Tap...tap...tap...I wonder as I sleep where this annoying tapping had come from. One minute I was dreaming about driving through the mountains of Colorado with mo problems, then I hear this tap, tap, tapping and wonder if it is a problem with my car. As I try to open my eyes to take a look at my car I realize that the tapping is more insistent now. When I realize that I am not dreaming anymore and that the car is sitting stationary, I open my eyes and listen for the tapping to start again. This time it did, but it was accompanied by a voice asking if we, Robert and I, who were in the car were alright.
I reach over and grab the black handle that will let me roll down the window and give it a few good turns. As the window slowly slides on silent rollers I reach over and grab the green towel, that was used as a window shade, to keep it from falling out the window. There standing in the blinding sunlight was a State Trooper.
I knew him to be a State Trooper by the light brown uniform and a brown Smokey the Bear hat that he was wearing. His deep voice sounded friendly enough but his avaitor style sunglasses said something totally different. After he realized that we were alright he started to leave.
Just as I settled down in my reclined, gray car seat to go back to sleep I heard this loud audible click....click. The next thing I remember is hitting the unlock button on the doors and opening it to the sound of the State Trooper yelling for Robert to stick his hands out the driver-side window and for me to slowly step out of the car. There outside the car was one trooper holding a double-barreled, twelve gauge shotgun aimed at me. There was a second trooper standing beside the blue cruiser holding his relover pointed at the driver-side door.
Once out of the car I had to get on my knees with my hands on top of my head. I could feel the sharp pointed rocks scrape my bare knees as I put first one knee down on the ground then the other. Next I had to lay face down on the ground like some lowly born dog. This was somewhat difficult with my hands on my head but I managed to do it somehow.
After I was down where I was eating rocks and dust the trooper who was standing next to the cruiser walked up to me and he took first my right hand off my head an placed one cold steel cuff on my wrist. Then he took my left hand and put it behind my back where the other half for cold steel was locked into place on my wrist. Then with his help I was standing up while the circulation was being cut off from my hands.
Once standing up he led me over to stand against my car. Leaning face down on the trunk lid I heard him read me my rights while searching first my shirt, then my shorts, and lastly my mouth for any type of conceled weapon. Once satisfied that I was clean he turned me around to face the cruiser. I happened to get a glance of him, and I noticed that he was shorter than the other trooper. His eyes held a kind of sympathy for what he was about to do as if he disliked this part of his job. At this point he walked me over to the front passenger-side door of the cruiser where with a kind but firm hand on my head he placed me into the front seat.
Next I watched as Robert had to go through the same ritual as I did not two seconds before. Then I seen the aviator trooper go through the things in the back-seat and trunk of the car. I guess he was looking for something illegal or stolen but the only thing he found was clothes. Finally I silently watched as a yelow tow-truck pulled up to haul off my car. I prayed that the tow bar was placed on properly because with every small move that my car made as it creeped up the truck I cringed. Cringed for the simple fact that it could slide off and my poor car car would be ruined.
Finally it was time to head for the Las Vegas jail. On the thirteen mile ride I had plenty of time to think, and think I did. Come to find out Robert and I was being charged with Possesion of Stolen Vehicle Out of Other's Jurisdiction. This just made me mad because my grandparents were putting me in jail over my own car. I knew deep down that my grandparents would do nothing to help me so I was on my own. I was also mad because out of the other three cars parked from the evening before we were the only ones messed with this morning.
Once at the station I had to walk in barefoot. This was so because when I was startled awake I did not have any shoes or socks on, and when I asked for them they told me that I couldn't have them. While sitting on the bench in the station waiting to be logged in my feet started to freeze. But little did I know I wasn't supposed to get any shoes until later. After the paperwork was filled out I had to check in my personal belongings. This included a black wallet, one pair of shorts, one t-shirt, and twenty-five cents. This was the best part because that was when they took the handcuffs off. I would get all of this back on my release date which at this point was still unknown.
Then I was escorted to a holding tank for women only. Upon entering my first instinct was to turn around and bolt. I was so scared that I was going to get beat down by some hardcore women. I walked in and sat with my back against the wall, not talking to anyone. The holding tank was gray in color, a television hung from the celing coverend but shatter proof plastic, and the walls were lined on two sides by wooden benches worn smooth from years of use. The floor was freezing concrete, there was only one window which was located on the door, three pay phones for collect calls, and one doorless bathroom stall.
There was fourteen women present not counting myself. Four black women in for stealing, two old women for bench warrents, one woman for running a yellow caution stop light, one lady in for open gross lewdness, and the other six were in for illegal drugs. I was scared that they would all be mean but in truth the were all nice, kind, and caring people. I found out that the stereotype of people in jail was wrong, they aren't always murderers who are out for blood all the time.
Finally it came time for my booking process to be completed. I was escorted down to the nurse who took my picture and finger prints. He also made sure that I was not pregnant, seriously ill, or had some kind of medical problem that needed immediate attention. Then it was back to the holding tank.
After about three hours seven of us fifteen was released on bond. I did not even know what my bond was intil I called home collect. My grandfather told me that it was three thousand dollars or three hundred cash now. But he refused to help me because I refused to come home without Robert. He was really mad when he found out that the charges couldn't be dropped for only one person, it had to be for both people.
Two hours later it was chow time about four o'clock in the afternoon. They fed the prisoners at four in the morning, ten in the morning, and four in the afternoon. Breakfast consisted of oatmeal or uncooked frozen waffles and on orange halfed. The lunch and dinner meals usually consisted of some type of bread (cornbread, cake, or a hamburger bun), meat (chicken, or beef), some type of starch (noodles, but mostly beans), and one orange halfed. They always served milk with their meals too.
About eight o'clock a deputy comes and takes me for my O. R. Interview. This is when a person is released on other reasons, also known as released without having to post bond. During the interview I sat in a small five foot by five foot room with bullet proof glass between the O. R. interviewer and I. They would ask questions like where do you live, where do you work, have you ever been convicted of a crime of this manner before, etc.....and te questions just going on and on and on. After about forty-five minutes later I was led back to the holding tank.
Ten minutes later a female deputy came and took me and three other women to the shower room. There I had to give her my clothes and take a shower. After the showers the female deputy gave me prison blues to put on. These were dark navy blue with the letters C. C. D. C. (Clark County Detention Center) printed on them. I was given bright orange socks, and rubber sandals to put on. I did not much care if the colors clashed because I was finally going to be warm.
After the showers the other women and I was escorted to a second holding tank in the back of the building. This one was half the size of the first, so I was feeling slightly claustrophobic and restless. I could not sleep so I paced the floor. Back and forth, back and forth, it finally got to where the other women were trying to talk me into going to sleep. But how much sleep can someone get on a cold hard concrete floor? Not much at all, at least I didn't.
The next day after breakfast the women and I were moved once again to a third holding tank. This one would have been bigger except for all the women already in it. There started out being eighteen in the third tank but ended up being twenty-seven after we were moved in. After being crammed in like sardines for about three hours nineteen women were moved to the upstairs level. Giving the rest of us more breathing room.
On the third day of being in jail I was sent for by one of the deputies. I found out that I was to go to court at eight o'clock a.m. I was feeling apprensive because this time in court would determine how much longer I had to stay in jail. To get ready for the walk to the court rooms the deputy placed my wrists in shackles that want around my waist. These were uncomfortable but not so much that they cut the circulation from my wrists like the handcuffs did. Once in court Robert and I found out that the charges had been dropped and that we would be released that afternoon. I felt so relieved that I could have cried tears of joy.
When it came time for my departure from jail I was taken to the shower room and given my clothes. Then I was given my personal belongings and I walked out of jail onto the streets with no shoes on. This did not matter much because I was so happy to be free again at last.
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