Communicating with jail staff -- the "kite"

If you need to ask a question or make a request, you will fill out a small form called a "kite."   Here's what it looks like:

Note that it's labeled "Inmate Request Form" instead of "kite."  The guards say "Fill out a kite" not "Fill out an inmate request form."  (Hmmm -- so why isn't the form itself labeled "Kite"???)

You circle the appropriate place to route the kite.  The choices are a strange mix of topics and people.  You'll see and hear the term "CATS" which refers to a program for treating drug or alcohol dependency while in jail.  Your judge may have ordered that you participate in CATS.  (Mine did.  I filled out a kite stating that my judge had ordered me to do so.  I received a memo weeks later, two days before I was released, stating that CATS was too full for me.)  If you attend CATS, you receive some time off -- one day off per weekly session.

You also can send a kite to the "Chaplin."  Film buffs may think of Charlie Chaplin, but it's just the ICJ's pathetic spelling of "chaplain" -- the jail's religious director.

The guards deliberately hold back on giving you blank kites.  Clearly they don't want too many kites filled out.  They don't want you to bother ICJ staff answering petty questions, so they limit the number of kites you get.  Tip: you can use a blank piece of paper and make your own kite.

One common question to submit is to ask when your "out date" is.  That's the date when you'll be set free, as calculated based on your sentence and any time off you're earning.  Most inmates find out what that date is and hand-draw a calendar, just like in a movie from the 1940s. 

If you ask a guard a question about your status, they'll ask you to commit it to writing using a kite.  Some guards wait until the end of their shift before forwarding any kites received.  Response time varies greatly.