The conditions of the Baltimore City Detention Center for Women are horrible. It is hard to know where to begin. I will start at Central Booking, where you first realize how bad this place really is. When you are first arrested you are processed at the Central Booking and Intake Facility. You are thrown into a holding cell (bullpen). These cells, marked "single cell" have as many as fifteen women in one cell. This bullpen is where you sit, lay or stand for many grueling hours - waiting. All of your possessions are taken. It is extremely cold. Your shoes may be taken if it is deemed unsafe that you have them and, as cold as it is in the winter, they take your coat. It depends on what time of day it is when you are arrested as to whether or not you are fed.

These bullpens are unsanitary and disgusting. Many women are crowded into a tiny cell. Sometimes there is no running water. You are not given soap or any hygiene materials. Many of the women are put in to the bullpens sick from tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and drug withdrawal symptoms. They are coughing, vomiting and have diarrhea and have nothing to clean themselves with. I contracted TB in a holding cell from a woman who had active (contagious) TB. At the time, I did not know that her coughing and sweating could be symptoms of TB. Even now, there would have been nothing I could do about it.

You spend 6 to 24 hours in these cells with no fresh air and inadequate ventilation. So you breath air that is likely filled with airborne contagions. Medical care is unheard of at this point, unless it is a dire emergency.

There are so many roaches and spiders. You are afraid to close you eyes even for a minute. You have gone through hours and hours of frustration. You are at your wits end. Now you are praying to go to the main jail (the Baltimore City Detention Center) where you can get a shower and something to eat.

After being transported to the jail, I was so happy to finally get a shower for the first time after many hours of waiting that I had dismissed how utterly dirty the showers were. There are 30 or more women using the showers twice a day, if not more. We try to clean them with the cleaning supplies that we are given but without industrial supplies it doesn't make a difference. We have tried to scrub and brush the showers clean but have not put a dent in the layers of scum. If these showers were checked I bet the bacteria count would be off the charts. After taking a shower we itch for a long time. It feels like something crawling on you.

During the summer it is so hot in here that the concrete walls sweat along with us. Then in the winter it is extremely cold. Sometimes it is so cold that I wont get off my bunk except for meals. I can see myself breath in the air. The toilets have a thin layer of ice in the wintertime.

I cannot explain how bad the meals are. In the eleven months that I have been here I have not had a hot meal (at best they are lukewarm), never a cold milk and I have been surprised to get a cup of hot coffee (if you can call it that). The menu consists of starches and carbohydrates, which might be ok if cooked properly. The beans, rice, pasta and potatoes are either under or over-cooked.

It is my understanding from inmates that work in the kitchen that it is far from grade "A" in sanitary conditions. There are rodents and roaches in the kitchen. We see bread that the mice have nibbled on. The kitchen gets inspected at regular intervals however the staff knows the schedule so they do a great job at covering up the poor sanitary conditions.

Finally, there is a lack of activities for the general population. Because there isn't a lot to do there is a lot of violence here. Even when we have events like church many of us cannot attend because of the location of the activity. There is not enough space for classes and activities with only one classroom for over 500 women.

I will challenge anyone from the community to dispute what I have said in this paper. Come talk to women at random and see if you wont hear the same story repeated over and over again.

(Contributor's note: This piece was forwarded to various media sources at the request of the author Dianne Davenport who is currently incarcerated at the Baltimore City Jail)