The James Logan Courier

By Krystyna Wolny, Courier Staff Writer

Jail is a place feared by many, but not everyone has had the privilege of getting an entire tour of one. As a police explorer, I got a rare behind the scenes look of Santa Rita jail last week.

Santa Rita looks nothing like a jail from the outside. In fact, it’s often mistaken for a community college, which is what the builders were aiming for. Once inside, however, it’s beyond obvious that this is in fact a place that holds thousands of criminals and those accused of crimes.
Our tour guide first showed us some items confiscated from inmates over the years. It varied from gang paraphernalia, to weapons, to creative artwork all handmade by inmates. There were red cloth belts, adorned with initials of gangsters and gangs they’re associated with along with assorted signs made with smuggled markers and old sheets. He also showed us hand made weapons; a tightly rolled up stack of magazines stuck inside a sock that was used as a baton to beat others with, a sharpened end of a toothbrush for use as a shank, and even simple over-sharpened pencils.

Inmates tend to use their creativity in jail in ways beyond weapon-making, so there were also various impressive creations, like needles stuck to batteries to make prison tattoos. We were also shown a banner with intricate artwork representing one inmate's own heritage and glasses with temple pieces made from plastic spoons.

After show-and-tell was over, it was finally time for our tour. Every where we looked there were cameras watching us and heavy steel doors locking us in. We began in a long empty white hallway, highly resembling a scene some might remember from the Grudge. We then moved from the hallways to a courtyard, from which we then entered the maximum security area. We first stopped in front of the solitary confinement cell. The guard opened the door and immediately, the stench of feces hit our nostrils. He allowed us to go in and look inside, and upon walking in, I noticed the entire room was padded. I then noticed a strange vent like hole in the floor and the guard then explained it was a toilet.

After that, we entered the maximum security building and I noticed each cluster of cells was divided into different sections, and instead of walls, there were large glass windows separating the inmates from us. The inmates awkwardly began peering through the small windows in the doors, and the girls all began giggling at the pathetic sight of the female-deprived inmates.

After that, we then entered the prison guard watch tower in the minimum security building and here, instead of glass walls, they were more like gates and the cells weren’t divided into different clusters. Minimum security was much more jumbled, as these cells held up to six inmates.

As we were nearing the end of our tour, we returned to the main office of the jail, where criminals were being booked in. Once strip searches and drug tests were performed, we were shown that offenders were then put in a cell to wait.

Finally, after four hours of exploring, our tour ended and we were left with something of a new view on the world and more stories to tell.