Drug users and jail - be careful in thinking it's a safe place...

I was just reading a post about a difficult child drug user on the run from a dealer he was driving around to make deliveries - or at least that's my take on what the mom was saying... Someone posted that they thought at least he would be safe if he were in jail.

Another post I read mentioned that in jail, our difficult child's have 3 meals a day, a roof over their heads and they can't get drugs or alcohol there.

PLEASE BE AWARE! When it comes to jails for people awaiting trial or sentencing (including murderers, rapists, child molesters and the worst of the worst) or serving less than 2 years for their "lesser" crimes (drug possession, fraud, assault, theft), DRUGS ARE AVAILABLE. You'd be amazed at how much is confiscated on its way in, but it does get in. People on methodone to get clean will actually puke up the tablets and then sell them to other inmates. People send cocaine footprints on pages of incoming mail, cards are sent in with photos glued to them - drugs under the photos. And, my favorite sting operation, a lawyer was caught bringing a bag of weed in for a client on a weekly legal visit. Deaths in these jails are sometimes due to overdoses.

Inmates make their own liquor in jails by getting kitchen jobs, and stashing a juice jug in a secure location. The ingrediants are oranges, sugar, water, and bread. Wait for it to ferment and throw a party for your friends.

Young adults enter thse jails at 18 or 19 thinking they are tough because they beat somebody up and got an assault charge. They go in with too much attitude and get gang beaten so they know who is tough - because it certainly isn't them. They come out with a criminal record and an excellent education in violence and corruption.

I'm not a fan of the criminal justice system and I assure you this is all true. I was on the "right" side of the steel doors for years - involved in conducting investigations. I've seen photos of young people after their beatings and dealt with devastated parents who can't give their difficult child a simple hug.

If I sound like I'm being melodramatic, maybe so. Maybe your difficult child did some time and came out rehabilitated. I wish everyone could, but the repeat offender numbers say differently.

It is our difficult child's own decisions and choices that lead them to criminal activity, but please don't kid yourselves into thinking they are safe in a jail. My sincere empathy goes out to all of you who have a loved one in the system, sending huge warm hugs to all the mom's and dad's.
 

helpangel

Active Member
Thank you for the reminder; the only thing I want to add is you don't need the kitchen job or sugar... we would wrap bread around an orange stuff it in a sock and hang it in tank behind the toilet - in juvi. I'm 50yo now and it's much better now (I hope) but back then juvi was similar to what you described and most kids came out worse then they went in... I learned forgery there, how to make pipe bombs etc along with making some friends my parents would have preferred I never knew existed.

Nancy
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
From my daughter's description of life out of jail as a drug addict, it doesn't sound any more dangerous in jail than out of jail. You are still hanging around with criminals.
 
Top