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- <text id=90TT2048>
- <title>
- Aug. 06, 1990: American Notes:Jails
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Aug. 06, 1990 Just Who Is David Souter?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 29
- American Notes
- JAILS
- Under the Big Top
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> With the local hoosegow crowded, Boise authorities quickly
- put up an annex: a big top. Since July 6, nonviolent offenders
- have served weekend terms under a flashy red-and-white tent
- ordinarily used for the local fair.
- </p>
- <p> The experiment has inspired some unavoidable clowning
- around. Captain Tom Taylor of the Ada County sheriff's
- department jokes that it is hard to persuade prisoners "to wear
- the little red nose and the funny hair." In fact, the inmates
- wear their own clothes and are routinely warned to use
- sunscreen to protect themselves from the hot summer sun. Meals
- are served at picnic tables, portable toilets are set up near
- the tent, and prisoners sleep on military cots. Says Marshal
- Carr, serving a sentence for driving under the influence: "It's
- fun really. I use it to catch up on my sleep and get away from
- my old lady."
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-