I guess I'm a hardened criminal next to most of you. I was in jail/prison for almost a full month. Lucky for me that month in jail was in my home state of Alaska, where cable TV and excellent meals were the norm at the time.
My story sounds eerily similar to Wayne's story, and I agree that I didn't know myself that well until this event. I will give the details though, not because I'm proud of what I did, but because it may prove to be a learning experience for the silly few that believe our justice system to be adequate.
The story starts several years before my incarceration in Anchorage, with a phone call from my Mother that my Sister had run away. Long story short, we discovered that my Mom's current boyfriend had decided it would be fun to force himself on my 16 y.o. Sister. After finding my Sister, and several painful hours of tugging the story out of her, my Mom, Dad (divorced), Sister and I headed to the Police station to file charges of rape against this individual.
Now in Alaska the legal age of consent was, and still is 16. So I guess these officers needed to be sure we were indeed talking about rape and not consensual sex, but they sure weren't very tactful in their methods, and that was almost as bad as the actual rape for my Sister. The case was filed, but the scumbag was never found. We all assumed he skipped the state.
Fast forward 4 years, and I'm living in Juneau, Alaska working on a construction crew building a mall. Not being much of a drinker, I still liked to meet up with the guys sometimes at the local watering hole to listen to the bands and dance with some of the cute local girls. So one night I pop into the club and pull up a chair with the fellows. We'd been chatting cheerfully for several minutes before I spotted him. He was playing pool, and I knew who he was instantly. At this point it's pretty fuzzy, and it's kind of like I left my body for a bit, but I'm told that I got up from the table without a word, walked over to pool tables, grabbed a cue and started beating the hell out of this guy. I do remember several police officers pulling me up off of the floor where I was on top of this guy. Later I was told by my friends and co-workers that they had tried to intervene before the cops arrived, and had taken a few good licks for their effort.
So now I'm in the back of a squad car trying to put together what had just taken place when I see an ambulance pull up, and two paramedics rush into the club. I honestly to this day have no real recollection of beating this guy, but I apparently did a pretty good job of it. As we pulled away I asked the cops where we were going, and they said I was under arrest for assault, and was being taken to the jail for booking. On the ride to the jail I explained the rape to the officers, and told them there was a pending case in Anchorage.
It was a few days later before I saw a public defender, and was able to tell him my story. He seemed very skeptical and aloof that first meeting, but had a whole different attitude the next time I saw him. He really was a nice guy, and he helped me a great deal. He made me aware that he had been in contact with the Anchorage Police Department, and had discussed the rape case with them, and had positively ID'd the guy I beat as the main suspect in the rape case. He told me that this guy was still in the hospital, but that he was in custody, and would be transfered to Anchorage to stand trial as soon as they could move him. At this point I just felt relief, and wasn't that concerned with myself. I knew justice was being done, and I'd be cleared of all wrong doing.
Yeah right! I was so green!
It took almost a month before any decision had been made as to what to do with me, and I was pretty confused about the whole thing. It seemed that the circumstances had nothing to do with the charges whatsoever, and I was being booked for Assault 1. After what seemed like decades to me at the time, my PD got the charge reduced to Assault 2 with an SIS. Basically what that meant was that I would be on probation for 5 years, I would have to pay $15,000.00 in restitution, and I would have to undergo psychiatric counseling. After which if I met all the criteria everything would be wiped off my record. The only reason I was given the SIS was because I had no previous record of any kind.
So the day I was released from the jail I saw my PD, and one of the arresting officers out in the hall. After being released the PD told me they were there to give me a ride. I didn't know that I got limo service too.
Anyway they ended up taking me for lunch to break the news that someone had let this scumbag walk right out of the hospital, and he couldn't be found.
I did keep in touch with my Public Defender for several years, and he did get my restitution reduced to $10,000.00. The officer later moved to Anchorage, ended up working for homicide under my girlfriends father, and became kind of a mentor to me. I completed all the required criteria, and have a spotless record today.
This all happened in 1984, and to this day I've never seen or heard of the scumbag again. He got away with no jail time, but not exactly Scott free.
Although you might find me justified for what I did, it's still a very frightening thing to realize how little control I actually possessed of my own emotions. At first I felt it was ridiculous that I had to endure psychiatric counseling, but that turned out to be one of the most positive things related to this incident, and I learned a lot about myself.
As for the jail time itself...The guards knew my story, and treated me with the same respect I gave to them. We had a lifer that ran our mod (about 20 guys) who was a straight shooter that didn't let any crap go down. We ate well, had cable TV, and played a lot of cards. Other than not being able to go where I wanted, when I wanted, it wasn't too bad.