Early Saturday morning I texted Courtney to make sure she woke up in time. It was so hard to believe my daughter was going to jail. I had really been stressing over it but Courtney wrote "Don't worry I will be fine tomorrow I'm so strong now after the halfway house there isnt anything I cant make it through." That was nice to know, I just hoped it was true.
I hated not being able to get in touch with her for the weekend, until she called me collect from jail. Collect calls from jail cost a fortune, probably about $25 a minute. At least it was expensive when Courtney used our phone to talk to Dopey when he was in jail in Oklahoma. I had a feeling Arizona would be just as bad. Anyway, Courtney was sick. Her asthma was bothering her and her sinuses were stopped up and she was getting worse. Her inhaler had been left in the car because there was no label from the pharmacy on it, the label had been on the box it came in. I could only tell her to talk to a guard about getting medical attention.
About an hour later Courtney called me from her cell phone. A guard had let her out for six hours to go to a minor emergency clinic and she needed me to call a couple she had found on her GPS and see if they were open and if they would take my credit card over the phone. Lucky for her the second one would take it. As it turned out, the clinic was also on our insurance so the visit only cost $20. Courtney was given a breathing treatment, large dose of steroids, and a Z pack (antibiotics). The doctor told her she would not normally give antibiotics for what she had but since it was filthy in jail she wanted her to take them.
On her way back to jail Courtney stopped at a McDonalds for some "real food" and called to let me know what it was like at Tent City. Since she had work release she could wear her own clothes. They don't have to work and can do whatever they want during the day. Courtney would read, play cards or sleep. She said everyone there was in jail for a DUI. The food was awful. It was impossible to sleep through the night because of the guards making announcements over the speaker. They would have a head count around midnight and then start waking people up at five. She did not want to take a shower there.
Courtney could only take the clothes she was wearing, a jacket and some magazines. If you want a book it has to be a paperback. No hard cover books are allowed. She was provided with toothpaste and a toothbrush, everything else she would have to buy there. There were vending machines but she had forgotten to take a roll of quarters. They are not allowed to keep a large sum of money on them - I think the limit is $40.
Monday morning she overslept and had to beg a guard to let her out. She made it to work on time and counted the minutes until she could stop by home and take a shower. Actually, she was not supposed to go home but she lived just a little over one mile from where she worked which made it very convenient to slip over and take a quick break. I asked her if they would be checking up on her at work and she said they would send someone around only if they thought you had been lying about working.
Every morning Courtney would text me to say good morning and let me know how she was doing. The medication cleared up her sinuses and she was feeling normal again. She is enjoying going back to work. But still, it's going to be a long month.
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