WEBVTT - Prisons: Not as Fun as You'd Think 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.520 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:13.119 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.360 Clark with me as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.440 as if you're surprised. Uh, and that makes this stuff 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.360 you should know, right, Chuck, Yes, we are here, Josh, 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.240 and uh can we talk about prisons? Now? We can 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.120 talk about prisons. Remember in the Presidential Pardons episode, I 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:31.560 was talking about how people have been calling for President 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.920 Obama to reduced to basically issue a blanket pardon for 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.120 people who are convicted under the mandatory minimums for crack 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.960 where there's a huge disparity, and I said it was 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.240 like five to one. It's actually it was I think, um, 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.520 a hundred and eighty to one disparity. Right, boy got 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.320 that one wrong, did well? He did it like pretty 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:53.639 much as we were recording that he signed this law. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:58.360 Congress was passing this law that reduced the mandatory minimum 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.920 and basically, in a effect, overturned the sentences of first 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:05.040 time offenders who are convicted and we're given these five 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.560 years and anybody who was convicted under the old mandatory 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.119 minimum laws. So there's gonna be a lot of people 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.400 coming out of prison looking for crack. Well, that's one 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:16.960 argument that's not very fair to say. No, it's not. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.720 But I mean, isn't that kind of the the way 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.200 that Americans and probably people in general view prisoners. It's like, 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.440 you did something wrong, so you deserve to be where 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:29.119 you are. But that's without having any real concept of 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.800 what prison is like. I mean, I know I don't 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.160 want to be in prison. Have you ever seen the 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.440 movie An Innocent Man? Remember we talked about that Tom Selleck, 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.360 very scary scene. That was it for me. I was like, 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.760 I don't ever want to go to prison ever. Um. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:47.560 But that's about all I knew about it until we 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:52.840 started researching for this very robust podcast on how prison works. 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.600 So Chuck, um, I guess Apparently when this article was 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:02.040 written by Grabanowski, it was I think two thousand five 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.000 ish or that was the latest stats he had, and 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.240 it said he said that there were like more than 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:10.200 two million people in prison, right, and it's actually decreased. Yeah, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:12.120 I've got one point six million at the end of 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.320 oh nine. But when I look at these stats there, 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.120 they're all kinds of stats. Um. You know, one in 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.840 thirty one adults is in the correction system, but that 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:26.560 includes jail, prison, probation, and supervision. So they narrowed that 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.120 down to only in prison. One and every one hundred 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.160 Americans is in prison. I know. And that crazy. Did 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.960 you see what fair state topped the list for the 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.960 most number of adults in prison? That's right, Georgia, Georgia 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:42.760 one in thirteen people, one in thirteen adults, and Georgia's 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.040 in the correctional system. That's crazy. Yeah, we live in 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.160 a state of criminals. Either that or some like a 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.280 real police state, one of the two. Uh yeah, I'm 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.640 not gonna comment on that, said, Chuck, we should probably 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.200 calm down. Let's settle down here. Let's talk about prison. 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:03.560 Prisons a deterrent, it the punishment, and it's hopefully there's 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.079 increasingly it's becoming a place of reform and rehabilitation. We'll 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:11.280 talk about that a little bit um. But in the US, 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:17.720 there's pretty much three three types of security levels for prison, right, yeah, 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.520 with one extra little added measure that we'll talk about. 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.120 It's a big extra though. Yeah, you got a minimum, 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.760 you got medium, and you've got of course everyone's favorite 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:31.840 maximum security prisons and uh minimums security prison were we're 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.680 mainly going to cover maximum because that's really the most interesting. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.920 Even though I think they said like only or in max, 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.560 is that right? Well, according to the two thousand five stats, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.280 but um, minimum is more like like a college campus 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.240 that kind of thing. It's like that weekend that you 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.320 did orientation at the college you eventually went to. I 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.040 would think that's like minimum security prison, right, uh, And 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.520 that's definitely non violent offenders with pretty clean criminal records, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.000 or may be you've served time in a medium and 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:03.600 you were really good and they were like, yeah, let's 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.280 bump this dude down to maximum a minimum. Yeah, right, right, 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.200 then you've got medium, and that's the one that actually 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:14.200 you you would see most um on like television shows 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.960 or something, people think that's maximum, But when you see 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:19.800 prisoners able to like move around and play cards and 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.120 stuff like that, that's generally medium from what I understand. Right. Yeah, 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.760 they have like dorm room style accommodations a lot of 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.039 times with you know, eight or ten guys to a room. 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.720 Um and like you said, the little social day rooms 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.600 where they hang out and trade cigarettes and like on oz. Yeah, 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:39.200 exactly do horrific things to one. We'll get to that too. Uh. 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.480 And then of course the granddaddy of them all is 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:46.839 the maximum security prison. These are the violent offenders, guys 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.440 that have escaped or tried to escape. We're gonna say 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.880 guys a lot. Yes, I think less than ten percent 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.200 of the prison population is female. So it's not like 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:56.760 we're not trying to give the ladies their due. We 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.719 know you can do awful things as well, so props 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.200 to you, but we're gonna say dudes a lot. Well, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.719 there's and then there's a subcategory that it was pretty rare. Um. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:11.480 That came about in nine three at the maximum security 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:16.120 prison in um Marion, Illinois I think not Juliet Marian 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.800 right um. Two guards were murdered in two separate incidents 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.600 on the same day and the prison went into lockdown, 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.240 which bad coincidence. Is that what they called it, and 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.400 that's what I call it. The prison went into lockdown, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.039 which is where you're in your cell all day, you 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.359 can't move around, you can't do anything, you have no 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.919 freedom of movement. Um. And it remained in that state 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.760 ever since. So it basically gave birth to the super 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.440 max prison, right uh. And since then a lot of 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.520 prisons have been opened as super max prisons during a 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.760 state of lockdown, And if it sounds a bit familiar, 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.000 basically the entire prison is a series of solitary confinements 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.440 there the whole. Yeah, they call it officially, it's called 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.680 Security Housing Unit and s h U, but everyone calls 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.040 it the whole, just like in the movies. And as 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:07.200 far as prisons go, solitary confinement and then especially supermax 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:13.560 is extremely controversial, right. Um. Solitary confinement originally was created 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.159 in eighteen thirty by a warden and a prison in 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:21.839 Pennsylvania with the lofty goal of giving a convict nothing 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.040 but time to contemplate what he'd done, the bad thing 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.920 that he'd done. I think anything that was supposed in 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.120 eighteen thirty is a good way to punish people. You 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.800 might want to review that notion again here. And so, yeah, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.800 they basically found out that actually these are they don't 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.440 sit around and think about all the bad they've done. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.599 They kind of go nuts, and not just kind of 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.840 go nuts, They go clinically insane as anybody would, right, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.400 or they go in sort of insane and they really 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.000 go off the deep ends. Right. Because prison has also 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.760 and still remains used to um, how is the mentally 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:57.400 ill at times, not as much or as overtly as before, 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:02.040 but still you find the insane in prisons, right. Um. 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.160 The other problem with a super max facility, besides the 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:10.080 fact that it amounts to torture, psychological or otherwise, is that, um, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.080 these things, these places are reserved for the worst of 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:18.000 the worst, supposedly, and in any given state there's a 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.840 couple maybe of the worst of the worst. But a 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.960 super max prison may have a couple hundred cells. Yeah, 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:28.160 you gotta fill the cells somehow, so you have relatively 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:34.800 minor offenses or convicts, um going into super max prisons, 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.000 the killing themselves in a really horrible way. Yeah, this 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:38.640 is a big build up in the nineties. I think 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.280 they said by the end of the decade and of 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:45.160 the nineties that um, thirty different states had a super 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.240 max prison. Well, and you said that each state only 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.000 has a handful of dudes that even qualify. So, like 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:52.960 you said, they get put in there, they kind of 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:57.320 go through a zoocosis of sorts, like weird behavior like 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.960 the bears walking in circles. Um, except way way worse, way, 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.480 way worse. This one guy in Wisconsin, he was a 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.720 sixteen year old car thief. Another guy, twenty year old 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.240 David Tracy, hanged himself in a Virginia supermax and he 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.440 was nineteen and he had been there for two and 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.240 a half years for selling drugs. No, he'd been there 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:16.480 for a year and he had a two and a 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:18.840 half year sentence and he still hung himself. He couldn't 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.080 even make it a year, Kim halfway into a two 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.680 and a half year sentence because he was immediately put 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.840 in solitary confinement. Um, and then it gets worse. Apparently, 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.760 UM people have um been known to swallow razor blades. 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.000 One guy uh In in Indiana super max prison choked 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.960 himself to death with a washcloth, and another guy, twenty 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.920 one year old mentally ill prisoner in that same prison 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:46.760 set himself on fire and later died from those wounds. Yeah. 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:50.520 The good news, though, my friend, is that UM, a 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.920 lot of supermaxes have been downgraded since then, Like the 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.760 current trend is to downgrade your supermax to regular max. 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.600 So they're kind of getting the message a little bit 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.640 that we'd really don't need that to this many super 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.560 max presents. Yeah, apparently the nineties were bad. Yeah, but 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:10.439 there's only one federal supermax only one, which one a 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:14.520 d X in Florence, Colorado. A d X Florence. But 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.640 like you said, it's mostly on the state level. That's 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.240 for like the really really bad tax evaders. I imagine 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.040 a d X is not the kind of place you 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:23.960 want to take a tour. I wouldn't think that the 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:26.720 single federal supermax is not the kind of place you 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:58.560 want to be. It's a chuck, You buddy, have just 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:03.560 been popped, say, growing marijuana indoors, You're going to prison. 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.280 Let's come to terms with that, Okay, okay. Um, there's 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:13.560 a couple of ways that you actually get to prison, right, yeah, 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.560 and there as follows. You can take a taxi, which 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:18.960 apparently is more routine than we would imagine. I had 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.920 no idea. Um, you can be dropped off by a 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.720 friend or family member. That's what I would choose, as 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.400 in I think that's what Edward Norton. I'd have my 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.640 mom take me. Do you drop me off at prison? Right? Well? 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.520 And um, you can also take the prison bus. Right 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.880 It's called the diesel to Diesel tour because they'll you know, 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.480 it's a prison bus. It's not like some luxury greyhound uh, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.800 bus liner. You know how nice as greyhounds are. Oh yeah, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.680 they're nice. It's not like that, you know that it's 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.559 kind of cramped and nasty and smelly and it sounds 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.360 like a a locker room on wheels. Well not just that. 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:58.760 They you go take yourself to the sheriff's department and, um, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.160 you know, curse your family member for not being like, really, 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:02.840 couldn't just take me the rest of the way to 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.840 the prison. Um. So you get to the sheriff's department 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.319 and you basically just wait there for the prison bus 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.360 to come pick you up. And then you know, you 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.400 stop at sheriff's department, after Sheriff's department, after Sheriff's department. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.640 That's the insulting part. Yeah, You're like, all right, can 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:17.640 I go to prison? Can I just start this please? 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.640 And they're like, well, we gotta make six stops from 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:21.480 the way. Just hold on and the bus is going 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.720 to break down in exactly a minute. We're gonna go 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:28.920 pick up your future boyfriend first, so chuck. You um, 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:33.000 finally get to prison, right, thank god, those cookies that 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.440 your mom gave you have been taken away from you. 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.719 I mean just immediately you didn't even get to eat one. 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:40.840 They're chowing down on those, the guards are. And you 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.640 have a new moniker. You have a new name, a 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.280 new catch all name that describes you as a newly 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.280 inducted prisoner. You're a fish. Yeah, yeah, just like in 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:52.840 the movies. You know a lot of this. I thought, 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.440 that's just like in the movies. And it is just 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.520 like in the movies because they know a lot about prison. 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:59.520 So why would you make a prison movie that was 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.719 completely unrealistic right when you can make the real deal 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.880 and it's very compelling. Yeah, and we'll talk about movies too, 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.640 But yes, you are a fish, Josh. You're all your 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.200 stuff is taken and cataloged, hopefully kept. We'll get to 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.360 that later as well. Some of it might be lost 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.960 along the way. Uh. You are allowed to bring in 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.600 like your reading glasses and maybe a few books. No cookies, 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.120 no cookies, you're legal papers if you you know, were 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.880 into that. And so you're you're processed, right, and you're 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.640 actually processed often in full view of other cons in 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:32.120 the fish tank. And they call it, yeah, they call 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:33.760 it the fish tank because all the guys who are 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.359 already in prison can sit there and watch right. Um, 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.920 but they keep you segregated for about thirty days or more. 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.000 You had no idea what was that long? I didn't either. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.400 I thought they allowsed you. They sprayed you at the 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.800 fire hose, gave you an orange jumpsuit and threw you 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:50.760 in there. That's what I imagine. But yeah, no, for 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.480 thirty days you're basically segregated. I imagine what the other 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.280 fellas on the diesel tour you know, and um, you 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.680 are assigned a job most likely, but you're about fish 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.680 tank like you're on full display. Like for thirty days, 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:07.959 dudes are sizing you up. Well, Like in Shaw Shank 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:09.760 when they took bets on who was going to be 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.520 the first gut, first fish to break down and cry 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.640 that first night, it was that fat guy broke down 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.360 and cry, and then he got beaten and bad things 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:22.520 happen to him. I always confused that. In the Green Mile, 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.880 I didn't like that one. No, Sean Shank was definitely better, 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.960 but I often confused scenes they were shot almost exactly 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.520 the same. Yeah, I agreed. So, uh, once you get 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.960 out of your fish tank, you get your cell assignment, 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.760 you may get your job right and again for about 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.360 ten cents an hour. That's what you're paid. You should 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.080 I read the letter real quick. There's actually a site 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.040 on the web called prison talk dot com, and it's 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.040 not as hot as you would think now, but you 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.280 can go to forums there and read x cons and 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:56.800 maybe even some current cons if you have internet access 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.880 and like a minimum security talk about things on these 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.160 is in forms. So I found a letter of I 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.400 was digging around about jobs, and this one guy said 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.199 the worst job he had was being a dorm janitor. 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.800 He got paid forty cents a day. This is not 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.840 by the hour. Forty cents a day, five days a week. 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.079 There were four dorms total, about sixty guys in each, 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.400 two bathrooms in each. You don't want to have a 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.440 salaried prison job as a convict. I'm not sure if 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.560 that hit home. Sixty guys sharing two bathrooms and this 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.560 guy was in charge of cleaning that on a daily basis. 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.800 I do appreciate you repeating that. So he swept off 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.480 in he said he kept the dorm rooms clean. You've 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.640 never seen a battleground of chaos until you've seen a 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:41.560 bathroom after thirty guys take a shower, mud dirt, torn, tissue, 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.160 blue State soap, so I guess they get SOAPA signed 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.000 to them and never really thought about that. So anyway, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.200 tobacco spit in the in the hangout room, garbage um 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.040 cigarette butts from roll ups. Basically, this dude had to 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.400 clean that stuff up for forty cents a day and 0:14:58.400 --> 0:14:59.720 he said that was the worst job you ever had 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.320 in for his all right, and he didn't even mention 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:07.040 the fecal matter. Well, I think that's implicit. Well I 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.120 just made an explicit check. Yes, So that is one 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.640 example of a prison job that you can get um 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:14.920 and then you're off to your room, which I would 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.520 encourage everyone now to walk off eight ft by six 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.640 ft wherever they are and get a good look at 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:22.880 how large that is. And that's about the size of 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:27.520 your prison cell. That's close to what we're at right now. Yeah, 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:34.400 that's small, and that's a little claustrophobic. Usually, well it depends. 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.920 The Most prison cells are designed for one guy, and 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.840 then as prisons have grown increasingly overcrowded, they'll go and 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.400 like bolt a bunk to another bunk to the wall, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.440 and then while I you have a cell for two, 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.480 and then sometimes there's three. Whatever usually if it's designed 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.080 to house more than um one or two people that 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.760 it's a dorm and it can accommodate about eight guys 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.600 per cell. Right yeah, I mean we could do a 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.240 whole podcast on overcrowding and the issues there. That's like 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.760 a very deep problem, but we'll just mention it and 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:11.480 say it stinks. I'm beat literally and otherwise. Right, um, 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.720 so chuck the You've got the general population cellblocks, right, 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.000 which are all of the cell blocks aside from the 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.560 fish tank and maximum security, which is also known as 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:26.640 the whole right, and you've basically did you watch OZ 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.760 a little bit? I think from what I understand that 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.680 that's really accurate. I'm sure it is. So there's like 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.760 a centrally located guard and like loose sight or whatever. 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.120 They're like, you can't get through this, you know, operating 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.760 the all the cell blocked doors and like letting people 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:44.760 in and out, and they have a three and sixty 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.360 degree view right well, and each one I thought this 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.200 is interesting is fully each wing is fully staffed in 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.800 case you need to lock down that wing. You've got 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.640 all the dudes there, you need to take care of it, 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.160 and it can be sealed off from the rest of 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:03.040 the prison because apparently, um, the riot mob mentality can 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:07.840 spread like wildfire among the president population. Yes, yeah, so um, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.640 and you would think, you know, people try to escape, which, 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:12.879 by the way, there's a a double check. There's a 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:17.080 stuff you missed in history class podcast about Alcatraz and 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.880 the Great Escape. They Escape from Alcatraz, great movie. So 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.600 if you want to learn more about that one, you 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.399 can check that out, all right, if you're so inclined. Um, 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:27.720 But to make sure that no one has escaped at 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:32.879 any given point in time, they do counts through about 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.000 the same time every day, probably the same time every day. 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:37.639 They just do a head count where you have to 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.879 line up and they say, okay, everybody's here. Then at 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.800 night they walk around and count you while you're sleeping, 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:45.800 right yeah. And then not only are you there, but 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.160 you where you need to be. So if they say, well, Josh, 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.280 you're in Chuck cell again, you know where you need 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.960 to be, so they'll beat you down and take you 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:54.800 to your own cell. Right, I'll feel like I need 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:59.080 to be here, don't you hear our podcast? The Chuck 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.560 is my partner. I wonder what the good fellas uh 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.800 that had to be minimum or was that just a 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.199 sweetheart deal? That was a sweetheart to remember when they 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.200 were all in the same room, like cooking steaks. Yeah, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.120 the the one guy could slice the garlic so thin 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:16.400 it was liquefying the oil so great. So Chuck, let's say, Um, 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:21.160 you've become acclimated. You're no longer fish you. Um, you've 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.440 shanked your first guy. Um, and you you're settled in 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:29.720 for a nickel right, shank of verb? Yeah, it's shank 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.359 is a verb, and and down and shiv is also 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:36.359 another name for a shank, right, which is a homemade knife. Yes, okay, 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.399 I just want to get that clear. I don't know 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.440 that it is clear. Well, a shiv and a shank, 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.360 I know, can both be nouns for the knife. But 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:45.399 I've also heard that you can shank someone and you 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:47.520 can show someone you can. I think they're both nouns 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.480 and verbs very loosen prison for the same one. They're 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:56.200 very understanding. Yes, with the vocabulary. Um, so you settled 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:01.560 in and you are living your life in prison behind bars, 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:06.000 you know. Um, it's it's I would imagine, fairly horrible. 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:11.640 But there are bright and shining moments and those basically 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.800 consist of the trip to the commissary, right, yeah, and 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:16.560 I don't I didn't know this, they don't. You don't 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.280 see this a lot in movies. All you see is 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.359 the black market stuff. But there is actually a commissary 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.959 where you can you have an account where you your 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.600 little prison money goes into your account. They obviously don't 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.959 give you cash, that wouldn't be a good idea. And uh, 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.199 you go to the commissary and say, hey, I like, um, 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.119 whatever is approved on the list, you know, like a 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.239 pack of smokes and uh, People magazine and they're like, 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.399 well that's you know, three and a half dollars, So 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.679 go work for a month people from January? Yeah, who 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.840 sexiest man alive? And actually they debit each Each prisoner 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.640 has an ID card that is linked to basically their 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.040 prison work account. That's when they say their their debited 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.760 credits or given credits, and then it's debited from their 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.200 account when you buy stuff from the commissary. I learned 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.959 about that from Snoop Dogg. Really, so that's the fancy 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:12.680 modern prisons have it all electronically hooked up, which makes sense. 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.000 But um, like we said, there's also a black market 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.080 which you have seen in every prison movie ever, there's 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.760 dudes trading cigarettes for favors or for protection, or for 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:28.160 better books or better people magazines or whatever. And there's 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:33.920 also visits from out of doors. Yeah right, sure, you 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.639 get the bad stuff in a lot of times. Again, 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.120 good fellas, You remember Karen snuck in like those huge 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:44.359 bagged pills. I mean just like like in her purse 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.000 or in her bra or something. Yeah, they clearly didn't 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:51.000 check her. Again, I think that they got special treatment 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:53.840 and chuck. Um. One of the things that I would 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.760 imagine goes for a pretty high price, you know, maybe 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:02.760 a dozen cigarettes or so. Um is prison wine, right, Yeah, 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:06.359 which prison wine? Pruno? Have you ever seen the site 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.040 where the guy eats nasty things, Steve, Steve, don't eat it. 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.679 I think it's called um. It is really funny and 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.159 I saw this years ago. This guy made Pruno prison 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.640 wine in his house and it's made with like fruits. 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:23.199 It's sort of like a Sangree type of thing. Then 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.800 you put like moldy bread in a sock and it's 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.680 like soaking all together in a bag till it ferments, 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:33.080 and it's imagine pretty disgusting. Steve said it wasn't that bad. 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:36.080 He drank it. He did a white and a red. 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.359 He said the white smelled like wrecked um, but he 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:41.520 said it tasted just like alcohol. And he said the 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:45.600 red actually wasn't that bad at all. He said, he 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:50.400 said it tasted wine like and got him drunk, which 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.800 is which is the deal? And uh so that that 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.240 was the deal with Pruno. Wow. I wouldn't recommend trying 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.040 in this at home, by the way, No, but that's 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:01.200 the whole point. I mean, you're not at home, you're 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.159 in prison, and you want to get drunk, so you 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:06.120 make pruno. Yeah, unless someone wants to. Like you said, 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:09.439