William Ashley knows why he’s in jail.

He’s just a little fuzzy on the details of the incident that got him there.

He knows he was charged with simple assault and he knows he was in a bar fight at the 84 Club.

“But I don’t remember much after that,” Ashley said sitting at a table in an unused room at the Adams County Jail.

That bar fight earned Ashley a six-month stay behind bars.

But this most recent stint isn’t Ashley’s first, and when he looks back at his other visits to jails across Mississippi — mostly for assault charges — he can sum up jail life pretty quickly.

“It’s hard,” he said. “Some people think it gives them a reputation, but it’s just hard.”

While Ashley’s current sentence is his longest yet, he said the absolute worst part about it is being away from his family.

“It’s terrible,” he said. “There isn’t anything like that.”

Aside from the suffering that comes with the separation, Ashley said, the general mood inside the jailhouse is just uninviting.

While Ashley said life in the county jail isn’t anything like the televisions shows filmed at places like Angola or Folsom State Prison, it’s still no place to be.

Ashley said while the county jail isn’t a violent environment — the potential for violent situations is always there.

“There are always people in here who’ll try to get over on you and try to make you a punk,” he said. “But you have to stand your ground and stand up for yourself.”

It’s not uncommon for a new inmate to have some of his possessions go missing in the first few days of his stay or to have other inmates take his food at mealtime.

“They’ll try to run a bluff on you,” he said. “But you have to let them know they can’t get over on you.”

Ashley said it’s a fine line between standing up for yourself in jail, and knowing how to mind your own business, that makes jail a generally stressful environment.

“A lot of people just want to be left alone,” he said. “They just don’t want to have anything to do with anyone.”

However friendship among the inmates isn’t altogether dead.

Ashley said it’s common for new inmates to spend the first few days alone in their cells in solitude — but not much longer.

“You have to eye people up pretty quick, but that first impression isn’t always right,” he said. “Sometimes you’re friends with someone you never thought you could be friends with.”

Though Ashley didn’t say so, it’s easy to picture him with more friends that most in the jail.

He’s friendly, and he said one of the things that brings him some joy in jail is sharing just about everything with his fellow inmates.

Inmates in the jail have an account in to which their family can deposit money, that money is then used to shop from a list of items provided by the sheriff’s office.

That money can bring what the inmates call “free world food.”

And when Ashley’s family makes a deposit on his account, he’s ready to spread the wealth.

He said though the jail gives a hearty breakfast and lunch, dinner isn’t much more than a sandwich.

“For the first few nights I went to bed hungry every night,” he said. “And nobody offered me as much as a noodle (they can be purchased from the list.) And I can’t stand to see another man going hungry. I won’t do it.”

Though Ashley said he’s happy to share his free world food with fellow inmates, there’s something in the jail he likes even more — leaving the jail.

“I can’t wait,” he said.

Ashley said due to a mix up, he’s not sure where, he thought he was sentenced to two years in jail.

But when he found out he only got six months and was later granted trusty status, he was elated.

“It was a great day, the best day here.”

And with little time left on his sentence, he’s looking forward to leaving the jail and getting back to his family.

Ashley’s release date is scheduled for this spring.

Ashley said the absolute worst part about life in jail is that he can seldom see his 12-year-old son.

Ashley’s said he doesn’t mind his son coming to jail for visits.

“Hopefully he can learn from me,” he said. “I hope he won’t make the same mistakes.”

Ashley said alcohol is the main reason he’s in the jail.

With motivation from God and the will to stay with his son, Ashley’s not planning on going back.

“When you slip down the wrong road the good Lord will find a way to bring you back,” he said. “Some people are going to stay with the Lord and some will never change.”

But Ashley’s planning to stay with the Lord, and his son.

“We’re getting back to church,” he said of his plans once out. “When we were in church we were a lot more happy.”

To add to that happiness Ashley’s planning to quit booze and spend at least a week with his son before getting back to work.

“I figure he’s got seven or eight years left before he’s own his own, and I want to make those good years for him,” he said. “I want him to have good memories.”