Christmas in Sedgwick County Jail: ‘Let’s try to be kind today’

It’s 6:20 Christmas morning in the Sedgwick County Jail.

Four maximum-security inmates are eating oatmeal, scrambled eggs, diced potatoes and coffee cake (the jail pays $1.22 a tray).

A man at the table throws his tray at the inmate across from him. The second inmate throws his tray back and the two — both dressed in orange general population jumpsuits — stand facing each other for a moment before the first inmate walks upstairs to the cells.

“It was the makings of a fight, but they didn’t feel like fighting,” said Lt. Rhonda Freeman, the highest in the chain of command for the day.

When Freeman arrived to work around 6:30 a.m., she saw footage of the fight on the security monitor in her office.

She was briefed by the third-shift lieutenant and then headed to the jail’s basement to lead the 6:45 a.m. squad meeting. No one learned for sure what the dispute was about.

About 20 deputies sat in rows at the meeting as Freeman made announcements about 2016 vacation requests. She updated them about the tray stand-off and three other events overnight — one of which involved the use of a Taser on an inmate after he tried to bite a deputy and another that involved an inmate with a reputation for aggression who ripped a jumpsuit in four pieces. The jail averages one or two fights a day.

“It is Christmas,” Freeman told them. “You might have folks a little depressed, so let’s try to be kind today.”

The deputies left to take their positions around the jail. Freeman headed upstairs to her office.

Over at booking, corporals and deputies started to process people waiting in holding cells.

Christmas Eve brought in 21 newly arrested people since 11 the night before.

“Yeah, for a holiday that’s quite a bit,” said Cpl. Jason Neil, who’s worked at the jail for 11 years.

Deputy Kayla Keith, who also works in booking, said most bookings on holidays are people with arrest warrants.

“They (police officers) try to go to the scene and make it better and not arrest anyone,” she said. “Then they run their name and they have a warrant.”

As the day goes on, Cpl. Robbie Kogle said, domestic violence arrests start to flood in.

“We see the worst of what happens on holidays,” he said. “Family members get mad at each other, drink too much.”

Around 7:30 a.m. the inmate who threw the second tray during the breakfast altercation arrived at booking with a detention deputy. The inmate went in a special holding cell to change into a red jumpsuit — the color assigned to inmates who assault an officer or inmate.

He talked to a nurse, but didn’t have any injuries, and received a health assessment before he went to disciplinary detention — where he’ll stay in a cell 23 hours a day for the next 25 days.

The cells have no outdoor windows, and the hour a day allowed outside the cell involves showering and sitting in an empty common area. Inmates are allowed reading material, paper, a pencil and their jumpsuit inside the cell. That’s it.

“Somebody that’s got a lot of time on their belt can do it a lot easier than someone who this is their first time,” Kogle said.

Most of the inmates stayed in their units the entire day for Christmas. There were no programs, court dates or services that day.

They don’t go to a cafeteria – the food comes to their units. They don’t leave for recreation – the units have an all-concrete gym with one hoop and one basketball. No weights or workout equipment.

The jail has an outdoor recreation room with one basketball hoop. It’s entirely enclosed by cinder-block walls with concrete floor and fine-knit fencing as a ceiling.

It’s only open when the weather reaches at least 60 degrees. So inmates in jail for long stints don’t go outdoors for months at a time.

Jared Schechter, captain of the Detention Bureau for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, said right now the average stay in jail is 32 days. He said pre-trial felons make up 64 percent of the population with the rest a mixed bag: probation and traffic violations or federal criminals.

Sedgwick County Jail has eight minimum-security units, eight medium-security units and seven maximum-security units. On Friday, the jail held 1,010 inmates, about three-quarters of them men.

‘I’d rather be with my kids’

“Merry Christmas,” an orange-suited inmate said to Freeman as he prepared cups of juice and lunch trays for the unit.

“Merry Christmas,” she said back. “We’re here together.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“We got the love of Christ,” Freeman said.

“I’ve been bad, so I don’t get it,” the inmate said with a chuckle at the end.

“Well, he forgives,” she said.

Another inmate prepared trays of food on a cart for the rest of the unit. The inmates were in two stories of cells that lined the perimeter of a common area of the unit.

“I’m kind of a frequent flier,” said the inmate preparing trays. He said he’s been in jail since the beginning of November when he turned himself in.

“I’d rather be with my kids.”

He said he hadn’t talked to his family yet, but tried to call them. It was noon. He said he has a 19-year-old and a 9-year-old and is now a grandfather to one child.

He spent Thanksgiving in jail, too, but said he tries not to count days.

“If you count days, your time is going to be three times as long,” he said. “It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ in here. Every now and then a fight will break out, but it’s pretty much the same.”

Clicks of bolts jolting back into the cell doors started to fill the room as the doors unlocked. Inmates walked out of their rooms for lunch.

The menu: ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, yams, sliced white bread, packaged cookies and juice ($1.22 a tray).

Jailers, unlike prisoners, probably didn’t expect to spend Christmas in jail. Nonetheless, the inmate serving food said, “It’s their own fault they’re in here.”

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Christmas in Sedgwick County Jail: ‘Let’s try to be kind today’."