First of all I admit that I made a mistake. I received a DUI(first offense) and I as punished for it. I was wrong and I was punished for my actions.

Now, that having been said let me tell you what really goes on inside the Cordova House.

If you will, I'll start with the beginning of my attempt to get on the ankle monitoring system.

I went to the place and signed up, they sat me down asked a few questions were incredibly nice and I was set to go.. Dec. 16th, to get my ankle monitor for three days.

1 month later I get to the ankle monitoring place and as i read the information i find out that i am not allowed to be on a prescription medication that 'they' might consider a street drug. Forgetting that rule I go up to the desk and tell the woman that I have the prescription in my purse, but that according to the rules I can not be on this type of prescribed drug, even though it is legal. So, in my pajamas the once nice man looks at me as if I've run over his dog maliciously and tells me that I'm going to have to go to the Cordova House due to my taking a prescription my primary care physician gave me. Now, keep in mind that it doesn't really make sense to give me a urine analysis before I go to jail..why not give it after I've been? It doesn't make sense except to ad more to the tab to the state for supposed rehab, when you can probably get all the street drugs inside anyway. Also, when you get to the Cordova House if you have a prescription they'll let you take it.. That doesn't make any sense, right?

At first I think, oh well, my mistake I'll get some sleep, read and probably learn something along the way. Boy did I learn something!

An hour later I am taken to the Cordova House after a routine TB shot at the jail house. I get there and a tiny woman starts to go through my purse and asks for my ID. I hand her my passport, she then says to me "what's this?" I answer "my passport" she says then "I need another form of ID." and i tell her that it's an international passport and I can get in anywhere in the world with it. She sees my old, EXPIRED license and says that "this will do", i then tell her that I can't even buy cigarettes or enter a nightclub with that ID because Alaska states that you must have valid ID, in other words you must have paid the state for an ID that is not expired, even if it has just expired yesterday. The little woman then yells at me to "not be smart" and tells me to go into the library.

Now I am in the library and filling out the forms they've given me. I come to a part that says to sign here if you've read or been read to the guidelines and rules etc etc to the Cordova House. I proceed to go to the front window filled with people who don't want me to have a clue what's going on and I mention to them that I can not sign the dotted line because I have not been given or read to the Cordova House booklet or what not. The gentleman tells me that i must sign it anyway and that "it's okay, it's upstairs you'll see it then". I signed it with a note that said that I had NOT received the information and that it was upstairs. But in all honesty it made me very nervous.

I go back to the library as told and fall asleep after waiting over an hour and a half just to go to the window again asking what to do, the tiny woman again raises her voice to me to do as i am told and go back to the library. I do. As I am sitting there people start surrounding me, i figure since she's so adamant that I be in the library it must be because of the meeting about to start, and since i got a DUI it must be an AA meeting. Nope, she sent me to a HIV/AIDS meeting. I took a free AIDS test afterwards and still wondered if I should stay in the library.

Finally the man who told me I must sign the dotted line gave me a large box with linens and told me to make my bed etc.

I go upstairs, a girl in my room helps me almost immediately on how they want the bed made, other girls show me the paperwork i was to read if I wanted. Another girl offered me a cookie. Thank the lord or someone watching over me that I was sent to the room I was sent to. these women were simply wonderful and understanding.

The next thing I know I have a visitor. I go downstairs and visit for a bit(they brought me a toothbrush and toothpaste, phew) and on my way to the elevator a young man stopped me "is your name Veronica Page?" yes, "We found your passport on the ground out there". I thanked him and realized that the tiny woman who was angry with me for giving her a passport for ID must have dropped it on the floor INSIDE the jail and left it for whomever. Great. I then get to the elevator uninterrupted and go back upstairs. Note that my visitors were caucasian and I was not frisked(or whatever they call it). Maybe you only get frisked on Thursday nights?

2 days later I get another visitor. I go downstairs to meet him and before he leaves I ask the woman called Mele, who usually checks all the floors if everyone is accounted for, how I should go about leaving in the morning. She looks at me, shrugged her shoulders and says she does not know and that "I'll just have to wait". I then ask her to please look up my name because I had never been there before and the judge told me 3 days and that the next morning by 7 or 9AM it would have been 72 or more hours, She looked me up and stated that because I had been brought in by the ankle monitoring people she guesses that I'll just have to wait until they show up.

I then I go to the elevator and this time the same woman answering my questions was about to frisk me, or whatever they call it(note that this time my visitor was a very well dressed man of African American descent.) I face her, she tells me to turn around and put my hands on the concrete wall. I do what she's told me too and as she is supposed to go where their might be an under-wire, she goes over both of my breasts and where she's supposed to go around the pantyline I THINK and/or the inside of the thigh she goes from the front of me to the back. I'm getting sick to my stomach just thinking about it. I practically jumped out of my skin and yelled "what the hell was that" she stated "i am just doing my job", I then scared and with tears welling up in my eyes i said "i didn't know molestation was part of your job!" She took a step towards me and said "if you didn't like it you shouldn't have gone to jail!" I thought people were sent TO jail for sexual assault, not had it forced upon them because they were put in jail.

The ladies all around me told me in the elevator that i should never had said anything or showed that i was upset because now i might not get out irregardless of my sentencing.

I couldn't sleep at all that night for obvious reasons.

The next morning I called Ankle monitoring and they said that they signed me over to the Cordova House 3 days prior and when they brought me there and that I was the Cordova Houses responsibility. I then told them what the girl at the desk had said they sounded upset and told me to hold. A few minutes later the man at ankle monitoring told me I would be let out within a half an hour.

About 20 minutes later I heard my name called. I exchanged phone numbers with the girls that helped me, finished braiding a new girls hair for her in 2 french braids and proceeded downstairs. After I was free to go (at noon)the man behind the desk asked me if I was singing anywhere that night or on a date coming up. Weird.

Then i left the building only to have to come back because they hadn't returned my checks or cash that I had on my when I arrived. And found out from a friend who was actively trying to help me get out was told that my name was lost in the system and that I had NO RELEASE DATE! Unbelievable!

Now, why doesn't Anchorage have a better bus system? It would create jobs and cut down considerably on driving under the influence. And what happened to that program where you could take 2 cabs and the bar would pay for it? I've never even been offered that program, but I've offered it to others and provided it for others MANY times from a few bars that I've worked at. Koots pays for your cab if you look at all under the influence!

Also, if it's all about rehab, why is it that for 3 days I was only offered one AA meeting? JUST ONE! Offered, not mandatory! OFFERED. No ACOA! NO ALANON! NO NA! Just one meeting offered.

Is Alaska really trying to protect citizens or make a buck? Either way i will NEVER drink and drive again, but after what happened to me at the Cordova House i think I'd better call Dennis Maloney because there was definitely some bullying going on and I don't want it to ever happen to another woman or man again, criminal or not!