Ventura County – Okay, getting arrested and put into an orange jumpsuit and finding yourself behind bars waiting to see a judge is no fun. Actually, it truly sucks. And being in jail doesn’t actually mean you’re guilty of any crime, only that you’ve been arrested because someone with the authority to arrest you has a very good suspicion that you have indeed violated a law punishable by incarceration. You could be innocent and the whole thing could just be a silly misunderstanding. Presumption of innocence, benefit of the doubt….all those good things are acknowledged and understood by the judicial system.
But when you are arrested and in custody, there are lots of people in uniform assigned to protect you from the real criminals in the jail environment, and to protect them from you, should you be the actual criminal. Given that, it’s imperative to remain as calm and non-threatening as possible; this is good for the safety of everyone, including the custody staff, your fellow inmates, and yourself. You can look it up in the “Jailhouse Rules of Behavior” handbook, in which Rule Number One reads: “Under no circumstances should you beat upon the body of any jail guard.”
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Darrell Erickson, if there ever were such a handbook, Keisha Arceneaux, a 30-year old resident of Oxnard who found herself in the Ventura County Jail facing charges of being under the influence of controlled substances, possession of drug paraphernalia and theft, may never have bothered to read the handbook. If she had, she might not have responded so violently to a routine pat-down being administered to her by a female custody officer preparing to transport Arceneaux to her court date on the morning of April 13th. It was just before 7:00 a.m. on that morning at the Todd Road Jail Facility in Santa Paula, when Arceneaux summarily attacked the custody officer, who “sustained minor injuries to her face and neck.”
The tables were presumably turned and Arceneaux was subsequently arrested and charged with resisting an executive officer in the performance of their duties and battery on a peace officer, with her new bail set at $20,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
