American prison stories
Discussion
10PS' prison diary seemed pretty popular on here so I thought I'd share some experiences. Let me know if you'd like to hear more.
I did 4 and a half years in 9 different jails/prisons in the US of A after David Blunkett signed off my US extradition warrant. Thanks mate.
OK, first up...
1. Gregory Gray
I spent 9 months in San Francisco County Jail awaiting sentencing, I was in one of the Gladiator tanks, number 2 (non-Mexicano gang affiliated, ie. not Sureño, Norteño, La Eme et al) with 28 bunks and about 12 or 13 guys on the floor with mattresses.
The deal is you get 1 piece of each item of clothing, let's hope you like orange.
So 1 sweatshirt, 1 pair of pants, 1 T-shirt, I pair of boxers etc. Tuesdays and Fridays are exchange days. Anyone caught with more than 1 of anything is subject to a write-up meaning they can take your visits, commissary or whatever they feel like doing that day.
I slipped one of the workers a Milky Way (what we call a Mars Bar
) for an extra decent T-shirt so I could wash one and still have one to wear.
Everyday there would be a tank inspection called a walkthrough by the cops in the morning (In the US all the jail/prison screws are called cops), so I asked Greg where the best place was to hide my extra T-shirt. He showed me a good spot right under the 3 toilets/sinks. So every morning before the inspection I would roll my T-shirt up and place it there.
All working well.
Now Greg gets the job as one of the tank cleaners and does a great job, he takes pride in doing it well. One day the cops come in and do a more thorough walkthrough than normal, not a full on shakedown though, I'll explain that later maybe. Anyway they find my T-shirt and DiBiasio, the Sergeant, says the useless cleaner didn't even clean under the sinks. The cops leave and then Greg starts going ballistic and says I want to know who TF left that T-shirt there and I want him out.
I know why he's in here.
He got fired from his job and went back a year later going a bit postal. He had a handgun and a shotgun, he shot and killed one guy then got the shotgun out but before he could loose off some shells he was wrestled to the ground.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article...
Anyway I thought if I 'fessed up and it got a bit tasty, even if I won how on earth am I going to sleep in the same tank with a bona fide homicidal maniac who's now got the hump so I just kept my counsel.
Also apart from him being a psycho-killer I wanted to keep on his good side as he got the San Francisco Chronicle everyday (a half-decent paper) and used to lend it to me.
He was also the only one in the tank who could regularly beat me at chess, in fact I think I only ever won one game against him and he wasn't chuffed.
When I got rolled up to move on, as I was waiting in the corridor I thought about telling him about the T-Shirt incident through the bars but I had visions of sitting in the holding cell and the poe-leece saying 'Your transfer has been cancelled, you have to go back to the tank'. s
t.
I see from the California state inmate locator he's now residing in Solano after being lifed off.
GRAY, GREGORY G60899 65 06/03/2009 Solano
CloaK
I've left this as I wrote it but as rightly pointed out it wasn't David Blunkett who signed my warrant but he did sign off the revamped extradition treaty.
I did 4 and a half years in 9 different jails/prisons in the US of A after David Blunkett signed off my US extradition warrant. Thanks mate.
OK, first up...
1. Gregory Gray
I spent 9 months in San Francisco County Jail awaiting sentencing, I was in one of the Gladiator tanks, number 2 (non-Mexicano gang affiliated, ie. not Sureño, Norteño, La Eme et al) with 28 bunks and about 12 or 13 guys on the floor with mattresses.
The deal is you get 1 piece of each item of clothing, let's hope you like orange.
So 1 sweatshirt, 1 pair of pants, 1 T-shirt, I pair of boxers etc. Tuesdays and Fridays are exchange days. Anyone caught with more than 1 of anything is subject to a write-up meaning they can take your visits, commissary or whatever they feel like doing that day.
I slipped one of the workers a Milky Way (what we call a Mars Bar
) for an extra decent T-shirt so I could wash one and still have one to wear.Everyday there would be a tank inspection called a walkthrough by the cops in the morning (In the US all the jail/prison screws are called cops), so I asked Greg where the best place was to hide my extra T-shirt. He showed me a good spot right under the 3 toilets/sinks. So every morning before the inspection I would roll my T-shirt up and place it there.
All working well.
Now Greg gets the job as one of the tank cleaners and does a great job, he takes pride in doing it well. One day the cops come in and do a more thorough walkthrough than normal, not a full on shakedown though, I'll explain that later maybe. Anyway they find my T-shirt and DiBiasio, the Sergeant, says the useless cleaner didn't even clean under the sinks. The cops leave and then Greg starts going ballistic and says I want to know who TF left that T-shirt there and I want him out.
I know why he's in here.
He got fired from his job and went back a year later going a bit postal. He had a handgun and a shotgun, he shot and killed one guy then got the shotgun out but before he could loose off some shells he was wrestled to the ground.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article...
Anyway I thought if I 'fessed up and it got a bit tasty, even if I won how on earth am I going to sleep in the same tank with a bona fide homicidal maniac who's now got the hump so I just kept my counsel.
Also apart from him being a psycho-killer I wanted to keep on his good side as he got the San Francisco Chronicle everyday (a half-decent paper) and used to lend it to me.
He was also the only one in the tank who could regularly beat me at chess, in fact I think I only ever won one game against him and he wasn't chuffed.
When I got rolled up to move on, as I was waiting in the corridor I thought about telling him about the T-Shirt incident through the bars but I had visions of sitting in the holding cell and the poe-leece saying 'Your transfer has been cancelled, you have to go back to the tank'. s
t. I see from the California state inmate locator he's now residing in Solano after being lifed off.
GRAY, GREGORY G60899 65 06/03/2009 Solano
CloaK
I've left this as I wrote it but as rightly pointed out it wasn't David Blunkett who signed my warrant but he did sign off the revamped extradition treaty.
Edited by CloaK on Monday 24th July 18:08
Interested by the initial reactions. The American prison system is a very, very sad place. Imagine a teenager on death row - for being linked to someone who committed the crime, but got 30 years. Google 'tent city jail' or 'sheriff Arpaio" - the US likes to hide behind being the 'leader of the free world' but often they're 'saving' countries from far less than they see acceptable. The sentences are ridiculous and show nothing for rehabilitation- hence why they have one of the highest repeat offender rates in the world.
Exige77 said:
shirt said:
this has the makings of a good thread. i take it you have another login? hence:
- what were you found guilty of?
It's probably a matter of public record, can't be that many people Blunkett extradited ?- what were you found guilty of?
Google is your friend
I listened to a great podcast about this recently with another Brit who was in prison in the US for 9.5 years after some serious drug charges...
http://www.modernmann.co.uk/
http://www.modernmann.co.uk/
Edited by Nick Grant on Tuesday 29th March 20:34
Blunkett signed the legislation to allow these to happen...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK%E2%80%93US_extrad...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK%E2%80%93US_extrad...
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