I've been arrested for DWI and due to the fact that my friend's under 18yo sister was in the car with us at the time of the DWI I will have to do 30 days in jail in North Carolina. I haven't had my sentencing yet but my court date is in a few weeks time and my lawyer managed to deal on the amount of time I will have my license suspended and on the fines but the 30 days in jail cannot be suspended for a level one DUI in NC so it looks like it will happen.
I'm a 25yo white professional woman currently working full-time in a consulting firm after very recently graduating from college and I've never been to jail (or to court) in my life before so pretty scared and have so many questions. The only good thing in all this mess is that my boss (who had a dui himself) is helping me arrange a leave of absence from work for the 30 days and having a job to come back to means A LOT.
I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with or knowledge of the following (and please excuse my ignorance, i'm completely clueless about all this):
1. What is the process of going to jail like? Is there anything I need to bring with me?
2. I understand you can buy things like toothbrush etc while in jail but how do I receive the money to do that?
3. How should I expect the living environment to be like in terms of hot/cold, how many people in one cell etc?
4. Since this is jail not prison should I expect to meet there other professional women doing time for non-violent crimes like mine or is it mostly thieves and people like that I'll see in there?
5. I heard food is real bad, should I expect to have stomach problems from it and will I be able to bring relevant medication with me such as Imodium?
6. How about water? I've never drank tap water for as long as I can remember and always drank bottled water… i guess no chance for that in there right?
7. Will my parents be able to visit me in there and how frequently? I'm pretty scared about them seeing me cuffed / shackled etc… will that be the case during visitation?
8. What to do if I'll get picked on by other women in there? Will the guards help? I'm 5'5 and 110lbs and I doubt I'll be able to act tough even though on all forums I've seen people say you should act tough and be ready to fight if needed. How to avoid if someone wants me to buy stuff for them?
9. Are there classes or other kind of programs I could get involved in? I'd do anything which will keep me in a less violent environment during the day as opposed to sitting in the cell scared that someone will start picking on me.
10. Should I expect being taken in immediately after sentencing or can i arrange self-surrended and is this something I'll know before the court date or will the judge decide there? If I can't self surrender should I expect cuffs / shackles etc.and will that be in the courtroom (my parents are already suffering a lot because of this and I'd really like to avoid them seeing that).
11. I read online that sometimes they can just move you around from prison to prison due to overcrowding.is that true or is that only for federal prison?
12. Would I be able to bring books with me and, maybe stupid question, but any chance I could take my kindle with me? I'm an avid reader and have so many books on the kindle.
I could probably go on for a while with lots of other questions but I'll stop here…
>>> Headed to jail as a first time DWI offender. What to expect? - 1