Assignment #3

Homework Assignment #3 – Reflecting on Visit to Black Hawk County Jail

Visiting the Black Hawk County Jail is truly a unique experience. Going along as a class, it sometimes felt like we were tourists receiving a private tour of a zoo. As much as we were examining the facility and its occupants, they were taking a good look at us as well.

Sheriff Tony Thompson is great at what he does. He seems to be a passionate and authentic person. If law enforcement had not worked out so well for him, I am certain he could have done great in sales. He’s a captivating and real presenter.

We started our experience at the jail in the visitor’s waiting area followed by a chat with Tony in the court room. We found out the jail can hold 272 inmates, however, currently only 230 or so are present. Most of those inmates are male, but the female population has been the fastest growing in recent history. There are also young people in jail. The youngest is just 13 or 14 years old. The reason such young individuals are kept in jail is the nature of their crime–generally an assault, rape, or murder. These more severe crimes are known as force-able felonies. The jail is currently holding more force-able felons than ever before despite hosting fewer inmates. Most inmates stay for less than a year, but some stay for over three. Tony mentioned, “The court process is slow for felons with the intent to get it right the first time.”

“A lot of rights are lost for necessity when you come to jail,” Tony told us. And, after leaving the court room and beginning out tour, we saw that first hand. We head to master control where two jail staff were keeping an eye on the 130+ cameras recording around the facility. I couldn’t help but wonder how someone could do the job of manning the camera each day. It seems like a job that would be uncomfortable. I wondered how the two women filling that roll got into that career. I also could not image having to watch and issue take place and be seemingly helpless. Their job is a to keep a watchful eye, and call in other staff to take care of situations as the arrive. They are first like spies and then like conductors. Those type of roles don’t seem to me to be merged typically.

Everyone has a job. This is needed because, as Tony told us for perspective, “300 people work here to manage a facility the size of Gilbertville, though it is just the size of one square block.” We saw others fulfilling inmate intake, lab, medical, and security duties. While is was great and more comfortable to visit the jail early on a Tuesday night, I could not help but wonder what a busy morning might be like. On our tour, everyone seemed somber and bored. I suppose if jail staff seem bored, that is a good thing—an indicator things are going as planned.

It seemed as though many employees had been on the job for many years as they knew Anelia and were familiar with our class touring the facility. Before the tour though, we learned that Sheriff Thompson was facing staffing issues, and as he put it “Nobody wants to be a cop right now. It’s just kind of sad. There is a stigma associated with it.” He had also asked our class to raise their hand if they could consider being in law enforcement. There were crickets.

Working for Sheriff Thompson didn’t seem too bad though. I suspect he is an incredible superior. He seems to respect his staff even mentioning, “I want my staff to see I’m not afraid to do the work I’m asking them to do.” He believes in engaging everyone by being involved in the community and with staff. “We run this organization like a family,” Tony said. It felt that way as we went along the jail tour. Tony and each staff person he made contact with first touched base about the job followed by some sort of personal comment or side conversation.

Following Sheriff Thompson throughout the jail, seeing the relaxed atmosphere, it was very interesting to hear him tell us in contrast about the worst week of his career. This was the second week of July in 2012. It started off with a suicide attempt related to a local investment business being investigated nationally. Then, an inmate escaped from the jail which led to a manhunt across counties. Finally, the week ended with the abduction of Lyric and Elizabeth from Evansdale. This case brought in federal investigators as well. Little sleep was had that week and those that followed as well. Again, showing his very personable and relatable self, Tony told us, “Sometimes this job sucks.”

I found it interested that, for the most part, jail staff were not aware of the charges placed on each of the inmates. Each person we ran into along the way let us know they work with the intention of treating all inmates the same, not matter what they are in for. With this attitude, I am also surprised at just how many inmates and inmate families sue the Sheriff and his team. This was a particular interested and memorable pieces of information I took away from our visit. Sheriff Thompson has so many stories. The three hours spent in jail with the class, being led by Tony, were really great, and I am fortunate to have been able to participate in that experience. At the same time, I would not want to spend any additional time there. I felt trapped and uneasy.