Clark County jailbirds focus of reality TV show

Schools are in trouble. Construction projects sit idled. And home prices are like those action figures clogging your pipes after being flushed by your son: It’s going to take an awful lot of work just to get them back to where they’re in the toilet.

But there is one thing Las Vegans can brag about: We’ve got some of the most interesting criminals in America!

The valley has long been a favorite stop for producer Morgan Langley’s “Cops,” and it was a frequent backdrop for his truTV series “Inside American Jail,” which was repackaged simply as “Jail” for MyNetworkTV.

But now, the Clark County Detention Center — with its clientele of drunken tourists, rowdy locals and enough prostitutes to make Charlie Sheen’s head spin — gets its own reality series in “Las Vegas Jailhouse” (10 p.m. today, truTV).

It fits perfectly with the rest of the drop-in programming on the cable channel, which could just as easily be known as shortattentionspanTV. Give the channel five minutes at almost any hour and it will give you at least one scene billed as the dumbest, wildest, most daring or most shocking thing on television.

Langley, who created “Jailhouse” with his father, “Cops” originator John Langley, says Las Vegas was chosen for its own series “because it stood out so much on ‘Inside American Jail,’ and the audience responded to it so much. We just felt like it was probably the most exciting venue for a jail-type program.”

And Langley knows what he’s talking about. Through his work, he has seen the inside of more jails than the cast of “Celebrity Rehab.”

“Clark County Detention Center is kind of America’s jail,” he reasons. “You get everybody from all over the country coming through that facility. And you really never know who you’re going to get.”

Early on, you get Barbara, her walk reduced to a halting shuffle, who was picked up on one of her numerous outstanding warrants. Which one? “There’s no tellin’,” she readily admits. (If you guessed prostitution, you’re obviously a fan of the genre.)

Then there’s Tim, a blue-collar sort of guy, who’s all riled up after being charged with DUI and speeding. He calms down considerably, though, once officers discover pink lingerie and black stockings under his T-shirt and jeans.

But for pure, goofy, ripped-from-a-Coen-brothers-movie drama, it’s hard to beat Justin, who recently served five years for attempted murder, and his girlfriend, Christina. Before they can be processed on attempted grand larceny charges — he masterminded a plan for her to steal a Yorkshire terrier from a veterinarian’s office — they’re caught trying to have sex in the jail’s restroom.

Christina, it seems, has priors and wanted to get pregnant before she’s sent to prison. And she’s none too happy that her plan was foiled. “We would’ve been having some wonderful sex in there,” she complains, “if you guys didn’t come bang on the door.”

But “Jailhouse” also makes room for tender moments.

Officer Nicole Sittre, one of the familiar faces from “Inside American Jail,” acts as a kind of den mother, looking out for some of the more troubled women. She does her best to make sure Sarah, who’s six months pregnant and charged with possession of a controlled substance, is no longer using. “I see some sad stuff in here,” Sittre confides, “and it makes me sad. Makes me cry.”

That’s just the sort of mix Langley is aiming for.

“I think part of what appeals to us about Vegas is that there are a lot of great characters, and there’s a lot of humor,” he says. “So that you’ll get really intense stories and harrowing things that happen in the jail, but you’ll also get just hilarious moments and kind of characters that you’ve never seen anywhere else.”

And, he adds, there’s no shortage of potential stories here, thanks to our revolving population of tourists.

“Jail is pretty democratic. Anybody can wind up (there), especially in Las Vegas, where people are running around thinking what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That’s not necessarily the case, I’m afraid.”

Christopher Lawrence’s Life on the Couch column appears on Sundays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.