WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: Prisons - Not as Fun as You'd Think 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.320 M Hi, everybody, Chuck here, Welcome to Stuff you Should 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.360 Know selects. Every week, as you know, we pick out 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:09.680 curated episodes that were some of our favorites, and this 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:13.120 week I'm gonna go with Prisons Colon Not as Fun 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.640 as you think. This is from August twelve, two ten, 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.239 and quite frankly, this could have been probably a two 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:21.840 part episode. We may follow up at some point, but 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:26.360 it's a really good, honest look at prisons in the 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:31.000 United States and uh, just sort of the state of things. 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.320 And it was very eye opening for me and Josh 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:35.840 I remember, and it's got a good title to boot 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.720 courtesy of Mr Josh Clark. So here we go with 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:51.040 Prisons Colon Not as Fun as you think. Welcome to 0:00:51.440 --> 0:01:00.520 Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.560 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.840 as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant as if you're surprised, Uh, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.600 and that makes this stuff you should know, right, Chuck, Yes, 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.200 we are here, Josh, and uh can we talk about prisons? Now? 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.280 We can talk about prisons. Remember in the Presidential Pardons episode, 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.399 I was talking about how people have been calling for 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.119 President Obama to reduced to basically issue a blanket pardon 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.120 for people who are convicted under the mandatory minimums for 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.240 crack where there's a huge disparity, and I said it 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.399 was like five to one. It's actually it was I think, um, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:37.119 a hundred and eighty to one disparity. Right, boy, Well 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.000 he did it like pretty much as we were recording 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:44.320 that he signed this law or Congress was passing this 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:49.680 law that reduced the mandatory minimum and basically in effect 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.040 overturned the sentences of first time offenders who are convicted 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.280 and we're given these five years and anybody who was 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.920 convicted under the old mandatory minimum laws. So there's gonna 0:01:59.920 --> 0:02:01.880 be a lot of people coming out of prison looking 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.240 for crag. Well that's one argument that's not very fair 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.560 to say. No, it's not, But I mean, isn't that 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:11.040 kind of the the way that Americans and probably people 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.560 in general view prisoners. It's like, you did something wrong, 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:15.840 so you deserve to be where you are. But that's 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:20.640 without having any real concept of what prison is like. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.120 I mean, I know I don't want to be in prison. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:25.760 Have you ever seen the movie An Innocent Man? Remember 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:30.640 we talked about that Tom Sellick, very scary scene. That 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:32.560 was it for me. I was like, I don't ever 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.720 want to go to prison ever. Um. But that's about 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.079 all I knew about it until we started researching for 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:45.080 this very robust podcast on how prison works. So chuck, um, 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:49.239 I guess apparently when this article was written by Grabanowski, 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.000 it was I think two thousand five is short. That 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.160 was the latest stats he had, and it said he 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:56.440 said that there were like more than two million people 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.919 in prison, right, and it's actually decreased. Yeah, I've got 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.080 one point six million at the end of oh nine. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.000 But when I look at these stats there, they're all 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.040 kinds of stats. Um. You know, one in thirty one 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:13.760 adults is in the correction system, but that includes jail, prison, probation, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.320 and supervision. So they narrowed that down to only in prison. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.080 One and every one hundred Americans is in prison. I know. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.560 And that crazy. Did you see what fair state top 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:26.880 the list for the most number of adults in prison? 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.680 That's right, Georgia, Georgia one in thirteen people, one in 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:34.720 thirteen adults, and Georgia's in the correctional system. That's crazy. Yeah, 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.840 we live in a state of criminals either that or 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.480 some like a real police state one of the two. Uh. Yeah, 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:43.480 I'm not gonna comment on that. It's a chuck. We 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.920 should probably calm down. Let's settle down here. Let's talk 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:51.360 about prison. Prison is a deterrent, it's a punishment, and 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.840 it's hopefully there's increasingly it's becoming a place of reform 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.920 and rehabilitation. And we'll talk about that a little bit. Um. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:04.040 But in the US, there's pretty much three three types 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.960 of security levels for prison, right, Yeah, with one extra 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.600 little added measure that we'll talk about. It's a big 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:14.080 extra though. Yeah, you got a minimum, you've got medium, 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.599 and you've got of course everyone's favorite maximum security prisons 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.960 and uh minimums security prison. We we're mainly going to 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.840 cover maximum because that's really the most interesting. Even though 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.839 I think they said like only or in max is 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.919 that right? Well, according to the two thousand five stats, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.640 but um minimum is more like like a college campus, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:37.599 that kind of thing. It's like that weekend that you 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.680 did orientation at the college you eventually went to. I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:44.720 would think that's likeum security prison, right, Uh. And that's 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:49.120 definitely non violent offenders with pretty clean criminal records or 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.640 maybe you've served time in a medium and you were 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.240 really good, and they were like, yeah, let's bump this 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:57.200 dude down to maximum or minimum. Yeah, right, right, then 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:59.840 you've got medium. And that's the one that actually you 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:04.039 you would see most um on like television shows or something, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.200 people think that's maximum. But when you see prisoners able 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.800 to like move around and play cards and stuff like that, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.600 that's generally medium from what I understand. Right. Yeah, they 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.520 have like dorm room style accommodations a lot of times 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.200 with you know, eight or ten guys to a room. Um, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.280 and like you said, the little social day rooms where 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.520 they hang out and trade cigarettes and like on oz. Yeah, exactly, 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.560 do horrific things to when they We'll get to that too. Uh. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.880 And then of course the grandaddy of them all is 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:36.200 the maximum security prison. These are the violent offenders, guys 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:38.800 that have escaped or tried to escape. We're gonna say 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.240 guys a lot. Yes. I think less than ten percent 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.560 of the prison population is female. So it's not like 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.120 we're not trying to give the ladies their due. We 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.680 know you can do awful things as well. It's so 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.560 props to you, but we're gonna say dudes a lot. Well, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:56.080 there's and then there's a subcategory that it was pretty rare. Um. 0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:01.159 That came about in nine at the maximum security prison 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:06.760 in um Marian, Illinois I think not Juliet Marian, right um. 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.400 Two guards were murdered in two separate incidents on the 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.479 same day and the prison went into lockdown, which bad coincidence. 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:16.039 Is that what they called it, and that's what I 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.640 call it. The prison went into lockdown, which is where 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.280 you're in your cell all day, you can't move around, 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.599 you can't do anything, you have no freedom of movement. Um. 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.200 And it remained in that state ever since. So it 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.240 basically gave birth to the super max prison, right uh. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.200 And since then a lot of prisons have been opened 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.840 as super max prisons. They're in a state of lockdown. 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.159 And if it sounds a bit familiar, basically the entire 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.599 prison is a series of solitary confinements there the whole. Yeah, 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.160 they call it officially, it's called Security Housing Unit and 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.080 s h U, but everyone calls it the whole, just 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.400 like in the movies. And as far as prisons go, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:58.520 solitary confinement and then especially super max is extremely controversial, 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:03.760 right um Uh. Solitary confinement originally was created in eighteen 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.160 thirty by a warden and a prison in Pennsylvania, with 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.800 the lofty goal of giving a convict nothing but time 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.120 to contemplate what he'd done, the bad thing that he'd done. 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.360 I think anything that was supposed in eighteen thirty is 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:19.960 a good way to punish people. You might want to 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:24.800 review that notion again here. And so, yeah, they basically 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.600 found out that actually these are they don't sit around 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:30.160 and think about all the bad they've done. They kind 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.440 of go nuts, and not just kind of go nuts, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.800 they go clinically insane as anybody would, right, or they 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.040 go in sort of insane, and they really go off 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.920 the deep end. Right because prison has also and still 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.160 remains used to Um, how is the mentally ill at 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.880 times not as much or as overtly as before, but 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.600 still you find the insane in prisons, right. Um. The 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.800 other problem with a super max facility, besides the fact 0:07:54.800 --> 0:08:00.000 that it amounts to torture, psychological or otherwise, is that, um, 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.440 these things, these places are reserved for the worst of 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.360 the worst, supposedly, and in any given state there's a 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.559 couple maybe the worst of the worst, But a super 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.640 max prison may have a couple hundred cells. Yeah, you 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:18.080 gotta fill the cells somehow, So you have relatively minor 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:24.640 offenses or convicts, um going into super max prisons killing 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:26.640 themselves in a really horrible way. Yeah, this is a 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.360 big build up in the nineties. I think they said 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.280 by the end of the decade and of the nineties 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:35.160 that um, thirty different states had a super max prison. 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:38.240 And you said that each state only has a handful 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:40.920 of dudes that even qualify. So, like you said, they 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:42.719 get put in there, they kind of go through a 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:47.520 zookosis of sorts, like weird behavior like the bears walking 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.800 in circles. Um, except way way worse, way, way worse. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.439 This one guy in Wisconsin, he was a sixteen year 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:58.240 old car thief. Another guy, twenty year old David Tracy, 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.760 hanged himself in a Virginia super max and he was 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:02.880 nineteen and he had been there for two and a 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.720 half years for selling drugs. No, he'd been there for 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:06.040 a year and he had a two and a half 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.400 year sentence and he still hung himself. He couldn't even 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:10.559 make it a year halfway into a two and a 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.760 half year sentence because he was immediately put in solitary confinement. UM, 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.280 and then it gets worse. Apparently, UM people have um 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.200 been known to swallow razor blades. One guy uh in 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.240 in Indiana super max prison choked himself to death with 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.120 a washcloth, and another guy, twenty one year old mentally 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.800 ill prisoner in that same prison, set himself on fire 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:37.480 and later died from those wounds. Yeah. The good news, though, 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:41.079 my friend, is that um, a lot of supermaxes have 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.040 been downgraded since then, Like the current trend is to 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.400 downgrade your supermax to regular max. So they're kind of 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.760 getting the message a little bit that we really don't 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.400 need that to this many super max prisons. Yeah, apparently 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.959 the nineties were bad. Yeah, but there was only one 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:00.480 federal super max, only one, which one a d X 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.480 in Florence, Colorado. A d X Florence. But like you said, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.480 it's mostly on the state level. That's for like the 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.240 really really bad tax evaders. I imagine a d X 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:11.880 is not the kind of place you want to take 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.480 a tour. Think that the single federal supermax is not 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:47.560 the kind of place you want to be. It's a chuck, you, buddy, 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:52.400 have just been popped. Say, growing marijuana indoors. You're going 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:57.360 to prison. Let's come to terms with that, okay, okay, Um, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.480 there's a couple of ways that you actually get to prison, 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.680 right yeah, and there as follows. You can take a taxi, 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.160 which apparently is more routine than we would imagine. I 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.959 had no idea. Um, you can be dropped off by 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.720 a friend or family member. That's what I would choose, 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.640 as in, I think that's what Edward Norton. I'd have 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.000 my mom take me. Do you drop me off at prison? Right? Well? 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.880 And um, you can also take the prison bus. Right 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.240 It's called the Diesel to Diesel tour because they'll you know, 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.359 it's a prison bus. It's not like some luxury greyhound 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.559 uh bus liner. You know how nice as greyhounds are. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.720 Oh yeah, they're nice. It's not like that. You know that. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.640 It's kind of cramped and nasty and smelly and it 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.280 sounds like a a locker room on wheels. Well, not 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.080 just that. They you go take yourself to the sheriff's 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.720 department and um, you know, curse your family member for 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:51.720 not being like, really, couldn't just take me the rest 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.160 of the way to the prison. Um, So you get 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.920 to the sheriff's department and you basically just wait there 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.679 for the prison bus to come pick you up. And 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.800 then you know, you stop at sheriff's department, after Sheriff's department, 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.840 after Sheriff's department. That's the insulting party. You're like, all right, 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.000 can I go to prison? Can I just start this please? 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:08.920 And they're like, well, we gotta make six stops on 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:10.960 the way. Hold on, and the bus is going to 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.440 break down in exactly minute. We're gonna go pick up 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:19.080 your future boyfriend first, So Chuck, you um finally get 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.920 to prison, right, Thank god, those cookies that your mom 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.080 gave you have been taken away from you. I mean 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.319 just immediately. You didn't even get to eat one. They're 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.360 showing down on those, the guards are and you have 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.320 a new moniker. You have a new name, a new 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:38.000 catch all name that describes you as a newly inducted prisoner. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.079 You're a fish. Yeah, yeah, just like in the movies. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:42.640 You know a lot of this. I thought, that's just 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.040 like in the movies, And it is just like in 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:47.000 the movies because they know a lot about prison. So 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.400 why would you make a prison movie that was you know, 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.160 completely unrealistic right when you can make the real deal 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.240 and it's very compelling. Yeah, and we'll talk about movies too. 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.000 But yes, you are a fish, Josh, You're all your 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.560 stuff is taken and cataloged, hopefully kept. We'll get to 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:03.720 that later as well. Some of it might be lost 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:07.280 along the way. Uh. You are allowed to bring in 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:09.960 like your reading glasses and maybe a few books. No cookies, 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.480 No cookies, you're legal papers if you you know, were 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.280 into that, and so you're you're processed, right, and you're 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:20.000 actually processed, often in full view of other cons in 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:21.520 the fish tank. And they call it, Yeah, they call 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:23.160 it the fish tank because all the guys who are 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.720 already in prison can sit there and watch. Right. Um, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.280 but they keep you segregated for about thirty days or more. 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.360 You had no idea what was that long? I didn't either. 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.760 I thought they lowsed you. They sprayed you at the 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.160 fire hose, gave you an orange jumpsuit and threw you 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.120 in there. That's what I imagine. But yeah, no, for 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.840 thirty days you're basically segregated. I imagine what the other 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.640 fellas on the diesel tour, you know, and um, you 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:51.240 are assigned a job most likely tank like you're on 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:56.480 full display, like for thirty days. Dudes are sizing you up, hungry. Well, 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.800 like in Shawshank when they took bets on who was 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.160 going to be the first guy, first fish to break 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.280 down and cry that first night, it was that fat 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.040 guy broke down and cry, and then he got beaten 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:11.160 and bad things happen to him. I always confused that 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.800 in The Green Mile, I didn't like that one. No, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.880 Sean Schenk was definitely better, but I often confused scenes 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:21.440 they were shot almost exactly the same. Yeah, agreed. So uh, 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:25.200 once you get out of your fish tank, you get 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.240 your cell assignment, you may get your job right and 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.040 again for about ten cents an hour. That's what you're paid. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.880 You should. I read the letter real quick. There's actually 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.040 a site on the web called prison talk dot com 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.320 and it's not as hot as you would think, but 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.480 you can go to forums there and read x cons 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.840 and maybe even some current cons if you have internet 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.080 access and like a minimum security talk about things on 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.520 these prison forms. So I found a letter of I 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.760 was digging around about jobs, and this one guy said 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.560 the worst job he had was being a dorm janitor. 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.360 He got paid forty cents a day, the not by 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.240 the hour, forty cents a day, five days a week. 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.440 There were four dorms total, about sixty guys in each, 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.680 two bathrooms in each. You don't want to have a 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.840 salaried prison job as a convict. I'm not sure if 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.920 that hit home. Sixty guys sharing two bathrooms and this 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.920 guy was in charge of cleaning that on a daily basis. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.160 I do appreciate you repeating that. So he swept off 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.840 in He said he kept the dorm rooms clean. You've 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.040 never seen a battleground of chaos until you've seen a 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.920 bathroom after thirty guys take a shower, mud dirt, torn tissue, 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.520 blue state soap. So I guess they get SOAPA signed 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.400 to them and never really thought about that. So anyway, 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:41.640 tobacco spit in the in the hangout room, garbage, um, 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:45.400 cigarette butts from roll ups. Basically, this dude had to 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.760 clean that stuff up for forty cents a day. And 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:49.120 he said that was the worst job you ever had 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:53.680 in prison. And he didn't even mention the fecal matter. Well, 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:58.400 I think that's implicit. Well I just made an explicit chuck. Yes, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.680 So that is one example of a prison job that 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.240 you can get um and then you're off to your room, 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.200 which I would encourage everyone out to walk off eight 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.440 ft by six ft wherever they are and get a 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.640 good look at how large that is. And that's about 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.840 the size of your prison cell. That's close to what 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:19.200 we're at right now. Yeah, that's small, and that's a 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:25.120 little claustrophobic. Usually, well it depends. The most prison cells 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.200 are designed for one guy, and then as prisons have 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:32.240 grown increasingly overcrowded, they'll go and like both a bunk 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.000 to another bunk to the wall, and then while you 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.000 have a cell for two and then sometimes there's three whatever. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.160 Usually if it's designed to house more than um one 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.640 or two people that it's a dorm and it it 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.560 can accommodate about eight guys per cell. Right, yeah, I 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.560 mean we could do a whole podcast on overcrowding and 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.000 the issues there. That's like a very deep problem, but 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.120 we'll just mention it and say it stinks. I'm beat 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.320 literally and otherwise right yeah, um, so chuck, the you've 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:05.760 got the general population cellblocks, right, which are all of 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.240 the cell blocks aside from the fish tank and maximum 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:13.320 security which is also known as the whole right, and 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:17.800 you've basically did you watch OZ a little bit? I 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.960 think from what I understand that that's really accurate. I'm 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.439 sure it is. So there's like a centrally located guard 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.920 and like loose sight or whatever. They're like, you can't 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:30.359 get through this, you know, operating the all the cell 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.919 blocked doors and like letting people in and out, and 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.880 they have a three and sixty degree view right well, 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:37.840 and each one I thought this is interesting, is fully 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.199 each wing is fully staffed in case you need to 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.920 lock down that wing. You've got all the dudes there, 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.280 you need to take care of it, and it can 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.840 be sealed off from the rest of the prison because apparently, um, 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.760 the riot mob mentality can spread like wildfire among the 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.840 president population. Yes, yeah, so um, and you would think, 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.440 you know, people try to escape, which, by the way, 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.920 there's a a double check. There's a stuff you missed 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:07.160 in history class podcast about Alcatraz and the Great Escape. 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:10.760 They escape from Alcatraz, great movie. So if you want 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:12.639 to learn more about that one, you can check that out, 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.640 all right, if you're so inclined. Um, But to make 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.800 sure that no one has escaped at any given point 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:22.960 in time, they do counts through about the same time 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.879 every day, probably the same time every day. They just 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:27.760 do a head count where you have to like line 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.240 up and they say, okay, everybody's here, right. Then at 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.040 night they walk around and count you while you're sleeping, right, yeah. 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:35.560 And then not only are you there, but you where 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.560 you need to be. So if they say, well, Josh, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.680 you're in Chuck cell again, you know where you need 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.359 to be, so they'll beat you down and take you 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:44.160 to your own cell. Right, I'll feel like I need 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:48.440 to be here, don't you hear our podcast? The Chuck 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.920 is my partner. I wonder what the good fellas? Uh 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.159 that had to be minimum or was that just a 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.560 sweetheart deal? That was a sweetheart to remember when they 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.560 were all in the same room, like cooking steaks. Yeah, 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.480 they the one guy could slice the garlic so thin 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.800 it would liquefying the oil so great. So Chuck, let's say, um, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:10.520 you've become acclimated. You're no longer fish you. Um, you've 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.800 shanked your first guy. Um, and you you're settled in 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:19.320 for a nickel right. Shank of verb? Yeah, shank is 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.200 a verb and and doun and shiv is also another 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.760 name for a shank, right, which is a homemade knife. Yes, okay, 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:27.760 I just want to get that clear. I don't know 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.800 that it is clear. Well, a shiv and a shank, 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:32.719 I now, can both be nouns for the knife. But 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.840 I've also heard that you can shank someone and you 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:36.919 can show someone you can. I think they're both nouns 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:39.840 and verbs very loosen prison for the same one. They're 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:45.560 very understanding, yes, with the vocabulary. Um, so you've settled 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:50.919 in and you are living your life in prison behind bars, 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:55.400 you know. Um, it's it's I would imagine fairly horrible. 0:19:55.440 --> 0:20:01.000 But there are bright and shining moments and those basically 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.159 consist of the trip to the commissary, right, yeah, And 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:05.920 I don't I didn't know this, they don't. You don't 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:07.679 see this a lot in movies. All you see is 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.719 the black market stuff. But there is actually a commissary 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.360 where you can you have an account where you your 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.000 little prison money goes into your account. They obviously don't 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.320 give you cash. That wouldn't be a good idea. And uh, 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:21.560 you go to the commissary and say, hey, I like, um, 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:23.480 whatever is approved on the list, you know, like a 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:27.600 pack of smokes and uh People magazine and they're like, 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.760 well that's you know, three and a half dollars. So 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:36.520 you go work for a month People from January, Sexiest 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:41.560 Man Alive. And actually they debit each Each prisoner has 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.440 an ID card that is linked to basically their prison 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:49.160 work account. That's when they take their their debited credits 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.520 or given credits, and then it's debited from their account 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.840 when you buy stuff from the commissary. I learned about 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:59.639 that from Snoop Dogg. Really, so that's the fancy modern 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.080 prisons have it all electronically hooked up, which makes sense. 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.359 But um, like we said, there's also a black market, 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.440 which you have seen in every prison movie ever. There's 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:12.119 dudes trading cigarettes for favors or for protection, or for 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:17.520 better books or better People magazines or whatever. And there's 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:23.280 also visits from out of doors. Yeah right, sure you 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.000 get the bad stuff in a lot of times. Again, 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.480 good fellas, you remember Karen snuck in like those huge 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:33.720 bag pills. I mean just like like in her purse 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.360 or in her bra or something. Yeah, they clearly didn't 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.320 check her. Again, I think that they got special treatment, 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.960 right and chuck um one of the things that I 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:46.680 would imagine goes for a pretty high price, you know, 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:52.119 maybe a dozen cigarettes or so. Um is prison wine, right, Yeah? 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.720 Which prison wine? PRUNEO. Have you ever seen the site 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.439 where the guy eats nasty things, Steve, Steve, don't eat it. 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.040 I think it's called um. It is really funny And 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:05.520 I saw this years ago. This guy made Pruno prison 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:10.000 wine in his house and it's made with like fruits. 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:12.560 It's sort of like a Sangree type of thing. Then 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.200 you put like moldy bread in a sock and it's 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.040 like soaking all together in a bag till it ferments, 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:22.440 and it's imagine pretty disgusting. Steve said it wasn't that bad. 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:25.480 He drank it. He did a white and a red. 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.760