My Adventures at Santa Rita Jail

I don’t remember what summer it was. I just remember what I was doing that summer. I was working at the Dublin Pool. I was also volunteering at the handicapped swim program at the as well. We were living on Olympia Fields Drive and my mother was having a garage sale. We were allowed to ride our bikes to the pool and ride the bus to downtown Dublin. I am thinking that I was maybe 12 years old.

Connie, Alison, and I decided to take the bus to Dublin. We didn’t really have a lot of money. I am sure we went and had ice cream and looked at clothes that we couldn’t afford. We decided that we would go to Montgomery Ward and try on sunglasses. Connie persuaded us to change the price tag on sunglasses so we could pay less. Now, we didn’t really think we were doing something REALLY wrong. We didn’t consider it stealing, we just thought we would pay less for these sunglasses that we could not afford. So, we did it and changed the prices tag on the sunglasses. In fact I believe that we changed them in front of the store camera. We thought we were so smart.

Connie, Alison and I paid for our sunglasses and walked out of the store. There the security guard was right behind us and said something like “Ladies can I help you with something” or “Ladies did you forget to pay for something”? We followed her to the MW security office. We cried and cried and cried. Alison started to have asthma and threw up in the garbage can. The security officer called the Santa Rita Sheriff’s department and they escorted us to the car. The security officer informed us that “we were not longer able to shop at MW”. Can I just tell you how disappointed I was about that ? I mean I thought ….this place is white trash…I hate this store…and now…I really hated it. So, the police took us to Santa Rita and had no idea what to do with us. Three little girls maybe 10 and 12 years old…we had never done a thing wrong in our lives. They decided to put us in the locker room. So, we sat on benches and cried looking at the lockers of the officers. We also got up and looked at the listing of sex offenders and most wanted. What was sodomy? What was a sex offender? We had no idea it was, we just knew if their pictures were on the wall…they must have been really bad people.

They police told us we could call our parents to pick us up. We tried calling…the police officer had given Alison a garbage can to throw up in. Anyway, my mother….she never answered the phone. She was outside in the garage…selling all of the toys we refused to play with. So, Connie’s mother came over and told my mother “Do you know where your kids are”? My mother thought we were in Dublin. “They’re in jail”! Well, yes we were in the jail, but we weren’t photographed or fingerprinted. So, first Connie’s mom came. She dragged Connie out of there and spanked the crap out of her. My mom…my mom did nothing. She knew that Connie persuaded us to do it. We had no real restrictions, and we were still able to work at the pool.

I feel now like it was very unnecessary to put us in a cop car and drag us to the jail. I eventually ended up buying a bed for Sarah at the Montgomery Ward’s in Modesto…and we were not banned. Yes, we all learned our lesson.