Prison vs. Jail

[Irishteacher]

My boyfriend is facing 180 days in a county jail or 30 days in a state prison. Which is worse? What would you do? Also how is this possible? Also if he chooses 6 months in jail could he get out early?

[4eyedbuzzard]

WHERE? Pretty weird choice, never heard of such a thing.

30 days sounds better than 180, but it depend WHERE.

Take NJ for instance,

30 days in Riverfront? No sweat.
30 days in Rahway? I'll take the 180 in county.

[andmark]

I thought they were the same thing.

[4eyedbuzzard]

I thought they were the same thing.

Other than being locked up there are huge differences.

Jails are usually located in and run by county sheriff's department.

Prisons are run by state dept of corrections or similar.

Generally sentences served in jails don't exceed 1 year, and most are 30 days or less.

There's a BIG difference in the types of prisoners. Jails tend to be short term stays by prisoners for misdemeanors such as DUI, theft, short sentences for assault, domestic violence, etc. Prisons usually have violent crime, hard core or repeat offenders, felony convictions, etc.

Being in the general population in a state prison is dangerous to the health of human beings. Jails are usually benign by comparison.

[usedbranflakes]

Personally, if it were me, I would talk to my attorney and see where the DA was expecting to send me or where he/she expects I would be sent. Some minimum security state prisons, such as the one in WV that inmates always walk away from, are not that bad. Others are a nightmare...

Buzzard is on the money, but I disagree with one thing.
Jails are ran by the County Sheriff's department or the City...true
Prisons are operated by the State Dept of Corrections or by a private security firm such as Securitas but they are run by the prisoners. The guards are just along for the ride.

When I studied Criminal Justice the funding was so tight that most prisons had a corrections officer to prisoner ratio of 1:7. Prisons were overcrowded, fights happened several times a week and the officers would wait for several minutes until backup was in the yard before they attempted to break it up lest they get stabbed. You should seriously take a look at the riot tapes from prisons on court TV. You will see 5 or 6 officers and 50 prisoners in the frame.

Getting punked out (think human sex slave) for a pack of cigarettes is never fun.

If your boyfriend knows how to fight and how to keep from getting raped AND he's not in for some crime against women or children or for a sex offense then he may be okay for 30 days in prison.

Other than being locked up there are huge differences.

Jails are usually located in and run by county sheriff's department.

Prisons are run by state dept of corrections or similar.

Generally sentences served in jails don't exceed 1 year, and most are 30 days or less.

There's a BIG difference in the types of prisoners. Jails tend to be short term stays by prisoners for misdemeanors such as DUI, theft, short sentences for assault, domestic violence, etc. Prisons usually have violent crime, hard core or repeat offenders, felony convictions, etc.

Being in the general population in a state prison is dangerous to the health of human beings. Jails are usually benign by comparison.

[tenantweary]

In California -

180 jail = informal probation
30 days state prison = up to 3 years formal parole where you have zero rights against any future incidents with law enforcement i.e. you can be violated for say, having a butter knife in your living room.

[CourtClerk]

If it were me.... I wouldn't have done whatever it was to get either option. But that's just me.

[aardvarc]

Clerk......


hahahahaha.....you are SO practical

[CourtClerk]

Yeah.... cavity searches and worrying about dropping the soap is not my thing.