Locked In with Ian Bick - Philly Maximum Security Prison Guard Tells All: Making & Using Weapons, Bill Cosby & Shot Callers

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

Ex-prison guard Michael Smith pulls back the curtain on the hidden world inside a Philadelphia maximum security prison. From secret techniques inmates use to craft shanks to the terrifying ways they'r...e used, Michael shares jaw-dropping stories from his time on the inside. Don't miss this eye-opening look at the dark side of prison life that most people never get to see! #PrisonSecrets #InmateLife #PrisonGuardStories #MaximumSecurity #TrueCrime #PrisonWeapons #PhiladelphiaPrison #ShanksExposed Watch Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HacMc11P0yg Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Michael Smith: https://www.facebook.com/share/yFQu9sPUtYLuZxHM/?mibextid=LQQJ4d Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 - The Positive Impact on Former Inmates 00:05:16 - Discussing Murder and Criminal Behavior in Society 00:10:10 - Blame and Responsibility in Parenting 00:15:18 - Homemade Prison Weapons 00:25:05 - Prison Fights and Hidden Weapons 00:30:12 - The Crazy Environment of Holmesburg 00:35:12 - Evil Intentions and Prison Stories 00:40:27 - Survival Tactics in Prison 00:45:25 - Loyalty and Integrity in Corrections 00:50:22 - Stories from the Jailhouse 00:55:36 - Passing Product through Kosher Meals 01:00:27 - Religious Items in Prison 01:05:15 - Challenges of Moving Prisoners 01:10:40 - Suspect Caught in the Act 01:15:40 - Ketchup on Eggs Debate 01:19:57 - Thank you for the Merch 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

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Starting point is 00:00:48 ValleyVet, your go-to source for 40 years, making animal care easy and affordable. Visit ValleyVet.com for your animals' health and your peace of mind. That's valley vet.com. Smitty, welcome back to Lockton. You are our second correctional officer who has made multiple appearances and the crowd loved you. And you're on a mission today
Starting point is 00:01:10 to give another great performance. I'm glad to be back. Yeah, how'd you feel about the first one? How it came out. Everyone complimented it. A lot of people watched it. They would tag me on Facebook. They were watching in a living room.
Starting point is 00:01:26 They had it on their big TV. They couldn't wait. Right till it came out. So it was good. I mean, I read some of the comments that was on there. But then I was like, I can't read any more comments. Yeah. Because a lot of people say there was a lot of good comments.
Starting point is 00:01:41 There were some negative ones. But I'm like, I'm that guy. Be like, yo, let's meet somewhere then. Well, a lot of people don't realize it's a different time period when you're in there. And it's so much different now. Yeah. Another thing, like all I would say probably the old heads that were locked, locked up, they could understand where I was coming from.
Starting point is 00:02:02 These new young bucks, they don't even know how to fight. So they only know how to shoot. So jail is not like jail how it used to be, you know. Do you talk to any like the former inmates that you might have affected in a positive way? Yeah. Actually, there's three of them that I talked to. One, Smokey. Actually, I wanted to bring them up.
Starting point is 00:02:28 He actually trained Bernard Hopkins in Greater for Prison when Bernard Hopkins was coming on when he got locked up. Smokey actually lost his eye in prison by boxing. The guy who did that was the champion. Bernard Hopkins actually dethroned him at Greater for Prison. Grater for Prison was like a... So they would bring in professional boxers to spar with the convicts. Like they actually had a very good boxing team. Smokey was one of the boxers.
Starting point is 00:03:01 He was juvenile life or he got locked up in the 70s. I believe he was 15 years old. I was actually just talking to him about three weeks ago because I told him I was going to come on this show. And if I could mention him, he said, no problem at all. He got out in 2018. He spent 40-some years in prison. That dude is still fit as can be as he was when he was boxing.
Starting point is 00:03:26 He's trying to do like a positive influence out there in the streets. You know, it's what, in his early 70s, I would say. And he's still, he's trying to make a difference out there. Smoky boxing, he calls it. Very good. He actually, when he got out, Bernard Hawkins hooked him up with Joe Haynes' boxing gym. and he was working there for a little bit as a trainer. Another guy that did 15 to 30,
Starting point is 00:04:05 I talked to him. He's doing good out there. He's got a good job. And another dude that I think did 11 years altogether. He's out. And he's doing good. Being a dad, the other one, D, He's being a, you know, a grandfather, actually.
Starting point is 00:04:29 So, it seems like the ones that did some little bit of time are actually doing good. I know they actually say you got to do for the ones in the state prison system. They said you at least got to do at least 10 years to get it through your head. So you don't reoffend. 10 years and below, there's like an 80% return rate going back to prison. But some people find it easier to survive in prison and it is out in the world. Yeah, and you know, the system should push correctional officers to, you know, speak to each other and not have to hide it because I know in the feds, they don't want you interacting. Like, I'd run into guards and after I just got out, they would, you know, they'd be weird about it, you know, because they don't want to be associated with a felon or something like that.
Starting point is 00:05:23 And you're in a different position because you had left the system. Right. But some people are, you know, we just, you know, because their job, they don't want to be seen associating with it. Well, I know with the state, I believe the person, you can lose your job if you talk, if you, what they call it, be friends with them within like the first two years they got released. To be honest, I would say, sorry, it's hard to say. Like, I'm cool with everybody. I'm going to be me. You know?
Starting point is 00:06:06 I've ran into a lot of former convicts, inmates out there. Always said, what's up, you know? You're sitting with one now. Right. I mean, they made a mistake, you know. Now, the ones I wouldn't be talking to would be child molesters and all that crap. like the hell with them. I mean, they should be dead anyway.
Starting point is 00:06:31 So, you know, but everybody else, you know, the three dudes that I talk to that I, you know, and one I actually have seen we went out to lunch together, they all committed murder. Doesn't bother me, you know. How many people you know that actually committed a murder and never got caught? I'm sure there's a lot out there.
Starting point is 00:06:53 Right. Or how many people you're at the store standing next to when they did a crime, you don't even know. Well, it's like the serial killer that I was talking about a previous episode in Long Island, the Giglio Beach serial killer who's living right under their noses. That was someone's neighbor for all these years. Right. It's always the people you least expect. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:11 So, you know, I believe the juvenile life for law that they passed, they're 14, 15, 16 years old. They committed a murder. they made one stupid mistake. I believe they do their 30, 40 years. They should be able to get out, you know, do some time. You learn, you grow, you mature, you know. Now, is your opinion on murderers different, like say it's a murderer, they murdered someone
Starting point is 00:07:53 that was in street life, was in the criminal world, was in gang life, and they killed someone versus a murderer that killed an innocent, like, say a woman or a child or any type of innocent person? Yeah, the innocent people. They're just, you know, pieces of shit. I mean, you get caught up in that lifestyle and you, you know, you get, I mean, a lot of people, a lot of, a lot of people say you join gangs because you're not getting the love and all that at home.
Starting point is 00:08:23 You're looking for a father figure. You're looking for brotherhood. You're looking for sisterhood. And you join a gang. You know, I mean, that stuff happens. And, you know, you want to prove yourself whatever, your neighborhood and you kill somebody, streetbeasts type thing. You know, that's one thing I think a lot of people, like the mafia,
Starting point is 00:08:47 the only people they kill is people that's in that lifestyle. They don't go out and killing anybody else. They don't go out and do a drive-by and spray. Like what happened just in Philly this past weekend, and three people killed 10 people injured because they sprayed 50 rounds at a block party. You know? They go for their target and it's just business with them.
Starting point is 00:09:09 Yeah. You know? JBM was another one, the junior black mafia, or the black mafia, you know? They went after their enemies. They didn't kill innocent people or anything like that, you know? So it's a man-y, man world. Now, you're a former cop in a very large city.
Starting point is 00:09:32 I had a question for you based on, you know, recent events going on in the world. The whole Trump shooting, do you think that was a lapse in Secret Service or a lapse in the local police? Would that ever have happened? You know, what's your opinions on that? My opinion is this. That lady that retired from the Secret Service, the director, she's an idiot. From what I understand is they asked for more agents. She didn't give it to them.
Starting point is 00:10:00 Also think with that Butler, I think it was Butler Police Department, they ain't used to that type of stuff, you know. A lot of things are coming out. I don't want a Monday quarterback the officers. But if you see somebody on the roof, they're a threat. That was 30 years ago.
Starting point is 00:10:20 That guy would have been shot right from the get-go as soon as they seen them. You know? I remember when you see, I was told this when I worked in the 23rd. When was it? Bill Clinton, I believe, yeah, it was Bill Clinton came to the 23rd district. He was going to talk at the church at 11th and Cecil B.
Starting point is 00:10:37 And Temple University is right there. Secret Service agents came in with the Philadelphia police and they told the people, this is when Bill Clinton is visiting. We want everybody cleared from that, you know, from the apartment building. If we see a head sticking out of that window, we're shooting it. You know? and now the way the world is everybody's like, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:01 Karen's type stuff, you know? Like it's actually the last time I was on here, you asked me a question about the, what could have been with the justice system. And I'm like driving home and I'm like, I don't know why, like I talked about Krasner and all that, but it's even deeper than that. And it's coming from you,
Starting point is 00:11:24 your home. The parents of today are trying to be the best friends of these kids and let them do whatever they want. You know, I guarantee you many of them don't even eat dinner with their family. You know, it all starts at the home and it's always somebody else's fault. They never want to blame on, you know, their kid's fault. Listen, your kid's not angels, you know. They're going to do dumb stuff. They're going to mess up. Take your own to that. And that's the problem with today. These parents want to blame everybody
Starting point is 00:12:03 else. Starts with the, I feel bad for those school teachers. I feel bad for everybody that has to work in a public sector because today's society is like, blame everybody else except yourself, you know? And I think going back to that, the Trump shooting, they messed up.
Starting point is 00:12:27 And I mean, this is how sad it is, when that liberal, what was she, a congressman from New York? Oh, AOC? Yeah. When she is saying something that's very true, I mean, it was very partisan. Everyone was jointly, I was watching the clips, like, no matter what your political opinion is, yeah, everyone joined together and had extremely valid points. And when you see that with her being that downright at her, it's like, man, you need to resign. Like, you should have been fired, you know. I mean, I think the, the secret service agents and the police, their hands were cuffed behind their, their hands were cuffed behind their backs.
Starting point is 00:13:20 They're too afraid of going to prison if that dude didn't have a gun. But anyone on a roof at a rally, that's a very suspect. But I think nowadays how everything's going, cops all the way down, all the way up to Secret Service agents are second guessing themselves. Would you want to be a cop in today's world? No way. I would have been fired. Like I said that last time, I would have been fired during the riots because I'll be down. I'm going to have someone blow smoke in my face, throw piss on me, or...
Starting point is 00:13:50 or do whatever. Like, I'm taking you down. You're not taught, you're, you're, you're taught to, you know, grab them, put them back in the wagon, you know. You take care of them. There's peaceful protests. Been through that. But all that riot stuff and blowing, especially during COVID and all that,
Starting point is 00:14:13 you're blowing smoke in my face. Get the heck out of here. Are a lot of those old school cops gone? Are they no longer in the force? Oh, they're in the force? Philadelphia. there are so many like cops want to leaving want to leave they're in the drop
Starting point is 00:14:26 it's only going to get worse nobody wants to work work in that city nobody wants to they're so afraid to make a decision because before you're going to lose your job now
Starting point is 00:14:40 you're going to go to prison you know and you got Krasner all he wants to do was just hang cops he'll hang cops He'll hang cops more than he'll hang child rapists. You know, I interviewed a Philly probation officer that got fired. That episode will be out this week. And he was saying how, like, the probation department with, like, the criminal justice system in general is so corrupt where they're not everyone, but a lot of them were arranging for guys to get pulled over just to jam them up and send them back to prison.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Right. Pretty crazy stuff. Yeah, it's plus prisons. It's all about money. It is. You know. Yeah. Even though there ain't that many inmates in State Road at CF, CF, and Pick and all that.
Starting point is 00:15:28 Yeah. Just let them loose. Larry lets him go. But, you know, hopefully he gets voted out one of these days. Well, you know, Philly's very known for, we talked about it, like, the political corruption and the guys I would, like, I think I mentioned that I was in prison with the Philly DA. that guy that was in the federal building. Oh, Seth Willio? Yep, I was in prison with him.
Starting point is 00:15:54 He was in the shoe, yeah. He had just got sentenced and his bond revoked and he was there. They had him there by himself. And he was just like walking in the little cage and the solitary in that FDC. He actually wasn't a bad DA. He seemed like a nice guy. Yeah, he wasn't a bad DA. He just got caught up.
Starting point is 00:16:13 I would hate to be a DA in prison. I think that's worse than even a cop. Because a cop's not the one physically putting you behind bars. That's like the prosecutor is a judge. And that's why I think like your honor is such a popular show right now. Did you watch that at all? You got to watch your honor about how a judge ends up becoming corrupt because of all of the stuff that ends up happening with a son.
Starting point is 00:16:36 Right. But, you know, they say like a child molesters and like cops have it bad. But like imagine you're even... How many discounts does USA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount. Safe driver discount. New vehicle.
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Starting point is 00:17:59 Yeah, there was a couple judges in Pennsylvania got locked away for, it was pay. They were putting kids away at certain juvenile places and they were getting paid for it. Wow. And they ended up doing Fed time. That was within the last like 15 years, actually. Did you see the viral clip of the probate court judge
Starting point is 00:18:18 that got locked up. She, like, got a DUI and she was screaming at the cops. And she just got kicked off the bench. But she got arrested. It was like a really big viral clip. It's pretty crazy. I want to say it was even in Pennsylvania or maybe, no, maybe it was a southern state down south.
Starting point is 00:18:35 But, yeah, that's been going around. I got to Google that. Yeah. You're seeing more. I just think it's funny where, like, you have these law officials that are so, you know, tough on crime. and that, but they act like their shit doesn't stink too. And then they go out and you see a scandal or you see something like the Fannis,
Starting point is 00:18:55 Fannie Willis thing, how she was sleeping with her co, you know, prosecutor on it. And this has nothing to do with politics. It's just like people are human beings is the point. Right. And people do make mistakes and it happens. So you shouldn't so less look at the people that have made mistakes publicly and are out there in a negative way. Because everyone does. And like you were saying about murders, even though it's not that grand scale of what these people did, you know, people have skeletons in their closet.
Starting point is 00:19:26 Yeah. That's a reality of life. Yeah. Everyone has skeletons. No one lives a Brady life. No. Yeah. I used to love that show.
Starting point is 00:19:35 That brought back memories. The Brady Bunch. Yeah, the Brady Budge. That was such a great show. And what was it, Leave It to Beaver? Was that the other one? Yeah. I mean, that was black and white.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Yeah. I used to watch that. Did you? Yeah. Yeah. be, I think there was, didn't it make it to color eventually or no? Or was it all black and white? Brady Bunch was in color.
Starting point is 00:19:53 Yeah, Brady Bunch was in color. Yeah. But they had, they had what? The mom was sleeping with Greg anyway. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, so.
Starting point is 00:20:03 Yeah. Well, uh, so business. Smitty, you got a, uh, interesting show for us today. I'm super excited. I knew it was going to be good when you texted me saying, I got some stuff. Yeah. And you showed up with a whole duffel bag worth of goodies. Yeah, so actually I made some homemade wax, wanks, shanks, shanks, shivs, you know, the actually how convicts inmates would make them.
Starting point is 00:20:31 Just a simple toothbrush, right? And all they do is take the razors from the disposable razors that they get from commissary or if you don't have money, you get given razors. and all you do is just melt the bristles with some fire and now you got something that will give you a one it's called a 150 so what a 150 is someone who's a rat or a snitch they'll cut you from ear to your mouth that's about 150 stitches and you have that for the rest of your life so any prison you ever go to they know not to talk to you to avoid you so this is one of the ones I mean, you can just, you can have this right in your hand facing the other way, whatever,
Starting point is 00:21:18 and any CO, if he doesn't see it, you can just walk up to a dude and just slice them. Same thing with this. This one is what I did was how they would do it, make a slit right down the handle right here, and they actually use this as glue from the razor that they break it off with, and as hard as a rock. Now, this is what I would say are the most common ones that we see on TV shows. I was telling you about the movie Shot Caller, and sometimes they don't even have the actual toothbrush. They'll just have the top part and they'll hold it in their hand.
Starting point is 00:21:50 And even in Mac Security prisons, inmates are given razors. Yep. Because they do have to shave. Yeah. So they'll just break off the razor part and just keep them. You're actually supposed to turn them in in all actuality, but you just keep them and you can slice somebody nice with these.
Starting point is 00:22:11 I know guys would used to say like it broke in it because some of the flimsy ones do break easily and they would say it fell in the shower drain or fell in the toilet or whatever or some COs were just weren't on point and they would give them two razors and then if you did it at a shift change that was the perfect bet
Starting point is 00:22:28 because then you could say you never got the razor or anything like that at least from what I've saw from my perspective. And then so all the stuff that I made and I made this at my house I sharpened these just like just like a convict on that damn on concrete, just sharpening it, right?
Starting point is 00:22:45 This one took about maybe 15 minutes to sharpen. So this could be, and this is a T-shirt, the hem of the T-shirt, right, to make it to have a nice grip. But this could be like the wire fence out in the yard. They break it off. This is just a fast poker, you know? You can just keep poking, poking, poking, poking, poking. Like, it's nice, sturdy.
Starting point is 00:23:09 it will do some damage. This one's a little bit thicker. You want to go with the liver with this. How do they get the metal for that part, the thicker ones? This actually is from the metal racks that county prison will have to put the trays on, to put them in a re-thurn to warm them up. These are really popular right here. It's very sturdy.
Starting point is 00:23:35 You can hide it in your boot, whatever, pull it out. and I've seen people stab with this I've seen people stab with this Have you ever had an inmate face off against you with one of those Like when you guys are like a cert team Trying to go into a cell or something? No, but I had one
Starting point is 00:23:50 I had one that came on the block On D1 Pod 3 And I guess he had somebody That didn't like him on the block So he comes to me and my partner And says I'm going to get off the block And I was like, this ain't no motel I was like, you just got here, right?
Starting point is 00:24:07 He goes, well, I want to get off the block. I said, the only way you get off the block is if you take PC. And he said, oh, I'll get off the block. He went up to steps, went into the multi-purpose room, came back down and put a whack right on our desk. That's what I was like, God damn, he could have just stabbed the shit out of me, you know?
Starting point is 00:24:27 Luckily, he put it on the desk. I was like, well, I guess you're not going to PC, you're going to the hole now. And he got off the block. So whoever he had beef with, they were going to do something to him and all. But that was the only time. This one right here, I'll tell you about this.
Starting point is 00:24:45 Looks like a samurai sword. Yeah. So this could be off the brackets anywhere, right? Even the old pushrods at the old prisons. They'll break behind the toilet, right? So I've seen swords. This is just one length, right? This is what you can call a skull crusher.
Starting point is 00:25:07 Put this right in somebody's school, you know? Matter of fact, it might have been this type of piece to happen during 9-11 in Oregon. A guy in the feds stabbed the black Muslim inmate. And he had it on video and went on for like two minutes. And it was actually getting stuck in the dude's head. He ended up on death row. It was all over the news. The reason he did is because he was Aryan Brotherhood.
Starting point is 00:25:42 The reason he did it was because of the dude was just a black Muslim, and it would have 9-11 happened. So I don't know why the prison wasn't locked down anyway. Like all the prisons of Pennsylvania got locked down during 9-11. For how long? For days, actually. But this is just a metal rack. This one took about maybe two hours to sharpen on the goddamn concrete.
Starting point is 00:26:04 Now, have you seen the effects of what happens when it's not? sharp when it's a dull blade a dull blade nah i've always seen guys are taking seriously yeah but funny story about this so i probably was a week in the in cfcf and i'm working a building and when you're in the academy they they tell you rule by rule with everything right so you get out of the academy you're like, oh, I'm going to do this because all they say is you can kiss their pension goodbye, you know, your job goodbye. So you want to be strictly by the rules. I learned real quick.
Starting point is 00:26:45 That, like, I learned real quick where you let things go sometimes, you know, and one of the rules is two men to a cell. And they actually talked about Muslims praying, right? And they say, you see some Muslims praying, you know, you get them out of the cell. well here I am like freaking you know deputy from mid mayberry and walking by the lower tier and at at cFCF or in the county prisons there was have one guy um stand guard of the door so no one goes in that door when the Muslim inmates were praying there were six of them praying in the cell so um he's guarding the door and I see him I was like
Starting point is 00:27:33 Yo, they got to get out. He said they're praying. I said, no. Rules are, two persons to a cell, like a strapper, right? And he's like, they're praying. So I went to unlock the door and the dude grabbed my hand. And we just went to fighting, right? South Philly dude.
Starting point is 00:27:51 Name was Philip Linder. And we went to fighting. So he ended up going to the hole. Six months later, they bring them back to the block I was working. D1, Pod 3. for his home. So we both see each other and he actually apologized and I was like, you know, I said to him I've grown since then because it wasn't really that deep. All they were doing was praying. They weren't scamming. They weren't doing nothing else. They were just praying.
Starting point is 00:28:20 And about two weeks later, he actually had a sword when he did a shakedown. And a sword was probably about two and a half feet long. Holy cow. And he sharpened it. like a saber. Like he was going to chop somebody. I hope it wasn't for me. But he ended up going back to the hole. I don't know what ever happened to him. I know his uncle was actually on the block too.
Starting point is 00:28:47 Bruce was his name. But, you know, I don't know. To be honest, I really don't know what ever happened to Phil Linder. But that was the first time I ever seen the goddamn sword in prison. They're not really that popular because it's very hard to hide.
Starting point is 00:29:03 But they are definitely out there. Where are they hiding these types of items? What are the most common places? Down the drains, tied to a rope, you know. These could be out buried in the yard in certain spots, you know. They hide them anywhere, like shampoo bottles, false shampoo bottles, you know. We've heard some guys from guys on the show that there would be like one guy that would be like the shankholder in the gang or the car or the crew that would just walk around sharpening all them holding all of them in case something popped off was that the case in your facilities no they everyone i think they either either made it themselves or they're already bought they go to the store gives them you know commissary whatever you know if you're by yourself if you're not affiliate with anyone but like the ones that are groups they have them hidden all over the damn place you know you're
Starting point is 00:30:03 You know, false walls actually, too. I've seen false walls, you know, with a hidden. Now, a guy with one of these in a fight versus a guy who doesn't have one of those, are they better off? As in, what do you mean? Like, is the person with the actual shank better off? Oh, absolutely. So it's easy to control and move and... Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:28 Yeah. Back in the day, in Homsburg, even the guards had shanks. Really? Oh, Holmesburg Prison was the most craziest prison you'll ever hear about in your life. Like, they killed the warden and deputy warden in that prison. What year was this? 19, it was Jojo, 1970-something. How did they even get access to the warden to do that?
Starting point is 00:30:58 He wrote a fake pass and just Jojo stabbed but killed both of them. He killed the deputy warden first. That's what CSCF is named after Kermann Fromhold. And then the warden heard and he killed him also. But I talked about him last time. He's also the one that held everyone hostage at Graterford with a shotgun. So in shotgun alley at the kitchen over there. But they're...
Starting point is 00:31:28 I mean, they're easy to get around, but great. But Holmesburg, prison, they actually did experiments. The government did experiments on the inmates. They gave them acid, PCP, the acne cream. Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Hospital was sued, and Johnson & Johnson, because they did all the experiments on the inmates. And they lost their skin, got burned off. A lot of them what they would do was the antifungal cream, all that you see in the stores today.
Starting point is 00:32:04 You can thank Holmesburg and me because they're the ones who actually were the guinea pigs for it. There's actually a book called Acres of Skin written by a temple university professor is actually very good. He talks about it all. But even the Army trailers, the government was in it on it too, about the effects of asset on people. and they had different arm bands and all they would get paid was like a couple dollars on their commissary so they went after the poor inmates
Starting point is 00:32:33 and that was in the 60s and 70s and all but Holmesburg was a gladiator school like they had the phones they had on the block was North Philly, West Philly and South Philly don't you dare use different neighborhoods phone
Starting point is 00:32:50 because you're getting you're getting stabbed up and to be honest with you the white boys from Northeast Philly, they didn't get a phone. They wrote home, you know. But, yeah, Homesburg was crazy. A lot of those inmates, that's in Greaterford, today in Phoenix, they were from Homesburg and all. Now, do you think there's any way to prevent this from being made or will it always happen no matter what?
Starting point is 00:33:17 Oh, it was, I mean, a toothbrush will always happen. A spork. You can make a whack out of a spork, you know? that spoon fork thing, the one end. Sharpen the plastic, you're going to poke somebody. You're going to, you know, do some damage. All you got to do is poke them in the neck. You know, you hit them or get them in the eye, lose an eye.
Starting point is 00:33:36 You know, even this. This is hard as a baseball bat, you know. And all this is this newspaper. And I soaked it. I mean, I rolled it up. I soaked it in water and put salt on it. Why the salt? It hardens it.
Starting point is 00:33:56 And he just let us sit out. And who taught me this? Was a juvenile lifer back in 98, Norman Tate. He just got done serving 10 years. He killed somebody when he was 16. And he was finishing up. He got out. Well, he had to finish county time.
Starting point is 00:34:15 And he got out. And, I mean, I assume he's still out. Hopefully he's still out. But he was finishing up his time in 98, and he actually told me about this. He said he saw someone die from this. And he's the one who told me how this is made. Never even knew it.
Starting point is 00:34:35 And he said when he was upstate, he saw a guy poke the guy right in the right spot of the heart, and the dude died from a heart with this. That thick, or was it smaller? This thick. You can do it with NASCAR. Geographic, the magazines? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:53 You can do it with that, too. How many newspapers is that? This is about two Philadelphia inquires. Hmm. And where did they get the string from? Oh, string I used, but you can get string anywhere. You can get it from the selling shop. You can get it.
Starting point is 00:35:09 You can use the t-shirt, the hem, roll it up real tight and all. Oh, they sell sewing kits on commissary, too, in federal prison. Yeah, you know. I mean, if I can cut these off and it will still stay rolled. That's very ingenious. I've never seen anything like that before. This is, this will do some damage. Like, it will initially do something.
Starting point is 00:35:34 Like, that's my, it's hit my fist. So in correctional officer training school, are they teaching you how to, you know, combat against these weapons? Or when you see this for the first time, you're like, oh, shit, this is a different ball game. I mean, when you're in the academy, they show you all different kinds of wax. you know, the grappling hoax, we seen a gun, someone made a gun.
Starting point is 00:35:58 They, I mean, you don't have a, you don't have no baton, like where I worked at. We never had a baton. You had pepper spray. In the county, we didn't have pepper spray. We had pepper spray, and then we lost the pepper spray. Why, what happened? Someone abused it? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:20 I'd rather not have the pepper spray. Yeah. I hate the pepper spray. I think if the feds only like the lieutenant. Supervisors? Yeah, supervisors can have it. So that's why I ended up happening at CF, CF, only to sergeants. And then you get some knucklehead sergeants wants to spray the cell with pepper spray and affects all of us.
Starting point is 00:36:39 You know? And I never liked the pepper spray, to be honest with you. I rather just take my chances than not, than coughing. or can't see. How you combat this, if you're able to get a broom handle or something like a broom or something like that or just know how to fight.
Starting point is 00:37:07 I mean, I've been sliced with a box cutter before out in the streets on my chest, but you just take your chances. Some people might run. I don't know. What do you think is more dangerous, one of these are like a box cutter or a real knife on the street or are they equally as dangerous? I think these are more dangerous, to be honest with you. Because of the grip and the ability and...
Starting point is 00:37:30 Yeah. Like this is like all this, this has bad attention just to just poke, you know? A knife is to slice. This is going right in you, you know? I mean, you got ones that if you work in a nice shop and they have plastic or whatever, You've even seen or heard, then break it off. Now they're stuck in the person, you know? I mean, this one right here, I think, this would probably be my favor if I was a convict.
Starting point is 00:38:04 This is a skull crusher. This is just evil intentions altogether. How do you walk around? You have to put in your pants and tuck it in your shirt, I guess? Halfway. Absolutely. Like, this got to be done fast, you know, something on the block. You ain't taking this out to yard.
Starting point is 00:38:19 Now, is that more meant to kill someone in the poker? are just meant to hurt? This is to kill. Are they killing people with pokers or no? I mean, you can. You get them in the juggler and stuff. I've seen people get poked up like crazy and they still survive, you know? Great story.
Starting point is 00:38:36 It was actually with this. So I come on shift on 3 to 11, and it was on a Friday. Jumar was just getting over. Well, it starts at 1 o'clock. But they had a problem at Jumar. Little fight broke out. People got stabbed. and everything.
Starting point is 00:38:53 So I had to go back to where the medical building, medical part of the building was. And there's my man, DeWitt Drayton. Duane right now is in the feds right now, right now. Now, the history of this guy is he was 18 years old. He had four counts of attempted murder on police. And he also killed other people, three other people, I believe, accused of him and his group, his crew.
Starting point is 00:39:21 Right? And they're all young bucks. They're all 18, 19, 20. I think, who was it? McGriff's uncle was the oldest one. He might have been 27, 28. So there was about six of them. They were all from West Philly.
Starting point is 00:39:35 And there were a drug gang. They just ran. 18-year-old drug boss. That's what DeWitt Drayton was, right? So every day you get a sheet of who's in a hole, who transferred to where. If you transferred upstate or if you went to move, got to move to move, another block like a movement sheet right every day you're a block out one so um you see this one name i was there for already a year and a half and this one name was always in a hole he was in a hole for
Starting point is 00:40:04 18 months to wit drayton a one three which is the supermax security of cfcf or a1 four which is you know for the fighters and all that drug offenses like you know if you had drugs on you whatever seven to 14 day guys 30 day guys right Dwaydraeton was 18 months in the hole he spent, right? And I'm like, who the hell is this dude? So he finally got out of the hole. And where does he go? He goes to D1, Pod 3.
Starting point is 00:40:33 And I'm thinking this guy must, like, I've never seen what he'd look like, whatever. He comes up, and this dude is probably about maybe 5, 7, 120 pounds. And I'm like, you're DeWitt Drayton? He's like, yeah. I was like, I read about you every day on that damn movement sheet on A1 pod 3, 8-1-pod 4. So what he would do is he had so much money he was paying someone to bring in drugs. And he went drugs. He would smoke pot, smoke weed in the cells. Or he'll sell it through other people, like the person passing the trace off. And he was making money. And he got caught every single
Starting point is 00:41:14 time. So he comes to D1-P3. And I explained the rules to him. I said, listen, we don't, I don't except no cell robbers, nothing like that. If you want to fight with somebody, you go in a cell, and that's the end of it, you know? And he was all cool with it, right? So I'm actually, like, I'm on my toes now because I got this guy who just did 18 months in a whole street, and he's a drug boss, right?
Starting point is 00:41:41 And he's 18 years old. So, Jew Mar comes, and I go back there, like, fast forward to Jew Mar. and he has poke marks in his leg. And I look at him. I was like, you did that yourself, didn't you? Because he stabbed somebody. And he just started laughing. I was like, I just shook my head.
Starting point is 00:42:04 I was like, I'm not even saying anything, you know. But he actually, he stabbed himself twice in the leg with one of these. Wow. Just to get out of the stabbing that he did, you know. So what actually happened, he bought. beat all those charges. All those attempted murder and murder charges he beat. Like, I couldn't believe it.
Starting point is 00:42:28 It was on the news all over Philadelphia, right? And then I found out that as of right now, he's in the feds for drugs and all. I mean, he never disrespected me, nothing like that. He was actually quiet, but he was quiet because he wanted to conduct his business, whatever he was doing. It's always the quiet ones you got to look out for. You know, West Philly dude.
Starting point is 00:42:50 Like they're crazy, you know. But this is what he used. So it wasn't deep or not and just poked themselves twice in the leg. Did you ever see rookies who encounter their first prison shank kind of like quit the job or runoff or not react well? Nah, I mean, ones that do sell searches, they think they just won the Oscar. They're like all happy and everything. And I'm like, and I was the same to him, I was like, This is just one.
Starting point is 00:43:22 There's 50,000 of them in this prison right now, you know? He just got one. I know when I was a rookie, they found one. And those big trash cans, plastic trash cans, my sards was like, I'm going to show you what these can do. And he put it right through the trash can. And I was like, God damn, you know. Like, they mean business. What happens when an inmate gets caught with it in his cell, not on him, but just in his cell if you guys find it?
Starting point is 00:43:50 having a cellie bought that now usually the celly goes down with them and they'll both go down together you get very few be like yo that's mine you know so they end up just going to the whole i think like 14 days for a whack and all they'll get out make another one or you know pay somebody and all to do one um but Like, I know. If you're ready to refresh your wardrobe for spring, BOM is one of my go-to spots. They have the best everyday pieces.
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Starting point is 00:44:50 All these are just bad intentions and all, you know. I think those are scary, too, the toothbrush ones, because those are the most discreet ones. Right. Because you could just have the razor like we were talking about earlier, the movie Shotcaller at the end scene where he doesn't even have it on a toothbrush. He has it just in the hand with a little handle on it. And he goes right up and boom, boom. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:12 And he's fighting a grown man. That movie Shot Caller was probably one of the best prison movies. Oh, it's incredible. I think that was a legit prison movie, how the Aaron Brotherhood works. I watched it for the third time. Did you? Yeah, the other day. And I watched the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:45:29 It's just great because you see how prison can turn someone out. Right. And that's exactly how it works with the street criminal activities and you can't get out of it. No. And I've interviewed former A.B. guys and, you know, when they leave, like your life is kind of in danger afterwards too. Right. You can't leave. Like, you're embedded for life.
Starting point is 00:45:51 And that's what's scary about the A-Bs is their stuff is just not inside. It's outside. Like, that guy was worried about his family. And his wife was thinking he didn't want to see his kids or nothing like that. And there was a reason for it, you know. Great movie, though. Did you see a lot of young guys or guys that come in with nonviolent charges have to become someone else because they need to survive and adapt? Um, a couple, but they still weren't like full-fledged, you know?
Starting point is 00:46:27 I've always said, like, you can go in there for a two-year bid and you might end up doing a life sentence, you know? Um, it's funny because I always say this to my wife or my kids. I was like, if I ever end up in prison for anything, you just never know. Like I might be, some guy might be breaking in my car and I'll chop his fingers off, you know? and I'm going to prison, right? Like, I'm not getting out. Like, I'm going to, because first I'm a retired cop and retired prison guard, you know. I'm an easy target, you know.
Starting point is 00:47:01 So I'm still going to be a man. And I know I would never get out. I wouldn't want to be the guy that tries to rob you. Oh, obviously, I know what to do. Like, I would survive prison. I was just, you know. Yeah, what did your wife say to you when she saw you make a lot? kick all these?
Starting point is 00:47:19 She was just shaking her head. Even my kids, they're like, what are you doing? I was like, we're surviving. What do they think about your past job? Even as, you know, a police officer, correctional officer, what do they think about it? Are they interested? Oh, yeah, yeah. Like a lot of stories from the last episode was the first time they heard a lot of them.
Starting point is 00:47:45 I never really talked about it. You know, they just knew what I did. or they heard from my coworkers like how crazy I was, you know, in a respectful way. Like, I'm not, you know, I would say abuse authority. I never did that, never one bit. But I handled business when I had to handle business, you know. Like I always say to my kids, I might be like the, what's that, that one video. the black sheep of the family, you know.
Starting point is 00:48:21 I'm not black sheep of the family, but when you're, when the shit hits the fan, who are you calling? Me, because I'm going to be there, you know? And even with all my family or my friends, they know they can call me at 2 o'clock in the morning. And, you know, I'll be right there for them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:39 You know? Did you ever come across corrupt officers in prison? How would you react to it? Um, I had feelings of it. But I didn't have no proof, you know. I wouldn't, like, I wouldn't tell. I'll confront them, you know.
Starting point is 00:49:01 They're just pieces of shit. Like the one, the last one was when I worked at Graterford, and I just noticed this one dude was really being friendly with this guy. I actually called this guy Wu-Tang Clan. Because you just remind me of like the Wu-Tang for some reason, right? And he's the one who actually recognized me as a cop in North Central, right? And I said to him, I was like, what, do all white people look like? Right?
Starting point is 00:49:32 So they were just real acting friendly together. And it was the day before Thanksgiving. And this idiot was bringing in cell phones. And he got caught right at the entrance. Actually, it was Phoenix. I see it's after we moved. he got he got caught at the interest of the metal detector and he had two or three cell phones and it was absolutely disgusting like i have i don't have no respect for anybody who brings in shit you know um i would definitely if i ever seen it like me and that dude
Starting point is 00:50:13 would be in a locker room you know you know it's interesting and i was reading the comments is that People gave you a hard time about being the correctional officer that's willing to go into a cell and fight the person one-on-one. And people will consider that, like, quote, you know, corrupt. But they don't consider the guy that's bringing in the phones that they're orchestrating a whole crime ring from inside a prison as corrupt. Well, those ones, for real, for real, for those ones that made those comments, I didn't even read those comments because then I would have been like, yo, let's meet somewhere. Like if they would have been in California, I'd be like, let's meet halfway in United States somewhere, you know? But those ones, they never did no hard time. Because the old heads, all the old school guards, you went in that cell with those dudes.
Starting point is 00:51:05 And that's why my block was ran tight. Always was. And that's why I had respect from the inmates, and I never had any problems. You know? I mean, of course you're going to have here and there, right? But you're never, you're not going to have any problems. Like, what was it? I was a rover on D1 and it was mouth checks, right? There was like 30-some inmates. And this one, I said, all right, open up, lift up your tongue and all this. And he said, no. So, yo, man, open up your mouth. He goes, I ain't fucking doing shit, Cracker. That's what he said to me, right? So I got 29 other inmates in front of me. I slapped him like a bitch, straight up. Slapped him. I was like, next time you call me saltine. Right?
Starting point is 00:51:54 God's honest truth. So what happens? He actually apologizes to me and all. But that's how it was back then. Because if I would let him talk to me like that, that means 29 other dudes are going to disrespect me. Now my time's going to be hard and I can't be how I'm supposed to be as a CEO. Like, I gave him a chance, too.
Starting point is 00:52:18 You know? That's how I ran it. And guess what? Those 29 other inmates, they didn't do a goddamn thing. Why? Because that guy was out of line for what he said to me. He never said that shit again. And he never even got a peep from him, you know?
Starting point is 00:52:42 Yeah, it's true. I mean, we're talking about how it's a different world for police officers. It's a different world for correctional officers, too. Because that would never, that would be a lawsuit in a half right there. Oh, yeah. In today's current world, they'd be escorting you out in handcuffs. Yes. I mean, but prison's not prison anymore, you know.
Starting point is 00:53:03 So that's why I'm glad I grew up to when I did. Or I would have been a whole different type of other profession. You know, so life is life, you know. I know like the one time we had ODB come to our jail. What's that ODB? Old Dirty Bastard. Who's that? From Wutank Clan?
Starting point is 00:53:30 No. I know Wooten Kling. Yeah, ODB, old dirty bastard. He served time there? Yeah, so what happened was he was wanted from New York on probation, parole. He broke his parole or something. So he was actually in the McDonald's. in West Philly in 2000, and a cop was getting McDonald's,
Starting point is 00:53:51 and she recognized them. So she ended up cuffing him, right? So they're bringing them to the PC on D1Pod 4. And he's coming up, and old dirty bastard, he fit his name because that dude looked like a mess, right? And he's coming up, so I start singing. to him his song do i like you know baby i like it raw that type right and he just looks at me and shakes his head and then the next day he gets extradited in new york they wanted him right away then he
Starting point is 00:54:28 ended up dying like in 2004 of an overdose and all but he was a he was a popular uh rap hip-hop guy and did they put him like right and sag right away and protected custody yeah they put him right protected custody and all. And he was there for like one day and all. But then we had, we, Bill Cosby was in Greater, Graterford and SCI Phoenix and all. He, he signed his name to his paperwork, Dr. Cliff Huxable. Why?
Starting point is 00:55:04 Because that was his name on the Cosby show. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh. And so he was just fucking with him? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know he was that tall, though. He's about like 6-3, 6-4 and all.
Starting point is 00:55:17 But he was taken care of because he grew up in the projects. But even though his charges were, you know, technically a look down upon offense in prison. They didn't believe that. Oh, the people just didn't believe it? No. Okay. They thought it was a little ridiculous or? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:37 Okay. So they didn't believe any of that. So he was treated well in there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he had people taking care of him at all. So he would always get wheelchairs. Towards the end, he was getting wheelchair around when he would come to the mess hall and everything.
Starting point is 00:55:59 But they said he got hit in head with a hot dog, which wasn't true. Oh, yeah, there was something that happened that was in the news. Yeah, he didn't get hit and headed. He did slip and fall when pudding was getting served, though. Honestly, God. And all I thought about was pudding pops because he was the big guy with pudding pops back in the 80s. Oh, my God. So what happened?
Starting point is 00:56:18 He slipped on pudding or he just slipped on something? He just slipped while getting the pudding. But what would he do all day, just like play games? He just sat in his cell. People will just wait on him hand and foot. I mean, I'm sure he was paying him, you know. He never had his wife. kids ever visit him though. The only guy
Starting point is 00:56:38 who visited him was that lawyer guy with the glasses and that was it. What was the vibe around the prison when he got released unexpectedly? I was already gone. He got released so. Did you hear from any of your friends or anything? Nah, nah. I know the day he was coming, there was cameras everywhere
Starting point is 00:56:56 at Graterford, everywhere at the entrances and all. They were just like camped out. So when you were leaving, they were still camped out. Didn't he know what day he was coming or like what time he was coming and all. But, yeah, he was like a celebrity. I mean, he had him on an easy block, though. When he first got to Graterford,
Starting point is 00:57:16 they had him on, like, the medical wing. And with his diet, it was just he wanted a pinch of salt. So he got to, he had a diet. The low salt diet? Yeah, but it had to be, like, three little grains of salt on his food. And all. Because they cater to that. Like the kosher trays?
Starting point is 00:57:36 Did they take it very seriously? Yeah. So we even, there was a guy that even sued the state of Pennsylvania because he made up his own religion to get a dye tray. And with that diet tray, he wanted brown rice. So he's the only inmate in Pennsylvania that they got to buy 50-pound bags of Uncle Ben's brown rice for this guy because he sued the state. of a made-up religion that he created and all.
Starting point is 00:58:11 But the kosher trades, we had a guy named Gary who would do him. Now, he was from northeast Philly, and he went through Homsburg. I don't know how he survived Homsburg, to be honest with you. Jewish guy, never committed any type of other crimes, and he killed his best friend, from what I understand. Right? So he already been locked down. He got locked in the 80s going on 30. over 30 some years.
Starting point is 00:58:39 So Jewish guy, he was the one who would make the kosher trays, and he was real strict about it, right? Because, to be honest, if you're going to get locked up in Pennsylvania, get a kosher tray. Convert to Judaism, Muslim, NOI, whatever. But get a kosher tray, because that's the best meal you can get. Like, you get fresh of everything. But it's also the easiest way to pass drugs.
Starting point is 00:59:05 because they can't open them. And you can't always be there when he's making the bags. So they're giving out with the meal. You know, during the meal, the convict will come up and be like, yo, Smith. And then your workers actually know who gets the bags and everything. And they'll show the past if they don't know. But the most easiest way to pass drugs is through the kosher bag. And the only way to get kosher in the state is that to go through the rabbi or do you have the chaplain?
Starting point is 00:59:42 Yeah. And you have to get approved. There's no like proof though, right? Like you just go in and say I'm a Jew. Okay. And then you automatically get the kosher meals. That's what they would do in the Fed prison. You just write a cop out to them and say, hey, I want to go kosher and then approved.
Starting point is 00:59:57 And it takes a couple weeks to switch over and you're good on the diet list. But you could also get the regular meals too. You just couldn't People not on the kosher list Couldn't get kosher But the kosher people could say I don't want kosher today I want the regular meal
Starting point is 01:00:12 Yeah Yeah That's why his way to go is kosher Yeah if you That really is a hack If you say kosher Because then that's a meal you don't like There's some god awful meals
Starting point is 01:00:21 You get kosher and that's better Right You know I mean they also Was it the one Native American holiday They have And they bring in I don't know what
Starting point is 01:00:32 the what they're called the chief guy politically correct i don't know what the name is yeah i know you're right but he'll come in and he'll have a piece pipe and they have the little powwow and everything and they have e buffalo they have the tent um the teepee at fort dicks i think outside do they yeah i think they have the teepee and then they would go there for that yeah isn't it so crazy yeah it's like inmates sincere people could kill someone but then get treated because of their religion inside the prison. Right, because they're worried about getting sued. Yeah. But my question is, did they practice that religion on the outside?
Starting point is 01:01:11 You know? Yeah, well, do you see a lot of guys that you know just change up because they wanted to be treated a certain way in prison? Oh, I would probably say 50, 60% of the Muslims, you know. I'm probably going to get some hate for this, but it's. to truth, you know, you got dudes that come in, say they're Muslim, they didn't practice that Muslim religion on the outside, then all of a sudden, you know, they're supposedly praying five times a day, you know? The best part is when Ramadan starts, right?
Starting point is 01:01:56 Because everyone used to joke about it. Even the Muslim inmates in the kitchen, you'll start off, we had, what, 3,600 inmates convicts in Greaterford, 1,500 of them, Muslim, first day of Ramadan, 1,500 Sahara bags, meals, whatever. By the end of Ramadan, they're only making four or five hundred. Everyone else drops off, what happened? You know, most holiest holiday in the Muslim religion, and you can't even go a month for it, you know?
Starting point is 01:02:31 I would see the old, like, white fraud guys coming to prison and the rug on commissary would just say rug or some type of word rug or mat. And guys would buy those and put them on the bottom like for their shoes and stuff. And the Muslims would come up and they would give a warning like, dude, that's not what it's for. Like you're going to get hurt. You continue to use this for that. And I had no idea what those mats were until I saw in prison, saw the various religions and whatnot because I was.
Starting point is 01:03:00 The prayer rugs. Yeah, the prayer rugs. But they didn't call it a prayer rug on the commissary. They call it the rug. Yeah, there's just a lot of items under that. It's titled religious items, but then there's the spray, I think they use. Guys would use that as a clone. There's some type of spray that was on the religious items.
Starting point is 01:03:16 There's different items that people would multipurpose. Right. But if you met someone that's very seriously into their religion, they will come up to you about that. Yeah, I mean, I would say I respect the ones that practice their religion, you know. and that's in any type of religion. But don't be a fraud about it also. That was like the chapel considered a safe zone, or did you ever see violence in the chapel?
Starting point is 01:03:43 Violence, like, what was it? De Witt stabbed that dude during Jumar. Well, that wasn't in Chap, that wasn't in C&D gym when they would have it. But during Ramadan a CF CF, there was always stabbings. They punched out the Eam before because of a street beef out in the streets.
Starting point is 01:04:01 Now the Eamon's kind of like, the shot caller in prison for the Muslims. No, this was a street imam. So they brought them out. They brought them from the outside of the streets to conduct the Ramadan prayer. Why would they attack him? The guy, whoever was doing Ramadan, had beef with him, came up and sucker punched him. Wow.
Starting point is 01:04:22 Yeah. At the camp at the chapel, they had like a cool movie program where they had these DVD players on flat screens where you could select a movie like old school movies and whatnot and watch it in the chapel. It was pretty cool. Yeah, like, oh, Spanish church, SFCF, stabbings like crazy, all the time, every Sunday. We would hide phones in the library in the chapel. That's where they would shake down first because it was a common area. Right. So if that phone got caught there, they can't put it on anyone.
Starting point is 01:04:50 Right. But whenever there was a big unit raid, that's where they would go first. Because you carve out a book, you do this, you do that, and you put it into a spot no one would look at. And I remember there would be guys, like when I was new, actually genuinely looking for a book. book, there would be guys that just sit there all day, say, don't touch that book or don't do this, you know? You can always see when someone's, like, making a move. Yeah, well, we had, we had a library at, um, CF, CF. We also had law library, too. I mean, some people were with their cases. Some people just wanted to get that free phone call for the lawyer and all and just get away. But, um, yeah,
Starting point is 01:05:30 like Spanish church, the state convicts will come down on red. The bottom of their shoes had nails in them. So they'll take the souls off and start whacking people during the Spanish church on Sunday nights. At Gretaford and Phoenix, to be honest, I never heard of any problems. I think they took it more serious than they did in the county, like, you know, than they did in the county. One thing that I learned, the NLI, Nation of Islam, you know how I said I talked to everybody.
Starting point is 01:06:14 So I want to find out everything. I'm curious, you know. And it helps me better how to look for things. So I saw all the Nation of Islam, they had eyebrows received, right? and I said to the guy, the head guy of it, it's like, why's all your eyebrows shaved? You know? And he said, this means that we're stressed
Starting point is 01:06:37 and you can't tell our reactions. And I was like, he goes, when you smile, when you're angry, your eyebrows move. When you shave all your hair off your eyebrows, you can't tell. And I was like, that actually makes a lot of sense. So they actually did. that when we made the move from Graterford to Phoenix because of stuff that happened during the move
Starting point is 01:07:02 where the state did get sued and all. And, you know, some of the stuff was, I think it was punk moves by some of my, I wouldn't say my coworkers. It was punk moves by the other COs from the other state prisons in Pennsylvania, you know. Like, they should have done the stuff they did to those lockers and stuff like that. Because it could have got us all killed.
Starting point is 01:07:33 How hard is it to move an entire prison like that? They closed down every state prison in Pennsylvania. They brought in the state troopers, helicopters. And we only moved from Graterford to Phoenix. It was only like three, 400 yards, tops. It was right next to each other. So they took it, they took pieces day by day. You know, so they started moving out convicts before the move, and we were down to, I think, 2000.
Starting point is 01:08:06 And that's when the dude tried to escape, like, a week before that, that's when they were like, all right, let's move now. And they were to just take, you know, a couple busloads to break them in, because greaterford wasn't allowed to be on the surte team any guard from greaterford wasn't allowed to be part of the move as in the surte team there were the ones from all the different states and there are ones who messed with a lot of the convict's belongings um i don't i didn't see it personally but from all the complaints from the convicts um You know, that their paperwork was messed up. Someone drew a penis on another picture of, I mean, a picture, a convict's picture of his son. They drew a penis on his head, a swastika on his head, you know, stuff that will, they're already stressed because a lot of them didn't have cellies. Now they're having cellies.
Starting point is 01:09:17 some of them made it their home for 40 years at greaterford you just telling them to get up and leave that's tough you know and you don't do that stuff because it will get us killed actually had a the ship but the so when the shot caller of the bloods when he got released another one stepped up he was from gettysburg PA right and he had a actually said to me when they started opening up the prison at Phoenix, right? And I was on guard because the kitchen is probably the best spot. If you're going to start a riot, the kitchen would be a good spot to start because you got those 40 pound paddles, you got the, all the food supply there. You got everything, you know, all the weapons, the French knives, everything. And he actually
Starting point is 01:10:14 said to me, he goes, we ain't man at use, because we know you got. weren't involved. We're pissed off at all the other ones that they brought in. And I don't know why they would even do that because they were getting paid a good amount of pay for staying at a nice motel, working 12 hours and getting paid for, you know, all that. And they were there for a month. And they were straight up. There were strappers on top of that too. Like, you know, it just and they're all black gear and stuff like that. Like they look like Ninja Turtles. Yeah, you know, it's interesting that when you move to a new prison,
Starting point is 01:10:57 if it's a brand new prison, everyone's on the same playing field because the guards don't know the hiding spots. Right. The inmates have no idea. Almost gives the guards, I would say, a little bit of an upper hand because it's an all-new terrain, new environment. Yeah. And how they made Phoenix, there's great.
Starting point is 01:11:17 still to this day. So Graterford was one big family, you know, between the CEOs, even the convicts with the other convicts. You saw everybody. But how they made Phoenix was the east and west side, you know, so they separated. And it was more divide and conquer, in my opinion. Because now people that, co-workers that you always saw every day, you don't even see them anymore, you know.
Starting point is 01:11:45 They're on the east side. They even had East Side Kitchen and they have a West Side Kitchen. So, I mean, staff dining room. I'm talking about East Dining Room and West Dying Room. We had that up Fortex in New Jersey. Yeah, so you don't even see, you don't see anybody, you know, normally that you would chill with. And no one likes, no one. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for the biggest shows this summer.
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Starting point is 01:12:42 Do you ever like wake up and be like, my life's pretty boring now? Not that it's actually boring, but like compared to what you used to do to go from to that intensity every day to now. Yeah. The risk factor, the adrenaline factor is gone, you know? Yeah. I mean, I'm still, if I ever saw a crime happening, I'm stepping up. That's who I am, you know. I've always, like I always said to, like my wife and friends,
Starting point is 01:13:17 I'd rather die of honor than die of a heart attack. I'd rather die helping somebody than just die of a heart attack, you know? I like that kind of stuff, you know. What was I? This happened, I don't know, I'll say about 2018. my oldest daughter's prom was going on. I had a day off, right? I took off.
Starting point is 01:13:45 So I'm sitting at my kitchen window, and my daughter and my wife, they're at the hair place, whatever, getting done up and all that. So I see some dude walking down my street. He had a bike with him. He ain't riding down the street. He's walking down the street.
Starting point is 01:14:01 And I see him peeping at my neighbor stuff across the street and all. I was like, this dude ain't up to no good, right? So I step outside and I'm watching him. He goes down farther. Next, you know, I see him cut up a walkway of, like, their twin homes. So he cuts up the walkway. I was like, oh, this motherfucker are going to break in the house, right? So I get in a car.
Starting point is 01:14:25 I called the cops saying, you know, a retired Philly police officer, right? And, you know, corrections officer now. I was like, you know, I'm in this type of car. I gave the description of the guy where the cop got him right down on the corner. right of our street the dude had all the stolen stuff and um it was from a prior the stolen stuff he had was a prior burglary that happened at a store right and it was like socks and they found hyperdermic needles and his stuff and everything brand new socks brand new shirts and all that so he had a warrant out for ben sale on the tape they take them in and all
Starting point is 01:15:08 Two days later, my wife is coming home with my kids, right? And they left the bike there on the corner. My wife is coming home with my kids. And this piece of shit approaches my wife, right? At her house and says, did your husband take my bike? Right. So my wife calls me at Graterford, right?
Starting point is 01:15:34 And I only told her, like, you know, you can't accept. You can't get calls. You got to go through the main office and it gets, you know, sent to you, wherever you're at and all. And she tells me, I was like, I'll be right home, right? I told my sergeant, I was like, yo, I got to leave. This is what happened. And, you know, I'm probably going to take a couple days off. So this is what I did, right?
Starting point is 01:15:57 Because what happens is when you fell out to 7548, all your info is on there. So he got the copy of the arrest report, and there was my address. So my kids are at school. My wife went to work. I left my door open and I had my gun sitting at the kitchen table. Hoping this dude will come to my house. Because the balls of him approaching my wife, you know, like that was scary for her. So he actually never, he never came back.
Starting point is 01:16:35 But that's the stuff that I get into. But it's funny because it's not like I get into it. I don't look for it, you know? It just happens. Well, I mean, that's good community, you know, neighbor. Because a lot of people just turn a blind eye when they see something else happening. Yeah, I'll never turn up. I think that's like a punk move.
Starting point is 01:16:56 Like those people that saw the shooter up on the roof, I don't know why they didn't yell out fire or anything, you know. They could have went a far distance not to be. in the range of fire to do something. Like they should have yelled out fire, like what you would tell a little kid when they're little of a stranger grabs them. Don't yell for help, yell fire.
Starting point is 01:17:22 Why yell fire? Because you yell for help, everybody's just going to look. Yell for fire, nobody wants their house burned down. Didn't people, some people, like, stand buyers, buy, are in that area, report to the police that they saw a guy on the roof? That's what I heard. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:17:41 But they didn't do anything or act on it right away. No. It's a crazy scenario that that happened with this technology and this day and age throughout everything.
Starting point is 01:17:49 To be, I don't know how it even happened. It's crazy. Yeah. I just don't understand how somebody can go on the roof and take aim at, you know,
Starting point is 01:18:04 a president to be a former president and whatever. And they're saying he was able to have a drone up in the area for the two hours before. Yeah, I just read that today. That's crazy. Yeah. I don't understand it.
Starting point is 01:18:19 And that's, that's. It's easier to do an attempt on a president than to try to smuggle in something into a prison. Yeah. You know, or anything like that. Because they shoot down the drones or when they're seeing drones and stuff like that. Right. It's crazy. I'll say this, though.
Starting point is 01:18:36 she had no choice but to resign. I'm surprised she didn't resign sooner, you know. She should resign that day. Yeah. But Trump becomes president, he would have fired the hell out of her. Yeah, it was, it's crazy, man. But, Smitty, thank you so much, man, for coming back for Part 2. It's always great chatting with you.
Starting point is 01:18:58 One question. Everyone wanted me to ask you this question. Yeah, what do you got? Do you put ketchup on your eggs? On my eggs? Yeah. Yeah, of course. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:19:06 Why can't it? Is that a Philly thing? No. Why that question? That's a communist thing. Really? Wait, why that question? Because I'm so against ketchup on eggs. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:17 Right? So the first time I ever seen it, my daughter was in college and we went out to, I picked her out from college, and we went out to get something to eat. So she started putting ketchup on her eggs. I was like, what are you doing? She was, I like ketchup on my eggs. I was like, you weren't like this before you went to college. She goes, yeah, I started in college.
Starting point is 01:19:35 So I actually took a picture of it, put it on Facebook and all that, and it was like, you know, big back and fourth banner. It's been going on for four years. So actually, everyone, people still send me pictures of them putting ketchup on their eggs. Yeah, well, you know, so I never used to do that because we would always have cheese and stuff in it. I would never eat plain scrambled eggs. And then I think I was at someone's house. I had it plain, and then they were putting the ketchup on it.
Starting point is 01:19:59 I tried it. It was pretty good. But if I have it a cheese or an omelet, I won't do it. But if it's with potatoes, I'll put it on the potato. next to the omelet. And in prison, got to flavor it up a little bit. But I would take hot sauce on it.
Starting point is 01:20:13 It depends. The cheese normally does the job. You put cheese on anything that handles it. But plain eggs, I can't eat plain eggs. It needs something to it. That's why you put the ketchup on it. All right, bacon, egg, and cheese, you don't put salt pepper ketchup on it?
Starting point is 01:20:26 No ketchup. Do you do bacon egg and cheeses? Yeah. No ketchup? No ketchup. Have you tried it with ketchup? I'm not. I won't.
Starting point is 01:20:33 You got to try it with it because that's a different, It's a different scenario. And the ketchup doesn't have to touch the egg. You could put it on the bun? No way. No ketchup. Okay. Ketchup only goes with fries.
Starting point is 01:20:44 A burger? A little dab. Okay. So what if there's egg on the burger? No, I don't eat no egg on burger. But what if you did? I wouldn't. No ketchup.
Starting point is 01:20:55 Okay. And all the questions you could have asked me, that was the one you had. Yeah. Like, also, is it a sauce or gravy? Well, that's a filly then. Spaghetti thing. Like spaghetti sauce or gravy? I say sauce.
Starting point is 01:21:07 Right. No, you're right. Yeah, but like I know there was a big debate on like A.J. Galante's a podcast. Oh, is there? The Italians call it gravy. Oh, no. Those Italians are wrong. Yeah, they call it.
Starting point is 01:21:17 I've never heard of great. When I think gravy, it's turkey dinner. Exactly. In prison, gravy is that. It's not sauce. No. Any Italian born in Italy, they call it sauce. Oh, they do call it sauce.
Starting point is 01:21:29 Yeah. Like a nice tomato sauce. Right. Right. Gravy is brown. Gravy is not right. See, the Italians don't even know what the heck they're eating. You know?
Starting point is 01:21:39 Because I saw it on the Marlino's thing too. That's what it was. With AJ, they were debating that. Like Marlino's wrong. Yeah, I don't see how it's gravy. Yeah, it's sauce. You put a gravy on a turkey. But it's all the Italians that were born here, they call it gravy.
Starting point is 01:21:56 And Swedish meatballs in prison with the egg noodles, that's gravy that they put on it, that brown shit. Oh, yeah, yeah. Which I hated that meal. It never really did it right. I don't know why they did that. I don't know why they did that. I don't know why they did that. Yeah, literally Swedish meatballs.
Starting point is 01:22:09 Oh, they do have Swedish meatballs. Yeah. Swedish meatballs with the egg noodles with the brown sauce. That was, I skipped that meal every time. I don't blame you. It was terrible. That and they butchered the, what's it called? The, what's a meat thing?
Starting point is 01:22:29 What, the meat? The meat salt, like the meat? It was just, when it's just meat. sloppy joes, they would put the vegetables and the beans in it. Right. I don't like that. That's like a mish mosh type of stuff. Yeah, I hated that type of sloppy Joe.
Starting point is 01:22:42 I wouldn't eat that. Sloppy Joe should just be ground beef, the sauce on it, on a bun, call it a day. That's it. They add all this other shit into it. I wouldn't eat that. Yeah. Yeah, that's that mish mosh. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:22:53 That's whatever's left over that needs to be thrown out and they put it all together. They ruin the tacos with that. Beans are great on the side, but not. I don't like the beans mixed in with the meat with the other shit. on Taco Day. Yeah, I'm the same way. Yeah, I can't do that. Yeah, I'm the same way.
Starting point is 01:23:07 I'll put it on on my own. It was crazy. Yeah. Now we're a food podcast. Right. Right. But, yeah, Sviti, thank you so much, man. I'm sure we'll do this again in a couple months.
Starting point is 01:23:17 Yeah, no doubt. Thank you for all the merch and the swag that I'm wearing in this one. I'll be wearing these to the gym. And safe travels back home. All right. Thank you. I appreciate it.

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