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Roleplaying a Stay in County Jail


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The prison/jail discussion does deserve its own thread but I did mention it in the OP. Ultimately if LS-RP was any lesson an independent corrections faction would be fucking horrendous. Nobody wants to run it, nobody knows how to run it and few people have any interest in actively roleplaying a correctional officer (it wears off after a few weeks for most people). LSSD has to force its members to roleplay in the jail, I can only imagine what the staffing would be like in an independent agency. Actually we don't even have to imagine, you can just look at what it was like on LS-RP.

 

On the inmate end, what's the difference anyway? Pretty much just that you can roleplay Norteños which, sure, would be nice to see but I don't consider it a factor that outweighs the drawbacks. Especially since, again drawing on the LS-RP experience, very very few people know or care to know how to roleplay Norteños properly. The added 'severity' or 'edge' or whatever of roleplaying on a Level 4 yard is tempting but people still don't realize that the county jail we're basing our facility on is pretty much the 4 yard of county jails. Figure out the differences of roleplaying there versus in a state prison and everything's sweet, which this thread is intended to assist with.

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11 hours ago, Large Hazard said:

You two have completely missed key parts of the thread.

I think they just disagree. You can't really expect people to go "Yeah, my character got a life sentence, but I'll just RP them being here waiting for their trial".  This has a lot of great information, but you're also telling people to sacrifice continuity, development and actual IC events in favor of portraying an LA county jail. However, this isn't LA county, it isn't even California. The penal code is different, the justice system is different, etc. I'm not sure how that would work without powergaming or RPing in two different realities at the same time. Do they switch back to being lifers when they're interacting with their lawyers? I don't understand.

 

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28 minutes ago, hillievonb said:

I think they just disagree. You can't really expect people to go "Yeah, my character got a life sentence, but I'll just RP them being here waiting for their trial".  This has a lot of great information, but you're also telling people to sacrifice continuity, development and actual IC events in favor of portraying an LA county jail. However, this isn't LA county, it isn't even California. The penal code is different, the justice system is different, etc. I'm not sure how that would work without powergaming or RPing in two different realities at the same time. Do they switch back to being lifers when they're interacting with their lawyers? I don't understand.

 

Yes I really would just continue to roleplay being on trial. Though yes, you're right, expecting everyone to do that is unfair and unrealistic. That wasn't really the point of the guide though, it's mostly aimed at permanent jail roleplayers who get to choose why their character is in jail. This was originally just on the LSSD forum for that very reason but it was suggested that I post it here. I did fear that people would interpret this as me saying "everyone in jail should do this now".

 

In the very specific example of someone being given a real life sentence by the IC courts and still wanting to roleplay in jail, I do have suggestions, but honestly I do not predict anybody doing that for any serious length of time who wouldn't join up with one of the jail factions. You either would do that or just stop playing on the character after a little while. And in the event they did join up with one of the jail factions they can just use one of the suggestions in the OP (e.g. rping new charges, or better yet actually getting new charges).

Edited by Large Hazard
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3 minutes ago, Large Hazard said:

Roleplay being on trial while you're inside, roleplay having served a sentence when you're released. It's a rather simple idea I thought.

 

This is really just for people who want to be serious about roleplaying in jail. Anyone who just considers it a little time out need not think about it this deeply.

 

And yes, we're all well aware this "isn't even California". I get frustrated when people bring this up as a response to others merely filling in blanks using the source material/inspiration of the entire setting in which GTAW is based, so excuse my tone on this issue.

Not necessarily a one and done situation. It's not about "How serious of a roleplayer" you are as if that shit matters in the eyes of most of the people critiquing. I roleplay prison overcrowding and I'm a lifer, you don't need to rp being on trial. They're a couple different scenarios and options on why someone is in for an extended stay at a county jail. Prison/Jail continuity on this server makes no sense and it's finicky to say the least. With some aspects people rp how county jail would be, other aspects people rp  how prison is. I lean towards the prison side regardless of what TTCF is. 

 

 

 

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4 minutes ago, MickeyO said:

Not necessarily a one and done situation. It's not about "How serious of a roleplayer" you are as if that shit matters in the eyes of most of the people critiquing. I roleplay prison overcrowding and I'm a lifer, you don't need to rp being on trial. They're a couple different scenarios and options on why someone is in for an extended stay at a county jail. Prison/Jail continuity on this server makes no sense and it's finicky to say the least. With some aspects people rp how county jail would be, other aspects people rp  how prison is. I lean towards the prison side regardless of what TTCF is. 

 

 

 

No, you don't need to rp being on trial, there are other alternatives like overcrowding, yes. Which I mentioned in the OP. I gave my answer as a suggestion of what you could do instead of roleplaying that you have just served a sentence for murder in a county jail.

 

Also reading back, it seems I misunderstood that reply as well. I'll edit accordingly.

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The lifer portrayal is the main issue that comes with the server choosing to have a county jail over a state prison as its main hub of incarceration role play. A county jail caters better to the in-and-out type characters and short timers. Which is what the majority of the server's criminals tilt towards portraying anyway. Rarely would you see someone role play carrying out a serious sentence in-game and aging their character by 10-20 years after release (and if they do it's a premade story). A state prison caters more to lifers and is better suited towards prison gangs in most aspects. It's a pros and cons thing the whole way. And that's alright.

 

Still, I find it tone-deaf to treat the environment as something resembling a state prison and here's why. The facility is structured like a jail and is based on one; the operations are ran by sheriffs deputies, not correctional officers; the scrubs people wear say "county jail"; various scripts and official threads read "county jail"; there's no real prison yard; there's characters sitting there that have yet to be found guilty. Personally, it would be hard for me to suspend my belief and act as if I'm playing in a facility resembling a prison. It would be like role playing in a high school and acting like it's a university/college.

 

I think the main post is pretty spot on. It's just that your average person isn't that knowledgeable on incarceration and threads like this help with portrayal, similar to how other guide threads culturally help you with role playing gang members or criminal activities. I believe it's better to have to pick and choose instead of having a mix of different systems. If there was a state prison scripted in-game instead, complaints would be about a set of other problems such as skipping the jail experience, having people in a prison while their case is still ongoing and they haven't been found guilty, having people there for minor crimes they'd usually be in jail for, activity issues from needing to have one more independent legal faction run the prison, etc.

Edited by Gecko
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6 hours ago, Gecko said:

The lifer portrayal is the main issue that comes with the server choosing to have a county jail over a state prison as its main hub of incarceration role play. A county jail caters better to the in-and-out type characters and short timers. Which is what the majority of the server's criminals tilt towards portraying anyway. Rarely would you see someone role play carrying out a serious sentence in-game and aging their character by 10-20 years after release (and if they do it's a premade story). A state prison caters more to lifers and is better suited towards prison gangs in most aspects. It's a pros and cons thing the whole way. And that's alright.

 

Still, I find it tone-deaf to treat the environment as something resembling a state prison and here's why. The facility is structured like a jail and is based on one; the operations are ran by sheriffs deputies, not correctional officers; the scrubs people wear say "county jail"; various scripts and official threads read "county jail"; there's no real prison yard; there's characters sitting there that have yet to be found guilty. Personally, it would be hard for me to suspend my belief and act as if I'm playing in a facility resembling a prison. It would be like role playing in a high school and acting like it's a university/college.

 

I think the main post is pretty spot on. It's just that your average person isn't that knowledgeable on incarceration and threads like this help with portrayal, similar to how other guide threads culturally help you with role playing gang members or criminal activities. I believe it's better to have to pick and choose instead of having a mix of different systems. If there was a state prison scripted in-game instead, complaints would be about a set of other problems such as skipping the jail experience, having people in a prison while their case is still ongoing and they haven't been found guilty, having people there for minor crimes they'd usually be in jail for, activity issues from needing to have one more independent legal faction run the prison, etc.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on it too. I didn't mean we should treat the facility like a prison at all, I meant the jail we're portraying is the most "serious" jail in California and people shouldn't think of it like we're in a low level facility and that that's a bad thing. Twin Towers houses everything from the lowest offender possible to the highest and most serious. People just need to learn how to make it work.

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On 5/5/2021 at 9:23 PM, DLimit said:

After reading this, this is how I feel.

How does one R.P. as a full-time offender facing life for triple homicide, then? It completely ruins it for those that are inside the prison with serious offenses.

EDIT: Could always claim that overcrowding is the reason...

There is definitely some disconnect cause we RP a County Jail and not a Prison. I play a character in for life for 4 counts of 2nd Degree Murder. I personally roleplay that Bolingbrook is currently overcrowded, and have amended my roleplay to reflect an inmate that was put in TTCF for that reason. You could also say that your trial is ongoing. Many serious criminal trials take a long time to get through. I have amended my roleplay to properly fit a character that wants to remain in the less restrictive Jail, and do my best to avoid getting into altercations. Obviously there is still some disconnect, but there are ways to take that and turn it into character motivation and development. If you're playing someone there for very serious crimes, you'd probably want to avoid altercations so that you could remain in the jail, because there are huge perks.

 

There is also the option of the SHU, but unfortunately, it's not that active. 

 

It also helps that we are portraying TTCF. As Liam/Large Hazard said, TTCF is about as bad a jail you can get in. It's also true that prison politics still exist within Jail facilities in California. My brother was housed at Theo Lacy, and got checked multiple times for breaking their regulations (Giving dreads to black inmates and so on). 

 

Either way people in the County understand that, while it's not analogous to real life, everyone ends up in County to serve their sentence. You won't be viewed as a bad rper for being in Jail for this; so long as your character acts in a way that's reflective of the lucky position they're in. If you're a lifer that's constantly assaulting people, you're not doing that right, and people im general shouldn't be as eager as they (and I) have been to put in work in the past. So long as you're not doing dumbshit though, you'll be fine, but again, be aware of the environment and don't be overly zealous with putting in work.

Edited by Ted
Said prison instead of jail woops
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