This article was unpublished and was written on November 19, 2010.
It was Thursday, November 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the Manhattan Detention Complex, or better known as the “Tombs.” There were ten people standing in line, waiting for a representative to guide them through the steps for posting bail. The room was small, cramped and stuffy. There was a small, decaying wooden bench with three people sitting knee-to-knee, huddling in their jackets to brace themselves from the cold. The door was permanently propped open, and was unable to close to block out the wind. Many of the people there felt like they were the ones in jail.
“They make it impossible to do anything over here. You waste the entire day in this place,” said Robert Angona, a 21-year-old resident of Astoria. “Everyone here is so nasty and unhelpful. I was yelled at for asking for a form.”
There was a sign that said, “If no one is at the window, please ask reception for assistance.” No one was present at the reception window either. There was a clutter of dead flies gathered around the ceiling lights, and thick layers of dust covering the vents. The floor was dirty, covered with gum and what looked like dried blood. The walls were covered with graffiti of the names of former inmates. There were several coughs and a lot of groaning.
It was Friday, November 19 at 1:30 a.m. and the same ten individuals were waiting to be served. When asked how long she had been waiting, one woman who preferred to remain anonymous said, “I’ve been waiting since 2 p.m. to pay a $1 bail. This system is [messed] up. I’m going to make sure this guy knows the [stuff] I had to deal with to get him out. It’s going to be worse than jail in my house once he’s let loose.” Not too long after, a Correctional Officer finally appeared behind the plexiglass window and began to serve the people in line. Each transaction took approximately 45 minutes, meaning the last person would get out sometime after the sun rose. It was just another normal day at the “Tombs.”
Everyday many people wait on these lines in various Correctional Facilities around the city in hopes of having someone they know released from jail. In New York City, there is an average of approximately 13,000 to 18,000 inmates within the jail and prison system on a daily basis, according to the Department of Corrections. Even though there are so many individuals being detained, it appears that there is no system in place that operates in a timely manner and ensures that every convict is able to leave in the same timely fashion if they are able to, whether it is because they were wrongly convicted or an appropriate bail was posted. Some feel as though the Department of Corrections does not do a good job in any regard.
“The jail system is a waste of time. It’s based on helping [to] pay the public debt,” said Ronald Louis, a 36-year-old resident of Crown Heights. “Each inmate only serves the government by the taxes the public provides to house them. It doesn’t reform the person at all; they just go out and commit the same crimes again.”
On the flip side, the Department of Corrections does house many people that are actually guilty as well. The job that these officers do is very important to society, and perhaps they do not receive enough credit for dealing with criminals on a daily basis. According to the Department of Corrections, there were 63 Class A assaults on staff members as of 2009. A Class A assault is any assault with intent to injure or with some type of weapon. Correctional Officers also spend very long hours at the jail, and they often have very little time to actually sleep. These incidents and long shifts might explain why some Correctional Officers do not always exhibit the best displays of character despite the service they provide for society.
Various Correctional Officers would not comment on the situation.
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