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Reflection of Jailbird Netflix Series

Jailbird is a 2019 Netflix documentary-style series centering on the life of a group of female and male prisoners in Sacramento County’s main jail. Some cast members include Tayler Coatney, Monster, Drea, Yasmin Sundermeyer, and Rebecca Temme. The film depicts life behind bars for incarcerated females, their love life, and their fight for power and one another as they try to make the best of their unforgiving jail life.

What surprised me the most while watching this film was the body search inmates go through while being processed into the jail. Yasmin is a 19-year-old inmate that has been arrested on carjacking charges. Her bail was set at $100,000, and since she could not raise the bail money, she was processed as she awaited arraignment in court. I was taken aback by the officer asking her to remove all her clothes, part-open her vagina, and cough three times. Not that I have ever been prosecuted before, but I have never seen anything like it before. I understand that conducting a thorough search is necessary as inmates have the habit of sneaking in drugs and weapons in the most unexpected areas like the vagina. Still, I felt it was a complete violation of privacy. I cannot imagine how inmates must feel having to strip naked to complete strangers. On the brighter side, at least the officer that carries out the search is a woman.

I learned a lot about jail procedures by watching this docu-series. I had little information about how the American bail system works. If an offender cannot raise the court-determined bail by themselves, they have the option to use a private bail bond company. I did not know this before watching this series. I have also learned that parole officers play a huge role in determining the release of inmates.

Regarding the environment and culture of jail, I have learned that inmate behavior plays a huge role in determining the section of jail they will stay in. Jail’s classification includes general population, administrative segregation (ad-seg), out-of-pocket, messy, lockdown, to protective study. There is a huge culture of rule violation and fights in jail. There is also a culture of toilet talking, fishing, and dating between male and female inmates. Inmates meet and talk over toilets as the systems tend to be connected. They even go to the extent of sending drugs, snacks and other items through the toilets. There is also a culture of payback where inmates take revenge on counterparts that snitch on them for having drugs and brewing alcohol (pruno).

It must be a horrible experience to be inside a jail facility as an inmate. Being locked up in a tiny cell for hours on end with an inmate whom one is not familiar with is terrifying. The worst part is not being able to see and talk to my loved ones as often as I would like. Undoubtedly, losing freedom is a blow. It can cripple people and affect their mental health significantly. The worst part is serving time and not knowing exactly when one will become free again and reconnect with their loved ones.

To improve jail facilities for both inmates and staff, federal and state governments should adopt better approaches to inmate rehabilitation and reformations. The introduction of life-skill programs in jail would do them good. They can be taught skills such as coding and website development or other courses. The inmates would find something better to do with their time rather than starting fights and picking off each other. This would reduce fights among inmates making it easy for them to maintain overwatch. This way, both members of staff and inmates will have less stress to deal with in jail.