Page 6 - Convict Code News Today

Different when you go out next year. when you are released from prison next year, what will be different? >> what will be different? well, i have one choice, to live, be out there with my children again, my family. or come back in. or be dead in the ghetto. thats all i can say. and i have to do it. i have to do it. i cant come back. im 39, im getting too old for this, too old. i cant do this no more. i cant do it. coming up -- >> get the cable fixed. >> an old con teaches a new arrival a thing...

Im not an inmate. >> robert spears was your typical convict. he had done a lot of time. he had lived very distinctly by the convict code and he was very accepting of his situation. he didnt complain. he didnt blame anybody. he was a tough guy. >> when i came to prison, i was a kid. i had to do what i had to do to survive and im not proud of the things sometimes that i had to do. some people has to be hurt, ive been hurt. you know what i mean? but thats just the way of life here. >> spears has ta...

Different? >> what will be different? well, i have one choice, to live, be out there with my children again, my family. or come back in. or be dead in the ghetto. thats all i can say. and i have to do it. i have to do it. i cant come back. im 39, im getting too old for this, too old. i cant do this no more. i cant do it. coming up -- >> get the cable fixed. >> an old con teaches a new arrival a thing or two about the convict code. >> what did i tell you? way ahead of time, leave that alone, le...

>> and you help them see? >> no, allegedly. >> yes, alejandro was playing a cat and mouse game, absolutely. part of it it could have been the convict code not to reveal too much information, and part of it could very well have been the fact that he was kind of delighted to be out of his cell and able to have this exchange and kind of get people going. >> but eventually, steele came clean about the attack on the d.a. >> couple months before -- a month before, i knew he was the one that was going ...

A good family compared to a lot of the families i hear about in here. my dads a retired naval officer. he retired from the navy and joined the national guard, retired from the national guard and then started going to the county for a job. he retired as the county jail administrator. my mom, shes a secretary. shes very educated, very knowledgeable about things. she quit her job to stay home with me so that i would have someone there for when i got home from school. do my homework, make sure i do ...

Uncertain terms. >> apparently another inmate or two went into his cell and put some knots on his head and said dont be giving us anymore heat over here. we seen inman a day or two later, of course, he wont tell what happened or what it was over or anything like that, because thats a convict code. but we know what it was over. i got enough people out there telling me what it was over. >> and now things are about to heat up even more for inman as the prison disciplinary board takes up his case. >...

>> i was stabbed ten times. i think i won the fight, he won the war. >> stafford received a year in the hole despite ellermans refusal to cooperate with the investigation. its all part of the convict code. >> im a convict. you dont tell nothing. thats just the way it is. i mean ive got to live here the rest of my life. i dont want anybody thinking that im weak, that im going to talk, that im going to say anything about anything. im not mad at the guy. if more people would do what he did instead ...

Taken away in a moments notice. >> and you help them see? >> no, allegedly. >> yes, alejandro was playing a cat-and-mouse game, absolutely. part of it could have been the convict code not to reveal too much information, and part of it could very have been the fact that he was kind of delighted to be out of his cell and able to have this exchange and kind of get people going. >> but eventually steele came clean about the attack on the d.a. >> couple months before -- a month before, i knew he was ...

They came through the garage door, i put the gun in their face, told them to shut up, sit on the couch, i finished robbing the house, left, and that was it. >> we had numerous off-camera conversations, but everything switched when it became an on-camera interview. theres a convict code that many of these guys have to live by. and part of that code is to not reveal too much information. the most challenging part of interviewing alejandro steele was when i started asking him about his most visible...

Like we have with these inmates and the understanding of why were there and what were there to achieve. having said that, though, im not naive. there is always the possibility that something could happen. >> were told we have to prepare for that. but we always have staff around us in the case of doing a one-on-one interview i tend to get fairly close to the person im interviewing because its how i can engage and have communication and always talked to my camera crew that god forbid that somethin...