I think it was in one of the Yahoo Graham Yost interviews where it was mentioned they did the tanning bed scene to explain why Duffy was so tan all the time since the character is not the outdoorsy type. In real life Jere Burns surfs a lot.

Danny stabbed the stuttering brother from Monk in the first episode.

and why would an inmate who is going to get out the next day shiv a guard?

That might be more about The Following than Justified.