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Jay Allen Sanford

Jay Allen Sanford is a Reader contributor. See staff page for published articles.

Back on the street after six months in the San Diego County Jail

Okay, I'll share my one and only jail story - around 1979, I was arrested in the Sports Arena parking lot before a Yes concert, on suspicion of possessing illegal mushrooms, which an undercover PO heard me talking about (the "plant material" they found on me was actually peyote). After being taken into the downtown lockup, another inmate decided he wanted my bunk and bashed my head against the rails by way of telling me so --- With my head bleeding profusely, I asked a guard if I could see a doctor and get bandaged - he sneered and said I needed to fill out an inmate request form. I asked for the form - after about an hour, he brought me one. But no pencil to fill it out. So I asked for a pencil - this made the guard laugh. "We don't give potential weapons to inmates. After another hour or so - still bleeding - they finally took me thru the booking procedure. I pocketed a small nub pencil, took it back to the holding cell, and filled out the inmate request to see a doctor. When I next saw a guard (quite awhile later), I called him over and gave him the form. When he found out that I filled out the form in the holding cell, he asked how I got the pencil. I truthfully told him. I was promptly arrested for "theft of property" and booked all over again ---- I spent around four days in the downtown jail before release on "OR" (own recognance). The drug charges were never pressed (probably because the arrest report saying "mushrooms" was clearly wrong, and the peyote had probably turned to mush in the plastic bag over the weekend). However, I DID have to go to court on the pencil theft charge, for which I did six months probation - my only "criminal record." It took a loooong time before I could tell that story with a smile ----
— September 6, 2010 6:41 p.m.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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