Legal Commentary

How the Inmates Spent Christmas at the Aspen Jail

By Jeralyn

The Aspen Daily News recounts Charlie Sheen's bail hearing (background here) and continues:

It is not clear how Sheen spent his Christmas at the Pitkin County Jail, where he was held for several hours, but jailers indicated that prime rib was served for lunch and cornish hen was eaten for dinner. The meals, as they always are, were prepared by Aspen Valley Hospital. Additionally, inmates were given phone cards so they could call their loves ones and an artificial Christmas tree was set up inside the jail, which is famous for its humanitarian customs. Special movie privileges were also granted.

“Other than the fact they don’t have the ability to walk in and out of the doors as they wish, we try to make it as much like home as we can,” a jailer said. “We try to do that every day but naturally the fact they can’t see their loves ones [on Christmas] makes it a really tough time for some of them.”

The enlightened and humanitarian jail policies are largely due, in my view, to Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis. His philosophy: the best jail is an empty one. As Jimmy Ibbotson sings about him here, "An officer of peace, his county rocks."

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 26, 2009 (boomark / email).