My Not-So Extended "Vacation", Part 2

June 21

Leading up to this day with the judge, I had been doing some work on what I was going to say and how I was going to attempt to convince him/her that I can make the necessary payments needed to finally pay off this headache and hopefully get the hell out of there. I got to go to their “law library”, which was nothing more than being one of the cells with a bookcase of law encyclopedias. The information I eventually found was recent, but not current. Someone had told me that there was a motion where I could request that the time allotted while in jail could be compensated towards paying off the fine. This took about an hour and change to look it up, and Game 6 of the NBA Finals had started when my time was up. One cellmate mentioned that one person, who may have had some more experience with law, was successful in accomplishing that task, resulting in about $200 (about $5/day x the length incarcerated) for his tickets. I went ahead with the game plan that I prepared myself for, including this particular motion to take up in front of this judge. Other cellmates had told me about this guy, who must have been in a bad mood or something, that he was about as tough to convince as a gambler is overcoming his vices in Las Vegas.

So the moment was coming, and I had to get chained up like a caged animal, even for a minor offense as this. Two other people were going up against this guy, whose identity is being withheld, ‘cause I don’t need to cause any more strife between him or me. We get transported to the County Courthouse, which was a mere one block away (what a waste of gas!). Then we get seated in an empty courtroom with two officers, the district attorney, and of course, the judge. I was the first of the three to go up against the grudge, uh, I mean judge. I held up my right handcuffed hand to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing else (you know the drill).  30 seconds into this bout, I knew my chances weren’t great, but I kept fighting. He asked me (again0 why haven’t I been able to make the trip from Loves Park to Oregon for the mandatory court appearance. I told him that since my last “visit” in 2011, my financial matters haven’t improved much. I was still residing in a motel room with Mariah, relying on those Illinois Link cards to get food, using public transportation to get to two or three food pantries a month just to make sure we had enough food to get by between these periods. I also mentioned that although we had a tight budget, the leftover money was used to get me around town to apply for various jobs. For a moment, I thought he was seeing things my way. How could I get a job offer while being locked up? There was no way of getting a hold of me in the next county should the opportunity rise to fruition.

Then, the D.A. asked me some questions which basically sucked out all possible hope for me with him. She asked me about if I currently had a car. I said no. She figured I owned one in the past, which was true, but I had to sell it due to the blown head gasket in the engine. She asked how much did I sell it for, I told her I had it junked. The stillness of the room spoke volumes. I mentioned that I got rid of it for $300. (Shit!) “What did you use the money for?” she asked me. I knew I was grilled like a rainbow trout in an open fire. Basically, when you are in a motel, forced to sell your main way of transportation so you can have money for cab/bus fare, extra food or any sudden emergencies, you do happen to forget about things like an outstanding ticket in another county. By then, the judge had heard about enough. The cost of the original ticket was only about $150. Now it had tripled to $521. I mentioned that I made a payment to them via a collection agency. His response? “We don’t affiliate ourselves with any collection agency”.  This got worse. I made a $25 payment to a Florida collection agency for nothing. I got hosed!

I told the judge about making arrangements to pay off this ticket on a monthly basis. Since it was three years ago when the ticket was first issued, the judge didn’t believe me when I said that I could start making payments on this in July, two weeks away. This guy has only seen me a few times in my whole life, and he has basically told me he has already lost my trust. Ouch! He wound up finding me in contempt of court for the whole ordeal. He didn’t even think I made an effort to making the trip to Ogle County, which was not true. What, he wanted me to WALK or HITCHHIKE the 26 miles from here to Oregon? That’s more insane that stupid to anyone. He then added insult to injury by keeping me locked up another 10 days until July 2. If I could find someone to post my bail, I could get out of there. He agreed to let me start paying on this in July 3^rd, plus another mandatory appearance on Monday, July 29 at 9:00am. I tell you, I had daggers in my eyes for this judge. When I got back to my cell, I told the fellow inmates if there was a way for me to put a hit on this guy. Saying this aloud in court  could’ve cost me more time in here plus a felony of threatening a judge. So I kept all of this to myself, trying to let the anger inside of me subside. Another inmate, “Steve”, said this was he had thought would happen. Do the 10 days and get released. I was still steaming over the ruling, and having a dinner of what seemed to be leftovers from that day’s breakfast meals from the nearby McDonald’s was not going to be sufficient. So I called Judy (via collect call) from jail and told them the information on what’s been going on with me. I mentioned earlier she took Mariah to a food pantry to get some food while I was gone. Seems my church has found out about me being locked up in here. Someone saw my mugshot online. As long as it’s not part of America’s Most Wanted, I really didn’t care.

I was also feeling gipped thanks to the collection agency that sent me that notice, which did have all the information, including the case number and such. Now I had hoped that when I got out, I would hope that they would re-imburse me the $25 I sent them in February. Had that payment gone through the right channels, it would have shown the courts something. Those bastards want their own piece of the puzzle, don’t they? No matter how I look at it, the same conclusion is quite crystal clear: I should have taken care of this ticket when I had the chance. I had multiple opportunities to take care of this matter and was too concerned with getting my small travel business up and running, making sure Mariah and I had our monthly needs, and me trying to find work. Even when I was working as a temp, I didn’t think of that ticket. I wanted to get another car, move out of the motel and back into an apartment, even possibly sign up for one of those weight-loss clinics. But it’s when moments such as having the police cross your path, even when they are looking for someone else, they ask for my ID, check the records…then everything comes to a crashing halt. You get a large helping of reality that sets in as soon as the handcuffs get clicked on your wrists and get sent into the more-than-uncomfortable back of squad cars. Trust me on this. It’s happened to me. I have gone through this before, and I have loathed every minute of my life not being able to breathe the outside air; to see the sun shining on your face, regardless what part of the years it is; to go on your way without worrying that a police officer won’t sneak up behind you and ask for some ID. Since I got myself into this mess in 2010, I really don’t have a choice in getting myself out of this, do I?

Several hours after my verdict, I get word that I have been moved from one cell block to another, this one with a capacity of at least 18 inmates. At least I can sleep on something other than the floor this time around. More guys I get to hear snore in the middle of the night during lights out. Two extra toilets to use do either do Numbers 1 or 2. Four octagon-shaped tables with rock-hard seats. My ass is already getting uncomfortable preparing for the next 10 days in this place.  

June 22

Solitude after hours has arrived in Cell Block L. I guarantee I will have a field day when I get back home and add this to my blog! Getting used to the new surroundings, yet the mat that goes on top of this metal bunk bed is not making my sleeping habits any better. Having an actual mattress to sleep on is a far cry from what I’ve been laying my head on since coming back here. First that plastic “boat”, now plain flat metal. Each time I try to sleep I ball up the blanket they give me to use as a pillow. Let’s just say it made my back pains a lot worse. Hearing about how the other cellmates made one person’s family history an instant punch line. I did hear he was supposedly related to that Motor City Madman himself, rocker/hunter/political activist Ted Nugent. Well, stupid is what stupid does, right?

I had written in a few other blog pages about my time in the big house. This has without a doubt been the longest tenure I have ever had in my life. There were some other pages to explain this mess I was in, too.  However, after the judges’ verdict,  They got tossed like a bad Ceasar salad. I wondered when I would be free again. When July comes, it may be a total of 25 days that I have ever set foot behind bars. Not a pretty sight. So many folks that snored in the cell with me, and I’m the one whose snoring gets called out? I have been told my snoring can be compared to a chain saw. I don’t believe them.

When served lunch and dinner here, we all get these little pouches of drink mix. Kinda like a Kool-Aid knock-off. They do act like money, mind you. Many inmates trade them like baseball cards. They usually come in about four flavors-orange, black cherry, fruit punch and lemonade.  They do come in handy after a long night of playing spades or dice. The longer you’re in here, the more packets you keep. The water wasn’t as cold as you’d want it when mixing in this stuff, but it’ll do for the real thing. It’s 1:00 am on this kiosk. I am not sleepy at all. What am I going to dream about until CNN or the Looney Tunes gang comes on at 5:00 am?

to be continued...