Survivors Guide to Prison Page #6

"So, did you do it?"

Well, you have to say yes

because it has to be

consistent with everything.

"Well, how'd you do it?"

I didn't have adequate answers

for these questions.

So, they didn't buy it,

in a sense.

And, you know, rightly so.

And they sent a report

that was dispositive,

a negative report

back to the judge.

And he said, "I didn't realize

that youth authority

wouldn't be able to help you,

and so I'll allow you

to take back your guilty plea

and go ahead with trial.

Or I'll sentence you

to state prison right now."

So that began

another period of waiting.

[Susan] It would be well

over a year

before Bruce would get

another trial date.

23 hours a day in a cell

in isolation,

no contact with other juveniles,

only counselors,

one hour out for recreation.

And while they might not be

able to introduce

an alternate suspect,

Bruce demanded his lawyer

knock down every argument

the prosecution could make.

The prosecutor said Bruce could

not have seen his mother's body

through the back window

of the house.

The sun's reflection

in the glass

and the furniture

would've blocked his view.

His defense

was the crime scene pictures

were taken

on a much sunnier day.

The prosecution claimed

all the bloody footprints

in the house

matched Bruce's shoes.

Bruce's defense said

his fingerprints

were not found anywhere

in the crime scene.

There was no evidence

that he wiped anything down

or made any attempt

to cover his tracks

because Bruce

had nothing to hide.

The prosecution

called Robert Hughes,

who claimed Bruce confessed

in the 7000 module

of county jail,

and the defense compared

Robert Hughes

to a used car salesman

who wasn't to be trusted.

Then, one day, they rapped

their keys on the door

and they said,

"Lisker, it's a verdict."

And my dad was there.

He was there

just every court day,

and he was right there

in the front row,

and we were just, you know...

eye contact,

but you can't really talk

because you're not allowed to...

it's not a visit, you know,

you're not allowed to visit

with your...

But he was... he was there,

and the jury comes in

one by one, you know,

excruciatingly slow,

sits down,

and the judge speaks.

"Have you reached a verdict?"

"Yes, we have.

In the matter of

People vs. Bruce Lisker,

we the jury find

the defendant..."

and they said "guilty."

And it was just...

the bottom literally fell out

of my world.

That's it.

It's over, isn't it?

It's my life.

When you've been

falsely accused,

your only hope

is for your attorney

to directly challenge

the veracity of the police.

My attorney seemed unwilling

to go that far.

He never outright said,

"Isn't it true

that you're just lying

about all of this?

Here's the investigatory work

that I did

that proves

that you're just a liar."

And he never did that.

[Matthew] And this

is part of a larger problem

that David Sirota

calls the authority bias.

Authority bias meaning

the government, an institution

says somebody did something,

and they must've done it.

And what's strange about it

is that this is a country

that in one way

the American zeitgeist is,

"I don't trust... the government

can't do anything right.

I don't trust anything

the government says."

And yet at another level,

at the very same time

that that's the dominant

rhetorical paradigm

in our politics,

there is this authority bias

where, when the government

accuses somebody of a crime

or says somebody's a wrongdoer,

reflexively, millions

and millions of Americans

think it must be true.

- Am I free to go?

- No, you're not.

Your freedom is secondary.

You're not allowed

to be holding me.

Would you like to be placed

under arrest?

You're not allowed

to arrest me.

In the 1960s, Yale University

psychologist Stanley Milgram

ran an experiment to see how

often human beings

would obey an authority figure

and follow orders,

even if doing so

ran completely against

their personal code

of morality.

How is it possible,

I asked myself,

that ordinary people

who are courteous and decent

in everyday life

can act callously, inhumanely,

without any limitations

of conscious?

450 volts.

In Milgram's experiment,

participants were told

by a scientist in uniform

to electrocute a subject

for each wrong answer on a test

at ever increasing voltages.

Are you all right?

[man]

Please continue, teacher.

- Do I keep giving him shocks?

- Continue.

- I'm up to 390.

- Continue, please.

[buzzer buzzes]

The participants had no idea

the subjects were just actors.

And although many protested,

Milgram

found a strong majority,

over 65% of participants

would shock the subject

to the point of killing them

if instructed

by an authority figure.

- 330 volts.

- [lever clicks]

[man screams]

Let me out of here!

Let me out of here!

My heart's bothering me!

Let me out, I tell you!

Let me out of here!

You have no right

to hold me here!

Let me out! Let me out!

Let me out!

Milgram concluded

that very few people

have the psychological capacity

to resist authority.

[man] The way we have

the system set up,

the policeman's uniform,

gun at their side, the badge,

they're treated with the same

deference as our military.

It's like they're infallible.

With judges, we drape them

in robes like priests

and literally put them up

on a pedestal.

The system hierarchy,

which has almost

no real checks and balances,

no accountability...

Or transparency, is so deeply

entrenched in our culture...

Most people would never

even think to question it.

We never see how flawed it is.

How do we resist

the natural instinct to obey?

Don't blindly trust

authority figures.

If you're given an order

that feels questionable,

check your conscience.

The time to argue

with a police officer

is not the side of the road.

Pick your battles wisely.

If you can challenge authority

without risking more

than you're willing to lose

and something feels wrong,

don't obey.

Don't obey

even the smallest commands

if you feel that they're wrong.

The more that we accept

and obey, the more we become

- blind followers.

- And now you're under control.

[Matthew] In a world

which is absolutely insane.

To free ourselves

from this authoritarian system

in which

we've now found ourselves

is going to take

a massive effort.

And if you're afraid, I get it.

Find an ally.

Milgram's experiment told us

there's is great

psychological power

against authoritarianism

in groups.

Unfortunately, these techniques

are not taught in school.

[Bruce] And so if you're innocent

and you find yourself in prison,

it's hard to have

any hope at all.

[Susan] A year later,

Mike Ryan robbed

another woman at knife point

and was sentenced

to six years for armed robbery.

But other than Bruce

and his father,

nobody had connected Mike Ryan

to the murder

besides other inmates

like Jeff Deskovic,

another wrongfully convicted

man trying to prove

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes