Harris County Jail

Pre-sentencing

Interview with Julie, Inmate's Sister, Claire, Jim, Inmate's Mom, DK, Smyth, Ken and Houston

JM: Tell us about the pre-sentencing process:
Julie: I was alright not a long wait at all the Judge was cool
Inmate's Sister: at first they tried to give him 8years and he took that to trial and by him having priors already they went on and sentence him 20years because he fit the profile"quote" thats what the da stated.
Claire: I had violated my probation and turned myself into custody. I went down to the county jail, you know, the main area where you go to process release bonds, went to the window, and told the lady what I was there to do. I gave her my name and SPN number, and she pulled up my warrant. She gave me a copy of the warrant and told me to have a seat. I already had a feeling I was going to be there for a while because according to the warrant, I had several "technical" violations against me, the main violation being the charge of Theft by Check.
Jim: After being reset 13 times I was sentenced
Inmate's Mom: He was stopped at 2 a.m. on the 25th of July for speeding and got arrested for DUI. He spent the next 34 hours in custody, although we posted bond as soon as humanly possible.
DK: It was a long wait to find out what I already knew
Smyth: Demeaning to say the least. Are told at very start two things are true: 1. You don't matter 2. You don't matter.
Ken: The process is very invasive. You have to call in once a week and be prepared to go downtown for drug / alcohol test in my case. They also question you. The wait is usually quite long, often in excess of a couple of hours in a loud, crowded waiting room. No one is in a hurry to get anything done.

JM: Did you have police stop by your house for questioning?
Julie: No i Did not
Inmate's Sister: no Claire: No. I had actually called my probation officer to ask her when my next appointment was, and she told me I had a law violation. My only options were to either be arrested at home, at work, or during a traffic stop, or to turn myself in. I turned myself in a week later. I figured I'd rather do it on my own terms than have them have to come looking for me.
Jim: Yes
Inmate's Mom: No.
DK: no
Smyth: No
Ken: No

JM: What was your court appearance like?
Inmate's Sister: for the times i did go to court for my brother they didn't even let him defend his self,bascily they talked for him.the guy that was supposed to be invovle told the judge that wasn't the guy who robb me"quote" his words but they still gave him the case.
Houston: The actual appearance is rather short . You spend all of your time waiting to be called.
Claire: Well, my first appearance was in pre-trial, or "TV-court" as the inmates called it. You basically are led down to a "courtroom" where there are benches for the inmates in back of the room, and in the front of the room, there are areas for the judge, the "witnesses" and the "jury," but there was a large TV screen in front of the ceiling in front of what would have been the judge's bench, and the screen is blank when you first walk in. The deputies seat you, and a few minutes later, a female judge comes onto the screen and gives a speech about what is about to happen. Basically, they tell you that this is pre-trial, that you will be read off what you have been charged with and you can either plead guilty, no-contest, or not guilty. The speech is pretty long, and then you have to listen to it in Spanish. Then, once that part is over, another screen will pop up, and this screen is divided into four sections. The top left section will show the inmate (who is also standing there in front of us, but for purposes unknown to me they must also show a live capture of the inmate as his/her charges are read off to him/her), the bottom left will show the prosecutor or District Attorney, and the bottom right will show the judge. The top right portion is usually empty. The only good thing about this is being able to listen to what others are in for, I think.

In total, I went to court four times. The first was for pre-trial, the second was for the probation violation, the third was for the theft by check charge, and I went to probation court again towards the end.

Pre-trial was the easy part. My second "appearance" (and each one thereafter) really weren't appearances at all, as I stayed in a bloody holding cell the whole time, sometimes for hours on end, countless hours. Harris County calls for inmates going to court at around 3 a.m. Mind you, court doesn't officially start until 9 a.m. What do you do for the 5-6 hours before you "go to court"? you ask? Well, first, all the females who are going to court have to be strip-searched. Yup, strip searched. We get to line up d****d near shoulder-to-shoulder along the walls in this cold-a** room (the "gym") and get buck-naked, one piece of clothing at a time. You take off your outer shirt, shake it out. Take off your undershirt, shake it out...bra, panties, socks, shoes, etc. Then (here's the worst part), you turn around, squat all the way down, and cough. To me, that is the most inhumane, most humiliating thing about going to jail. They treat you like you ain't s***. I think some of the guards and deputies think that s*** is funny.

So after that horrible part is over, we hop on the elevators (facing inward, like cattle or something), and go down to the underground tunnel. We line up along the wall, and our names are called one by one, with our court #s and some of us have to change positions in line to better facilitate separation by court number. Some of the inmates act like they're deaf and can't hear their names being called, and others act like their mouths are like engines with the governor left off, they just run and run and run, talk, talk, talk. What the hell is there for you to talk about? The unspoken (and spoken) rule while you are in line is to basically shut the hell up. If you talk while the deputies are trying to do their job, court will literally become an all-day venture. The deputies don't care. They have all day.

When that part is over, you go to yet another holding cell, one designated by court number. The deputy that takes you in there warns you that, "The louder you are, the longer you'll stay in here." But do they listen? Nope. It's bad enough you sit there for what seems like an eternity, waiting on them to call your name to have you sit in yet another holding cell for another eternity, but then you have to deal with the threat of sitting there even longer because these so-called women can't shut the hell up. Go figure. Once the deputy decides to come back and call you for court, you are again separated into more holding tanks by court number. These tanks are adjacent to each courtroom to better facilitate moving the inmate back and forth in between the courtroom and the holding cell, as well as to make it easier for the inmate's lawyer to go to and from the courtroom. Don't ask me how. It's pretty sophisticated, actually.

I never actually "appeared," except for when I signed for my time on the theft by check charge. I went before the judge (in handcuffs and a uniform that was about two sizes too big for me, but thank God one of the girls had braided my hair the night before!), he read off my charge, I pled guilty, and I was sentenced. I was also granted credit for time already served. Then, I went back to the holding tank. All I can say is, if you are an impatient person, shake that s*** off before you go. Their motto is, "Hurry up and wait."
Jim: Well, going to court in Harris Cunty is a terrible process. You are waken up about 330am. You are lead out and go through about 4 holdover cells before you finally make it to the floor of your court room. There are hundreds of inmates going to court and eventually when you mae it to your court there are about 10 or 20 in your courtholdover. There are 4 or 5 windows for you to be able t talk to your attorney. You have no privacy and everyone can hear you talk to your attorney.
Inmate's Mom: Have not appeared yet.
DK: It was a pre sentencing court appearance in which I had one while in custody
Smyth: Meant to wear you down into taking a bad deal.
Ken: I had several court appearances as my case was reset many times. When we actually pleaded the case, the deal or arrangement for my punishment had been negotiated by my attorney and the prosecutor.