Teacher tells of ordeal in Sutter jail

Alena Jones, the Yuba City school teacher charged with threatening two people with a gun, said Friday the 11 days she spent in jail were "pure hell" — alleviated by prayer, sympathetic fellow inmates and a Christmas tree she constructed out of milk cartons.

A preliminary hearing for Jones, who was freed Tuesday on bail, was scheduled Friday in Sutter County Superior Court but was postponed because witnesses were unavailable.

Prosecutors, who have declined comment on the circumstances that led Yuba City police to arrest Jones the night of Dec. 12 at her home, will present their case at the rescheduled preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Jan. 9.

Jones allegedly threatened a man and woman who were trying to repossess her car, which she had used as collateral for a $2,300 loan. The "repo" people arrived at her home after she missed one payment, Jones said, even though she was making arrangements to pay.

Geoffrey Wander, Jones' attorney, said the repo people's claim that Jones "escalated" the confrontation "is not entirely accurate."

"I expect all the charges will be dropped or at least reduced" at the preliminary hearing, Wander said.

After being arrested, Jones said, she spent more than 16 hours in a "holding tank" with only a sheet for warmth despite "very, very low" temperatures.

Once assigned to a cell, which she shared with seven other women, she had one sheet and one blanket — still not enough to stay warm. Eventually, Jones said, she learned from fellow inmates how to get an extra sheet.

Sheriff J. Paul Parker responded that wintertime temperatures in the jail are kept at 66 or 67 degrees.

"I've never received a complaint that (the jail) is too cold," Parker said.

One sheet and one blanket are standard issue for all inmates, he said.

Complaints are received about heat in the summer, he said.

It would not be unusual for an inmate to stay in the holding tank for 12 hours, possibly without even a sheet unless it was requested, until a cell space opens up, he said.

Parker said he would have to check a videotape to verify that Jones was held in the holding tank for 16 hours or more.

Jones said she and other inmates were awakened at 3 a.m. and given breakfast at 3:30 a.m. "Lunch" followed at 9:30 a.m., with a boxed dinner at 4 p.m., Jones said.

The 3 a.m. wake time and meal times described by Jones are roughly accurate and are designed to fit in with court schedules, Parker said.

"We keep early hours at the jail," he said.

Jones described her treatment by guards as mixed. At one point she was mockingly called "Miss Popular," she said.

Jones said she nicknamed a kindly female correctional officer "Heaven."

She had to share a pair of flip-flops with other inmates in order to use a mildewy shower, Jones said.

The opinion of most fellow inmates, some of who admitted their own mistakes, was, "you don't belong here," she said.

"They rallied around me. They all thought I'd be OR'd (released on her own recognizance) because I've never been in trouble," Jones said.

Jones said she used her classroom skills to build the milk carton Christmas tree, which she wrapped with colored newspaper comics and decorated with angels made from candy wrappers. A garland bearing inmates' names "will always bond us as sisters," she said.

"That tree was so beautiful by the time I was through," she said.

Jones said she's slept very poorly since her release. When she does sleep, she has nightmares about jail, she said

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com