Interviewer: What’s the difference between jail and prison? Can you talk about the specific jails in your area?
Acacia Law: Whether you’re in prison or whether you’re in jail you’re entitled in visitation. In Maricopa County, the most populated county jails include the lower BuckEye Jail, Durango Facility, and Estrella, which include the tents. There is also a Durango Juvenile Facility. There is also The Towers. Each one of them has their own pluses and minuses, in the viewpoint of someone who is incarcerated.
Interviewer: Isn’t there The Fourth Avenue Jail, and then Tent City as well? Are they crowded?
Acacia Law: Yes. What happens is that Fourth Avenue Jail is technically more of a processing center now, than it is an actual facility. They actually have courts now inside of that facility. Usually, the people being held there are coming in for probation violations, parole violations, or are initially charged with a crime. The initial processing goes through the Fourth Avenue Jail.
After being processed, they are assigned to one of the other jails that I previously mentioned. What jail they go to and what pod they go into, and a pod is a cluster of cells in a given floor, is dependent on their classification. Dangerous crime offenders typically are held in maximum- security holding facilities. The lower West Buckeye Jail has a lot of maximum-security offenders and Estrella and Durango have far fewer dangerous offenders. So they do have them separated.
In terms of your question as to whether people prefer the county jails to prison they much prefer prison. The Department of Corrections is actually much easier time. Many of my clients who are repeat offenders much prefer going to prison than spending a year in country as a term condition of probation. That might give you an idea of how bad the jails are here. They are notoriously bad throughout the state at the county level.
Pima County in Tuscon has bad facilities as well. Penal County used to have one of the worst facilities in the state. I don’t know if they still do or not since they made the new jail about eight years ago.
Family Visitation Is Allowed in the Facilities
Interviewer: The reason why I ask is for families of people that have someone arrested, they probably first want to know where they are, where they’re going, what conditions they’re in, and how to get to them.
Acacia Law: If a person contacts us, on behalf of a family member or loved one, my practice will find out exactly where they are. We will find out when their visitation times are, what’s their classification, and essentially we provide all that information to our prospective clients for free. Ordinarily each inmate is given a set number of families or friend visits per month. They can have as many legal visits from their attorney as they want.
That is because in criminal matters, when your client is in custody, the attorney has to have the ability to have access to them almost at every time of day or night. In some cases, a plea agreement could be offered at five in the afternoon with a closing or deadline of the following morning.
Different Classifications Determine What Type of Visitation Is Allowed
Unfortunately if your family member or friend is classified as dangerous, you may only be able to visit your loved one in custody via video camera or via telephone through bulletproof glass. So, obviously there are many different things that come into play that effect what the inmate’s environment will be like.
Also, I have one more piece of advice concerning the jails or the prisons. It’s important the inmates get money put on their accounts. This is so that they can have the ability to purchase whatever they need within the facility.
Inmates May Need Money on Account While in the Facility
Interviewer: They’ll get food and bed, but what would they purchase that they need money on their accounts for?
Acacia Law: The inmate may need to purchase tooth brushes and toothpaste. The facilities have vending machines where the inmate can buy additional food. You can’t send an inmate gifts, but you can send them money and whatever they purchase is done goes through the jail system approved inventory.
Interviewer: And can you send letters?
Correspondence and Phone Calls Are Monitored
Acacia Law: You most certainly can send letters. However, they may well be opened. There’s no limit as to the number of letters. However, I advise my clients on two important things. One, you can also make collect phone calls. Phone calls, like letters, are subject to being recorded and screened by jails. Since the calls are recorded by jails, any time your client speaks on the phone with a family member or friend or anyone but their attorney’s office, anything they say can and will be used against them.
Evidence Collected Can Be Used Against You
The same thing holds true with letters. This is monitored to see if any inmates write a letter or receives a letter that would be deemed incriminating. That information is attainable and accessible by the state, and if it’s deemed to be exculpatory, meaning that it’s in the defendants favor, it may or may not be revealed to the defense. That would depend on whether it’s relevant or not to the underlying charge.
Interviewer: So if your client is in jail and they are communicating with their family, do you automatically ask for recordings of everything? This way you can see if there’s any exculpatory or incriminating evidence?
Acacia Law: No. Because a lot of times, unless motivated, prosecutors won’t ordinarily go through and examine that information. On the other hand, I have some prosecutors who very vigorously listen and evaluate all phone conversations.
So, it depends in part on the prosecutor, and it depends in part on the nature of the crime. The same holds true for letters. But basically, what I tell my clients is that anyone, including your bunkmate, could be a plant. Anything that’s said to anyone outside of your attorney’s office is fair game. Anything you divulge could be presented as evidence of some sort against you at a trial down the road.
Interviewer: I see. So they’re encouraged to talk to no one about their case?
Acacia Law: That is correct. I advise my clients, their families, friends, and loved ones, that this is in fact the case. They must assume that everything they say or write is a matter of public record. Therefore anything they say or write can be used against them to incriminate them.
There are even separate sign-up sheets in the local county jails for what are called legal calls. Wherein, inmates can make collect calls to their lawyers. Those can’t be used against them. They can speak freely on those phones but that is really the only time they can speak freely.
