Page 84 - Cell Block News Today

In here, you understand what im saying? youre a walking dead man. really dont know why i see you. its like the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. >> 33-year-old inmate herman johnson is doing 12 years for a felony drug conviction. he is currently housed in cell block 5. >> in here, you lose a lot of things on the outside, and you really find out a lot about people by coming to prison, you know? >> paul poplan has been to prison several times over the last ten years for drugs and fightin...

>> james stone is one of the offenders that used to test cabanaws mettle. >> my first eight years here was very violent. thats what i did for a hustle. guys that were having problems that were owed money and couldnt get it, theyd come to me and say, will you collect this for us? id say, yeah, but i get half. id go up there and split their wig and say, you got a week to get the money, or the next time im not going to be nice. >> over the years, stone has grown less violent and more committed to h...

>> im thinking that yall going to all these here prisons, talking to all these people such as myself, you know? people whos never getting out. this thing aint recording? >> i start to turn off the camera. and i stand up. and i begin reasoning with alex, slowly as i inch my way backwards, towards nancy, out of the cell. alex, its important that we tell this story. we want to hear your voice. i dont know if i was getting through to alex. but i do know that i was getting closer to that entrance of ...

First, the emergency response team marches to the cell block in full riot gear. armed with high voltage stunt shields. they secure the area and provide an intimidating presence for any inmates who might be tempted to resist. then a team of correctional officers moves into the cells to begin their inspections. >> come out with your i.d. cards. >> the last time they came in here, went in everybodys cell and took everything out their cell and threw it on the tier. after they was done, there was 48 ...

Aaron cooper, serving 10 years for assault and escape, didnt stretch his ear lobes until he got to prison. >> did it about four years ago when i was in ad seg. no reason, really. i just like the way it looked. it started with the tooth of a comb and started wrapping saran wrap about it and got it fatter and fatter. this was bigger than i wanted to go, but these were the only things that were round enough that when the officers could take them, i could put more back in, just little plastic bottle...

Be so much different. i got a job. ill make more money than anyone in here when i get out, you know? this aint my life. >> good. i hope i never see you again. >> im going to move up here. is there a lot of work? are they hiring at dennys? >> no, no, theres no work. no housing. nothing. theres nothing out here. >> but later, the levity gave way to an ominous warning when gill talked about the one inmate on his cell block who could cause him to prolong his stay in prison. >> his name i believe is ...

Returned to unit two, a cell block already populated with several other 211 gang members. >> holloman and wright are two guys that i want to keep together. well, theyre known 211 members. you think if you have all of one group in one area it seems like, okay, theres too many of them in one group. but theyre actually much more manageable that way. theyre happier that way. which makes me happy. well, well, well. my favorite two. so heres what going to happen. ready? >> yeah. >> over there. you kno...

Population, thats what youre going to go. if we verify custody issues and we move you, thats where you go. but youre going to do our process. were not going to do yours. >> im going to do everything in my power to make, you know, the system work for me, in my favor. >> in regards to what? >> in regards to going to the hole. >> coming up -- >> [ bleep ] happens. >> george grahf faces the disciplinary board for flooding his cell block. >> you know what happens here. >> an unexpected development in...

Released a deluge to the rest of the cell block. and then refused to leave his cell, prompting a forced cell extraction. >> it makes a point. heres the thing. ill explain this real simply. is my actions, right, that day affected how many people? >> lots. >> okay. their actions only affected who? me, right? it might be petty. it might be stupid. you got to understand, we live in a box. i live in a box. thats it. my life is in a box. we have nothing else to do. i had the joy of knowing that i affe...

Planning to move him to unit one, a general population cell block. >> hes six time back. he knows how they treat sex offenders, you know. and we tried to explain to him how, you know, we have the large amount of sex offenders out here and we deal with the population pretty well. this morning i think we probably got through to him. >> lets move him down to one and let the process run its course and explain to him how it works, that if he does come up with issues, he needs to talk with piper, and ...