User:Lynnettegunter

A Day in the Life Of A JDC Resident

JDC is a Juvenile Detention Center for kids from 11 to 18 years of age. You can be sent there for a Domestic Violence charge, Running away, Beating someone up, Disorderly Conduct, and other offenses. I would strongly not recommend going to a place like JDC. I would not recommend going into a place like JDC because it is not worth it and you might be stuck in that situation. It would not be fun to be in that type of situation.

In the mornings at JDC, you get woken up by a c.o.(corrections officer) at 6:30 a.m. to get ready to go to gym. If the boys go to the gym first then they get to go to school first. If you go to the gym second, then you go to school second. If the boys are done with gym, they go to breakfast first and the girls walk around from Mary Haven to go to the gym because the boys and girls can not be together for obvious reasons. When the boys and girls are done with gym and breakfast then they do hygiene. Hygiene is brushing your hair and teeth.

In the afternoons at JDC, you still go to school until 3:00 p.m. but at 1:00 p.m. you go into your cell for shift change. You are in your cell for approximately fifteen minutes. But, if you refuse to go to your cell and/or inside your cell then you get restrained. That does not look good on your record, because you get an SIR which is a Serious Incident Report when you do not do what you're told or if you get into a fight with someone. Your record is what you came in with as your charge. You go to lunch at 11:30 a.m. in the morning. You also go to this thing called, “Tutoring” and you go there with a man named Mr. C

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By this time we start to get hungry and it is almost night time. We eat dinner around 4:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. It depends on whether or not we have tutoring with Mr. C. We have tutoring from Monday to Thursday everyday unless Mr. C is out sick. If there are a lot of girls then we go first and if there are a couple of boys then they sit in the Interview Rooms or outside of Control. Control is where the c.o.s answer intake phone calls, place a time for visitation and call our parents or grandparents, because you are allowed to make phone calls while you are there in JDC. If you score a 13 or higher for your DSI (Detention Screening Instrument) you stay at JDC and/or Mary Haven depending on what gender you are. If you score lower, you can leave back to your family or with a Foster Care mom or dad depending on which situation that you are in and you would go to court at your designated time.

If you mess up one time, like for an example, getting into a fight with another inmate or a c.o. Then you get a SIR(Serious Incident Report), your phone call taken away, early bedtime, eat in your cell, and etc. You will not be able to get out of your cell until the next day unless you have pills you need to take so, you would go to MedPass with c.o. If you do not go to your cell when you are first told you get restrained or put in your cell by a c.o. Or, multiple c.o.s depending on what you did to get restrained.

While at JDC, there are many reasons someone at JDC might get into a fight. Some reasons are somebody might go to swing on someone, getting into an argument back and forth between a c.o. Or a

inmate and other offenses. You and the other inmate that got into a fight would be celled by a c.o. For a good minute or the whole night depending on how bad the fight was.

If you refuse to go to school, you will be in your cell for a certain amount of time until you are ready to come out. If you refuse to go to breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner you will be detained in your cell for awhile. You will also go into a cell that has a camera where the kids that want to

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kill themselves remain. This will only happen for a certain amount of time(s) and you will be in the nurse's office so you can be looked at. To see if your body is healthy or not.

When we have over eight boys in JDC we have to place them into a place called, “Mary Haven Program” Unless you want to be with a foster care family for only a couple of days and/or back with your family. But, if a c.o. calls your family and nobody responds then you have to stay in the system until you have court which is normally the next day. During your intake which is where you come in with a police officer or your probation officer depending on what state you are in. You have to be stripped, searched and have lice treatment in your hair for a good while until a c.o. tells you to get in the shower to wash it out.

If your family does not show up for court then they have to pay fee(s) and if they do not show up for your second court that is more fee(s) on them not on you. But, after your third court and your parents or grandparents do not show up then CPS(Child Protective Services) will talk to whomever you are living with. You get an intake phone call and if you decline it then you do not get to talk to anyone over the phone. But, if you accept your phone call and the phone in the pod rings more than three times you can answer the phone call. If you accept your phone call, and nobody answers the phone the c.o. on control will say over the radio talking to a different c.o. that's on the floor they will say, “Message left (whatever cell number you are in)”

Like for a example, if I wanted to talk to my mom then I would ask and control would call my mom and she would not answer the phone call the person on control would say, “Message left for 214” Then I would understand that my mom or whomever does not answer the phone at the moment was busy. A c.o. that is in the pod would tell me they can call my mom in like fifteen minutes. Or, if I wanted to talk to my dad or whomever is on my call list a c.o. that is in the pod would say, “214 would like to talk to his/her dad” Same rules go for visitation which is on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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For visitation the same rules apply for the most part. Whomever, you are living with is welcome to come see you but they would have to call and schedule for visitation. Except for the fact that you can decline visitation and not see your family but that is all up to you. Everyone except for your siblings can come and see you though. Just whatever you do not raise your voice, talkback and/or go to hit whoever is going to see you at the JDC.

If I was in your shoes, I would behave to the best of my ability while being there, because you do not want to stay longer than you already have meaning no fights, back talking or cursing people out. Do whatever you feel is the right thing to do. Once you get out of JDC or Mary Haven do not end up in that situation, because you stay longer each and every time you go back. Do not end up from Mary Haven to JDC, because that is going to end up in your records. Also, because you would have to serve three months again and nobody wants that.