Question: What's the difference between the Hamilton County Justice Center downtown and the jail in Queensgate? Is one for different types of crime or how long people are staying? Also, I've heard the jumpsuits inmates wear are color coded — orange for one thing, blue for another. True?

        Answer: This is two questions, but Steve Barnett, spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, can answer both.

        First the fashion statement: “All our inmates wear blue jumpsuits, but when our porters go out on detail they wear orange. Porters are like trustys — minimum-risk inmates who volunteer for the position.”

        The difference between the two jails, he says, is a security issue:

        “The difference between them is Queensgate is a contract facility for low-risk and a few medium-risk inmates. It's an open dorm layout for inmates who can get along in that sort of situation.

Blue is for “inmates,” orange is for “porters.”

        “The Justice Center is a permanent facility for medium to maximum-risk inmates. It has pods with cells off the pods.

        “It's also our primary facility where we handle intake. That means inmates are classified as to their security level, medical situation, psyche, suicide risk, that sort of thing.

        “Whether someone goes to either one has nothing to do with length of stay.”

        If you have a stupid question, send it to Ask a Stupid Question, Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati OH 45202; fax: 768-8330.

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