Locked In with Ian Bick - How I Escaped a Maximum-Security Prison in Hawaii | Andrew Wanat

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Andrew Wanat details his daring escape from a maximum-security prison in Hawaii, the risks he took, and how authorities finally caught up with him. #PrisonEscape #TrueCrime #SurvivalStory #BreakingOut #FugitiveLife #CrimeAndPunishment #JusticeSystem #prisonbreak Big thanks to NORDVPN for sponsoring this episode! To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan - go to https://nordvpn.com/ianbick which will also give you 4 extra months on the 2-year plan. There's no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://convictclothing.net/collections/convict-clothing-x-ian-bick Timestamps: 00:00:00 Growing Up in Connecticut: Early Life and Family Background 00:05:00 Struggles with Substance Abuse 00:10:58 Rekindling Family Connections in Hawaii 00:12:08 00:14:51 Condo Conflict and Family Dynamics 00:19:46 Surviving a Violent Encounter 00:24:43 Drug Use and Coping in Hawaii 00:30:08 Legal Troubles and Loss of Credibility as a Witness 00:34:57 Planning a Jailbreak on the Big Island 00:39:57 Challenges of Life on the Run 00:45:00 Navigating the Legal System in Hawaii 00:49:56 Life Inside Hawaii's FED Building 00:54:48 Prison Spades and Cheating Scandal 00:59:18 Challenges in the Criminal Justice System 01:03:52 Overcoming Addiction After Prison 01:08:54 Overcoming Past Mistakes and Rebuilding Trust 01:14:06 Overcoming Job Rejections with a Criminal Background Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount? New vehicle discount. Storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. Looking to start 2026 with an unforgettable getaway.

Fiji Airway sale is on now. Fly non-stop round-trip to Fiji from just 748. Or enjoy a sunny Fiji stopover on your way to Australia with round-trip fair starting from 839. As a One World Alliance member and American Airlines Advantage program partner, your miles go further across the South Pacific. Book now at Vigyairways.com or contact your local travel agent. Conditions apply.

Andy, welcome to Lockton, man, a fellow Connecticut resident. Yes, sir. Shout out to all of our Connecticut guests and listeners that come on the show. People love the Connecticut stories because it like puts Connecticut out on the map a little bit. Right. And I'm from Danbury, so it works out. But thanks so much for reaching out, man, and coming on the show and taking time to be with us today. Yes, no problem.

Thank you for having me. This is pretty cool. It's not normally what I'm used to, but it is nice to be here. I appreciate it. Of course. I mean, you walked in and I'm in a whole prisoner outfit with some sketchy. You're like, what did I get myself into, man? Get me that out of here.

Yeah, right. No, it wasn't too surprising. You know what? It was like the commissary setup up there and the jail. It's like a flashback for people when they come to studio and the seed that we have that. They think it's so cool. And it is cool in a way that we replicated that and stuff. It is. It is.

Did you grow up in Connecticut? I did. I did. So I was born and raised in Connecticut. I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. You know, moved to, really my story begins when I moved to Woodbury, six years old. My mother and father, original mom and dad, they divorced when I. I was about two. And my real father moved to Hawaii. I was probably about three years old. And he was

out there, you know, my whole life growing up. My mom got remarried to my stepfather. And they had a kid, so I have a half-brother six years younger than me. And, you know, we live from Woodbury. It's like, I don't know if you're familiar with Woodbury at all, but it's a small town. It's, you know, mostly, you know, farmers, you know, back then it was like, you know, predominantly white, you know, small high school, you know, middle class though, you know, my stepdad was a carpenter, my mom was a hairdresser, you know, nothing too out of the ordinary growing up, you know, statistically speaking, I probably shouldn't have turned out the way that I did, you know, honest, honest to God, but, you know, life comes at you and, all kinds of directions and you know you make what you can with it and you know i'm glad i made it out on the other end okay but um that's all that matters not about how you start it's about how you finish yeah yes totally were you resentful to your mom at all about the divorce no my father yes my my dad i big time my mom no i'm actually i'm not ashamed to say i'm a mama's boy you kind of

you know like i'm tight with my mom you know i don't my mom knows everything i tell her everything you know, she's, she's had my back through, through everything that I've been through and put my family and her through, you know, she was always there for me. I always tell her, like, if I ever had a child that was like me, I don't know. I probably would have told that kid to kick rocks, you know, I don't, I don't know how she stuck by my side and helped me out through everything over the years because I don't know I was you know I was hard you know later on growing up I was a good kid

you know played sports you know little troubles here or there nothing you know nothing crazy how do you think you would describe yourself for that time period characteristics was um fun you know I just we you know I had

four wheelers three wheelers you know and go out on the boat in the summer type deal. Like, you know, I had a lot of, we had a good time. It was fun growing up. Playing sports. I was big, huge into baseball from little, little kid time. You know, and, you know, you want me to just hop right into it kind of.

Tell us everything, man. So high school, I didn't, I got decent grades. I skated by, you know, middle school. High school, I turned more into like a social life and didn't care so much for my grades. I still wasn't, I was getting into trouble, but I wasn't a bad, bad kid, I'd have to say, you know. I really didn't even do any drugs until like my junior, in high school, my junior year summer. you know and weed was obviously the first drug that I chose aside from alcohol um and the progression just got worse and worse as I got older you know from as soon as I got a taste you know I would

get tired of it and I would move on to what's next you know by the time I was high school uh summer by the time I graduated high school summer you know I was already dabbling with you know, hallucinogens, like pills, drugs that sorts, you know, alcohol obviously was always included. And I never went to college. I, let me think for a sec. So I was bouncing around my mom's house and like friends' houses in Woodbury people, like people that I knew that I was using drugs with.

And I was using heroin at the time, heroin in crack. Of course, you know, my mom finds out she, I went to a rehab in, oh my gosh, it was called Mountainside in Canaan, I think, Connecticut. And I don't know if it's, I believe it's still there, but I think it might be called something different now. And I ended up going to a sober house in New Haven. And of course, you know, I was young. You know, I was probably 19, 20 years old.

And at that time, I really didn't think that I was done using drugs. I was just, you know, people pleasing kind of, you know, telling my mom, you know, like, yeah, okay, I'll go do this to make her happy or whoever, you know, like skate through. But in the back of my mind, like, I was. Like I'm too young. There's no way I'm not going to stop using drugs forever, you know. And another probably less than a year or so, you know, I get kicked out of the sober house. Relapse, obviously. I remember I was working in Orange for a fence company.

And it was right around Christmas time. And I don't know if I quit. quit my job or I lost my job got my tax return I was living in south main street waterbury in like this really crap hotel um and I was down and out I was down and out and I wasn't allowed back at home I'd kind of burnt that bridge a little bit with my mom uh and I had you know my dad was original father still in Hawaii I have I have a big family too my mom has five brothers and sisters and bunch of cousins like we're all we're all really tight and my cousin who's the same age as me Allison I'll never forget she called me up and I was living in that hotel and she's like well she's like

they call me and well anne what are you going to go do you know what's your plan what do you what's happening and I was like I had no idea she goes well why don't you call your dad up and see if you could go out to Hawaii then I got off the phone I was like no no way I'm not doing that you know and she got off the phone and she kind of like planted that seed in my mind i was like fuck i don't know what i don't have a choice really and i look i had probably like i don't know $1,500 to my name and i was like okay i look and looking at tickets for wasn't even on the phone then but i was looking at tickets for a plane ride i found a one way $1,000 i called up my dad i was like who I hadn't talked to and I don't know.

It was years. I really don't remember. It was probably since eighth or ninth grade was probably the last time I talked to him. So it had been a few years. And he would always try and call my mom and, you know, want to talk to me. But I didn't really, I didn't really want anything to do with him. You know, I had bad blood thinking about him leaving me. And like I was, you know, like played the.

poor me roll like you know i was chapped about that but i was out of options called him up asked him if i could come out there gave him a little bit of a rundown of what was going on and why i needed to but i he didn't really know to the extent of how shitty my life had been and of course he said yes come and he was remarried also and he goes come come so i remember it was february i flew out I remember it was freezing cold in Connecticut. I get on the plane and I get off. He lived on the big island, Kona. I don't know if you're familiar with Hawaii at all.

But it's beautiful year around in Kona, you know, 85 and sunny every day of the year. They don't even have the terminals that you walk to on the airports. They just roll one of those big carriages up and you just walk off the plane on, you know, they're just putting lays around your neck at the bottom of the stairs and stuff. I was like, holy cow, this is February in Hawaii. I was like, I can get used to this. You know, I also remember being really dope sick because I like quit the dope. I didn't go to rehab detox or anything.

I quit. And for a few days there, it was, it was rough. I remember being on the airplane, not feeling good at all, at all. Rough that out. And then I get to Hawaii. I have to say, it was awkward at first, you know, not seeing or talking to my dad for so long. and him and his wife, it was just the two of them where they lived.

They were set in their ways. Like I was, you know, maybe not a thorn in my dad's side, but more so Virginia's side, my dad's wife. But he was happy to have me around. I think that I made her jealous because he was so happy to have me back there or with him. It was not, it was not.

though I have to say it was really nice to rekindle the relationship with my father and we we got along great I actually stayed out of trouble and stayed off of drugs like cold turkey I just I worked a lot I ended up getting a job for a rubbish company a haul and trash which I enjoyed you know it was something different and exciting every day I don't know there are you know people always there's two people you don't piss off the rubbish man in the mailman you know but I I liked you know, I liked my job. I liked my life. It was going well.

I probably, so if I moved, 2006, I want to say is when I moved to Hawaii. And then it was like 2007, eight, nine. Yeah, about four years almost. I was good in Hawaii. So let me back up. His wife died of cancer. in 2008 or nine. And so she was out of the picture.

And it was just me and my dad there. And he lived in a condo. It was a small condo complex now. I think there was only like 19 units. So there weren't a lot of tenants, but there's this one guy there. I mean, I feel like everybody can relate, there's, there's bad, you always have bad neighbors.

Always. Yeah, I don't know. There's always that one guy. All right, listen up. If you're online without NordVPN, you're basically asking for trouble. I'm serious, whether I'm traveling, working from a coffee shop, or just binging my favorite shows. I know my data is locked down tight.

Ever tried to stream a game or a show and got hit with that annoying? Not available in your region message? Yeah, I hate those messages. No thank you. NordVPN lets me switch my virtual location in seconds so I can watch what I want from wherever I want. Plus, public Wi-Fi, total hacker playground. But with Nord's VPN's encryption, my info stays mine. And get this, I've even saved money on flights and hotels just by changing my virtual location.

Crazy, right? Only in 2025. Fastest VPN out there, unlimited access and security like a digital fortress. NordVPN is a no-brainer. So if you're online, which obviously you are, you need NordVPN. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to NordvPN.com slash Ian Bick, where you'll get four extra months free on a two-year plan. And don't worry, there's no risks with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee.

The link is in the podcast episode description. We have a bad neighbor in this building couple that give us a hard time. And you can relate, you know, and you never know what's going through somebody's, you know, fucking mind you really don't you don't and I learned that in prison even but so this guy he was he was an older gentleman I want to say probably 50s mid 50s or so I really I don't remember I don't know if I could say names or not on here yeah whatever you want Craig his name is Craig Wells and he was a fucking scumbag he is he is I He was, he would cause problems.

He was a big drinker and he didn't have a job. I think he was from California originally. And he would cause problems with everybody inside that. And in there, he would just, he was whacked. Like he would, people would be on the grill at the, by the pool. He would go run down there, take off the propane tank. Or he would deflate air in people's tires or break their mirrors off. You know, there's this old lady who was the president of the boy.

the whole HOA or whatever for the condo. He slapped her. He had the cops called on him multiple times. The guy was just, it was just a nutcase. So, this is kind of where, I guess, my story kind of really begins. And I remember, I think I wasn't living with my father at the time. I was, I had my own place. I was renting like a studio somewhere on the big eye.

in Kona. I would go over there and do dinners with my dad after work. And, you know, we'd play cribbage. We'd play cribbage or, you know, the card game and cook dinners together. Craig and my dad, they butted heads hard because, you know, my dad was like a no-nonsense kind of guy. And Craig was just a jackass. And my dad gets a call on his landline and it's the board association saying, oh, we're going to hit you with a fine because Craig said he reported you pouring engine oil down the drain in the visitor's parking lot of the condo complex, which was complete, you know, complete nonsense. You know, I work for a rubbish company. If we need to discard oil, I could get rid of it.

Like, there's not, my dad would never do that. You know what I mean? My dad's like, I'm not paying this. Like, this is hearsay. You know what I mean? This guy. It's not like you have a photo or like it was just nonsense. And I was I was drinking alcohol.

I wasn't doing any drugs, but I would drink beer. And I was probably four or five beers in. I think it was like a Thursday night. It was a weekday night. I know I had worked the next day. And my dad's like, I got to go upstairs because there's three levels, the first floor, second floor, and third floor. floor. My dad lived on the first floor. Craig was on the second floor. And he goes, I'm going to go

talk to this guy. You know, I got to just say, like, what's the problem? Why are, why is he doing this? And I was like, yeah, I'm not going to let you go up there by yourself, you know, like, no way. And I remember I went up there. I don't know, I didn't have a shirt. I just went up there with flip flops on and surf shorts. You know, I was hanging out with my dad. Like I wasn't, We weren't going up there to fight or scrap nothing, you know, wasn't like that. And I remember we go upstairs. My dad knocks on the door. And I'm sitting so there's a railing behind the door and I'm leaning on the railing

looking at my dad's back and my dad's in the doorway. And Craig opens the door and my dad's like, Craig, the fuck. Why are you saying? What's the problem? What's going on? Craig didn't say a word And it looked like he punched my dad in in the face And I was like

What the hell? I remember I grabbed my dad's shoulder I pulled him back and I just I just started laying into Craig And you know his hall Go down the doorway is a hall And I'm backing him up into his house punching him He gets knocked out And I remember his whole wall wall the whole from floor to ceiling was one big mirror the whole wall and I remember looking at my head my chin was like hanging right here and I there was blood and I was like what the heck and I look in my arm all blood and blood everywhere I was like he had a buck knife like this big and he stabbed me about eight times with it and I didn't know I thought my dad was fine I was like holy shit I'm like dad we need a fucking ambulance like holy shit like holy shit I'm like dad we need a fucking ambulance like holy shit.

I was I was kind of in shock Craig's Craig's still laying on his back like coming to a little bit and my dad's like I'm going to call an ambulance and he ran down to his unit to call the cops now I'm up here with Craig and he keeps trying to get up and I'm like I'm stomping his face I'm kicking him in the head I'm like Craig I won't touch

you just don't try and get up I remember he had a white t-shirt over his couch I remember taking the t-shirt and tying my arm up and there was like a step that went into the bedroom and his head was below the step. And I sat on the step and just kind of kept my foot on his head. And I was looking around his house

for a phone. And I was like, holy shit, where's the phone? Where's the phone? I see it on a shelf. I go walk, grab the phone. I come back. I call 911.

And they're like, we just spoke with your father. We have two ambulances on the way. And I was like, two. I was like, okay. Like I just told him that I was stabbed. You know, I hang out there for probably 10, 15 minutes with Craig, just smashing his face.

I really just didn't want him to get up again. You know, I didn't, I was already torn up from the knife. I was still kind of in shock. And I remember going, okay, too, I started thinking like, damn, did my dad get stabbed? And so the cops come in, you know, guns drawn. I was just like, I was like, hey, I'm a victim here. like I need to go to the hospital right now.

This fucking guy stabbed me. You know what I mean? They come. They arrest him. And they take me into the elevator because the elevator, you know, goes down to the garage level where the ambulance is. And there's blood in the elevator I see already. And I go, fuck, that's my dad's blood, guaranteed.

I get outside. He's already in the back of the ambulance. And I remember this is, you know, You know, just a Thursday night I'm just going over there and hang out I wasn't expecting all this shit to go down I remember grabbing my dad's foot and I was like, I was like, dad, you know,

hang in there, you know, I'll never forget that. That was, you know, I, it was a tough pill to swallow, you know. That was over fucking nonsense. It was a tough pill to swallow. They take me to the hospital. and the whole time I'm asking like, you know, what's up with my dad?

Is my dad okay? You know, where is he? Nobody comes out. Nobody comes out says anything. I remember they stitched up this whole arm. I don't know. I have a couple stab wounds and it took a while. Like this is like an hour, hour and a half.

They come, a doctor, another doctor comes out and he's like, your father was stabbed once in the heart and he bled out before we could save him. him, you know, and it's like, I didn't, I kind of knew it, but I didn't know it. You know, I didn't hear confirmation. I didn't, I had no idea where he was stabbed. I didn't know, you know, it was, it was surreal, you know, you don't, you don't ever, uh, I don't ever, that would never in a million years think that anything like that would ever happen to me, you know, like, you had some shit that you hear on fucking movies or news and stuff, you know, you just don't think it would happen to you.

And it was, it was tough. That was really hard on me to, you know, get a hold of. I remember, this, this was another thing that I, you know, that I struggled with. So I was in the hospital for a couple days,

healing. Detectives are coming in there, obviously, and they're asking me questions about, you know, what had happened. blah, bye, bye, tell them everything, word for word, same as how I just told you, and they go, this is detectives now, and they're like, why don't you fucking kill the guy?

You know, they're like, you could have just cut his head off and told us a made-up story. I'm like, you know, like, I was at the time, I was kind of regretting not doing that, you know. He was knocked out cold. The knife was right there. Like, I don't know. I had no idea my dad was stabbed either, though. You know, I don't, it's probably for the better. I'll let, you know, like, God judge him in the end.

But, you know, I, it was surreal here the cops tell me that, you know. And so I remember my, I call my mom, The Rock, and she, in the hospital, I called her. And that night, it was right after I ID, they made me ID my dad's body. too. And I remember I go in there and his whole chest is opened up. And I was like, geez, you guys, you know, couldn't throw a sheet over that or something. You know, it was like, it was really crude to see. And I called my mom. She flew, because she's in Connecticut still, she flew out at the drop of a dime. And she made it to Hawaii the day that I got out of the hospital. And, um, we were sorting out like, you know, funeral stuff. Like my, you know, we got my dad cremated. She begged me to come back to Connecticut, too. She begged me to come back to Connecticut.

And I, my dad was the only person I knew out there, family. And I was not having it. I knew in my mind that the race was on. Like I had made, I had made up my mind. I was going to do drugs and that's what I wanted to do. You know, hindsight's always 20-20. At the time, though, there wasn't anything that anybody could have told me otherwise.

You know, I was going to stay in Hawaii. And she stayed out there a few weeks, got everything to, I mean, helped me get everything together or whatever. She flew back to Connecticut and I started using drug. in Hawaii. Now over here they you know I don't know I don't do drugs anymore but I've never heard I mean very rarely would I hear about crystal meth in Connecticut you know it's heroin and cocaine mostly you know I don't think unless it's changed nowadays I don't think ice is too prevalent but in Hawaii that's all there is really that's it's like a

epidemic over there. It's so bad. And I had a buddy through the trash business and I knew he had been to prison and he had done drugs and he had connections and I, you know, hit him up and was like, let's try this crystal meth. And I did. And I liked it. You know, I was just, I was doing anything to, anything and everything really to get out of, you know, my own my own sorts there because you know I played I was I played the victim again like oh poor me you know nobody gets loses their dad like that in front of them and you know I was justifying me using drugs in my mind because of what had happened um and so I I stayed out of trouble probably

for about, I don't know, I want to say two months maybe. I was using drugs every day, but I wasn't breaking the law, really, aside from using the drugs. And I was in touch with the prosecutor who was going to go do the trial against Craig. You know, I was the only witness, I guess, and they wanted me to take the stand in his trial um and this this is another thing that really bothers me that like the criminal justice system in the united states i feel is so it's got it has its issues you know money buys you freedom A million percent money buys you freedom.

And so I end up getting arrested. And my first charge, I robbed a drug dealer with a BB gun, you know, of oxy-cottons, you know, McDonald's parking lot in Kona. And I ended up, I robbed the guy. I get to my car. And he's in the middle of the parking lot going. help police help i've been robbed and i was like is this guy serious i had one of those co2 bb guns under my seat and i pulled it out and i shot him with it and he told the cops

he called the cops and told the cops that i tried to take his wallet and my so my first charge in hawaii was attempted armed robbery you know i got his pills i didn't wasn't going for his wallet and i was like this drug dealer was calling the cops on me i was like a drug dealer was calling the cops on me i was like It's always funny hearing those stories that the drug dealer called the cops. It blows my mind. And those black BB guns, the CO2 ones look real. Oh, yeah. Like that's a pistol.

Real as day. The thing had packed a punch, too. I wouldn't want to get shot with one of those either. I could definitely seriously hurt someone. Yeah. A close range, too, nonetheless. Yeah. I was kind of just mad he was yelling for the police.

I was like, I should have just drove away. I was just like, is this guy serious? You know what I mean? Do you think that you turned it back to drugs because that's all you knew is a coping mechanism? Oh yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. You know, and still yet in the back of my mind, I still think that at that time, I was, I hadn't convinced myself that I was done using drugs yet. You know, I still had plans to get high. Obviously, I was drinking alcohol, but I don't, alcohol doesn't really do it for me

compared to how the drugs did it for me and I had reservations even then you know I was still kind of young I was that probably I was I want to say that was 2010 2010 so that's 14 years ago so I was 2039 now 24 years old 20, no.

25. Yeah. Right around there. 2010. And so I get arrested. I bail out. I get a call from the prosecutor that is prosecuting Craig. And she goes, you know, you just lost credibility as a witness.

And we can't have you take the stand. I'm just going to make a deal with him. Because he was taking it to trial. He was fighting it the whole way. And he made up a cockamamian story that my dad and I had kicked down his door and we were trying to rob him. And that, I mean, that didn't look good on my end when I go out and rob a drug dealer. You know what I'm saying? And so, and he hired, he had money.

He hired like attorneys from California. He hired his own crime scene investigators. And he got an open 20 with a two-year minimum. So he did he that guy ended up doing two years for killing my dad and stabbing me and then you know he's still on parole I imagine I know that he got out because I was in the same prison system as him later on that's all he got that's all he got two fucking years that's what you even made me regret not you know they should have put you on the stand either way because they could have seen your emotion oh you could have explained your side of the story oh it makes me sick to think about it I lost a lot of sleepless nights over that I had a lot of sleepless nights over that because that really bothered me a ton. You know, I, Kona, the Big Island is, it's small.

It's a really small, you know, town. And everybody knows everybody. And I swear it should really be conflict of interest. But that same prosecutor that was prosecuting him was now on my case prosecuting me. you know and I was like how is this even legal you know it's like backwards bamboo shit you know like conflict interest yeah really really and I was like what am I going to do what am I going to tell the lady you know I was like okay yeah whatever make the deal you know whatever you have to do um and then I go on the run as I was like I remember talking to my I had a public defender I was out on bail

he said that he goes you're probably going to end up going to jail for this you know he goes probably you're probably going to have to do at least a year or so or something like that and you know I get one one bad quality back then was you know I would get the case of fuck it's you know I would really once that train went rolling I would be like you know

you know i'm already going fuck it yeah you know and i got arrested a few more times um i think it was i think i had two more arrests after that and i bailed out on the second arrest the third arrest i ended up staying in because i couldn't convince my mom to help me out anymore and I couldn't, there wasn't a bail's bondsman in Hawaii, that would bail me out. Because I would never show up to any of my court dates either. That was another thing running from the bail bondsman and the law on bench warrants and stuff.

That was, that was kind of wild too. Did they send dog after you? No, no. But I tried calling Leland from the jail, you know, his son Leland. Because they're in Hawaii. Yeah, oh, I would see him everywhere. They wouldn't bail me out either. I remember calling, you know how I have to.

those playback tones and you call his phone and this phone goes, I'm locked up. They won't let me out. I was like, this cock sucker, you know, like. Wow. I'm glad I said the dog reference. It just clicked to that. That's where he's from and that's where it's filmed in, right? Hawaii.

Well, dog himself is Honolulu, Oahu, which is like where the most people are, the capital. But Leland is dog's son, you know, the, He has like, he's skinny, he's like a, long hair. Yeah, long hair, yeah, ponytail. He lives on the big island and runs his own on the big island. Because they had a breakup or something, right? Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but, and I know Leland trains in a gym with Sonny. You know that big guy, the mustache that you would see on the show sometimes with dog.

He's like an old kona boxer or whatever, and Leland is like big into UFC or all that. We need dog on the show. Yeah, that would be. Yeah. shit that would be i'm sure he's got some stories but uh so i couldn't get bail and i'm stuck in stuck in jail the county jail on the big island and my i remember talking to my public defender and asking you know what's going on there she says the prosecutor wants to throw the book at you you're going to end up doing a lot more than a year now.

And I knew I was going. And I was still kind of in like a lower custody jail on the Big Island now. And I made a plan to make an escape. And they had, Holly Nani is the jail that I escaped from in Hilo, which is on the opposite side. of the island of where I was from. And I had a buddy who worked laundry. And you know, they have the big laundry carts that they push around.

And I was like, I told them, I was like, hey, I'm going to hide in that laundry basket. The laundry was in another building on the facility. And the cops just, they just manned the doors. They don't walk with you from building to building. I was like, when I'm hiding that laundry basket, when you go outside, I'm gone. And I, during wreck, I dug a hole. I found a rock in the rec yard that was flat like that. I dug a hole under the two fences.

And it took me a couple days. I had my friends blocking the ACO, the cops while I'm digging the holes. And, you know, I dug. I escaped. I remember I left on a Wednesday night, like 7.30 or so. And I made it back to Kona. Honestly, I didn't have a plan. I didn't have a plan in mind.

You know, I'm on an island. You know, where the heck am I going to go? You know, I'm the hottest character around because my face is on the news. Everybody's looking for you. Like, people that I know, they're like, you know, I call them, they don't want anything to do with me. They're like, don't come over here, you know, and draw heat my way. You know, I was just really, like, honestly, mostly. I just wanted to get high.

That was really sad to say, but that was my plan, really, in a nutshell. But I ended up calling, so I didn't have a phone. And the number that I had memorized was a middleman to somebody else who I needed the number, who I knew I could get the number from him to get drugs.

This guy's name, Hailama, I'll never forget it. I called him like a, Dami, I told him where I was, you know, I told him my situation. I told him I needed so and so his number. Hang up from him and, like, I'm walking from where I was, I made it back to Kona. I was staying in like this pretty nice, like, gated community too. And I was walking across the street to like the shopping center complex. a cop car saw me on the road.

I go, oh no. And so I creep through the lava rock and I come up. The cop saw me. I started running. I come up on the other side and there was already like, you know, 30, vice, detectives, police,

everything was already there. And they arrest me and this is Friday at noon now. So I left Wednesday at 7.30. Friday by noon, I was already back in handker. coughs um oh let me back up i have to say i also so this is another big part of my story so i broke my wrist i broke my wrist in a fight and i had these pins coming out of my arm with a metal bar right here it's like to keep my wrist from going like that and i remember all i remember thinking i was like these guys are going to fucking shoot me i remember like once i'm always i always ran like i

whenever the cops, I ran. Whether I was in a car or on foot, I would make them, you know, they would earn their paycheck that day, reeling me in. And I remember thinking, like, they're going to, don't shoot me. I was like, this is not a weapon.

You know, like, this is not a weapon. Like, they're trigger happy. I'm white. They don't like, you know, most Hawaiians don't really like white people. And I was like, I'm, I just don't want to get shot because I have a broken wrist.

So they catch me. me. I surrendered. They take me to cell block. I remember when they put when they went to grab my wrist to put my arms behind my back, they grabbed me by that bar and that bar came out. These two pins came out of my hand. My wrist just fell like that. And I, I remember they, my wrist had swollen up so bad that they couldn't even fit a cuff around it. They just cuffed it to the bar in behind my back. And oh, that was, that was, that was bad. But in the end, And everything happens for a reason. You know, I'll get to that.

It's kind of crazy. You know what they say? The hardest part is what happens after the escape. Escaping's easy. It's life on the run is the hardest. You're not kidding. You're not kidding. You're right.

The escape is easy. You know, then the plan is to... Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love, everything good in this world. Stop. With Mint, you can get premium. wireless for just $15 a month.

Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Up front payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only,

then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Seeful terms at mintmobile.com. This Memorial Day, shop one of avocado's biggest mattress sales of the year and fall in love with sleep again. At avocado, better sleep, starts with better materials.

Our certified organic mattresses are crafted without compromise, using high-quality organic materials that bring comfort and support into perfect balance. No polyurethane foams, no shortcuts. Just a cleaner, more natural sleep experience that your body will appreciate night after night. So you fall asleep more easily. Stay asleep longer and wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. That's sleep with purpose. This Memorial Day, discover what it means to truly sleep well.

Upgrade and save up to 20% on our award-winning mattresses. Shop the Memorial Day sale now and get up to 20% off at avocado mattress.com or select retailers nationwide. Visit avocado mattress.com. That's avocado mattress.com. The wind, you know, I agree. I was watching some video on TikTok. I guess it must have been a small town, but an in-meat was at court,

and then the guard turns the other way, sneaks out the back door, runs, and literally goes on the run, goes through the courthouse, and I think they eventually catch the guy, but it's easier to escape than you think. Yeah. But being on the run is so hard, especially in this day and age. Oh, man, it is. Your face goes everywhere. Too many eyes, too many people.

So what happens next? They catch you and they bring me. Yeah, they bring me back to cell block. First thing the cops do when I get to sell block. They come and they're like, oh, I remember it was a couple detectives. They beat the shit out of me too. They pounded me out once I got there for causing such a ruckus, you know, for everybody on the island looking for me. They gave me dirty lickens.

And I remember they come up and they're like, hey, you think Hailama is your friend? They're like, he's the one who told us where you were. And they would never know that. You know what I mean? So obviously the guy ratted. I go, well, you know, I hope you got a reward at least or something. you know, make it worth something. You know, I, you know, boiled my blood a little.

So I go back to the jail I escape from. I'm in the hole. That was another thing. The escape, once you escape and then go back to jail or prison, you know, because it all goes off of a point system. My points were through the roof. And I did a lot of hold time. because of that.

My first year and a half straight was in the hole. And they had, so they had, my wrist was so bad. There wasn't a doctor on the Big Island, because it's rural. You know, there wasn't a doctor capable of doing the surgery on the Big Island.

So they flew me to OCCC in Honolulu, because I'm still pretrial. And I'm doing, going through surgeries over there. It was all that was this is another awful thing but I remember sheriff so if I had a court date sheriffs would come pick me up from OCCC and I would board a civilian Hawaiian airline flight in that same suit that you were just wearing you know with the belly chains and the ankle chains and I'm walking through the airport and I'm never like everybody's looking at me like I'm Jeffrey Dahmer or

something you know it's like really humbling you know my mind you all the floors are tile and it's like ting, ting, ting, like with the chain. I was like, oh my God. Like, so embarrassing. But those were my court dates. I'd fly there and fly back for court. And so this prosecutor in Kona, man, I wish I could remember her name. It's Kobayashi.

It's a Japanese lady. I remember that much. But she hated me. She wanted to slam me. And I remember being in the hole in OCCC, and my public defender telling me, you know, they were trying. So all my charges were in Kona,

except for the one escape charge, which was in Hilo. So it's two different courts. And my public defender was trying to switch all my, because I think I have seven felonies, my six felonies to Hilo, where I could get them sentenced under one, one judge.

The prosecutor and Kona didn't, she kept shutting it down, shutting it down because she wanted to sentence me and she was trying to get them to switch the Hilo one to Kona, not vice versa. And like the first deal that they came with and asked me,

it wasn't a deal, but it was like an open 20 with like a 16 year minimum. I was like, no way. Like I'm not, no, you know,

I'm not, there's not a chance in hell. I'm doing that. You know, and then the deals, they were still shitty. I think I got, three of them from her. The best one was like three consecutive fives. And I was like, no, no,

my public defender, Ann Dada was her name. She was a good public defender. She, she was on my side. She fought for me. She got that, all my charges in Kona switched to Hilo. When the prosecutor went on vacation, she wasn't there to shut it down. And so there was a fill in or whatever. She got them all switch to Hilo. I went to the Hilo judge. I lost her as a public defender too in the process. So I had a new public defender. But now I'm in Hilo with this prosecutor who's not trying to drop the book on me. And I remember I go, I get sentenced. And the day that I got sentenced, they run all my charges concurrent. I get an open five, but I have no. credit for time served and at the time I think I had like I think I had like one year and seven months

in so I lose that and my time starts from that day doing my five year term and I mean honestly with a three six minimum three years six month minimum was where I was eligible to be paroled which I was happy. I was like, wow, that's a lot better than, you know, doing double digits.

I felt like I hit the lotto with that, honestly. It was still a long time, but, you know, I was, I feel like I won that one. You know,

without the, you know, without the escape, being able to get switched to Hilo and without the broken wrists where I had to fly to another island, I probably would have gotten sentenced a lot sooner

with a lot longer of time to serve. So then I go to, it's called Halava Correctional, which is in Honolulu, and it's the state prison for Hawaiian inmates. And they call it going to the valley, because you look out one side of the windows, all you see is mountain sides. You look out the other side.

All you see is mountain sides. and the prisons like in the middle between two mountains. And so one thing about Hawaii, it's a melting pot. There's so many different nationalities. You know, there's all those South Pacific islands like Micronesia, Tonga, Samoa, Laos, there's the Philippines. There's so many different kinds of people that in the Hawaii prison system, It's not really race-oriented, you know.

I mean, people see color. There's gangs. There's plenty of gangs, but there's not, you know, like I could watch other people's TVs or sit next to them at Chow or whatever, you know, no matter the color of the skin. There wasn't a lot of, like, politics. No, because there were still gangs. There were politics. But I feel like it's probably a lot better than.

Doing time in Hawaii prison is probably a lot better than doing time in a mainland prison, I'd imagine. What kind of charges did people have? Everything from, you know, most, I have to say, more than half of the prison is in there because of something crystal meth related. You know, either they were selling it or they were breaking the law to get money to supply it. You know, then, you know, you get your few percent of, you know, murderers and people that don't do drugs who, you know, just snapped for 15 seconds of their life and have to, you know, spend eternity paying for it type deal. So it was, you know, it was a melting pot of charges too. I would say more than half, though, is meth-related. And so Hawaii, one problem that they have is overcrowdedness in their prisons.

They don't have, all their jails are really old. You know, I think Halava was built in like the 80s. And I feel that the court system in Hawaii is really strict because tourism is the main thing in Hawaii. And if it's not safe for the tourists to come out there, people aren't going to want to come. You know, so I feel like they, you know, you could get locked up. You could do an open five for just having a, you know, meth pipe filled with meth in it. You know, I've seen people get, you know, busted for shit like that.

So they're strict. They are strict. And, you know, like county, there's people sleeping on the floors. You know, some cells have two people on the floors. They even opened up the Fed building in Hawaii. I did Fed time, well, not Fed time, but I did. county time inside the Fed building for a couple months, which is weird because they don't let you outside there.

I don't know if yours was like that, but we didn't see daylight for, I don't know, however months, ever many months I was in there. You know, you get the handball courts and the basketball courts that like break off the pod. Yep. And it's just like maybe sometimes has a skylight in the corner. Yeah, and that's it. That's how it was. And that's it.

I think all those detention centers are kind of the same. are the same, yeah. Yeah. The levels, were people pumping the toilets in the one you were in? What do you mean by pumping? To talk? Yeah. Yeah.

To talk to the women down below. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. That's cool how they do it in every state no matter what. Yeah, that would cause big drama too because people run into another cell and be like, hey man, I borrow your cell. I got to talk to my girlfriend on the seventh floor, you know? It's like talking into a toilet.

That's funny. But so, you know, overcrowdingness is an issue. And so if you're sentenced and you have. five years or more to serve, I don't know how they pick or choose people to fly, but they send people to a private prison in Sagoro, Arizona. And so, of course, I was chosen to go to Sagoro, this private prison, and, you know, we all strap up, we fly con air.

You know, it's like, you know, the seatbelt straps, like for a belt seatbelt in a car. that's what they strap us with. I remember and it goes around your waist. The same thing as what the chains are, but it's all belt straps, it looks like. And I'm strapped to two people. They strap you in threes

because the seat sits, you know, the plane sits three at a time. And I fly to Arizona. And that's more like where, you know, people in Halava are doing shorter bids. You know, you get people doing five plus years, lifers, more, you know, I don't know, more hard in criminals, more people like of that nature in Arizona. But there's also more privilege in Arizona, you know, like you could get, um, you could

buy a TV and have it in your cell. You know, they have MP3 players. You could buy music and put it on your MP3 player, you know, commissaries once a week. The commissary list is three times the amount, you know, that you could get in halava. So life is more cushy in that sense over there. I'm not a big fan of private prisons either. I'm really not. I feel like that nobody, it's like farming people. It's like farming inmates.

And I swear, I remember like going down there. There's like red rocks, a guaro. You look out the windows. It's just like prison after prison after prison. And they're all private prisons where people from states from all over the country send inmates. to, you know, and. And they just care about their bottom line and how they can cut costs and everything like that.

Automatic. And it's bad. It's bad. You know, Hawaii pays whoever owns that private prison X amount of dollars for each Hawaiian inmate there, you know. And so if this was my biggest issue with it. So I was eligible to be paroled in three, six. You know, granted, I do my.

mandated um parole board programs that they asked me to do which is I don't even I really don't remember one of them was like anger management one was like a drug class and um there was something else I had to do three things but in order to do these classes you have to stay out of you can't have any write-ups and if you get a write-up you have to stay right-up free for another six months before you're eligible to be selected for that class again.

And, you know, I don't know, I just couldn't stay out of trouble in there, you know, like not like I wasn't an awful inmate. You know, I was never in a gang, you know, I just, you know, I was never in my cell either, though. You know, gambling is probably the biggest thing that got me in trouble over there because, I don't know, nobody likes, nobody likes to lose, you know. And give us a good gambling story of what happened to you there. Okay, so I had a good bunky at the end.

I had a good friend at the end. I don't talk to anybody from prison anymore. But he was also my spades partner. I love spades. Oh, man. I taught my girlfriend Spades and her and I, we go, we play one-on-one. you know where you pick up one, throw it away, keep the other. And, you know, I love spades too.

Nothing's like two on two, though. But we used to cheat. We used to cheat and we would send, you know, hand signals of, you know, if we had, you know, boss spades in there. We would never admit, but everybody in the pod thought we were cheating, you know, and that would cause big problems. I remember him and I just got done. hustling these two guys on the spades table.

We go into the showers in the shower stalls. So the showers are four heads, you know, in each. I think there's one, two, three, four. So there's 16 showers for a piece. And we're in there by ourselves. And we both have our boxers on in our, you know, flip-flops and we're showering. These two dudes come run in there and start scrapping with us saying that, you know, I remember I had like soap in my eyes.

I was like this. all of a sudden I'm getting clocked in the jaw and I'm like, oh, you know, but we still never admit, you know, just like, you guys are fucking sore. Losers, you know, you want to scrap, we scrap. But, you know, that got me in, you know, got me in trouble a few times here or there.

You know, I was also, I remember at the end, too, I don't know if they had this when you were there, but, you know, running tickets, football is huge in there. Of course, yeah. You know, me and two buddies kind of did that together. I was, I have to say it was fought, help time go by, you know what I mean? It's, it's exciting. It helps the day along, you know.

Also, too, I feel like kind of knowing that you're getting away with something that you're not supposed to be doing is nice too. It's the adrenaline, rough. It adds some excitement to it. Yeah, yeah. Like I got my tattoos in prison, too, you know, like all of them? Yeah, this whole sleeve, like doing that is, you know, it was way to pass time. What does your girlfriend think about the prison stuff? Did you tell her when you guys first met?

Yeah, I think so she had heard a little bit about what had happened with my father and stuff. But I don't, not. So we hadn't talked. I knew her from when we were in high school together. You know, she went her own way. I went my own way. And she's a good girl. She's a really good girl.

She is, you know, one thing I love about her, she's very family oriented. She's close-knit with her family. She was raised right. She, you know, her dad was a principal and superintendent, you know, like she was a good girl. Her sister, too. You know, she comes from a good family and she never, you know, got arrested or did drugs or anything like that. But, you know, I think it kind of, I don't know. I think it kind of blew her mind a little bit maybe that, you know,

when I tell her some of the stories and things that I had gone through and been through, because I don't know, not everybody knows what it's like inside there. You know, it's a different world. And it's a doggy dog world inside those fucking places, too. You know, and I'm happy that I was able to experience it, but I'm happy that I'm a free man. You and me both. I'm really...

And you know what's crazy is that the prosecutor literally knew your situation of what happened to your dad. All they had to do was give you some type of drug rehabilitation because you used that because of the incident with your dad. Yeah. And they should have just squashed that, did the right thing, sent you to a rehab or some type of program,

give you probation, and it would have been the end of the day. Yeah, I know. I was trying for drug court, but I get the the BB gun incident was considered a violent charge. Yeah. And so. Little do they know you were robbing a drug dealer.

Yeah, I know. I didn't say anything either. I don't think it would have even made a difference, but I was like, I wanted to tell the cops so bad, like, hey, you guys know that this guy's selling oxy cotton out his back fucking porch, you know? I hate those types of cases, man. Oh, my God.

They just, they jerk you around. That's a criminal justice system, you know? They really do. Yeah. That's the truth of it. But, you know, people like you who come and talk about it and share, like, what average everyday people who don't have a lot of money go through. Yeah. You know, that's eye opening.

Yeah, totally, totally. So how long did you end up serving, total? Six years, nine months. And do you say I'm getting the hell out of Hawaii when you're done? I know you finished it in Arizona, right? I did. But that was, this is another thing. I remember trying to get released from Arizona because I was going straight back to Connecticut once I was done.

I was like, you know, get me away from the. scumbags. You know, another thing that sucked because my, because of my escape, you know, I was my whole time, my whole prison run was either closed custody or max custody. So, you know, I'm around like the shot callers for the gang, like, you know, not that they're all bad people, but the dirtbags of the dirt bags, you know what I mean? People who don't want to change. People who talk about how they could do things differently or learn something new from somebody else in there and then try it this way, you know, like, I'm thinking, like, to myself, like, I want to change. I don't want to be back in here because that's only, you're either going to die or you're

going to make it back in there, one of the two. You know, I would be in there and I would see people leave and come back. I'd be like, within like eight months. Ready or not, summer is coming, and Wayfair's Memorial Day clearance is on now. Right now through May 25th, get up to 70% off everything home at Wayfair. Plus, score amazing doorbuster deals all sale long, and surprise flash deals on Memorial Day. We're talking thousands of products at every style and budget. Now is the time to save big on must-habs for your patio, backyard, and beyond. These savings won't last.

So don't wait. Shop Wayfair's Memorial Day clearance now through May 25th. Wayfair, every style, every home. I'm going to be like, what the heck is wrong with you guys? You know, like I don't. I think that's one of also the biggest flaws in the criminal justice system is when you're in prison, and it's kind of like a double standard, they tell you don't associate. with felons when you get out. So when you're in prison, you're with all these felons. And in most

cases, they're worse people than, you know, what you did. And you're just getting, like, you're just, you are who you surround yourself with. Yes. So when you're with evil, nasty people, how does that help you? How do you get rehabilitated? Yeah. When the majority of them do not care about rehabilitation. It's tough. Oh, it's, it is. It is. You're spot on with that spot on. Even the help that you could get inside of prisons and like, it's a joke. Oh my God. And like staying,

that's like with the private prison, you know, oh, you got to stay right up free for six months. And these cops, they'll go out of their way to write, like they'll just, you know,

write you up for some nonsense, talking in the rotunda or something, because they know that it's going to ruin your chances of parole. You know, I remember I got denied parole. I think I saw like five or six times. Always denied. Obviously,

I didn't complete any of my program. The very last time I saw them, I think I had like six months left to parole. And I was like, I'm good. I was like, I'm just going to max out. Like, now you guys want to parole me? You know, it's going to take me another four months by the time because they have to release me from Honolulu. So I would have to fly back there, which I mean, I did fly back there.

I had to fly back to Halava, max out, and then get released from Honolulu. and that's what that's what ended up happening and i i got released september 11th of 2018 and my mom coordinated with i don't even know i think it was like uh he was some sort of priest or preacher who did like things on the side to help out inmates and he gave me a ride from halava to the airport and um I remember that was a good day. I didn't think that was ever going to happen. I remember my day of release even,

and they're like supposed to come pick me up at 8 o'clock in the morning or something. And I remember being like, I wasn't looking at my watch, but I remember looking at the clock, me like, fuck, it's like 8.20. Like, I'm hitting the button. Like, hey, I'm supposed to get out today.

Like, where are you guys? Get the ball rolling. You know, they go at their own speed. Obviously, you know that. So I get released and I come back. here and I flew back back to back to my moms and it was it was nice to be home you know I enjoyed life I really enjoyed seeing family again um you know I I have to say I'm ashamed to say I actually right when I got out of prison like I hadn't I had dabbled with a little bit of drugs

inside prison but I never like spent money on it like if i had a roommate who had it busted out or whatever i would i would probably use it but i would never spend commissary or anything on drugs you know and even getting high in there was was awful you get you know you mind fuck yourself on things you know thinking like oh my god who's gonna tell who knows type deal um and i remember my roommate jordan who my played the spades with I remember getting high once and he was like, he's like, dude, if you can't stay sober in prison, how are you going to stay sober outside? Because I always told him I was done.

I was done. I was done. I was like, man, that's a really good point, you know. And so I think for like my last, I don't know, maybe with my last three years in prison, I didn't use any drugs. And I got released, flew back to Connecticut. September, I was in Connecticut. I, so when I was in jail, I was always watching news and stuff.

And I hear about the, the fentanyl epidemic in the Northeast in Connecticut and New York, Massachusetts. I hear all these people, you know, dying from fat and all. This sounds twisted, but it was like, you know, kind of made me want to try it, you know. and I ended up I ended up getting high for a few more times and I got high from November to I'd say January of the end of 2018 to the beginning of 2019

and I just I ended up what happened I got I was with a friend that I knew for from high school. I ended up getting arrested. I had marijuana. I was in the hood trying to cop in Waterbury. I got arrested for marijuana. They let all of it, I didn't get in any trouble for that or anything. But I remember sitting in the cell being like, what the fuck am I doing? How am I back here already? This is like four months later. You know, I was like, what the heck are you doing, Andrew? And from then on, I remember I got out.

I ended up going to a detox. I went to a rehab in Torrington, Connecticut. And I went and lived in a sober house over there. I was going to AA meetings plenty, not doing any drugs, not drinking. And I kind of just was over it. I was done. I was like, I can't waste any more time. You know, I'm getting older, you know.

Right now I'm third. 39, you know, then I was probably 35, 36. I was like, you have to do something with your life. Like, this is going nowhere fast, you know. I lost everything in Hawaii, everything and everything. You know, I come out to jail with just the shirt on my back, which wasn't even mine, you know. And I stayed in Torrington for a year or two. I was working at Amazon and Bristol.

was going good. I think COVID hit. I ended up going to, I went back to school to learn how to work on C&Cs at Nagatoc Valley Community College and I moved back in with my mother. And then, you know, but I was happy. I was still sober.

Kind of, the meetings kind of faded away. I stopped kind of going to meetings. but I still wasn't drinking or drugging. And I saw my girlfriend. So I used to have Fridays off. I was working in, this is after I finished the schooling. I was working in Newtown and I had Fridays off. And I remember driving down the street.

And I saw Sarah walking her dog down the street and I was like, oh my God, that is Sarah. And I remember watching her as I drove by. And I hit her up on Facebook. and we ended up meeting up and, you know, that was the best move I ever could have made because I never, honestly, I've never been happier in my life ever. I drink alcohol now, but I don't touch any drugs. I can't, I feel like I'm at the point, I've accomplished too much in my life.

life since my last drug use, I can't give that all away. You know, I can't the trust that I've regained with my family, you know, anybody who cares and loves me, you know, I've broken my mom's heart more than a few times. You know, and she's always stuck by me. This just reminded me of something that I wanted to say. So my mom, I remember one thing that really hurt my heart that she had said, I remember being in county and talking to her on the phone. And I was like, yeah, mom, fuck, I'm back in jail.

I'm going to be in here for a while. And I remember her being like, you know what, good. Because, you know, at least I know that you're safe in where you are. You know, I was like, wow, that's how bad I was stressing her out. And I don't do that to her anymore nowadays. you know, it was, it's, life, life is good, you know. What do you do for work now? I build cabinets.

Oh, that's so cool. Carpenter, like, I work for a company out of North Haven. We do mostly commercial stuff, you know, like pharmacies, vets, doctors offices, you know, like mass produce. That's what my stepfather does. My mom and him aren't together anymore either. but I'm still in contact with him also. And my brother, my brother Will, he lives in Massachusetts.

He's, you know, six years younger than me. And, you know, I work and I enjoy life, you know, stay out of trouble. And I left prison. I have no, no parole, no probation, no tails, no free man, which is, It's a good feeling. That's awesome. Has your felony affected you at all in Connecticut? God, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. That's another gut-wrenching thing that, you know, I tell a lot of people this. That really gets to me that, you know, it's, I think it's like seven felonies, you know, and it's the UCPV, which is a stolen, I think it's uncontrolled authorization of a, vehicle.

I have theft, the attempted robbery, the escape, fraud, and maybe it's six credit card theft. When my dad died, I had opened up credit cards in his name. He had really good credit. And this is like soon, soon after he died, I had opened up cards in his name and ran up the limits and those were some of my charges as well. But I remember going and applying, I'm talking just to woodworking shops and them doing background checks and not hiring me. I went through a stint because I was working in Newtown. The company shut down and I must, I must do apply to about 30 different, every wood shop in Connecticut.

More than half of them do background checks. You know, that's a, it's a, you know, thing. And if you look, when, you know how if somebody does a background check on you, you get the copy of what the employer is able to see. And I read it myself and I'm like, I wouldn't hire me. Yeah, I wouldn't hire me either. You know, it's about, you know, I'm not a sex offender, anything fucking crazy like that or too violent. But it's about stealing and, I don't know, it just doesn't look good on paper. You know what it doesn't show is it doesn't show your dad getting, you know, murdered right in front of you.

and how that triggered drug addiction, which triggered the crimes you committed. It doesn't show that. No. That's why this is important, these types of conversations. Yes, totally, totally. People change.

You know, it's rare. I feel like especially for, you know, the, you know, felon, inmates, I mean, most people end up going right back to prison. I feel like, because it's kind of a lot of people I knew in prison, that that is all they knew you know luckily i was i came from a good family i was raised i had i had jobs before i had bank accounts most people in there don't even have all their teeth you know type deal you know they don't they end up doing the same thing that they know how to do and they go

back you know it's kind of it's sad you know it there's not there's not help you know i there And America, too, we have more people locked up in this country than every other country combined. You know, and they call it the land of the free. Yeah. You know, it's sad, you know. What kept you going when you were getting all those nose at your job when you were looking for work? That could be very frustrating. And I'm sure a lot of people that listen can relate to that.

So what kept you on track? I just knew that I was, I feel like I'm good. at what I do. I'm very capable and, you know, I just knew that somebody had to give me a chance because once they let me in the door and see my work and what I can do and, you know, not judge me by my background, my criminal background, I'll have a job for as long as I need, you know, I just, you know, finding that was not easy for me. I'm lucky I lucked out how, where I am. Where I am now,

the employer actually found me and he didn't do background checks. You know, luckily. Otherwise, probably wouldn't have a job there if he did. You know, are your felony stuck on your background? Yeah,

but when I was out working for people, a lot of times they wouldn't come up only because it was federal and they didn't run for federal. They just ran like federal sex, sex offenders. Yeah. Like when I applied to,

to Whole Foods, I got the background report back, and it was just the misdemeanors in Connecticut, the Fed stuff didn't even apply it. But people would not hire me just because they would Google search my name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, people do that. Oh, I do. That's another bad thing about me. Like, I hate that.

That should be against the law, too. You just Google my name, Hawaii, and it's like, I don't know how that is not against the law. The cool thing is, though, is that this will trump that, you know, this episode will be on the top of Google when people search your name. Oh, really? That's a cool aspect of it. Well, that's a really good thing. They get to hear it from your side of the story. Now when people search my name, it's not those articles are still there, but my platform takes precedent over that. I see. So I think it's really cool to be able to do that. Well, it's sure beats my mug shots. What's your piece of advice you want people to take away from your story? Really honestly, you know,

I've been contemplating this, you know, for the last few days knowing and thinking that I was coming here. And I feel like one, one, I get it. You know, no matter when I was doing the worst of the worst of my bad stuff, no matter what anybody had told me or said to me, I wasn't going to listen. I didn't, I did not, I did not care. But maybe some people are different, you know. and I just like everybody else you have on here or a lot of people you have on here,

no matter how bad things get or how bad things are, there's always light at the end of the tunnel. You know, I also feel like for in my situation, the further I went down made the better a chance of me coming back up. You know, I had to hit apps. absolute rock, rock bottom to start making the climb back up. You know, there's, it doesn't happen overnight either. It really doesn't, you know, it takes a mindset.

You know, a want in a way, you have to really start to truly think and act different. You know, you can't, you can't resort back to what's easy, you know, change is not easy. and like I said it's not like just a light switch you turn on and off you know it's not you know and I in my situation I feel that I was just I was really fortunate to have a lot of you know family members like my aunt and my mom my cousin my brother like at my worst times you know help help me through tough times but knowing that people can go through bad, horrible, awful shit and still be okay after time. Time heals all wounds.

It's another thing I feel. Well, in my case, I believe that. And that would be, I know that was a big answer to the question, but that's how I would sum it up. Well, Andy, I appreciate you coming to the show today. Thanks for sharing your story so openly. and candidly, and to think you thought you were a little nervous coveted. You did great, man. I appreciate it.

You've very well spoken. Great storyteller. I think the audience is going to love this one. Thank you. Yeah, thank you, man. Happy holiday.