With few other outlets, inmates review prisons on Yelp

Lawyer Robert Miller has visited five prisons and 17 jails in his lifetime, but he has reviewed only three of them on Yelp. One he found “average,” with inexperienced and power-hungry officers. Another he faulted for its “kind of very firmly rude staff.” His most recent review, a January critique of Theo Lacy jail in Orange County, Calif., lauds the cleanliness, urban setting and “very nice” deputies.

Miller gave it five out of five stars.

“I started reviewing because I needed something to kill time while I waited to see clients,” said Miller, who has worked as a private defense lawyer in Southern California for 18 years. “But I think the reviews are actually helpful for bail bondsmen, attorneys, family members — a lot of people, actually.”

As Miller acknowledges, it’s not the kind of helpful testimonial commonly found on Yelp, the popular consumer reviews site many people turn to for recommendations on, say, bowling alleys and Chinese takeout. But as Yelp grows more popular — logging 36 million reviews as of last quarter — lawyers as well as prison inmates and their family members have turned to the site to report mediocre food and allegations of serious abuse. They join the enterprising reviewers who have used Yelp to critique traffic signals and public bathrooms.

Because Yelp does not break out statistics by business type, it’s difficult to tell how many jails and prisons have been reviewed in the 19 countries covered by the site. (Yelp declined to comment for this article, aside from noting that users may review any business with a physical address, as long as the review follows site guidelines.) In the Washington region, six incarceration facilities have earned reviews, including two in 2013.

“Jail food may get a bad rap. . .but jail EMPLOYEE food is off the chain,” wrote one woman of a local jail cafeteria, where $1.50 apparently buys a plate of chicken, green beans, wheat bread, dessert and fresh, not instant, mashed potatoes.

“At no time did the officer violate any of my constitutional privileges and even gave me a juice box after I said I was thirsty,” reads another review, this one of the Arlington County Detention Facility. “Yes, you heard right, they have juice boxes!. . .So if you’re going to get arrested, do it in Arlington County.”

Arlington County Sheriff Beth Arthur read that comment with more than a little confusion — the facility has neither juice boxes nor a range of other things “Windi L.” referred to in her review.

“I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t understand what she’s talking about,’ ” Arthur said. “I almost thought she meant the old facility, but this one has been here 20 years.”

Mistreatment is rampant, said Jack Beck, who heads the prison inspection group for the legislatively sanctioned Correctional Association of New York. In particular, he said, his group has struggled to address conflicts between staff and inmates.

The Correctional Association inspects 60 prisons in New York and annually surveys about 55,000 inmates who remain anonymous. Based on that work, Beck said, the association has uncovered serious problems — such as mentally ill patients sent, inappropriately, to solitary confinement — and has advocated reforms.