Page 49 - Cell Mate News Today

>> dennis hamilton was an unusual inmate. he just believed he didnt have to live with another man. i think he had a fear about living with another man. >> and to me its like you dont even want these people in society, but you want me to feel safe inside a cell with this person. >> ironically other inmates might not feel safe around hamilton either. hes serving a life sentence for kidnapping, carjacking, robbery, and say salt with a deadly weapon. nine years in, hes only now decided to make his s...

Together, were building a better california. inside hackensack bergen county jail, officer domenico recently discovered strips of heroine inside a greeting card mailed to inmate nick battaglia. >> you have 800 other inmates youre dealing with here. you need somebody to be sane. and the drug is going to, obviously, incapacitate somebody and make them not act appropriately. >> battaglia denies any knowledge of the card and has told staff he suspects his cell mate might be behind the card. they w...

Throughout each writing. and the clarifying mark for me on both sheets is the way they xd out the check box on each. single stroke everywhere on the paper except for the "x" box, then its multiple strokes. its multiple strokes on both sets of paper. based on this we determine that christopher gonzalez is the person who wrote the note. >> christopher gonzalez, currently awaiting trial for attempted murder to which hes pled not guilty has been david goodells cell mate for the past year. he was ass...

Didnt want to get out of bed. i was just depressed. just wanted, like, some type of change, you know, because like youre in here and you dont have any control over anything. and i -- basically the only control i have is my hairstyle. and so i wanted my hair cut. >> coming up -- >> im feeding you and youre providing a service for me. you help me. you clean my room, heat up my water in the morning, wash my dishes after i eat. >> nick battaglia and his new cell mate set up shop in general populatio...

His time in the bergen county jail. hes now the house man, or lead inmate worker, of his housing unit. >> everythings going pretty good. got, you know, back in s-4. im happy. everythings -- things on track. >> the only compensation for a house man is more time out of his cell and extra food trays. >> trays up. >> battaglias new cell mate works as a food server. theyve created a business of sorts, trading their extra meals for commissary goods, and then they trade those items for favors or even m...

Anybody other than my roommate. you know. >> but you dont know for sure that he -- >> no, i dont -- i cant be 100%. if i would have known that it was coming in my name beforehand, i would have said something. >> step outside in the hallway. ill call you back in in a few minutes. >> theres really no way i can get around it. it had my name on it. the only thing i have working for me is my background. and hopefully that works out for me. >> while battaglias hopeful, theres a lot about the extent of...

As officers escorted him to his new general population cell. >> its all right. just relax. dont get tense. i can feel you tense now. >> yeah? >> yeah. its all right. >> finally, hamilton reaches his new cell, and his new cell mate. the relationship is short-lived. >> you refuse? go ahead, close it. >> close it. >> are you sure? you didnt even want to look at who you -- >> doesnt matter. >> okay. weve got to turn back. >> before hamilton is returned to his cell, his escort officers make one more ...

>> but at the brushy mountain correctional complex in tennessee we met two cell mates who were not only successfully living together, but doing so in a maximum security unit, locked up 23 hours per day. >> its not any kind of fun, stuck in a cell. you go out. me and him go out and work out every day, come back in the cell and watch tv and listen to the radio. thats our life every day. >> sky bishop was sent to the hole when he refused to share his cell with an inmate the prison assigned him. >> ...

>> i might have to come up like this, or he can just turn inside here and walk this way. >> yes. this is how you do it. you do your back that way. you know what im saying? >> aint nobody gay up in here. >> few things in prison are as key to survival as having a good cell mate. >> when you live with a person 24 hours a day, you build up a brotherhood, a sense of -- you build up a rapport that you dont have with your family. and youre both dependent on each other for survival. >> but some cell mat...

You dont have to marry him. >> yeah, i mean, it seem that way. youre placing this inmate in the cell with me. i mean were not -- were not outside the cell all day. were inside that cell all day. >> yeah, but that should have been a consideration before you went to prison. >> the committee is baffled, not only by hamiltons stubbornness but by its sudden appearance after nine years behind bars at other state prisons. >> you have been taking a cellie up until the time you got here. once you got her...