Solving crimes: Is it in the cards?

San Francisco Chronicle

DUBLIN, Calif. — Deal a hand and solve an old murder: that’s what Alameda County, Calif. sheriff’s officials hope will happen now that 4,400 jail inmates have been given playing cards with pictures of decades-old homicide victims or missing people.

Each deck of cards features 13 cases that detectives have yet to crack. A picture of someone’s loved one, along with details of what happened and promises of a reward, are printed on one side of the card, and an Alameda County sheriff’s badge and a phone number for tips are on the other. Each case is on cards in all four suits.

Investigators figured that with a captive audience that already spends hours playing cards, someone might play the ace and drop a dime. It’s like the “Have you seen me?” program on milk cartons, with a twist, said sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Dudek, who announced the program Tuesday while flanked by relatives of people who were killed or who have disappeared.

Inmates are “always playing cards,” Dudek said at a news conference. “They sit there and they’re looking at these 13 cases over and over and over.”

The hope is that a group of four inmates will play a game, then return to their two-person cells and talk about the case. The cellmates may not have tips, but they may know someone who does.

Alameda County has a contract to house both state and federal inmates, so those cards might do some traveling.

Some inmates might offer information in exchange for lighter sentences, Dudek said.

“Those people over there in that jail,” he said, pointing toward the adjacent Santa Rita Jail, “they are our greatest source of information. You want to play cards? Go play cards. It’s not a secret that inmates constantly are looking for deals.”

But inmate Essley Green, 44, of Oakland, who has served about two years of a 15-year state prison sentence for robbery, wasn’t so sure the cards would generate leads. Inmates rarely want to snitch, even in exchange for a reward or leniency, he said.

“It sounds good, but is your life worth that?” Green asked while taking a break from a card game with three friends in the jail’s Housing Unit 3 on Tuesday.

“It’s slim, but it’s possible,” Green said of the chance of inmate-driven tips. “If it solves one case, it’s better than nothing.”