This letter was written by a person incarcerated at Metropolitan Detention Center.
It’s regrettable that Fresno lacks a federal detention center because the conditions at Fresno Jail are not on a par with those of a federal facility like this one.
The food is of lower quality and only served twice instead of thrice a day. And in some situations one can get stuck feeling chronically hungry. For example, in the single-man cells where, because of the use of small Styrofoam trays instead of the regular full-size trays, the portions are smaller. Also the commissary selection is inferior and the prices are steeper.
Mostly Fresno Jail just offers overpriced junk food on commissary. Coffee, for instance, is more than twice as expensive. The place is kept uncomfortably cold and not enough blankets and warm clothing are provided. Fresno Jail also does not provide law library access to defendant who are represented by counsel, which creates a catch-22 because often one needs to do legal research to find out how to fire one’s attorney and represent oneself.
About all I can say in favor of the place is that at least they have an open pod devoted to sex offenders so that they don’t have to check into protective custody as they do at this facility. And at least Fresno Jail did issue me a nice sturdy new set of glasses to replace my broken pair. It was the least they could do after they apparently lost all the property, including a 200 dollar endorsed check for commissary money that the Fresno detectives sought to help me transfer from Denver Jail.
My wallet, with identification and everything else, was among the lost items.
