Holding cell

“Mom, where were we when you put me in a holding cell?”

She texted the question while she was at work.

A holding cell is a small jail cell inside the courthouse, adjacent to a courtroom, where a prisoner waits until it’s his/her turn to see the judge.  Jen is a court clerk, assigned to criminal court, so she is very familiar with holding cells.  

But yes, she was in a holding cell when she was a child.

She must have been about 9 years old, and  it was “Take Our Daughters To Work Day”.  

I had to go to a court conference in the Bronx, so I took Jen and Becca with me.  At the time my sister was an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx, so after the girls and I finished with my court conference, we met up with my sister and one of her friends — a uniformed court officer.  He asked if we wanted to see a holding cell.

He led us from the hallway into a small room.  There was nothing in the room except the cell.  It was very bare-bones, just a bench to sit on, a toilet and a sink.  No privacy, of course.  Another door led to the courtroom.

After the door closed behind us, the court officer explained that he couldn’t open the doors, that someone outside the cell would have to let us out.

Jen had a moment of panic before another court officer opened the door and let us into the courtroom.

The courtroom was empty (it was lunchtime) so each of the girls got to sit at the judge’s bench.  

Later we rode the subway (a novelty for my suburban children) to my office in lower Manhattan.

So I called Jen and told her the story.

And she said, “That experience scared me straight.”

Yes, I’m pretty sure it did …