I was arrested about a month ago. The police arrested me about 9:30pm, I gave them no trouble, after we reached the station, I asked to make my one phone call so that my mom and my bestfriend would not be worried about me and could call my jobs for me. At the time i had 3 jobs. They refused to let me make my one phone call until almost 4pm the next day when my mom and bestfriend had county searches going on looking for me. So my question is what is the reasonable amount of time after being arrested to make a person's one phone call? And is it a violation of my rights for them to refuse to allow me to make the phone call?
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Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant What is Reasonable Amount of time to make your one phone call after being arrested?
- Thread Starter alazne
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mightymoose
Moderator
There is no clear answer to this.
How busy was the jail? How many other people were they processing?
In our jail nobody makes a call until after the booking process is complete, and then they have to wait their turn.
You are not entitled to an immediate call. It all depends upon the circumstances.
How busy was the jail? How many other people were they processing?
In our jail nobody makes a call until after the booking process is complete, and then they have to wait their turn.
You are not entitled to an immediate call. It all depends upon the circumstances.
bluemann33
New Member
If the intake was busy then nothing out of the ordinary occured. You usually dont get that call until after you have been processed.
It takes 19 hrs to process a person for them to make a phone call? It wasnt busy, they weren't doing anything, they weren't doing paperwork, they were just sitting around talking. I have heard that it can be a violation of the right to a lawyer bc without a phone call i was unable to have someone get me a lawyer, but idk what a reasonable amount of time would be to be able to make a phone call, whether its 4hrs or 24 hrs. But if my mom hadn't of put out a missing person's report and had it go through that office whose to say that they wouldn't of let me make my phone call at all if they hadn't gotten that.
CdwJava
Moderator
Assuming they were somehow required to allow you a call within that time frame, what then? It won't help you with regards to your current charges, all it might result in is discipline for the involved officers at the jail. if you lost a job as a result you might have a civil case against the jail facility for not allowing the call ... maybe. But it will all depend on the details, and that will include your demeanor as well as the nature of the charges you were arrested on. If the police were looking for co-conspirators or associates, they may have asked that you be isolated for a while and that can be perfectly legitimate.
You can bring this up to your criminal defense attorney and ask what he might suggest, or, you can pay for a civil attorney and see about making a claim for damages and suing the jail ... if there is a case.
You can bring this up to your criminal defense attorney and ask what he might suggest, or, you can pay for a civil attorney and see about making a claim for damages and suing the jail ... if there is a case.
mightymoose
Moderator
What were you arrested for anyway? Was this possibly a public intox case? If so, you were technically in a detention.
Unless they interrogated you about a crime without giving you access to a lawyer then you won't get far with that argument.
If this was a public intox then they will typically hold you until you are deemed able to care for your own safety and will be released, and there may not actually be a criminal charge filed.
If you were arrested for another criminal offense then I would agree that 19 hours seems unreasonable, but you would still have to show that you were caused some harm by this.
Unless they interrogated you about a crime without giving you access to a lawyer then you won't get far with that argument.
If this was a public intox then they will typically hold you until you are deemed able to care for your own safety and will be released, and there may not actually be a criminal charge filed.
If you were arrested for another criminal offense then I would agree that 19 hours seems unreasonable, but you would still have to show that you were caused some harm by this.
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