Teen in Jail - one year later

Ted began writing the Teen in Jail blog on July 14, 2009 while he was incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida. He had been arrested for drug trafficking on October 30, 2008.

Ted was subsequently convicted of drug sales of MDMA (Ecstasy). Ted had gone ahead to see if the coast was clear for a drug dealer when he was apprehended by waiting police. In exchange for him casing the scene, he was to be paid $150. The 50 pills the drug dealer was selling did not contain pure Ecstasy – some were “dummies,” otherwise Ted probably would have received more time – even though he did not have any of the pills in his own possession.

Three prior charges from previous arrests were incorporated into Ted’s sentencing – possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and criminal mischief. He was facing 25 – 30 years of prison, so he chose to plead guilty in return for a 2-year prison term.

Two months later on December 19, 2008, the drug dealer (that Ted had cased the scene for) was also arrested for the same MDMA trafficking incident on October 30th and posted bail. The dealer was again arrested on October 5, 2009 for multiple charges of possession and sales of Oxycodone and Diazepam. Almost a month later, the dealer was again arrested for trafficking MDMA and is now serving time at RMC Work Camp. The dealer is due to be released on May 30, 2013. He received a 3 years, 9 months sentence for 12 charges, including possession and sales of Methamphetamine, marijuana and other various controlled substances.

The Teen in Jail blog chronicles Ted’s two-year incarceration in jail and various Florida prisons, a work camp and a prison reentry center – Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, the Reception and Medical Center (RMC) in Lake Butler, the Central Florida Reception Center (CFRC) in Orlando, Brevard Correctional Institution in Cocoa, Lancaster Correctional Institution and Lancaster Work Camp in Trenton, and the Largo Residential Reentry Center in Clearwater. Ted’s current release date is August 13, 2010 – less than a month from now. This release date reflects gain time for good behavior.

Ted started the Teen in Jail blog to let people know what it’s like behind bars and to keep other kids from making the same mistakes.

Ted was not allowed to write about many incidents and people (correctional officers and other inmates) during his two-year incarceration, so he plans on finding a literary agent to possibly publish his full story in a book.

I forgot my ID

This morning started out like every other morning. I woke up, made my bed, brushed my teeth, shaved, then sat down and waited to go to breakfast. Even though I’m used to this morning routine, I forgot one thing. To bring my ID to breakfast.

Everywhere we go, we’re supposed to bring our IDs. I made it all the way to the chow hall before I realized my mistake. I knew the CO inside was going to notice and he did.

He asked me where my ID was. I said, “I forgot it in the dorm, sir.” Well, he didn’t look happy. He told me to go ahead and eat then added, “When you’re done, come see me.”

I got back in line, grabbed my tray and sat down to eat. When I finished my food, I put my tray away and went back to the CO. He said he was going to go easy on me. “Give me 50 pushups now and then later I’m gonna bring you something.” So I did my 50 pushups and left.

About an hour later, the CO came to my dorm and woke me up. He handed me a large piece of paper that simply said in big letters “MY ID” and told me to come outside.

I got dressed and followed him. He said, “Okay, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to hold this piece of paper that says “MY ID” at your chest and march around the compound yelling ‘I will not forget my ID’ over and over. Just keep marching until I tell you to stop.” So I did.

Keep in mind it’s about 6:30 in the morning and I’m barely awake. I marched around the compound three times and he finally told me to stop. He said, “Okay, you’re done for now, but if I ever ask you for that piece of paper that says “MY ID,” you’d better have it. I don’t care if it’s a week from now.” Then he let me go back to my dorm.

I felt so humiliated, but at least I’ll never forget my ID again!

Funny punishment

Here at Lancaster work camp, they have an inside ground work crew and their job is to walk around and pick up trash, cigarette butts and pretty much whatever it takes to keep the compound looking nice.

Well yesterday, the sergeant sent eight people around to pick up trash during recreation. Out of those eight people, seven went and sat on the bleachers and decided they weren’t going to do anything and just hoped that the COs wouldn’t notice. Well they did.

Now normally, the COs would make them do push-ups, jumping jacks and other physical training, but instead, the sergeant made those seven people get in a circle and hold hands and walk around in circles (just like ring-around-the-rosie) for about an hour.

Every one of those seven did it with his head down. They were all so ashamed that they couldn’t even look at all the people laughing at them. I have to admit – I was laughing too.

First week at Lancaster work camp

I have now been here at the work camp a week and I’m starting to get settled in.

This place is way better than any of the other institutions I’ve been to. Even though it’s a pretty laid back camp, I spent my last week observing my surroundings. It’s a habit I’ve formed from being transferred a lot in the last several months.

Anyway, one thing I’ve noticed is there is still gang activity, but not much. They pretty much stick to themselves because it’s too sweet here and they don’t want to leave. Of course, there are a few of them though that don’t seem to care and I can just tell that they won’t last long.

I’m hoping that for me, though, these last seven months will fly by without incidents, but this is still prison and you just never know.

Photo: Entrance to Lancaster work camp

Moved to Lancaster work camp

After two weeks being in orientation here at Lancaster, I was finally moved across the street to the work camp. It feels so good to be here and off the main compound.

Here at the work camp, we get to go to rec (recreation) three times a day, and not many people here do anything stupid to get in trouble because everybody wants to stay here.

I’ve already been assigned a job. I work in the kitchen, the job a lot of people want because you get to eat all day. I got really lucky with that job. I’m not sure when I start yet, but I hope it’s soon. I can’t wait.

Another good thing is you can buy canteen (commissary) every day. That’s good considering that your stuff may be stolen if you don’t have a lock for your locker. So far, nothing’s been stolen from me since I’ve been at Lancaster, but hey, this is prison.

Overall though, I’m happy I finally made it to the work camp and now the days should start to fly by.

Photo: Google Earth aerial photo of Lancaster work camp (Click to enlarge)

Visitation at Lancaster

I was able to visit Ted again yesterday for three hours. He has been moved to the work camp across the street from the correctional institution at Lancaster. The work camp has its own visitation center.

All week long I had worried about Ted being cold. The visitation room at Lancaster C.I. was cold when I visited on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. The inmates’ jackets are very thin – more like Dickies long-sleeved work shirts. During that weekend, the temperature was probably in the mid-60s and he and I both shivered for most of the visits. Ted said the dormitories at the main correctional center did not have either air-conditioning or heating. I wondered how he would fare as the weather got colder.

The concrete-block-walled visitation room at the main correctional institution measured about 15’ X 30’ with five long tables. Each table had eight chairs. (Approximately 35 inmates received visits on Thanksgiving and 15 received visits on Black Friday.) Inside the room was a bookshelf with children’s books, crayons and toys for any children that came to visit and a vending machine. A trustee sat behind a caged window to sell canteen food items, photo tickets and playing cards. Two microwaves were used to heat up the frozen canteen sandwiches and pizzas. Three doors led to restrooms (one for men visitors, one for women visitors and one for inmates.) Glass doors led to a 40’ X 50’ fenced-in outside area with concrete benches and tables. We did sit outside for a bit (in a patch of sun) and watched his unit quite a distance away as they clustered around an area (to dig holes he said) and then marched off in rows of three.

This weekend, Ted's stepfather and I arrived at the work camp. It was much smaller than the main institution. A guard asked for IDs through the wire fence and disappeared inside. Through the fence, I saw groups of young men marching in platoon formation, sounding off to a CO’s drills. I noticed that those young men were wearing the same blue uniforms and BoBo’s, but had red hats.

The officer returned and we emptied our pockets. We walked through a metal detector. As before, a female CO led me inside to a separate room and I took off my shoes. She checked the insides of my shoes and the bottom of my socks and patted me down for contraband. We were handed visitor’s passes and led to a fenced-in area close by the entrance.

The work camp’s visitation area was much larger than the C.I.’s. Probably twice as big. (The room doubled as a chapel, Ted said.) There were also three restrooms and a caged canteen, microwaves and a vending machine. This room contained more tables that were three times as long as the C.I.’s visitor center. Small shelves held decks of cards, chess and checker sets and books, and a desk contained crayons, Xeroxed word searches and coloring pages for the children.

Glass windows looked out over the large outside visiting area with concrete tables and benches. The windows facing the rest of the work camp had white paper taped over it. The portion of the chain link fence outside facing the camp had white material also blocking the view of the camp. There was a small section of fence that had not been taped on the other side where I could see Ted’s dorm and even his window and bed. (He was on the top of a bunkbed.)

Ted will tell much more (I had two letters of 14 pages waiting when I returned home), but the inside of the dorms were not cold, he said. He had two blankets, two sheets and a PILLOW (which he didn’t have before).

He received ALL of the books I had sent to the various prisons when he arrived at the work camp. He is now working in the kitchen washing pots and pans. Another young man washed the dishes. Two or three more cooked the food for the 270 people at the work camp.

It was very good to see him. He had been issued used black work boots because the kitchen floor was slippery. (No more BoBos!) He also now had THREE uniforms! No photo tickets were sold this weekend, so I was unable to get a picture of his new boots.

Last Tuesday, he had sat all day in a just-issued new uniform in confinement at the correctional institution waiting on an interview with an ABC reporter. (Someone had neglected to notify the reporter of the interview date until the day before.) The reporter told me the new interview date was scheduled for December 15th and I will call the prison to make sure that they know as well.

Ted said Lancaster work camp was the best out of all the prisons where he had been.

Photo: Google Earth aerial photo of Lancaster Correctional Institution and Lancaster Work Camp (Click photo to enlarge.)