Marion County Jail Inmates

Marion County Jail Basics
Marion County Jail is not unlike other county jail facilities. Inmates receive three meals a day-breakfast, lunch, and dinner-and are provided with no meals in between. Other foods can be purchased through commissary as well as other personal items and cleaning products, such as shampoos and soaps.

Medications are disbursed twice a day during sick call. Inmates are given basic uniforms. Those inmates of the state wear orange uniforms while federal inmates wear "jail bird stripes." Men and women inmates are given the same uniform. The occupants of Marion County reside in various lettered blocks with fifty other inmates. Each block holds inmates serving for various crimes. For instance, blocks P, Q, and S house inmates serving time for more serious crimes and are known as the robbery and murder blocks. Though each block's conditions varies, many complain about sanitation issues.

Passing the time
Marion County inmates pass the time in assorted ways. A day room is provided for each block. Several times a week each block is also given time in the gym. Exercise equipment is also offer in each day room block. Some choose to read while other sleep. Many pass the time exercising by doing sit ups, push ups, pull ups, and running stairs.

People often keep to themselves to avoid conflict, which usually circles around the television. One television is to serve fifty people and a reserve system has been set up via index cards for particular television programs. An inmate may request a specific program time slot, which is to be honored if asked far enough in advance. Inmates are not usually allowed out of doors and are provided with church services several times during the week.

Visitors/Phones
Inmates are given regular phone access from eight in the morning to eleven at night. These calls are either collect or prepaid accounts. However regular the access, Marion County Jail staff screen each call for security purposes. Personal visits are also permitted twice per week for thirty minutes at a time. As a requirement, visitors must arrive one hour early when visiting an inmate. These visits take place through a television monitor. Many of the incarcerated suggest that people visit often to give support and to ease the stress that comes with serving jail time.

Avoiding problems
Like most jail facilities, Marion County has its share of internal conflicts, which surround one television set, four phones, fifty inmates per block, food portions, and television programs. Inmates find trouble when rules are broken, policies disregarded, bounds are stepped out of, inmates assault others or guards, or choose to smoke.

While incarcerated, inmates are punished for drug abuse and possession. These actions can add additional time to a sentence. Marion County is not without its mercies. Inmates have the option of receiving time off for good behavior. Time off can span anywhere from a few months to a few days for those serving time. Inmates serving state time will receive one day for each one day imprisoned.

Those that have left Marion County suggest that future and current inmates spend time keeping to themselves and following policies and set rules as it will make jail life easier and lessen conflicts with others.