Been inside jail twice -- best kind of visits -- before one opened in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the 1970s and before Fresno's "mail jail" opened in 1989. Antiseptic and eerie.

Heard one Fresno County supervisor say a few years ago that all jail food should be concocted into a single biscuit, and that inmates should be forced to pedal bicycles that would somehow generate electricity. Kind of a "must work for food" thing.

Got a different take on things the other day from Dr. George "Bud" Laird who runs Fresno County's correctional health services. He spoke passionately, thoughtfully to a group of hospital, county and law enforcement types at a Hospital Council meeting dealing with "5150s" -- people brought in for treatment of mental problems (illness, alcohol, drugs, etc.).

Inmates are the only people in the nation who are constitutionally guaranteed the right to health care, he said -- a notion that disturbs many, even those familiar with the Charles Dickens era where debtors were tossed into jail till they rotted.  Fresno County is downsizing -- realigning, wonks would say -- its health services, given fading budgets (even as inmate numbers grow and federal courts demand more dollar investments, or prisoner releases).

Laird said 60-70% of those in the county jail -- about 3,300 the day he spoke -- have substance-abuse problems; that jumps to 90% if you factor in those abusing prescribed meds.  In state prisons, you are compelled to take meds prescribed for mental issues; not so in county jail.

Sick call is a big deal -- everyone wants some kind of meds to alleviate the stress of being behind bars. It's not an ask-and-you-shall-receive environment, Laird noted. If an inmate says he's hearing voices, the staff observes him, asks what the voices are saying, is a man or woman talking.

Later, I looked up a needs-assessment plan done for the county last September. It said more than 42,000 people were booked into the jail in 2007,  generating nearly 110,000 sick calls.

One of the most compelling stats that Laird shared -- nearly three-quarters of those who are in the county jails are awaiting trial. Guilty? Innocent? Can't post bail, or a risk to flee?

Maybe it'll give you pause the next time you drive past the two gloomy gray concrete buildings on M Street.