J.C. isn’t a jailbird. The name J.C. stands for “jailhouse cat.” The Siamese-point cat has lived in the administrative offices of the Spartanburg County Detention Facility in South Carolina since July 2006, when the facility director’s wife found him as a kitten under her car, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports.
Now, J.C. spends his days in the detention center’s administrative offices, interacting with officers and administrators and entertaining office visitors. He has no contact with inmates, and he is moved to a back room when drug-sniffing dogs come by. The cat spends his nights in the employee weight room, where employees keep his food bowl and litterbox. Employees pay for all of J.C.’s food and supplies from their own pockets but don’t mind the costs, they say.
Officers say that having J.C. onsite helps them cope with the demands of their jobs. “A lot of officers have said, ‘When I have a stressful day, I’ll take my five-minute break and come back here and play with him,’” Hope Byers, the jail’s senior administrative assistant, said.
J.C. loves to oblige, she added, saying that he can get frisky. Generally, though, he is an easygoing, happy cat. “He thinks he’s the king of the jungle around here,” Byers said.