Page 12 - James Slagle News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> one of the oldest inmates in brushy mountain's permanent population is james slagle. slagle is serving a 318-year sentence for murder and has been here longer than any other inmate. >> i've been in the tennessee prison system without getting out, i started my 39th year three weeks ago today. and i spent 24 years of that time here at brushy mountain. i decided, jim, you've got to become something else. and so i looked into me and saw the ugliness. i saw the hatred, the violence, the misery. and i said i'm going to be something else. i am going to become a thinking man. by the way, that's har...

Your time, your two sentences are running concurrently, which means they run together. however, when they give you your jail credit, they only put the jail credit on the one sentence and forgot to put it on there. somehow they have mistaken me for a wise man and think i can provide them insight into their problems and possible solutions, which i try. but i always tell them, this is my answer. it may not fit you, because you're not me. but the main thing to do is face the situation, accept what it is, and try to find a reasonable, honest, positive way to get through that situation and come out ...

And it's surrounded by mountains. it's the last stop, because the road ends at brushy mountain. and there's, there's nowhere else to go. >> but that didn't stop the prison's most notorious inmate from attempting to escape. in 1977, nine years after he killed civil rights leader martin luther king jr., james earl ray went over the wall. during our shoot at brushy mountain, we met an inmate who was not only there, but tried to talk ray out of it. >> i told him, i said, james, you've got no pickup, no car. i said, as soon as your foot touches down, they know it's you, there will be a million cops...

Else to go. >> but that didn't stop the prison's most notorious inmate from attempting to escape. in 1977, nine years after he killed civil rights leader martin luther king jr., james earl ray went over the wall. during our shoot at brushy mountain, we met an inmate who was not only there, but tried to talk ray out of it. >> i told him, i said, james, you've got no pickup, no car, i said as soon as your foot touches down they know it's you, there will be a million cops in the valley and no one's going to get away. it's just a futile effort and i don't believe in wasting energy. so i sat and wa...

You got the bluff on one side and it's surrounded by mountains the last stop because the road ends at brushy mountain. and there's -- there's nowhere else to go. >> but that didn't stop the prison's most notorious inmate from attempting to escape. in 1977, nine years after he killed civil rights leader martin luther king jr., james earl ray went over the wall. during our shoot at brushy mountain, we met an inmate who was not only there, but tried to talk ray out of it. >> i told him, i said, james, you've got no pickup, no car, i said as soon as your foot touches down they know it's you, there...