JAIL: There's no place like it

I never imagined that one day I would be going to jail. No cell phones, keys, or electronics of any kind allowed. I have to admit, the idea of visiting Orient Road Jail was intriguing and a little nerve racking, especially when I was led pass a group of inmates decorated in orange jumpsuits. Today, my Public Affairs Reporting class stopped in with Orient Road Jail to learn more about obtaining public records.

Our first stop on the tour was the brains of the facility: operations. The deputies assigned to operations are in charge of keeping a close eye on all of the camera monitors throughout the facility. They control who goes in and out of the facility by allowing access through the locked doors.  Orient Jail processes 77,000 inmates per year, most of whom are repeat offenders. The jail logs every moment of deputies and inmates through the use of surveillance cameras.Inmates are housed in pods not cells and with a one deputy to 72 inmate ratio the use of video surveillance has helped keep the facility under control. For the eager journalist or curious civilian, all video captured in the facility are public record unless a specific video is being used as evidence. 

Orient is also one of the few facilities in Hillsborough County that is not over crowded. With safety measures being the high priority of the facility, jail administrators have come up with a few creative ways to allow media access to high profile cases such as Dontae Morris, who is accused of murdering two Hillsborough county officers. Inside the jail's very own courtroom are two cameras mounted on the ceiling to allowed direct media coverage of inside the courtroom. The facility then feeds the footage to all media outlets requesting it. In some extraordinary instances the jail may also allow one camera crew into tight areas as long as they agree to feed the footage to any news outlet requesting the shots.

I appreciate our tour guide Lieutenant Allen and Lieutenant Downy. They and the other officers at the facility do an amazing job keeping control of those who may have broken the law.