.)

If you leave to be transferred to another facility, your life probably won't be changing much. You may have to adapt to different rules and procedures. And of course you'll meet a new set of inmates.

If you've completed your sentence or otherwise are released, you will be cast free just yards from Cedar Street. They may let you out during the wee hours of the morning. In fact they love to do this; it seems to be a standard practice.   (A lot of inmates think that the ICJ gets state money for another full day if you leave at 12:01 a.m., but I'm told that's not true.) Still,  if you leave early, they don't have the cost of feeding you, and it frees your bed for the next incoming inmate

The guard will have you carry your mattress, pillow, and linens back to the storage area. If you've accumulated a lot of personal belongings, you'll schlep along with those, too. Let's hope you made a large order from the Commissary, so you'll have a large plastic bag to carry your belongings.

Whatever cash you came in with was converted into your inmate account. The jail will issue you a check for the balance left in your account, reflecting any deposits by your friends and family, and any expenditures, such as purchases from the Commissary.

Since you're likely to be set free during early morning hours, the check is probably useless at this time. What a concept: on entry they convert your cash into your account, and on exit they give you a check. (Hint to ICJ: why not issue a debit card with the remaining balance, like welfare does?) Mason State Bank is right across the street, combined with a Biggby's Coffee, so you could try their ATM.

Eventually a guard will direct you back to the "dress out" area. The trustees on duty will fetch your street clothes, still in the bag where you placed them the day you arrived at ICJ. You'll turn in your uniform and get back into your street clothes. It's a funny feeling at this point; you begin to feel a sense of liberty. If you entered the jail on a warm day but you're leaving in winter, ask the guard if he can get you a used coat to wear.

Next, at the wire cage, they'll make you sign some papers. They will also present you with a bill, which may be $1200 for 30 days in jail. State law allows the jail to charge you a daily fee to pay for your stay at the Mason Hilton.  Let's see... 1200 divided by 30 = $40 -- not bad for a Hilton.

Now you can use the free land line phone to call for a ride -- if you've got friend or family who might be willing to pick you up.  Unlike the phones you pay for in your dorm, this phone can call cell phones -- which is a neccessity for reaching a lot of people.

Then they'll buzz you out through the security door to the garage where you first entered. You will feel very odd sensations: the rush of freedom, and the dread of what's ahead.

Hopefully you've got a ride. If not, hopefully you turned off your cell phone when you checked in, and can call someone to pick you up. Or, a CATA bus route stops at the nearby Meijer -- which is a hike from the jail. Otherwise, start walking towards where you want to go -- if you have somewhere to go.

Good luck!

Overcrowding -- and early release

The population of ICJ fluctuates constantly. Newly-arrested inmates add to the population as newly-released ones subtract from it. Some inmates have been sentenced to weekend jail -- a humane attempt to keep people in their jobs. They check in on Friday night and are released Sunday night -- which adds up to 3 days off your sentence as ICJ counts. Some inmates get released on bail only to return later when sentenced.

The limit on the number of inmates seems to be a combination of state law, court decisions, and policy. When the ICJ population exceeds 675 or so, the place is considered overcrowded. When this happens, the jail begins early release of inmates. Those who are within a few days of their scheduled out-date may be released. Jail workers (aka trustees) are at the top of the pecking order for early release.

You'll hear lots of rumors as to whether the jail is overcrowded. Don't believe them. One rumor comes from the kitchen crew, citing how many meals were served that day. This isn't reliable, as the staff get meals, and the ebb and flow of new and released inmates may count more people than will sleep in the jail that night.

One aspect of overcrowding is permanent: the ICJ regularly puts some inmates on the floor, sleeping in the common area or "day room" that's supposed to be more like a living room. This allows ICJ to bed, for instance, 10 people in a dorm intended for 8. The floor isn't so bad, but you will want to snatch the mop when it comes so you can clean around your mattress.

In any event, the ICJ operates a balancing act: because of financial incentives, they want to keep the inmate count at capacity.  But because of circumstances they can't control -- who knows how many people will be arrested tonight -- the jail will sometime go over their limits. When that happens, they have something like 3 days to reduce the inmate count. And when that happens, it may be to your benefit.

Speaking of early release, the jail may let you out just after midnight, or in the wee hours of the morning.  You may have some trouble getting a ride home -- assuming you have a home to go to. See the post on Leaving the jail.

You be the judge: should this guard be fired?

Did you ever see "The Silence of the Lambs"? Did you think it was just not believable that an inmate could hide a sharp object, then use it to viciously stab a guard? Sadly, that scenario is going to play out someday at the Ingham County Jail.

As we've learned, about 1/4 of the guards at the Ingham County Jail are assholes, and they don't give a damn whether your meds are properly dispensed. One of the these is particularly lazy about meds, and her actions put her fellow guards, and herself, in danger.

Now for the Hannibal Lecter story and its parallel to this particular guard. This guard enables exactly the scenario from that movie. A certain inmate has diabetes. This means he needs to prick his finger with a blade to draw some blood, test his blood sugar, and use a hypodermic needle to inject insulin -- twice a day. 

Let's assume this guy is gay, which in this case happens to be true. There is nothing wrong with that, except that in this case he was in jail awaiting sentencing on sex-related crime. Hell, for that matter, we're all jail inmates, which means that any of us may have questionable social behaviors. You don't want to be exposed to any inmate's blood, and you don't want a fellow inmate to have a needle in his hands without supervision.

So, if there's a diabetic in your dorm, every morning most guards will bring a medical kit about the size of a lunch pail, set it down for the inmate, and watch as he pricks his finger, bleeds, and then reads his blood sugar. Then the inmate takes a hypodermic needle and injects his required dose of insulin. The guard may do this outside the dorm -- probably using the meds cart he has with him as a table -- or inside your dorm, on the table where you will soon eat.

Understand that the jail, with good reason, is paranoid about any pieces of metal -- especially sharp metal, or metal that could be sharpened. If your lawyer gives you a manilla envelope with a brass clasp, the guard will nervously rip the clasp away before you take the envelope back to your cell. Any time you return from outside jail -- work duty, a court date, a hospital stay -- you are strip searched to make sure you don't have a weapon, including sharp objects.

But this one guard apparently never saw "Silence of the Lambs." She's lazy. When she comes through to give this dude his insulin, she drops off the needle kit for the inmate, and leaves the dorm so she can service other dorms! She may not return for 30 minutes.

This means our fellow inmate has every opportunity to hide a hypodermic needle. The needle kit includes a secure disposal receptacle for used needles; there's no way for the guard to know later if the inmate really has deposited his used needle properly.

The guys in my dorm talked this over. It was a low-security group, and no one, not even our diabetic dude, seemed disposed to violence against a guard. But ICJ has one amazingly stupid guard who repeatedly gave easy access to a potential weapon -- day after day. I don't know about you, but I think a guard who leaves sharp, possibly lethal objects in the hands of an inmate, and then moves on to other work, should be disciplined or fired. My guess is that once her fellow guards realize this, they'll feel the same way.

More broadly, ICJ needs to think through their procedures for diabetic inmates. Do you really want some random guy bleeding on your breakfast table or over your meds?

Court dates and probation

You may be in jail awaiting trial, or a hearing because you're accused of a probation violation. Here's a few things you should know.

First off, several of my fellow inmates worried themselves sick about whether they'd make their court date. This is understandable: when you're in jail, most of your time is sitting waiting for the next milestone. This includes days, weeks, or months of nothing but waiting. So some inmates work themselves into a lather, afraid the jail won't deliver them to the court at the appointed hour.

Don't worry. The ICJ is very efficient at delivering you to your court appointment.

If your court appointment happens to be at the 55th District Court, the courtroom is in a building attached to the jail. The guards will shackle you -- whether you are a violent offender or not -- and take you down a long connector hallway to the court. They'll place you in a holding cell while you await your court appearance.  If you're in another court, you'll be taken there, escorted, in an ICJ van.

If it happens to be cold outside, you will freeze in the hallway and in the holding cell. One court guard, who is otherwise very friendly -- even compassionate -- has a bug about inmates staring out the window of the holding cell. If any of your fellows awaiting court stands by the door window, the guard will turn on a fan bringing in outside air.

The guard will remove your shackles while you're in the holding cell, then shackle you again when it's time for you to head into court.  If you're a non-violent offender, you may wonder why O.J. Simpson made it through murder and armed robbery trials without cuffs, but you stand before the judge unable to even raise your right hand.

When your time comes, you'll be taken into court. There will probably be a trial or hearing in progress, so once again you await your turn. Then you and your attorney -- either paid or court-appointed -- will face the judge.

After your trial or hearing, you'll go back to the holding cell with other inmates.  You may wait hours to leave the holding cell.  They'll feed you a bologna sandwich lunch if you stay across meal time.  

Depending on the verdict or sentence, you may be set free.  You'll go back to your cell, get your belongings, and be processed out.  See the "leaving jail" post in this blog for further information.

If the judge doesn't set you free, you'll head back to your cell.  If you're sentenced to time in jail, you'll eventually be moved to a sentenced dorm.  The main difference: no television.  If you're sentenced to prison, within a few days you'll be escorted to a van and hauled to another slammer.

...

Probation is a topic that could fill an entire blog of its own.  They say that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I won't claim that your PO is corrupt, but it's clear that she or he -- most of them are women, for some reason -- exults in her power, and will gladly exercising that power over every aspect of your life, not just the crime you committed.  She'll have you arrested and hauled to jail on any hint of a possible probation violation.  Unless you make bail, you'll rot in jail until your hearing date comes up. 

I met many inmates, some of whom have been through the criminal justice system multiple times, who said they'd gladly spend 30 or 60 days in jail instead of enduring 2 years of probation.  Speaking from experience, I can suggest that if you've already lost your job, doing time may be a much better deal than probation.

Bailing out

If you are awaiting trial the judge will usually set bail.  The amount of bail could be as low as a couple hundred dollars, or it could be $50,000 or more.

If it's a small amount, or if you are wealthy, you may simply post the entire cash amount of your bail.  Assuming you show up for trial, you'll get your money back in full.

If you can't afford to post cash bail, you can work with a bail bondsman.  A bondsman is in the business of making bets -- that you won't skip town while out on bail.  Typically the bondsman charges a fee of 10% of the amount of your bail.  Note that you don't get this money back.  It's a fee for their service of guaranteeing 10 times that amount to the court.

For some reason, one agency, Leo's, seems to dominate the market among bail bondsmen.  Apparently Leo aggressively seeks your business.  Some say that Leo may negotiate a fee of less than 10%.  Others say Leo will let you use your home as collateral.  In any event, it seems that Leo may be your man.  

If you're lucky, the court may release you on your own recognizance -- ROR -- which simply means your name is sufficient guarantee to satisfy the court.

Note that judges may set the bond ridiculously high as a way of keeping you in jail.  I went from a $300 bail to $30,000 after a probation violation.  The judge knew well that I was not suddenly 100 times more likely to skip town or cause harm to society -- the two reasons why bail exists.  She was using a high bail to punish me.  Hmmm, didn't the founding fathers write something into the Constitution about excessive bail?