on the job

Have I told y’all lately how much I love my job? Cause I do, I do, I dooo-oooo. The idea that when you find your passion, getting up every morning and going into the office won’t seem like work at all is SO true.

Most days I’m in a hot smelly jail “multi-purpose room.” Little fruit flies buzzing around. Standing pools of water quite possibly generating malaria in the corner. Talking to people, mostly men, overwhelmingly black men, who have not showered, eaten or brushed their teeth in the last 24 to 48 hours since they’ve been arrested. I already understand the incompetence of management and I've listened as some employees constantly whine and complain about the incompetence of management. I laugh on the inside at the elitist mindsets of the self-righteous white liberal do-gooders who know what’s best for the clients and totally get the local legal system way more than the local judges and attorneys who have been grown up and practiced in this area for more years than many of these people have even been alive.

But I really love the work!

I'm exhilarated at being in the thick of my passion, frustrated at the inequities in the system and the challenges we have to overcome, and optimistic at knowing that I am here, a part of making the system work just a little bit more ______.

The other day, I shadowed one of my colleguges during her morning courtroom duty. Let's call her Donna. She is assigned to Judge Wackadoodle so she goes to court each morning to cover arraignments, parole revocations and whatever else is going on on that morning’s docket to make sure that anyone who is "on" for that day who does not have an attorney or is assigned to an attorney from our office will have representation. Donna warned me that Judge Wackadoodle was a true character. And by "true character" I mean she thinks that she can cure the drug addictions of those folks who come before her by locking them up in jail for a couple days. Yeah....and NO!

Let me paint the picture...

The court reporter calls the next defendants Betty Sue White and Amanda Mae Whiter up to the front. Two lanky white women arise in the back of the courtroom and slowly approach the bench. From the looks of them, they've been lightening it up on the regular for years and undoubtedly took a hit of something within the last 48 hours. Donna gets up, stands beside the two women and informs the judge that the public defender's office represents both women. The prosecutor formally charges both women with something like possession of cocaine or heroin and Donna enters their not guilty pleas.

As the women turn to leave, Judge Wackadoodle asks, are ya’ll using? What ya’ll using? Hmmm, ya'll using huh? Ok, go down and get drug tested and then come back up and let me see what your levels are.

It aint looking good for the ladies.

So Ms. White and Ms. Whiter go down for their drug screens and then come back nervously await their fate. Donna has already told them that Judge Wackadoodle has been known to lock folks up if their drug screens come back too high but the women are confident that the Judge will show mercy.

Finally, Judge Wackadoodle calls the women back up. Ok ladies, let's read the results. Now between O and 300 is somewhat acceptable but Ms. White do you know what your's was?

3000!

Didn't you know you were coming to my court today. And you still used drugs the day before, heck the day of coming to court? Why? Please tell me why?

Of course Ms. White just said she didn't know why she used drugs the day before court. But inside I wanted to scream, CAUSE SHE'S A CRACKHEAD, well an addict is more PC but whatever. She can't help it. She is clearly addicted to drugs. She has a drug problem. She can't stop using. So much so that the threat of getting locked up does not stop her from using. Yet you, crazy Judge, think that sticking her in jail for a day, a week, a month is gonna make her stop? Do you know any one with a chemical dependency Judge? Do you know how hard it is for addicts to kick the habit? Do you know how arbitrary it is to test her for drugs on random court dates? Do you know how rampant substance abuse is among EVERYONE in our society? So much so that I bet one of these prosecutors got high last weekend? Yet because Ms. White has the unfortunate circumstance of living in a neighborhood where police patrol looking for drug users and can't get high behind her gated communities walls like you and your friends can, she's facing a possession charge and is bout to be locked up for gettin high?

Hmmm, yeah I guess you don't. That's why I kept my mouth shut, or I'd be writing this post in my head from behind bars cause I'd be locked up for contempt of court.

But I still love my job...