...here in " Surf City " , Santa Cruz , CA...A guilty plea , if so , on " being-homeless " offenses , partly?? to clean my record...Wish I could say, here , it was at least busking-related but I just still a trainee there !!!!!!!!

Sounds like fun...
What can we, as buskers, learn from this?

...Well , yeah , it's - alleged - to be a " nice " , " progressive " " old hippy/lefty " sorta jail - allegedly - 'leastways in the " low-level drug offendors/et al " and " old guys/homeless " departments - Allegedly
I am afriad there's no instruments that I know of so any legendary Woody Guthrie/" Jailhouse Rock "/" In The Jailhouse Now " jam sessions might not be in the offing !!!!!!!!!

Get thrown into the pokey for busking-related offenses and at least you'll have more cred ?????????

...I did , during some April-May time , about a month's worth spread over a month & 1/2s' - as I said ,/predicted , I was - basically - physically all right , nothing really happening on that fromt -
The thing is , after my time there , on that , finished and I returned to San Jose - still homeless - I found out that San Francisco , based on the same concept of putting out a warrant for my arrest based on old " being-homeless " ticket hearings not shown up for on my part ( Since I couldn't pay 'em nohow . ) , had put out a warrant for my arrest based on the same Failure To Appear cncept , going back to original " offenses " as long ago as late 2008 , when Bush was still President - These " homeless offenses " all pre-dating my move to Santa Cruz , I believe , and definitely as far back as late 2008 - Again , San Francisco has a warrant out for my arrest based on similar homeless offenses going back before my move to Santa Cruz !

San Francisco actually gave you a ticket for being homeless?

You could always do the jail thing like my friend did to get rid of it all. He turned himself in for a warrant issued for unpaid bicycle tickets. As he sat in jail, they repeatedly tried to get him to settle with reduced fines, reduced time, etc.

Unfortunately for the city, my friend had read in the paper where it takes $400 a day to keep each prisoner in the local jail. He just kept telling them he wanted to "sit it out". He could see the look of frustration on their faces and knew he was close. Less than 5 days later, he was simply released with time served.

My friend had learned how the system works. 8)

...I'm thinking of something not dissimilar , actually , with the thought that getting some rest in the jail - I assume the " non-violent , and older " (and diabetic , plus another what could be - Okay , I'm officially diagnosed with Aspergers' Syndrom/High Functioning Autism ) wing would be fairly safe for a rather passive , non-troublemaker (moi ) type , plus , I've kind of arranged to at least get some books.magazines sent to me , if I'm in for a while...And , my diabetes-wise , I have this really nasty infection/open wound on my toe , which , spending idle time in the Santa Cruz jail before (about 3 weeks) , while getting regular basic pills and bandages changed , etcetera , for it ~ That helped , at that time , to have the toe heal - as in the wound growing smaller , and new skin growing over it - about 40% I'd say .
However , once I was out and walking upon the wound homeless again , the healedness(??) started almost immediately to disappear/go downhill .
Basically I've thought that some , more extended , Greybar time this way might , not entirely pleasant and depriving myself of many things and encounters with people as it might do (Including ALL of my Internet connections - In California jails & prisons inmates are allowed 100% NO access to the internet altogether !!!!!!!!! ) - I have thought that it might be worth a few months of my life , even if it psychologically messes me up a little , to walk out with " perfect "-ly healed barefoot-in sandals-suitable nice feet .
Did your friend do this in New Orleans ?
I'll add that , the coastal , vagely (tending toward being) liberal/lefty Northern California towns & cities DO tend toward nicer more " rehabilitative "-oriented conditions in general than most of the US , that was - I would certainly guess !!!!! - certainly somewhat the case in SC , and SF officially boasts of its " progressive penology " and I am , after all , a " non-violent older dude Aspie " with a fairly surface-polite withdrawing persnallity for protective coloration...(And an appearance somewhat like Gabby Hayes/a superannuated Grateful Dead-Sir Doug Sahm roadie ? Sheesh , boy , let's insult ourselves?? Perhaps the NOLA pokey might be a little too " hard-core " for me !!!!!!!!!!! Some traveling guys I came in contact with , I accidentally said some initials acronym identical with that for the NOLA (whether it's by county definition or whatever) local jail and he said " F*ck (initials ! " !
I got tickets for camping/sleeping WHILE HOMELESS , I guess .
I have absolutely no other prospect presenting itself of " somewhere to lie down and be idle after getting basic/minimal/okay foot treatment (some pills and bandaging) " , anyway...I don't have an aunt or Granny to stay with and rest , I'm homeless !!!!!!!!!!!

...This whole thing is on the back-burner now , but I don't think it's gone away entirely...I am still in Santa Cruz , and , (briefly) I AM NOW , AND HAVE BEEN FOR A WHILE , IN A mEDICAL-PAID REHAB PLACE _ uM , NURSING HIOME _ TRYING TO HAVE THE WOUNDS - iT'S BEEN ON BOTH BIG TOES FOR A WHILE NOW - HEAL , AND SEE IF/TO WHAT EXTENT I HAVE AN INFECTION IN MY BONE , AND AVOID AMPUTATION OF BOTH BIG TOES ~ O WORSE
ok , I SEE I ACCIDENTALLY PUSHD THE CAPITALS KEY ABOVE , AND DID NOT NOTICE (I AM NOT A " TRAINED TYPIST ":-( - Okay , NOW it's back to normal - I have had to deal with this INCREDIBLY slow machine , and , and you might see , this is a bit of an emotional one to let out - I don't want to take the time out to laboriously " erase and correct " - Anyway , I have been receiving treatment here , but , after an MRI , the medicals here indicated , more or less , that they felt my infection in both feet was too deep and they " had to " , essentially , soon do a both-toes amputation or " It could be worse ":-( .
They said a doing again the " deeper " treatment that I had before would , " likely " , not cure me (And , I think , that at least , possibly , to a certain extent they're sick of me/kind of are suspicious of me-don't like me much) :-( ! And , that my toes might improve a bit , but never get better . (I have been getting , as the " lighter " treatment I have been getting recently , what is supposed to be twice-daily rebandaging and salving with antibiotic ointment of my feet .)
It my be inevitable that I'll have to have the toes amputated , and that would be better than a foot - or half - or full - leg , but I'm in the mood now that I might leave this nursing home and have a " last dance " of a sort for a while before , I guess , submitting myself again to either this place or another place and I suppose/hope , getting rehab to be able to walk " normally " with only four toes each .
I'd sort of like to go around in sandals one more time .
I'd like to swim in the ocean - soak in the water , anyway - a little (I had been told that I shouldn't even go into the water in the main swimming beach here at Santa Cruz , for safety , due to my wound - Which IS less bad now than it's been brefore - due to the ocean being polluted enough that my open wound might , well...:-()
If my toes are on borrowed time , I am , kind of , planning to go on a " last dance " and be homeless again , and try to do a few things while it's a warm spring , as it is now (global warming to thank ?)...I didn't choose to be homeless , but it's what I am , I think the many-years-nondiagnosed Aspergers' certainly had something to do with it:--...
I mean , I guess I'd trhrow myself back into either this area's charity and eventually either accept an amputation here or elsewhere , and accept rehab help - Or hope for a " last moment calvary " non-amputation cure somehow , giving that one one more try-
I am still , I believe , on the probation in Santa Cruz that I went to jail under auspices of in the first place , which in fact , says I can't be on the main dragin downtown SC on pains of being " banged up " (Eh , mate ? Back in the pokey , that is .)...And , I think that San Francisco thing hasn't gone away completely , either , those warrants could be still somewhat active...perhaps tyravel around the Greater Bay Area , busk some , hope for some personal meetings , maybe " dry out " , ha ha , in jail ?????????

...I sort of used the jail time as an excuse to move myself/declare myself more Christian/go , at least some , to church services (I was sort of moving in that direction already before the April-May 2013 pokey booking...) .
Now , perhaps a cynical , nonreligious person would see it as " You're looking for a Big Daddyconsole yourself with ' pie in the sky by and by when you die '/give up responsibility "...
Maybe ??? (Lightning bolts whiz past me , but do not hit .)
Allegedly , intelligent religious faith involves doubt/questioning at times ? Whatever .
I dunno .

...Since this has been a pretty high-veiwed topic I might as well add to it I eventually had the bad toes amputated , in early 2015 . I wish it not been so , but...
I actually did do a little more Santa Cruz jail time , in mid-2015 ...Boost that ol' cred !
I am in San Francisco now , still officially homeless but in a temporary " stabilization room " now , however , I may be HL again soon there's some enviormental problems with what I think are harmful chemicals in the (a very old - by American standards - building) place I am at , for one .
I have been picking up the ol' buskeroonie again recent-like !