Survivors Guide to Prison Page #8

a terrorist threat

covers any statement

that contains

the threat of violence

against another person.

In this case, Reggie is talking

about an argument a man

was having with his girlfriend

where he threatened her.

He told her he was gonna

beat her ass

or whatever it was,

it was a terrorist threat.

There was no physical violence

or anything,

but he took a deal

for 18 months,

and he was only supposed

to do like eight months.

You take a deal for 18 months,

you're gonna do five or 10.

So he fell for the bullshit.

The first night we got there,

they ask who's

from South Central.

I'm from South Central.

Where you from?

Explain to them where I'm from.

Your homeboys are over here.

They're gonna direct you

where you're supposed to go.

This guy,

he didn't have anybody.

He was just from Long Beach,

you know?

He just was a regular dude,

you know?

And that night I'm on my bunk,

and I'm listening

to what's going on and I'm...

at first,

I thought they were playing

because that's what

it started off

was this is the whole gimmick.

Everything is a ploy

to lead to something else.

That's why they

tell you don't let anybody

touch you in jail,

and he didn't know this.

He didn't understand

that you're not supposed

to wrestle with somebody

in the cell

because this is what

they're doing,

trying to see if they can get

you in a vulnerable position

I'm on my bunk,

and I'm listening to it,

and I'm thinking, damn,

ain't somebody

gonna come help this dude?

I mean, and they didn't.

That night in his cell,

they raped him.

[Matthew] According

to the Department of Justice,

nearly one in 10 prisoners

suffer sexual abuse

while in American jails

and prisons.

A quarter of those

also reported serious injury

like chipped or lost teeth,

being knocked unconscious,

broken bones, or worse.

So let's keep that in mind

the next time a talk show host,

a government official,

or anybody

makes a joke about prison rape.

The fact that we find

these jokes acceptable

shows just how far we've gone

in normalizing rape

as a just punishment

for any offense.

As long as we keep imagining

that people in prison

are subhuman,

that they're predatory

and incorrigible

and nothing like you and me,

why would we lose any sleep

about what their lives are like

or what's happening to them?

There are now over 5,000 jails

and prisons

in the United States,

more than we have colleges

and universities.

In many parts of America,

particularly the South,

there are more people

living in prisons

then on college campuses

and a multi-billion-dollar

business has emerged.

Brace yourself.

This is going to sound

too barbaric to be real,

like medieval times,

a science-fiction horror film,

or a French

historical musical.

The 13th amendment

of the Constitution

outlawed slavery,

but it still allows

for forced labor

if you're in prison.

Today, there are roughly

1 million American prisoners

working for corporations

and in government industries.

There is no minimum wage,

so you could make as little

as a few cents an hour.

Bruce worked

in the kitchen for years

then in clerical jobs making

a maximum of 32 cents an hour.

It sounds like another time

or a Coen Brothers movie

but it's happening right now.

There are no benefits,

no organizing, and no strikes.

And if you refuse to work,

you can get put in the hole.

This is big business for state

and for-profit prisons

who sell inmate labor

to Fortune 500's like Chevron,

Bank of America, AT&T,

and the US military.

Nearly half the population

in prison

make military uniforms,

body armor, helmets,

and provide labor

as subcontractors

for Fortune 500s.

They make office furniture,

man call centers,

take hotel reservations,

work in slaughterhouses.

Or manufacture textiles, shoes,

and clothing for pennies.

Prison labor

is part of why some state

and private prisons yield

a multibillion-dollar profit.

Not only are prisoners

used to make products,

prisoners themselves

are sold as products.

Since the 1980s,

the prison population

has boomed.

Now, 150 private prisons

are paid billions

by state governments

to house prisoners.

Private prisons do so well,

some of their biggest investors

are banks like Wells Fargo

or Bank of America.

Many private prisons demand

90 or even 100% occupancy,

meaning the taxpayer

foots the bill for every bed,

even the f***ing empty ones.

For-profit prisons

are incentivized

to incarcerate more people

and for longer periods of time

to fill their quotas,

and to make sure that happens,

they spend millions pushing

tough-on-crime bills.

Today, nearly 10%

of America's prisoners

are held in private prisons.

They also spend millions

influencing immigration law.

Half of detained immigrants

are held in private prisons

for indefinite periods of time,

often years,

exposed to brutal conditions.

And because

they're not Americans,

the government

gives them no right

to even the most basic legal

representation or medical care.

The prisons

are private companies.

Why would they want

to decrease violence, okay?

Why would they want to improve

the quality of life

of these people?

And then we call it justice,

okay?

It's blood money.

It's bad karma.

It's going to come back

and haunt us

to the point of extinction.

[male reporter] Three housing

facilities were set on fire.

It apparently all started

over inmate frustration

over the quality

of medical care.

[Matthew]

Perhaps needless to say,

being treated like chattel

and used as forced labor

for pennies an hour

is not that popular

on the inside,

but that's not the worst of it.

The socks

they issue you are used.

The underwear

they issue you is used.

You gotta buy things

like shaving equipment

and food and sweats and socks,

underwear, T-shirts.

The canteen, or commissary,

is more expensive

than any convenience store

on the outside.

It's definitely advisable

to have money

so that you can get started.

If you don't have 50

to 100 bucks

coming into your books

or your account every month,

then you're gonna need a hustle.

This is Philip.

He was convicted of robbery.

As crooked as we are out here,

we're as crooked

inside there, too.

Whether it's drugs,

whether it's alcohol.

You got people

that they don't drink,

but they manufacture

prune-o all day.

In San Quentin

in the boiler room,

they found a still.

Friends that I knew

had actually gotten so far

as to, like,

get the copper tubing

from industries over,

and so we had copper tubing.

[Phillip] They were making

moonshine in San Quentin.

[Bruce] Mainly they drank it.

Did I have a hustle?

Sold drugs.

Through our visits

through a correctional officer.

Prison is like a networking

college for criminals.

[Phillip] The majority

of the guys in prison are there

trying to learn

how to do crime better.

This is just kind of a school

for criminals

to learn more to be criminals.

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