Orient Jail

The cold concrete and fluorescent lights of the Orient Road jail were a sharp contrast to the cheery disposition of its workers. I found myself often wondering how one could maintain a chipper disposition when dealing with such hardened individuals. I myself found it hard to even concentrate on our guide’s discussion when faced with a woman being led in handcuffed in a cocktail dress knowing full well that she wasn’t going out for a business lunch at 2 p.m.
Once I got past the fact that we were amongst criminals charged with a multitude of different crimes, I became amazed at the professionalism of the Orient Jail workers as well as the amazing detail they put into dealing with criminals. The process of booking a person into the jail was very simply put by our guide and shed light on a process that I was unfamiliar with. Not only did I learn how people were booked into the jail, but I learned that throughout the entire process their actions are documented. The documented actions would be a great supplement to a story about a recently arrested criminal. In addition to a police report obtained from the Sheriff’s office, I could also use a Criminal Incident Report from the jail to add to my story.
I’m still a bit unclear as to how much video is open to the public. As our guide told us, the video of the inmate being tossed from his wheelchair was all over the news, but would a video clip of a prisoner in lockdown be able to be released to the public. When we went into lockdown and witnessed the prisoner on suicide watch, I wondered if the video that was being filmed from the corner would be able to be shown in the nightly newscast if the prisoner was of prominence.