Saturday, August 6, 2011

Tri County Detention Center

Driving out of the neighborhood
**Edit** Two weeks ago Thursday (Not last Thursday) I spoke to Mr. Little B.  We talked about Jose's skin infection that continues to go on untreated.  He said if I could see it with my own eyes we might be able to get Jose out for medical treatment.  It's a 6 hr drive, one way.  It was Thursday evening, Jose was going to have court that Monday so you know what I did?  I got my butt on the road the next morning and headed to Tri County Detention Center in Ullin, IL.  My brother, Chris, was awesome enough to take the trip with me....more like drive me down there.  He's a truck driver, a pretty damn good one at that, and he was used to driving for a ton of hours at time.  There's no one else I would have wanted on this trip with me.

I was a little weirded out that I would be taking a 12+ hr round road trip with my brother.  Never in my life did I think we would be doing something like that and considering how *well* we get along I was more concerned about being left on the side of the road in the middle of no where.  Obviously that didn't happen :D

The drive out of the city was pretty decent, we left his house about 10AM.  Filled the tank and headed to the highway.  As we're driving out I started having all kinds of thoughts.  This was our first conversation:

Driving out of the city
Me: Dude, I feel bad for mom.

Chris: What? why?

Me: Well you  know, we're her only kids.

Chris: Yeah, so?

Me: Well...what if something happens to us?

*Silence*

Chris: Why you gotta be so negative?




Corn feilds!!



As we're driving we spotted a Sheriffs van, and all kinds of theories started pouring out of us as to where they were going.  At first we though they were hauling more people down to Tri County....yeah I know we just started our trip and we were already on the immigration defense bandwagon.  Along the way the scenery was pretty peaceful.  Lot's of corn fields and farms.  I do have to say I did see a sign along the highway that said....and I quote...."Prepare for War".  Sadly I couldn't take a picture of it. We were on a mission, a 6 hr drive, one way, mission.  Plus I didn't see it until it was super close and we zoomed by it pretty quick.  If you're following me on twitter, you saw my comment about that.

Chris afer the Bohemian Rhapsody Rock out Session

I'm amazed almost every single exit had a McDonalds...that's where we stopped for lunch.  Did't take a picture if it cuz, well, you know they're EVERY WHERE.  I have to say I give my brother lots of props for being focused on this driving.  We didn't need to get gas until we were about 3/4 into our trip.  So close yet so far away I kept thinking.  We didn't really need a GPS, the drive is essentially a straight shot off if 57 but we used it along the way for sanity and to see what gas stations and restaurants were up ahead.  Apparently Big Red drinks Shell only and we were damn near close to being stranded in the middle of no where with no survival gear.  Now that I think about it my friend over at the Esteveban Files needs to do a post about that.  Yeah I'm plugging my friends blog, I listen to what he says and I'm still alive...nuff said.  We got to a gasoline station and the whole way this dumb broad (yeah it's a female voice)  kept saying "Road Recalculation"...it was annoying, we knew what we were doing after all,  but we let her slide.  She's finally happy when we get back on 57 South.
Tri County Detention Center

When we got to our exit, thank GOD,  the creepy voice coming from the electrical device tells us to go left when we need to go right.  Good thing we had a printed map that Chris looked at before taking off....so we went right.  Drove less than a mile and got to Tri County Detention Center.  The place is a lot smaller than what I expected.  It's about the size of a Walmart.  Barbed wire all over the place.  We arrived just before 4pm, visiting hours are 5pm - 9pm we went inside any way and there was girl in the office. I told her we drove for 6 hours and were there to visit someone.  Apparently they  make no exceptions.  You don't get in before 5 pm.  I understood, I was still annoyed none the less, she's just doing her job right?  Well come 4pm she locked the doors and left.  Someone was supposed to come at 5pm to open up shop.  We headed to the gasoline station that was less than a block or so away for a break.  We stayed there for a bit and went back.  The lot was still empty the doors were still locked.  After we parked we saw a van, driven by officers, come int. It had a couple guys in there, we figured they were restocking the money makers.  Not too long after that another van left with some more guys in the back dressed in prison cloths, so we guessed they were being taken to another facility or into the city.  Then the worst thought came into my head "What if he's not even here anymore?".

By the time 5pm came a couple cars showed up with two families.  We all waited at the door but no one came to unlock the door.  I asked the other families if it was there first time there, they said no.  So I asked if they were punctual at opening the doors, they said "nope".  I also asked them what kind of a "detention center" this was.  I thought it was odd that a "detention center" would have barbed wire all over the place.  They responded that they held all kinds of prisoners but "they mostly hold immigrants, cuz you know they get a lot of money for them".  Needless to say that Cuentames Immigrants for Sale Video came to mind.
Barney Fife finally came to open the door.  We showed him our IDs, he signed us in and took Chris's car keys.  The metal detector didn't work so he used a wand on us which kept backfiring because it kept detecting his keys.  After he was done scanning everyone he led us to another room where he radioed for the door to open then to another, finally we were in room filled with smaller 6'X6' rooms made of cement block.  We entered the last room in the row and waited.  There was a phone and a 12"X12" window.  As we waited it started to hit Chris where we were and why.  The same thing happened to me the first time I went to see Jose a the local prison he was being held before being transferred to Tri County.  It doesn't really hit you until you are there going through the process of seeing the person and then your loved one is actually there.

 Jose, finally, was brought in.  Let's just say the look on his face was priceless.  He didn't know we were going to be there so he was totally surprised.  His eyes started to tear up the moment he saw us and of course I started to cry.   I got to see the back of his head which, I admit, I wished was worse.  It did look too bad but  it looks to be spreading.  I didn't think it was bad enough to get him out for medical attention but we'll see.  We talked for the allowed time, Chris and I took turns on the phone and Jose was just really happy to see us there.  I would have taken Cairo with me but I didn't think he could handle the ride.  We said our good byes and we were back on the road.  I wished we could have brought him back home with us.  I can not wait for that day when he's home and Cairo can finally hug and squeeze his dad.


On the way back we had dinner at a Steak N Shake (yes I had a shake), saw a beautiful sunset, found ourselves in a thunder storm and saw some awesome lightening.  I tried to get a picture of lightening but it would refuse to show itself when ever I got ready for a shot.  Oh well.  We hit some traffic when we got to 55, which is beyond me why there were so many people out and about at 1am, I wanted to get to my bed and these people were getting in my way.  I got home and was in bed by 2am.

I LOVE YOU GORDO!




1 comment:

  1. So glad you were able to see hime especially because it was so far away. I remember going one time and there was a fight inside and they sent everyone home. It was so sad after all the waiting and excitement.

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