Niagara County Jail

Closing Advice

Interview with Karl


JM: Is there anything else you would want a friend or family member to know if they have a loved one going to jail?
Karl: Try to spend the money for a private attorney, if at all possible. Arrange to have magazine subscriptions received at home repackaged (easy with today's laser printers) and sent in. Otherwise, it is suspected that the staff confiscate for their own use the various publications ordered by the inmates, even though the Minimum Standards they are supposed to follow prohibit this without good cause. Make sure that your inmate has at least $5.00 per month to be able to print copies of legal material from the Lexis-Nexis system. Assist the inmate with legal matters by going to a public access law library and copying various law cases he or she needs to be able to preserve his or her rights. Remember that the Niagara County (and probably most any other) jail is simply a cash cow, and the more inmates that are housed, the more money they can get from the federal government. If possible, bail your inmate out, if he or she has a reasonable amount of bail set. That'll fix their boat, if enough inmates get bailed. Address the constitutional violations by the jail with your Congressman or Congresswoman or senator.

JM: Is there anything else you would recommend to a future inmate?
Karl: Yes. Don't do anything to come to jail in the first place. If you do get stopped by the cops, remember that you do not have to talk to them, no matter what you say, and there is even a law case, People v. Howard, 50 NY2d ( ) that ruled that, unless you have committed a crime, that you can walk, or run away from any police officer and the only recourse they have is to arrest you.