Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Corrupt Lawyer Goes to Prison With His Own Client!

Episode Date: September 2, 2026

In this episode with Matt Cox, Michael McAlister reveals how a massive federal grow-op hunt—including Blackhawk helicopters, ATF raids, and RICO charges—upended his life. He survived a near-fatal off-road crash, federal prison, and the betrayal of his own lawyer. Through survival tactics and mental resilience, he turned his sentence into a turning point—writing a true-crime book (“Catch 420”) and redefining his purpose behind bars.⁣ ⁣ Catch 420 ⁣ https://a.co/d/5APWlbH⁣ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/catch-420-mikal-mkali/1146500122⁣ ⁣ Get 50% sitewide for a limited time. Just visit https://GhostBed.com/cox and use code COX at checkout.⁣ ⁣ Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7⁣ ⁣ Send me an email here: [e-mail]⁣ ⁣ Do you extra clips and behind the scenes content?⁣ Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Follow me on all socials!⁣ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/⁣ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrime⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart⁣ ⁣ Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox ⁣ ⁣ Check out my true crime books! ⁣ Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF⁣ Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM⁣ It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8⁣ Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G⁣ Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438⁣ The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K⁣ Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402⁣ Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1⁣ ⁣ Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!⁣ Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX⁣ ⁣ If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:⁣ Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69⁣ Cashapp: $coxcon69 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My lawyer is trying to sell me out. They said we had a $30 million operation. So my first day in federal prison, I'm having records with a lawyer that was overseeing my whole case. All of us now are on the same playing field. The corruption's everywhere. Selling smoke since I was 16. We ended up meeting a girl and moving to Sacramento for five years.

The first year I'm there, I'm working, I'm saying, I've been there since February. And it must have been like around, it was actually right after 4th July, it's around July, night 14th. I got into an off-road vehicle accident, popped my intestines, lost half my blood, almost died. We're hour and a half away from the nearest hospital. Offroad vehicle? Like a four-wheel or something? A rhino. A Yamaha rhino. And what would you do? It hit a tree or something? No. So I got up early because it was so me and the guy that worked the grow, we get that we get to take every other week

or every two weeks or something. We get one week off of the month. We get to go home. So I was in central, central California. So one week I get to go home, see my lady, see my, you know, whatever, go home, handle bills. But it was my week to go home. So I got up early in the morning, 5.30 in the morning or so, got on the rhino. The back tire was bald and low on air. So I filled up with some air. I got on to the rhino.

Started driving, and the roads just hug the mountain. And as I was coming around the corner, I was probably going a little too fast. I hit a, you know, how there's like washboard and stuff that the rain makes into the dirt. So there was a groove. The back tire caught the groove. And when it caught the groove, it started pulling me. And I felt, I felt the thing shifting like it was going to fall. So I stepped on the gas and tried to correct it.

It wasn't going to happen. So I grabbed the roll bar and I was going to throw myself out. But when I was doing that, it was like, I felt like Michael Jordan. When he said everything slows down, it was like everything was going at. Like, it was crazy how slow things were going for me. And in that moment, I was like, what if this thing lands on my neck and don't throw myself out far enough?

So I pushed myself back in. I landed on my ass with my legs out. The bar came down and hit me right in the stomach. So my first reaction was, literally I remember saying to myself, I popped my bladder. And I crawled out from under it. I was embarrassed.

I tried to flip it back over. I couldn't pick it up. It's heavy. So I went about 10 feet in front of it, lay down the grass or whatever it was. And I go, am I poisoned oak? Or poison, yeah, poison oak. And I was like, I better get up. So I get up.

And I walk 10 feet above where the thing slipped over, leaned up against the mountain. My buddy comes flying around the corner and goes, and he goes, what happened? How did you get there? No, he throws me. Well, I walk into his truck. At this point, I'm in shock, but I'm still move. Walk and got into his truck. We drove back to the cabin.

I'm sitting there I walk into the cabin I lay down on the bed and I'm telling him my feet are going numb and so out of nowhere this guy Vic shows up which he never comes over this guy never ever ever shows up to

this part where we're at this cabin and he sees me he goes you need to get him to the hospital he's dying so I get up grab a gallon of water walk myself right back into the truck get in the truck we drive down the mountain about an hour

and a half to the hospital. We get to the first town. My buddy doesn't have gas in the truck. He doesn't have money. So we ran into someone at the gas station, gave us $10. We put that in the gas tank. On the way to the next town where the hospital is, it was actually Howard Memorial Hospital, which is where C-Bisket, the owner of C-Bisket. Have you ever seen that movie? So his son died from the same accident I was in. He remember he took the truck and he rolled the truck. So he made a hospital up there for this. So I showed to that hospital. I had drank half a gallon of water. She never did in that. You ever seen the movie, No Country for Old Men? Yeah. Remember when they're in the truck scene when everyone got shot up and the Mexican guys were in the car and they're going, Agua,

Agua. You think you're thirsty when you're actually dying. Right. So it was like, it's like the cartoons with Bugs Bunny when they, when they're drinking. and the water starts pouring out the holes. Yeah. It was literally pouring into my, out of my intestines, into my body, which was poisoning me. Right. And we get to the hospital. I walk out the truck.

I walk about 10 feet. I lean against the wall until I can't go no more. He runs in. They come down with the gurney. They put me, they bring me in. They're pushing on my stomach, asking me where it hurts. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a curtain drawn around. And I go, what's going on over there?

And they said, there's a little boy. that got the daughter, the little boy's daughter, or excuse me, the little boy's sister was taking the baby out of the, out of the car seat, dropped it on its head. So they had, they had the baby in this little curtain drood drawn over here. And that's the last thing I remember. I woke up, I think the surgery was like 10 hours. I had hoses coming out of me every which way. And first thing I said when I woke up was, what happened to that baby? And they said, oh, they flew to UC Davis and it's fine. But it's like my brain wasn't even thinking about me. I don't know subconsciously I was trying to distract myself, but that's where I was at. And then the whole situation

when I, when I did wake up, my mom was there. So my buddy, he went home, which is a five-hour drive when we're at, gets the call that I got an accident, picks up my mom and my ex-girlfriend at the time, and drives them back. So my mom is at the edge of my bed nodding off. she's a hibn addict. Right. So I started screaming. Who let this fucking bitch in here?

I was livid. It was just like, I was embarrassed. I was just, it was just too much for me to take. Later on I calmed down and I had to realize my mom was there for me.

And that's the most important thing. But it took me a second to actually bring it down a notch before I went to that point. That's the first year I was there. The second year I'm there, that's when the feds came in with a Black Hawk helicopter. Six undercover white Mustangs don't know how they got back there

because the roads were not made for low, I don't know, the muscle car, I guess, what you call it? They weren't made for that, but they had six undercover white Mustangs. We had built a cabin. That year we built a new cabin for us a staying in, because before we were sleeping in pretty much tents and in an old cabin, we called the shit bee cabin, which was basically rat infested until we bleached the walls and stuff.

And it was basically a shell. And that's where we first were at. So then this year, we built a, that year we built a new cabin. And as I was watering the gardens, it must have been like 6.30 in the morning. I see a Black Hawk helicopter flying above me. Now my friends said...

To see that there was a grow going on? Yeah. And so that they spotted that. that and now they're coming in to get these guys. Is that what happened? Something like that. It gets really, it gets, from what you're saying is what I was thinking.

Yeah. Okay. So at the time, really I was thinking that it was camp. California against, I don't know, Minnesota, whatever, some patrol. Right. And so they said that they weren't, they're not trying to get us. They're just trying to clear out the gardens. So I wasn't worried about my well-being or getting in trouble.

I was just going to run. So I grabbed my dog with my dog or watering, the Black Hawk Heltar comes around. There's a guy that the side doors open. He's like looking out and everything. I hide behind one of the bushes. The bushes are like seven feet high, seven feet wide. Probably produced around six to seven pounds. I ended up back up to the cabin because I had a backpack up there with all my, with my wallet,

things that can identify me. So I ran back up there to pick that up. Once I grabbed all that, I run out of the cabin, and now I'm on the corner, the far corner of the cabin, and it's basically looking to a mountainside, just going straight down, into a ravine. And I'm there with my dog, and I see six undercover white Mustangs pull up to the cabin. Everyone, these guys jump out with, I don't know, assault rifles. They all swing around, they all literally surround the whole cabin with the guns. You can hear them, and I'm looking, they don't even see me, which is crazy, because they're adrenaline

must have been running so, their adrenaline must have been pumped so high that they didn't even bother to look over here. They went straight to the cabin. And I'm literally right there. You can see me. And my dog started charging them. And I'm screaming at my dog because I don't want my dog to get shot. Right.

My dog turns around finally. We both start running down the side of the mountain. I'm doing somersaults, landing on my feet like a cat, about four times. And then finally I decided to slide. And I'm wearing shorts. So I slide down into the ravine, grab my dog. There's a big rock,

it's like a huge rock. I'm going to be like an eight-foot rock like this. And I grabbed him. We went under the rock and we were hiding. And as we're hiding, the helicopter was coming down. I'm trying to push the brush to try to find us. And I can hear a lot of people on foot.

I can hear people talking. My dog's growling. I'm muslin them. And then it stops. And I'm like, okay, I don't know what's going on right now. My adrenaline was going through. I was, I was, my adrenaline had taken over my whole body.

Like I couldn't even think straight. I said, well, I'm going to run out of this ravine across the meadow, drop down to the ill river, and then I'm going to make my way that way and get away from these people. Because we're, the cabin's up here. I'm down here. It's like 20, 30 feet drop. I'm thinking they're not down here.

Well, there was another cabin across the way. They were already there. and I didn't know this. There was more of them than I thought there was. So when I came out of there and started running across the metal, I heard, click, click, click, click, click. Better stop, we're going to shoot your dog. So I stopped.

I turned it around slowly. They said, lease your dog and come walk towards us. So I did that, walked towards them. They took me to the cabin down. That was down below. They sent me there. They're rummaging through my backpack. They're taking pictures of me and my dog from all angles.

And they're talking, however, they're talking with each other. And one of them asked me, is there anything this backpack that you guys want to, that you want to put on your discovery, that you want, you know, for your belongings? Again, I couldn't think straight. I was like, no. But I had a Gucci watch in there, and I had a $30,000 ring that's a Indian lady from an Indian casino gave me. They took that. I never seen it. Right.

They kept it. So. You had an opportunity. Right. And then they take me. handcuff and shackle me. I tell them if they can leave my dog inside the cabin so someone can pick him up. So they put the dog in the cabin.

Little did I know I found out later, they maced his ass. And he wasn't aggressive. But he might have been growling, though, because he was protective of me. So they put him in the cabin. They drove me to the top of the mountain to the first cabin from the year before. They told him that it was like a shell. They took me up there. They have me sitting in chairs right outside the cabin.

There's like three other guys. even know who they are one of them i did they called them a mexican dave the other guys i didn't know who they were so i'm listening to the um i don't there's marshals firearm uh was a fire tobacco what they called a at f and then there was uh the marshals at f and then it's federal agents and then there was a local sheriffs all and all conjugating around this cabin talking yeah so it's like a task force yeah and they were talking shit like they were saying these guys guys come up here and they do this and they grow and they make all this money he goes and what do we he goes they get women they do this and that and they're this they go and we look at our jobs what we

get we don't get nothing and it's and that whatever and I was like and then they mentioned I heard him someone say Fresno and I'm like the hell Fresno and then it dawned on me that this what the marshals were from the fed were from Fresno because that's what they were stationed at so I didn't realize and then they call they called Mexican Dave up and they start talking to him He comes back and go, what's going on? He goes, oh, they have search warrants. And your name is on the search warrant. I go, for what?

I go, everything that we're doing up here is legal. It's Prop 215. I'm legal in the state of California. There's nothing that I'm doing that's not illegal. We're under the count of plants. I don't even know why the feds would be involved. So they ended up taking me to put me in a cop car and took me down to the next town.

And from there, they started on terror game. And as they're interrogated, they're asking me questions about my buddy Dave, who is the main guy in my case. So he was the one funding the money. He's the one that leased the land. And he's basically the finances. He's got some problems. A lot of stuff in Dave's name. No, nothing was in Dave's name.

Oh, I thought you said he just leased the land. He did, but he leased it from a friend. Okay. So, and I'll give you the whole backstory right now. I'm sure his friend was like, that's died. I'll lease that for Dave. Well, so, Dave's problem. So, yeah, so they're asking me questions.

What does Dave do for a living? It works at UPS. What else does he do for a living? Oh, he's on workman's comp right now. What else is he doing? I go, oh, I think he's taking his real estate license testing. And they're like, well, what else does it go? I go, can I just get a lawyer?

And the guy goes, that's the smartest thing you said. And I'm like, whatever. And I go, I was like looking at him, and they throw the paperwork in front of me. Paperwork says 15 to life. I go, 15 to life for growing? And there's a, no. We know you had labs up there, you know, for speed and whatever. And I'm like, what?

And so I was like, I go, you guys are funny. I go, I'm legal in the state of California. What I'm doing? Do I even look, I hold my hands up. Do I look like I'm scared? My hands aren't shaken. I go, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you people. They take me again, put me in the car, drive me down to the next town.

So. Sorry, let me go. So why are you going to explain why that? Like, did somebody give them your name? So going back, this is where I was going to go with that right now. So going back, so they stumbled upon us through four different situations. One, and the, in 2000, or 2000, 2000, in 2000 before I was up there, so my buddy that owned the land, his partner came up missing.

He went to pick up $150,000 in cash. When he left, his car was found at the side of the 101, never seen again. So that was one situation. The dad, the family was, you know, they were reaching out to all the police departments, the feds, anybody will listen to them. Radio stations. I remember listening to the radio station one day and I heard their names and go, what the hell? And, you know, we're still not thinking anything because we know my boy, no everyone's innocent. No one did anything to this guy.

Right. But, you know, so we're just continuing on with our operations, not even paying attention to that. So that's, that was one thing. Then back in my hometown, this guy got in trouble. what do you call it? Selling Ye. Right. And then another guy, he used us for leverage, by the way. And then another guy got pulled over $30,000 in cash.

And his partner that he was driving with happened to half speed and tucked it into the seat. And so from that situation, that guy used us, used our names for leverage to get himself off of his, you know, give him information, try to get his sentence reduced or whatever done. So that was three. The fourth was the same guy that got pulled over with the 30K, his cousin was dealing with this guy, Oscar, who was being surveillance by the feds

for like two years. He was taking Mexican smoke from Arizona and distributing it all over the United States. He was taking Mexican herb and distributing all over the United States. So your name, So your name keeps getting mentioned over and multiple investigations.

Well, my name was never even mentioned. That's the thing. My phone wasn't in my name. It was through those people that were talking. My name was brought up. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. And multiple investigators.

Like we grabbed this guy over here. Right. He mentions you. This guy. But the last one with Oscar, he was already wiretapped. Oscar's phone was. So they intercepted the conversation with the other friend of ours. That led him back.

Daisy chained it to my friend Dave, who was, like I said, the main guy. If your name keeps coming up in multiple investigations, they think you guys are big players. Of course. But the crazier part about how the feds operate is that they actually knew that we weren't the players they were looking for.

They knew that Oscar was dealing with the cartel. But since they tied that in, they said, oh, that's more to bunch up. Now we got Oscar in his group, which could be like 10 to 12. people and then they got our group with just 10 to 12 people now they got like 20 something people now they look like they have a huge case right and they're throwing the riko so this is kind of how everything snowballed and how they kind of basically stumbled upon us accidentally i always say but

i mean who was who knows it was accidentally or not but then they ended up sending like i said the task force for you know for speed up to mendocino to bust a girl they didn't have they had they had actually they had the informants. They had people following us. They had wiretaps. And then they had girls going to festivals with us. We didn't even know.

They were hanging out with those. They were informants. And all that, they still didn't have enough information. So the prosecutor told the judge that we had labs up there. And that's how they got their search warrant. So it was

it was this kind of, I don't know. It was when you're legal, in the state of California, and you're still, even to this day, it's illegal with the feds, no matter what. So this is why I call, by the way, my book, which is what I'm here for today anyways, my book that I wrote, it's called Catch 420 for that reason, because it's, you know, it's a Catch 22, but it's not really a Catch 22, because it's about, you know, the... You're very clever. Smoke law.

Yeah, right. So, yeah, that's pretty much how that came. All right. I'm just playing word playing with my words is because there's mona, how you say it? We're trying to make sure we get, we stay monetized. Monetized,

thank you. But so, yeah, that's, that's how they came across us. And then I had to deal with the whole process after that, which was insane. Took me from,

uh, uh, Yucaya, California where once I got to that, when I got to that jail, another friend of mine who was, who was working with us, he was at his home in Yucaya.

they showed up to his house. He has two kids, his wife, two dogs, and they basically rushed the house. They thought we had weapons. They thought, they just, I don't know what picture they were painted, but they really thought that we were huge. And they figured out we had nothing. And they ended up sitting his wife and him on the couch

where they searched the house, and they were talking to them, chatting it up like they were buddies. And then they ended up taking him to Yucaya jail. And that's when I got there. I've seen him there. So I was like, I'm seeing a familiar face finally. So I'm starting to get, I feel a little more comfortable. I was, I was rugged.

It was, you know, you get busted. You get, you're running, you're going, I haven't bleeding. My legs are bleeding from sliding down a mountain. I'm just like, I'm out of breath. I'm filthy. And on top of that, I hadn't showered in like a week. So, like, my arms were like black. There's no shower in the cabin?

No, no. There's a shower, but you have to get the, water pressure going and stuff. So again, I was getting ready to go home. I was going to go home that time too. The second year, I was getting ready to go home. And then my buddy, the one that was already home, was supposed to come back, asked if he could stand another week. And that's why I was there. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have been there. And it would have been a better deal for me because then I wouldn't have been caught on the property. Right. But that's where I was at when they caught me. So what happened? What does your lawyer say?

So I'm the only one that had an appointed attorney, a public pretender, whatever you want to call them. And everyone else had high-powered $30,000, $50,000 lawyers. They got their lawyers from San Francisco, from Tony Sarah, who's a government activist, who is a very famous lawyer. He's represented, like Huey Newton of the Black Panthers. He's represented the leader of the Ku Klutz Klan. he's represented the people that actually has something to do with Ted Binion from Binion Casino. He was representing Barry Bond at the time for the Balco case. And then he ends up, my friends all got lawyers from his firm.

And Tony at the time was like 74 years old. We show up to, they take us from Yucaya to San Francisco, me and Freddie. That was the guy I was in the cell with in Yucaya. they take us to San Francisco, and we're going through the process there. When we get to go see the judge, Freddie had our attorney from Tony's law firm already on retainer. So we asked for her.

Another lawyer that was from that same firm overheard us talking, he walked over because he knew she wasn't there. He ended up representing both of us to the judge, and the judge has asked where you want to fight this case. You want to fight it in San Francisco. You want to fight it back in Fresno, Central California. Well, Central California is conservative. San Francisco is not.

We'd have better chances in San Francisco. So we said San Francisco. So they ended up sending us to Santerita County holding facility for feds and for state. And we're sitting there for two weeks going back and forth to court and stuff. And then finally, everyone had homes to put up. property. I didn't. So they did a signature bond for me and it was agreed upon. So, but the attorney, the prosecutor back in central California, she had the three o'clock that day to deny it and I'd had to go through the whole process again. So we all go back to the holding cells at Santa Rita going

through that before we get to ourselves. And as we're in the holding cell, a guard comes in and he starts calling names. So there was one, two, three, there was four guys plus me. They called all their names except me. So I watched them all walk out, and they're all looking at me with the saddest face because out of all these guys,

maybe not all of them, but I'm one of the least culpable? No, they would think that I'm the one that couldn't take jail as good as the others probably. You know what I'm saying? They thought you could? Couldn't. Oh, okay.

You weren't prepared. They're like, out of all of us, this is not the guy that needs to be here. Right. Or it's going to do well. Exactly. So why? I mean, are they all big tough guys? No, I have no family.

Okay. I had no representation. Like, the odds were against me. You know what I mean? It's like, so they just looked at me like a weak link. And they were scared for not just me, scared that I was going to say something on their account, too. So, which didn't happen. but um you guys need to put some money on my books you guys need to start taking care of me yeah that

that didn't happen either that's the problem it was everyone for themselves at the time and somebody needs to start looking out for me right and the thing is that i'm the most loyal out of i'm a loyal friend and i'm the one that's breaking my back left and right to make sure everyone's good and then when it came down to this situation everybody else forgot who i was yeah you know so that's what was happening at that moment and then they all they ended up all getting out, I ended up staying an extra week, and then they were transferring me, because then the prosecutor actually denied my signature bond. So I had to go through the whole process again, and they were taking me back to Central California. But they didn't take me

directly to Central California. No. They made it like I was a mob leader, and they didn't want, they didn't, they don't let people follow their movements. Basically, they're moving me places without telling anybody where I'm going. Right. So I ended up getting on a, I'm going to go on Travis Air Force Base, getting on a con air. There must have been 300 inmates on this thing, shackle and handcuffed. Everyone's going to a different location.

I don't know where I'm going. So the plane flies for about 45 minutes, then it's touching down somewhere. And I'm like, okay, I don't know where we're at, but it doesn't seem like I was too far. We happened to be in, I think, Victorville maybe, or Edwards Air Force Base somewhere in that area. They call my name out finally.

I'm thinking that I'm going to get on one of these buses, and I did. But it wasn't taking me to where I was going. It took me to Bakersville, California, to a holding facility. The day that I was leaving Santa Rita, I started feeling something on my side hip. And I showed my cellmate, he goes, that could be a, you know, it was like a scratch or something, but it was itching real bad. He goes, that could be a brown recluse bite, or that can be staff infection. And me being ignorant at the time, I'm like, hey, no staff infection, you know, so I don't know what a staff infection is.

So I'm just like, I'm not dirty. So I ended up, when we get to Bakersfield, I was telling the nurse about it. And she said, you'll be fine. We'll give you medication. So I get to my first pod. There's like 30 inmates in this pod. And one of this guy comes over and starts talking to me, asking me all these questions of what I'm here for this and that. And I was already told not to tell people too much information because people like to gather information and then turn around.

and snitch on you about it. So I was just kind of like being real weary with them. Then I said, hey, have you ever seen this before? I showed up this thing? He goes, that's a staff infection. And so I went back to my room. And then about 10 minutes later, he comes up there, he goes, hey, you need to go ring the, hit the buzzer and tell the guards that your life

is being threatened right now because you need to get out of here. So I did that because they, you know, I didn't know, but obviously it spreads. Yeah, yeah. And so I go and I do that. they put me in a waiting area outside, like a basketball court or something. It's freezing. And then they put me in another pod.

And as they took me to another pod, they said, don't tell anybody what you got. We'll have meds to you in the morning. So, okay. So then I started getting on the meds. And then a week later, they sent me to Fresno, California. Did it get better? Oh, no.

Not until I got to Fresno. That doctor started giving me more meds. It went from a small to a hole and it was pussy. It was shooting all the way down my crotch. And then it basically ate a hole in me. And then all my boxers, they gave me, which is really crazy,

they're all white boxers, bloodstains and all the boxers, until it finally cleared up and went away. But I still have a, I definitely have a little bit of an indention on my hip. Yeah. Where was that? But it's,

yeah, that's something that I would never want to have again. That wasn't a fun situation. But I was there in Fresno, and I ended up getting the cell that I was in with, the main guy, David, he was already there because he was in Fresno when they found him. So he's in Fresno and the Fresno County Jail.

I show up as I'm going in, he sees me. He's pacing back and forth. He's acting psychotic, right? So I get in there and then he sees me and gives me a hug and everything we go and we start talking. And at this point, I have been in now in the system now for almost a month, like three weeks. weeks, I lost 25 pounds in that three weeks. So I looked, I was, I looked really smoked. And he started

giving me top ramen, started giving me food. And a week into that, I got out my ex, was my ex-girlfriend, because we had broken up about three months prior to me getting in trouble. Her, her family put up a house for me to get out. So it's like I could find my case on the outside. I got out the day before my birthday and that that was amazing so that's kind of how all that went down so you got out what what I mean so I got out to fight my case right which I ended like I said I ended up with a going through pretrial and I'm dealing with the guy they gave me a lawyer Phil Churny they were like this guy public defender yeah they were federal public defender yeah they were telling me they go uh when I got to the pretrial the lady goes oh you got to go

lawyer. I said, I do. She goes, yeah. And she's names. And I go, okay. And she goes, did you ever hear about the Dana Yule case? And I go, yeah, he murdered his, he had, he hired someone and him, they went in, they murdered the family so he can get the inheritance. And she goes, yeah, well, he represented a Radovich, which was the guy that he helped, to help him. And I go, yeah, didn't that guy get life in prison? He's like, well, yeah, but he didn't get the death penalty. Is that, okay. Is that to win? Yeah. So we went from, it went from that. And then I was going to court, and then all the lawyers would gather and talk.

They would all talk. We'd all conjugate in a room afterwards. Only time I could hang out with any of my co-defendants, we'd all congregate in a room together with our lawyers. Your lawyers had to be present. And there was a couple guys, this guy, Joey, but when I told you they got busted with the EA, he had a lawyer because they brought him in on the case. He would never go to that room. And then the other guy that got pulled over the 30K, he would never go to that room. They're cooperating.

They're cooperating right off the jump. And so we kind of knew this. And then as everyone's talking, Tony, Tony Sarah, the lawyer, he comes over to me and he says, hey, look, we're going to have your lawyer fall asleep with all of us. You're going to be fine. Going back, I don't know if I said it already, but Tony was so famous, they made a movie about him.

Right. And it's called True Believer. And James Wood played, James Woods plays. Tony, Robert Downey Jr. plays the assistant. This is how famous this lawyer is. I don't know if it's California or a weapon in the lawyer world. He's a very, he's a very well-sought-out lawyer. Right. And I think we did a podcast interview of him. He was 92. Yeah, he was 74 or 75 when he took on our case. So we interviewed, and he was still fighting cases in his 90s, which was wild. I don't know what else to do

Not ready to retire No, he's sharp as a whistle He looks like He looks like He looks very Fucking not gonna be very sharp When I'm 70 I tell you that

I'm already fucking My mind's already slipping I see these guys in their 70s And 80s Who are sharp as fucking tacks And I'm like fuck I'm already fucking slipping That's a

I can't remember shit What are we talking about? Exactly Things will come by Yeah So Tony tells me if he's going to fall a suit and everything. Eight months later, as we're fighting the case, Tony goes away to federal prison for tax evasion to Long Park Prison Camp.

That'll happen. Yeah, four months later, I pled out 15 months. But then they took me to, I went to a probation officer for the, first I did the, where the debriefing. Didn't give them any information on that. They're pissed, dude. The debriefing was wild. I'm sitting there.

My lawyer is trying to sell me out, by the way. He's already went from 15 alive to 10 years to eight years to four years to two eight two years eight two years eight months. I'm going there wasn't even any it would the things were barely flowering. There was not even no no bud on anything. It was like I don't I don't it made no sense to me, but they weighed everything with the soil, the plants and they said we had a 30 million dollar operation. I was like 30 million dollar operation. I would have retired last year. I wouldn't even be doing this. So this is this is what this is how they're coming at us and um. as um so anyway i go to the front of the then i go to the um had to do a p s i report right you know what that is of course right right right right so the p s i didn't write mine i had i can do yours yeah i had i had had a paralegal do mine so she did it like us i mean i always tell people remember when you're in uh fifth and sixth grade i'd do a state report she did it like that like laminated everything was like it was so on point when the i sat there in front of the probation officer he's like he's like he asked me a question. He asked me a question. That's on page 8. And he's flipping

through it. He's just like, this is the, he shuts it. He goes, this is the best PSI report I've ever seen. I go, this is my life we're talking. You don't even understand. I go, people come in here didn't do any of it. I had to sit there asked a question to write it down as, as we're going. We're here for hours. Well, mostly, most of the time, the PSI person just comes in and questions you right then, and you just tell them the answers and they write up the report. But your lawyer said, No. Well, they handed me the paper way in advance. Oh, okay.

So I had it already, and I called my friend who was a paralegal, and she just gathered all. Gallagher my information, and she did it all, and labeled everything. I mean, it was categorized. It was everything. Color coordinated. It was pretty, it was pretty impressive, I had to say, for I, and I wouldn't even know that until sat down with that probation officer and what he said. But they were like, as I reading it, him and my lawyers over my shoulder. And he goes, so you're telling me you were, it says in here you were conceived on

acid. I go, yeah, my mom said that I was conceived on that. She was an acid. Yeah. And so she, he's, they're like, wow, all of a sudden they start softening up. Right. And my lawyer who has never been in my corner the whole damn time, so it was a point where he said, I'm going to, he goes, I'm going to, you should fire me. I don't even want to represent you. I go, guess what? I'm not going to fire you, because I'm just going to get another one just like you. So I'm just going to keep you. You already know what's going on. and he pissed him off because he couldn't get rid of me. And then at this point, he starts softening up. And as we're leaving, the probation officer, he goes,

we're going to recommend to the judge a year and a day. And I go, why a year and a day? He goes, well, because you need over a year so you can get your good time, which is 46 days off of the year. And so I went from 15 to life when they started figuring out they didn't have what they thought they had. and they kept getting dwindling and dwindling and dwindling until now from 15 to life to a year and a day.

And the only reason I did that, because I didn't have property or anything to give to the feds because they want money. And if you don't have money, you've got to give them time. So this is where I was at. As we're leaving the probation officer's office, my lawyer turns to me and starts talking about his daughter getting married and this thing.

He's just like giving me, I'm looking at him going, where was this dude? he would call me and I'd be trembling every time this guy called me. I didn't even want to answer the phone because it was always something like, okay, they're going to give you eight. Eight years ago, for what? Like every time, it was something crazy. He even brought me into a sit down at a table,

all these people in here. I didn't even know half of them. And he was going to have me signed for over four years. And I looked at him and said, I ain't signed a nothing. And that's when he got mad to say, you need to fire me. I said, no, no, dude, I'm not firing you. But I'm not signing that. And, yeah, so I ended up with a year and a day.

What happened your dog? My dog. I'm sorry. So, no, no. I'm less concerned about you. I'm still worried about this fucking dog-bate-up and left in a fucking... You see that right there? Yeah.

That's my dog's, that's my dog's caller. And so he passed away in 2017. So during the time, though, he went from the cabin. He broke out the cabin, ran all the way around the mountain, four miles there, side of the mountain to the cabin. to the cabin that he was actually born in. And my friend, my friend Randy was there. And then so when I go to Santa Rita, I call up, I called up my godson's mom because she's

a vet tech and that's who I got the dog from. And that she was married to Freddie, the one that I was, that we got, we met up in Yucaya and they took us San Francisco together. She was married to him at the time. And she tells me, she goes, we got, I went up there and I picked up, my dog's name sunny. Went up there and we picked up your dog. He's fine.

getting acupuncture right now. Fucking California. I'm in, I'm in, I'm in jail in some orange scrubs and my dog is getting acupuncture right now. I'm dying of fucking staff. Right. Dogs laid out getting massages and acupuncture because he's stressed.

He's stressed. I was like, this is great. So, yeah, so that's, that's what happened with him. And he ended up staying up in the mountain with his mom and his dad,

um, his real dog siblings. And he ended up staying up there with them. And while the whole time I did, when I went away. But it was tough. Where'd you go? Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

So, yeah. So after after I did my year and a day. Where did you do a year and day? Well, I'm going to say that right now. I was going to say, well, first of all, you've already been locked up the whole time. Yeah. In county.

It's only a month time served, though. It's only a month. I only been gone. I only been locked up for a month. Because you got out. I got out. You got out. The ex-his family put a house up for me.

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, I know. I remember, I still, for some reason, thought you had been locked up a considerable amount. No, no, it was just a month. And then I got, then I get out and I find my case. And then I get a year and a day.

And then I had to turn myself in. So my turning in date was, they were trying to give me in September. My birthday's beginning of October. So I asked them if they can give me more time to get my, to get my finances, my gather my stuff,

whatever together. And they said, yeah, so they said October 6th. I was like, perfect. So I didn't have spent, I got out the day before my birthday to fight my case, and I went in after, like, five days after my birthday. So I was really, I was really happy about that.

And where did you walk yourself in? Did you, so you, so I walked myself into Longpaw, California. And that's where Tony was doing time. So my first day in federal prison, I'm having breakfast, I'm having breakfast with a lawyer that was overseeing my whole case. Right. You know, you can imagine this. Counselor.

This is why I say there's so many layers. Right. You know, to the story that it just sounds so intriguing that can be a movie. It's just, there's just, there's just no way. It's like, if you've seen a movie like this, you go, that's all made up. No, this isn't made up. I do have quite, so, I mean, as soon as you go in, you're such short time. Did they put you in immediately for a halfway house?

No. They never put you in for a halfway house after eight and a half months. I got a month off for time served. Yeah. I got a month and a half off for good behavior. Right. So then I had eight and a half months to serve there and then a month of halfway house. So it added up to a year and a day.

Okay. So, but I tell you what, before they changed the rules there, because they put an ARDAP program into Lompoc. Before they had the RDap program and they didn't have the RDap program, they could ask me, do you want to spend your last month here or do you want to go to halfway house? And I would have been like, I would do my last month here. I had a routine. Yeah. You know what I mean?

I was comfortable. That's fine. Plus half-high house just in general sucks. When I got there, it was black mold. It was disgusting, dude. It was the worst situation. I was lucky and fortunate enough to have a friend of mine who had a job waiting for me. So I had talked to the people in charge of the halfway house.

They said, usually we don't let nobody leave the halfway house for a month before we let them go get a job. And I said, I'm only here for a month. I go, I have a job lined up. You guys take 30% of my check. I go, wouldn't it be beneficial for you guys to start getting paid for me being? here. So within four days, I got to leave and I would stay gone until I had to come back. I would never, you know, if I left at five in the morning, I wouldn't be back to like six o'clock in the afternoon. And so I didn't spend the least amount of time at this place because it was,

it was disgusting. I really wish I would have spent my last month in federal. Plus there's a lot of staff members. Like if you're in prison, I always tell these guys, like in federal prison, state prison is different. In federal prison, you don't have to have a lot of interaction with the cops. You know what I'm saying? You don't have a lot. I'm like, you see them, but you don't really have to talk to them. They don't, they're not yelling at you all the time. They're not there. So it's very little interaction unless maybe you're going to see your counselor, you know, when you first get there and then maybe a few months later when they put you for a halfway house. Right, right. But it's very, hey, what's up? Yeah, this is what's going on. You're putting me.

Okay, yeah, I'll sign here. Okay, thank you. And you leave and you don't, you know, but you go to the halfway house and they're fucking on you all the time and what clean and count and do this and do that. come over here and pissing this cup and do the, oh, you guys are sign in, sign out, we got to search you. It's like, Jesus, this is a nonstop. I mean, that's how it was the halfway house where I was at. It was just, they were on us all the time.

Like I said, I was fortunate. And if I come in when these guys were pretty much, one of them would get off shift to be a girl working. And it was, it wasn't, I couldn't, you know, obviously, like, for instance, I had to put bleach in a water bottle because my room was so nasty. And, you know, they won't let you bring them. that stuff in there. But I needed cleaning supplies. My shower was black mold. It was gross.

So I had to go clean that. Ours was super clean because if you didn't have a job, you had to clean so many hours a day. They'd block everybody up. They call it and then they tell everybody like, you don't have a job. You don't have a, come on for the next hour you're going to clean. Clean these three tables. Mop this. The staff would take you out to clean their offices, would vacuum this office, And they'd stand there and watch you vacuum, take out the garbage, you for like an hour, and then they put you back in, they'd count, let you back out for a couple hours, and they'd lock everybody else up again, grab everybody. So it's like, you want to get a job.

Did you, was yours, was yours co-ed? Yeah, I met my wife there. That's like crazy. She did five years for a meth conspiracy. I'm sorry, she did five years for an ice conspiracy. Well, that's hilarious. Yeah. That's hilarious.

When I was there, I had the girls. they were hitting on you. And then it was even more crazy was guys would actually want to, would leave, would risk their time to go get alcohol and get fucked up. And then hop back over the fan.

I go, what's the point? I go, you know, there's, uh, the IQ level is, is, is not, it's not even what you would think it would be, you know. And this is, these are, these are federal. Yeah. This is, this is, they're, this is there, this is the top of the shit.

Right. Right. Right. Like they're the, I was in there's one guy who is, who was, who was counterfeiting money. Yeah. And it looked real. Yeah.

And he got busted. He goes, he bought a lot of Rolexes. And so when he got out, he had, he had stuff to sell and money to make with the, because he, you know, he laundered it. Yeah. Into something else. But it was just listening to some of the stories of some of the people in there. It was, it was pretty wild.

But I couldn't. I had girls hitting on me. I'm sitting there eating my food. You eat so sexy. And I go, how do I eat sexy? That wasn't my wife. Is my mouth closed? I like a man who knows how to chew without.

Yeah, it was, it was, my wife. I was hitting on my wife and she's, and she's just like, I would never date you. Like, it would never. You don't know what I'm going to be when I'm out of here. That's what I was like. I'm, you understand, I'm going to do some stuff. And she's like, this guy.

This guy. She'll tell me that she'll be like, I thought you were so full of shit. You're like, no, no, I'm going to get, I got a bunch of books I've written. I'm going to, I'm going to figure out how to sell. publish them. I want to do some kind of a true crime, you know, like a true crime podcast, like a podcaster big. Like I don't really know what that is. I've never been on YouTube. Right. But people told me I read some articles. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, there's an iPhone. Like I'm, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm getting the fucking thing. Okay, no, swipe, Matt, swipe, like a caveman.

Swipe. What do you mean, swipe? And they're like, no, no, gently. It's horrible. But she, I'm telling all this and she's thinking, head it. Yeah, she's thinking, this guy is so full of shit she'll tell you she'll tell you she'll oh I thought you were so full of shit like you didn't write any books you're not gonna do like what is you don't even got money on your books yeah what are you talking about

now we're flying to fucking to go watch fucking uh to go watch jelly roll concerts you know going on vacation and stuff let me know when you're out there I'm like wait you and you didn't you didn't you didn't want to date me

and she's like all right this enough about you keep mentioning it You know, rub it in. Remember he said, I would never date you? Are we married? You're like, you know, you keep bringing this up. Why are you living in the past? Right. That's what made us.

Yeah. You're talking about. Yeah. No, I didn't get hit on in the fucking in the halfway house. But there were, there were guys that, like, the chick would leave. And then the guy would leave like 20 minutes later and they'd meet in a parking lot somewhere. It's like, what are you doing? Right.

Yeah, they get caught together. somebody's car it's like come on like it would it's it's not that serious yeah yeah you can wait another right but people but people couldn't yeah it was funny i even i even i even so more funny was our halfway house was right next door to the strip the strip club nice and um so when i got out my buddy came and got me and he came with two girls we went to the strip club and i'm so i'm desensit i'm desensit i'm desensitized at this time i'm like i don't even want to be around women right now i was so focused on myself I was like, I took me eight months to even think about hooking up with a girl or even trying to be around a woman because I was so, when people asked me how my time was served when I went to federal. I said it happened to be probably the best year of my life.

And they're like, what are you talking about? And I was like, there was no bills. There was no girl worries. I go, I could focus. Here out here, I thought I had ADD. I go, but I don't. Because as soon as I got in there, I read 50 books. I wrote a book.

I was on the softball team. I took a court on blue on course. I'm a certified chef now. I go, I actually benefited because I can focus. Yeah. I don't wake up in the morning and worry about my bills and stressed and what I have to do. I have to go to work and what time do I have for myself because there's not much. I have to do this.

I have to do that my responsibilities. And you're in there. It's just you. And it's all about you. Unless you make it otherwise, but you know, you can do your time negative or you can do a positive. Well, I think it's a great, it really categorizes people too, right? Like you, you know what I mean, guys? I was in there writing books and writing stories and there were other guys that they'd hear me that, or this guy, yeah, this guy Matt, he wrote a true crime book, he did this, he's doing that, he's writing this guy's book, he's writing this, but he wrote a bunch of stories.

And they're, yeah, man, I'm going to write a book when I get out, when you get out. And then they say, yeah, yeah, I think I'm going to write my own book when I get out. I go, yeah, I've been thinking about it. I definitely, I got a good story. I'm like, why don't you write it now? Well, I'm going to do it when I get out. I got a computer. I don't, you know, and I'm like, bro, how long you've been locked up?

Seven years. How much more time you got? I got about four more years. And I'd say, you're never going to have this much time in your life, ever. Right. If you can't write it now with a pencil and a piece of paper from commissary or steal the shit out of the fucking out of the library, like if you can't put it together now, you will never put it together.

So you do it now because you won't do it on the street. Like I'll do it on the street. Right. But I'm motivated. Right. I've done it in here. I'll figure out how to do it on the street. Right.

And they would say that. And you could always tell you sit down and talk with somebody. Like this guy spends all his time playing handball and cards. You know, you're not going to do anything on the street. You're going to go right. You're going to be selling drugs. You're going to be back here in two years. You know, you've been in an outjo, your whole fucking life.

So, and you're talking about writing a book. And you've got an interesting story. Right. But you can't do it. Now you can wait until you get on the street. Cut the fucking shit. Right. So, or you got the guys, they don't want to write a book, but, God, I forget Justin.

I forget Justin's last name, but Justin wrote an entire, he comes up with a concept. He comes up with a complete app. He writes out the code, everything for the entire app, what it's going to do. He gets out. He puts the app together. He goes out and raises money and starts a company. and starts a company. He's got like 30 people working for him right now.

Wow. And they're blowing up. I mean, you meet these guys every once while that they, they go in there and they put together a plan and it's like, you're a drug dealer. Like, you've been a drug dealer for 10 years.

And how did you come up with it? Well, I mean, I thought about it. And I met a guy. And I thought, I could do this. I thought there's probably a reason for it.

So I ordered a, I had my, my ex-girlfriend, order me a couple books. And it's like, you trained yourself without you to. That's an entrepreneur. Right.

Inside of, right. And his whole thing was, is like, yeah, I was selling drugs on the street, but that was an easy way to make money. And it was a young kid. Same thing. He was raised with nothing. Right. So he's doing this for a few years until he gets caught, goes to prison and says, yeah, I can't

do this anymore. Right. And figures it out. But then there's other people that you realize, like, they get in there. It's like the one, it's a gift that the feds gave you. Because for the first time is that they, you've, you've, all the time in the world to put together a plan. And if you don't take that time to do something with it, then you're going to have a hard time in life.

Like if, unless you just say, hey, I want to get out and I want to get out and I want to be a plumber. I just want to get a regular job, get a girlfriend, make her my wife, and have a couple of kids. And that's all I want to do. That's, listen, if that's what you want to do with your life, you know, God bless you, right? Like, that's middle America. I want you to do that. Right. Like that's, that's, because for some people, and Colby's heard me say this before,

for some people, that's their measure of success. Can I be a middle class American? And that's all I want to do. And if that's what your goal is, there's nothing wrong with that. Like God, God bless you. Right. Like, you know, I wish that's how my life had gone. Not me.

Right. Well, I understand, but I'm saying, you know what I'm saying? But it didn't go that way. Because I know guys that, I know a few guys that are like, I would never be content. You see, that's the problem in it. That's what I'm saying is that I wish that had made me content. Because I know several guys that that's what they do.

And they're perfectly happy. Like they're the happiest guys I know. And I know guys that have millions of dollars and Lamborghinis and all the vehicles. And they drink every night. They don't really spend any time with their kids. They're super unhappy. And you're like, you're worth fucking $30 million. You should be fucking ecstatic

They don't I know a guy right now He's probably worth $30 or $40 million Tons of real estate Single Kids don't talk to him Ex-wife hates his guts

He's extremely unhappy You're worth fucking 30 or 40 million dollars They take it for a round But they forget What it's like not to have Right I think that guy would benefit

From throw him in jail for four years Get his fucking head straight He'd be happy He'd probably get out and be happy the rest of his life. I was in there with a guy named Lance Malone. He was a city councilman in Vegas. He gets there.

And we're talking about, you know, this guy has subway sandwiches. He has all kinds of things going on. His wife's ahead of one of the casinos. Like, he was doing very well. Got in trouble because the mob actually used him for leverage

and said that, you know, he was basically, they threw his name in the mix when they probably threatened him to do what he had to do. Right. And then they turned around

and snitched on him. So that's how they got, you know, their sentence reduced. He ends again five years. Shows up. In camp, you don't get a pillow. You got to figure out a way to get a pillow. You got to figure out how to make a pillow. Or that. So he has a pair of pants that he's rolled up he's been sleeping on. If you sleep hot at night, you know how disruptive that can be. Whether you're having trouble falling asleep, you're waking up sweating in the middle of night or all of the above. That's where ghost bed can help. As the makers of the coolest beds in the world, Ghostbed is your go-to for cooling mattresses, cooling pillows, and cooling bedding. From their signature ghost ice fabric to patented technology that adjusts to your body's temperature,

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Even better, our listeners can get 50% off site-wide for a limited time. Just visit ghostbed.com slash Cox, and use the code Cox at checkout. Again, that's ghostbed.com slash Cox with the code Cox at the checkout to save a whopping 50% off site wide. Well, I'm there. I already got the gist of this place. And I've been there at this point. I had already been there like six months, maybe five. So when someone was leaving, hey, can I get your pillow?

And they're like, yeah, sure. So I get their pillow. So then when people would show up and if I liked you, here, bro, here's a pillow. So I gave Lance a pillow and he looked at me like I just gave him a gold brick. Like he was like, I could, he was a, the look on his face, this said at all. You're talking about a guy who's had everything given to him, you know, whether he earned it or not, but on the outside, he wouldn't even talk to me. Do you know what I mean? Oh, yeah.

But on the inside, when you hand someone someone, someone, someone, they're looking at me like, I'm a God. And it was crazy to see the reactions because we're all, all of us now are on the same playing field. He's a great equalizer. He's, Colby's Herbie's out, I'm really. Prison's a great equalizer. You can be a crackhead and your sally used to own, for banks. Right.

You know? What's great, too, is that that kid's never going to be in the same room with that guy. Now they can have conversations. I get a chance for you to elevate yourself. Right. Of course. And you should be learning while you're there. And honestly, that billionaire, it's probably a chance for him to realize, hey, I'm lucky.

Humble. Yeah, humbling. Humble. This guy was raised in the projects, never left the projects. His mom's a crack whore. His dad's in and out of prison. Never really knew him. All of his family members in and out of prison, never left the state.

You know, I got it pretty good. You know what I'm saying? Like it's humbling. 100%. Even with the guards that are there. The guards aren't getting paid nothing. Yeah. Those guys are getting paid.

The state gets paid. The correction officers of the state get paid three times the amount as a Fed agent. Really? No way. Yeah. Not in Florida. Well, maybe California's outrageous. But the feds were only at the time, $30,000 a year.

That's what they're getting paid. Yeah. What year is it? Oh, six. Yeah. So when I was there, the starting salary was 35. 35, you don't even have to have a high school education. Right.

You just had to be, you had to, they gave you 18 months to get a GED. And you could get it extended. The regards that had been, they've been working for three years and still hadn't got their GED. But the starting for a state, it matters what state you're in around 60. That's insane. So it's like, and then every one of us, every one of us inmates at that time was one, was worth about $40, $45,000 on books, each one of us. So, of course, they want to fill it up.

Almost prisons are, what do they call it, privately owned, even though they're being, you know, almost like subcontracted out with the feds or whatever they're working with, state, whatever it is, but they're owned by private entities. So it's a lucrative business, you know, pharmaceutical and prisons. Those are your number two, one and two in the United States. Yeah, I was going to say, I know guys, I know a guy who has a couple hundred thousand on his books. And then the, the warden will like bring him in and say, you've got to move this money. Like, what are you doing?

Before he went in, he had it set up. So one of his retirement plans would just send money. And he's like, what am I? They keep mailing the check. Like, what am I supposed to do? I'm not out there. I can't go sign the papers. I can't.

And they're like, we got to get this money moved. Right. You know, you got to. He's like, what am I going to do? Unless if he had a restitution. Right. Well, he doesn't. He doesn't.

But I mean, you can only spend, what, $350? Yeah. Well, mine was $300 and then $50 for the phone. Yeah. It's like $350. Yeah. So he, it was not him, but what I was going to say is, you know what we did, we would do. We get a pillow.

And the pillows that you can eventually get are just crap, right? And so guys in the, guys in the craft department would go to, get a working camp too. Blick. No, no. This was just like painting, leather shop. Gotcha, got you. They would order from the Blick catalog. Blick is, it's a, it's a catalog for Amazon. Yeah, it's, well, it's, it's for crafts, right? Like, paints, oil paints, leather. They would order cotton, stuffing. So they could make, so you'd go to them and you'd have a pillow that I'm telling you right now, like, it's an embarrassment to say, you basically had a pillow case. Right. And there were some crap in there. Right, right, right.

And you go to them and be like, bro, I need a pillow. And they'd be like, that's going to be at least $10 worth of stuff. That's four books of stamps. Oh, exactly. And that's when they, they'd bring it. You got to give me four. I'll stitch it up. It'll be perfect.

I'm going to order. It's going to take a month and a half and you get it. And then you get this stuffed good pillow. Horrible. Horrible. Right. But it's a whole process. Right.

Well, the towel that they give us too. It was like the one at the motel six. It was like a real thin hat that short, the mid-sized towel. That's what we were getting. And then we'd go to the Air Force base. And because I was, I was electrician on location. So you guys had like, we had a truck. So we can take off.

You weren't even in prison, bro. I was in a camp. I told you. I was in the camp. That's what I was saying. My God. Dude, we would take, we had a truck and our, our, whatever you want to call, I guess it would be our office was off near the medium.

So we, me and my partner would get up in the morning. We drive over there. Our boss would be there. He's a correction officer and Mr. Manfredi. And we would sit there and he literally has feet up on the desk, doing nothing all down day. And then we get a call. The warden need you to wire some stuff or there's new washer and dryer. So we'd have to go to their houses and crawl under the house and drag wire.

And it was, this is what we did. It was like, and then we had to change the light bulbs in the medium or the low or the high or whatever it was. We had to change light bulbs. And it's just stuff, you know, basically small manageable stuff that we can do that was not too, too, too, crazy. Did the guards all have like nicknames? No, but I had nicknames for a lot of the guards. Yeah. I was like all our guards had nickn't. I literally wrote a whole script. Not a script, but basically the outline, so like a, what do you call it, a treatment. Okay. Of a story, because the guards are hilarious. This could be a comedy. This could be like

Hogan's heroes, but just with the guards. We had a, they were, they were getting money and they were buying hummers and then all of a sudden they were getting audited. So they had to take back all the hummers back to the dealerships. They were trying to get the money back on the books. Then we had the secretary that was working inside their office. She went on vacation for two weeks and she gets paid vacation. But she wrote in the books, how sure she wrote it was she was still there. So she was getting double dipped. She was paying for the hours she was there. And then they escorted her out in handcuffs. So we're watching all this happen. We're the inmates. We're going, This is pretty shady.

Yeah. This is funny. Like, there was a lot of comical stuff happening around, man. This is funny. We'd go to the freezer, and the freezer would have food from chilies, like chicken breasts.

They're in these plastic containers. It looked like stuff you would take to, if you were in a spaceship. Like if you're, like there was. Vacuum sealed. Yeah. It looked just like that.

And then when you look at the date, this is in 06, and it would say 19, 99 or something, you're going, dude, this is like hell of old. Like, but, you know, it's, they don't care. Yeah. Like, it was a, this, this is a lot of, the warden, the warden at the time, our warden, he looked like, uh, do you ever seen, um, oh my gosh, what's it called, uh, house of a

thousand corpse? Yeah. Remember the clown? Yeah. He looked like him. Ball, big bald dude, looked just like him, I swear. That he was scary looking. And he was, he was, he was a prick.

Like, he didn't want to make him. mess them. He'll say he's the hole no matter what. I got lucky one time. Someone made me a make-shift knife so I can cut up vegetables at my locker. And I'm sitting there cutting them up and he's standing right over me. And I look at such nice, he didn't say nothing. He kept walking. I was like, I must have caught him on a good day or something. You know, if they'll make those out of, they'll take the lid of a can lid, right? Something and they'll bend it over or something. You know what I'm saying? Like these guys will take stuff that you're just like, how did you even? Think about it.

Yeah. How'd you, it'll break apart a plastic lens for something and take the plastic and melt it down and then they'll make it sharp. And next thing you know, you've got a cutting device. They had, when I was in County, the showerhead was just like a one, like a spray. This one shot like a laser. They took a, they take a lid off of a lotion bottle and then they would, they cut the other side out and they'd stick it on there.

And then I'll go, and it would spray. I'm going, the genius, I go, you guys have a lot of time in your hands. You go, if you're using these same skills on the outside as you are on the inside, you wouldn't even be your, yeah, you're just to be able to do something legal. But everyone on the, like I said, again, when you're on the outside, you aren't thinking because you can't think. It's designed that way, I believe. And I was telling, I was telling Mike Dow, I was telling him that they should make a camp

that you can go to, that you're, the government, pays for your bills for two months and you can go to reset and they should make that available to people because when after I did my time I was like this was the best reset of my life just like you said it was like the best year in my life I got to focus on myself if they gave someone two months out of the year just to do that I think that would put things a lot in perspective people will think half the time they I need these drugs or on to be on to focus to this and that or you know I'm ADD or ADHD or whatever else they think and then they get there they're like I'm none of this I can actually focus.

We interviewed a guy. I'm not going to remember his name, but he was, he was hooked on H. He and his brother got together with a guy. They started just kind of running scams, right? So they're just running scams. And then I think, I don't think his brother, I think maybe it wasn't his brother, but he ends up hooking up with a guy who's running the scams. And it was an iPhone scam, right?

So the guy teaches him the scam where you go get a homeless person or he was a end up, he immediately turned it into an organizationally. He's got a van. He'd go pick up six guys, drive them around all day to get iPhones in their name for multiple iPhones. Right. So you could go in and get approved. You only needed like a 550 credit score or no credit score and whatever. You knew what to say. They'd give you six lines.

So it'd get six phones from that one. Then you'd go to T-Mobile. Get six more. Then you go somewhere else. Get five. He goes somewhere else. And then eventually they said, well, we can give you one. So they end up with each guy's getting 10, 15 of these phones.

They would pull the SIM cards or whatever out of them. And then they would, they'd give the guy like $100 a phone. And then they would sell them to this guy for $500. That guy sells them overseas. And this guy's doing this. He's getting 50, 60 phones, 80 phones a day. He's making tons of money. He does this for on and off, goes to jail, comes back, goes to jail, come back.

Eventually he goes to jail, gets a decent amount of time. And in jail, he's just, in his cellie is a guy who's like a lifer or something along those lines. Because he's been out of jail, so his custody level is pretty high. And the guy tells him, he's like, what are you doing, bro? Like a lot of these guys are clowns. They're, they got fucking 80 IQs. Like, they're never going to be anything.

They're just coming back. You're like, but you could be something. Like, you're smart. Like, you could, you got to stop doing this. Like, you'll be off the drugs because you're clean now. Like, get out of here and do something with your life, for God's sakes. You're still young. He was like 30-something, 34, 35.

He gets out, he goes back to school, gets student loans, goes to school, gets a BA, goes and then ends up getting his degree, an engineering degree, gets a master's degree, goes to work for Elon Musk and SpaceX as an engineer. I forget how many years he worked there. He works for another place now because when they went from California to Texas, They were going to give him like a $50,000 bonus or something to move. And his wife didn't want to move. She said, come on.

He's like, talking about him. I'm looking for, we're going to the move. I mean, we're going to, we're going to Mars. Like, what are you talking about? This is great. Right, right. And the guy covered with tats. But he ended up taking a test for, so she said, at least trying another job.

So he went and he took a test. He's like, yeah, I'll make it. Went and took a test someplace else thinking they're going to turn me down and I'll have to move. I'll stay with, with SpaceX. immediately they offer them the job, boom. And it was more money. He's like, I had to stay. Like, what am I to tell my wife?

We're going to move our whole family across the country. When these guys are offering more money to stay here and my kids stay in school and you can keep your job, he was like, fuck. So he stayed. But the point is, is like, if you sat here and listened to his story for two hours, you'd be like, this guy's. And if you looked at him, you'd say, oh, he's done. He's done. Just one day. one of those events he happened to sit in a cell with the right guy who said the right thing at the right moment

and then he spent six years getting his master's degree and now he's making a hundred and fifty two hundred thousand dollars a year what else do you have to do when you're there yeah but you know what people do they dick around they they they gamble they they try and get drugs in there alcohol they they play handball like they just they they they piss away that the uh it's an opportunity they piss away the opportunity it was given them because A lot of them don't see it as an opportunity. Right. You know what I mean? It's like when everyone was going to the movies on movie night, which would be Friday and Saturday, I'd stay behind and I'd write or I'd read. I just felt like I needed to do something that was educating myself. I couldn't, I just didn't, I can watch movies at home. And that's just how I felt.

Why am I going to watch movies here? It doesn't make no sense to me or to watch movies with a bunch of guys and yelling at the screen or whatever else they're doing. So I just didn't, it's the mindset. It's just where you're at, you know. You, you, like you said, the IQ levels, your environment, whatever it was, how you got there, what you're doing while you're there. A lot of these guys, you know, are there from, you know, I had guys there from Guam from Hawaii, and they were iced. And that's a, you know, so who knows how twisted that stuff does to you? I don't know.

I don't know. But I would imagine it probably does a little something to your brain, just like all the other heavy ones do, you know. Oh, yes. It's a game jam. I mean, it'll, it'll, it'll, when these guys get off at, their dopamine levels are so low. And they may, they stay so low that you ever know. You talk to somebody who's been on ice for a long period of time when you talk to them. It takes a year or so before they kind of level up for a year or so.

They're just like, like monotone. Everything is monotone. Right. Doesn't matter. Right. Like zombies. They're like zombies. They have no real emotional emotions.

But after a year or so, usually they can kind of, it'll, start to kind of go back up. That's if they can go that long. This is, like I said, it really matters what, what and where and when. For me, my last, so my, they had a going away party for me. It was like, it was like my birthday party and going away party. My birthday is the first of October. So it was like, I was going in the sixth. So there was a birthday party going away party.

So I had this girl put a box out and she, and collecting money. And so I, like, I think I went in with like $700. Like I collected $700 from everyone collected for. I didn't collect it. She did. Collected it for me. And then all I was doing was, so when I was having the party, I said, I'm not, I'm inviting girls.

So I literally invited nothing but girls. Any guys that went to it, there was all word of mouth. They heard about it. So they would show up. But everyone would call me. So what do you want to bring for your birthday? Bring a bottle. So everyone brought up.

So I had a full, two banquet tables full of alcohol. Everyone brought. So we just had a mass party. going away party for me. And then one of the girls that I met there, the night before I was leaving, she works at an Indian casino as a car dealer. She shows up to my house at 2 in the morning.

She says, I'm going to come to your house at 2 in the morning. I'm leaving at 6 in the morning to turn myself in to 3.5 hour drive or something, whatever. I'd rather be there by 3 o'clock. And I wanted to stop along the way at the coast and, you know, enjoy some of the sites before I go in. waiting for her, I'm like, how am I going to stay up? I go, I'm tired.

Well, the only thing that doesn't, when you test, it doesn't come through is, can I say mushrooms? Yeah, mushrooms. Yeah. And I took those. And I stayed up for her. But that shit messed my stomach up. She showed up to the house.

We're going, you know, this is my last arrive. for I'm going away. So we're messing around. I had to keep leaving. I didn't tell her I was on them. I had to keep leaving the back. I had gas blown at the bathroom coming back. And then when it was time to leave, I was still, like, I was still on a good one.

And we ended leaving. I turned myself in, and I was on a good one. So it was like, you know, people ask, you turned yourself in, you were on mushrooms. So yeah, I was quarter deep. Right. So, you know, that's not a game changer. It's not a brain, but I really did feel after two, a year of a pretrial and then whatever else I was dealing with, I can't remember. But it had been so long as I did anything that I wanted to do something to escape the situation.

But it was a, that was an experience to step into a, to step into, because, you know, when you turn yourself in, you don't go straight to the camp. You got to, I had to turn myself into the medium. So I'm dealing with the guards there. And I'm going in there. As I'm doing with the guards there, they're going to exchange my clothes, they're going to give me my jumpsuit, whatever they're giving me, the shoes. It was greens there. We had greens.

So we looked like Army guys and boots and everything. And I was going through the process over there. They're emptying my pockets out. I remember the guard goes, or sitting there. And I brought with me just to be a smart ass, the monopoly, get out of jail free card. Right. So I mean, this is my sense of humor. I mean, no matter what situation,

I mean, I'm going to try to find something, something funny in the situation. So they're taking all my stuff. I slapped it on the table. Bam, this work here? He looked at it. He started laughing. He goes, yeah, the only person I've ever seen to do that shit here. So now I'm in a good spirit.

Go back into the back and there's a lady, correctional officer and a guy. And they start, oh, so they're reading my thing. Oh, so you're here for a smoke. Ooh, this and that. Oh, was it? White Widow. And they started naming all these things, all blueberrieses. And then I go, you know, and then so then she says, because I'm not,

talking because I'm now I'm tripping right and I'm tripping on two things you know I mean I was like what is they doing you know and then oh you're not going to cooperate we're gonna put you in the shoe you're going into the shoe right when you get here you're going right into the hole when I was like I didn't even know what that was

right so it's this was my first this is the first experience I get right when I'm there and then they put me in a golf cart and they take me over to the to the camp but it was like a you know it was a little bit of mind fuck they do a little bit, which they do a lot of, but, you know, just, I guess I was really, I was tripping. I guess that's the whole point of the thing, but my brain was, my brain was in a different

place. And my brain's always in a different place. Like, as far as the friends I was around, I never thought how they thought. I was always thinking something bigger. You know, they were content. And we were talking about being content with things. Right. People are content with where they're at. I'm never content where I'm at. I know that I'm here for a purpose and

I just I needed I needed a break from my own self because I'm always overthinking. I'm always high strong. So I thought doing that would be something I could escape for a little bit and it was probably a bad move to do. We actually doing it speaking of turn yourself in we interviewed a guy yesterday and who's turning himself in today at 2 o'clock. Oh, wow. Yeah, he's for 54 months at Coleman, right at the street, an hour where it's about an hour away from here.

Depressing. That is depressing. Yeah. How is that place? Oh, when I was there, it was great. My understanding, I'm not great. No, but it was okay. Yeah, I get it, though.

It was doable. But now since I left and COVID hit, everybody, everybody there is like, bro, this is state prison. Like, this is horrible. Like, the, people are just like this, the warden's horrible. The guards are horrible. Like, nobody,

none of these people want to do anything. Things break, they stay broken. They, the food is 10 times as bad. They don't have the, they're not giving them the money. Yeah, the A.C.s have broke, like, they're like, there's no AC. You keep in mind, in Florida,

that's like a must. Like, he's like, can you imagine trying to sleep with no AC in these units? There's no ventilation. That's crazy. So they're, they're, So you've got to think It could be the middle of the night

And there's sweat dripping off of everything And you're dying of sweat And it's 110 degrees in the middle of the night On a mattress Spreading like wildfire But I mean I don't even mean COVID I mean right now I'm saying anything Right yeah matter

It's just horrific When you go to a regular jail It's like 46 degrees in this damn thing And like you were saying The guards are paid so little money now Drugs are everywhere Because the cars are bringing in drugs They're bringing in cell phones.

They say every time they have a sweet, they'll find 100 fucking phones. Right. When I was there, I bet you there weren't four phones on the whole compound. Right. Now it's 100 phones in every single cell. Like, it's just state prison. My quote-unquote cousin, I'm not talking to him right now, but he's in federal right now. He's got a phone driving people crazy with that damn phone.

People I know that need to call and tell me how they go, they're just going to get, he's just going to get another one. Yeah. It's like they don't care. It's like I'm like so lost. I'm like, that would never happen when I was there. That's crazy that they didn't even let them get away with it like that. You know what's so funny about the phones. When I was there, these guys would pay a couple thousand dollars for a phone.

Now there's so many phones. They're paying like four or five hundred bucks for a phone. I mean, it's like like that's because that's how prevalent they are and how many of the guards are bringing them in. Right. So, you know, and the drugs is just everywhere. So when I was when I was there, the guards, would get, you know, your budget.

So they would have to make, so they'd have to spend all their budget. So they'd have to spend all their budget. So they get less next year. Yeah. So they can ask for more for the next year. So the guard I worked with Manfredi, he would tell me, goes, yeah, we'd have like $10,000 left in the books and we'd throw a party. And we do a correctional officer of the year, give them like 10-year acts. And I'm like, what? They go, yeah, that way with the next year, we can ask for more money. So we spent that. We need more money. I was like, wow. It's, it's the crookedness never stops. Like it just,

the corruption's everywhere. You know, we're inmates in here, but yet the corruption is on, is with the system as well. Yeah. Oh, I remember the assistant ward,

there was a hurricane. Now, that some of the roofs had gone bad, right? And it was like leaking inside some of the units when I was there. There would be like all these, you know,

leaks in the ceiling, right? Like the drywall, there's holes and there, there's a bucket sitting here. You guys get the hurricanes out here too? Yeah. Well,

I don't know. passes through passes this part i know i know florida does but i don't know if it goes what parts you know yeah you know anybody's vulnerable in florida yeah if you when you were driving in here if you look yeah there's still houses with tarps on them i think it's like a tonne and i think about that's this is a year later right a year after that hurricane hit last year and these that so most of those roofs were just sheared right off anyway so there was a hurricane when i was there a month or So later, the assistant wardens walking around with her assistant. Because the inmates really are running everything.

And she's walking around and she would go into the lead, what do they call them? The main guy in each unit has a head orally. And she's walking around and she's like, okay, this leak right here. And they're photographing. She's like, that happened during the hurricane. And he's like, that's been here two years. And she goes, no. that happened during the hurricane

because FEMA was paying to replace all the roofs. Right. So she's walking around saying the fence here was damaged. The fence has been, what do you talk? It's been like that for it? No.

The hurricane. So you're actively working with other inmates. Right. Who are defrauding FEMA right now. Because you people spend the money. But FEMA was defrauding everybody.

Right. I understand. But my point is, is like the fraud in the government is. Yeah, I know. It's just rolls downhill. It's like everyone's doing something. They said when there was a new warden that got to Coleman one time,

and he was like, look, the tree line is approaching the fences, right? Like it's getting closer and closer. And he said, we need to get, we need to get somebody out here to trim all of this. And so they call around, they call a couple of tree people, right? Yeah, a thousand dollars a tree. Yeah, and well, first they call up and they go, look, we need to pull these. things back by about 20 feet, you know, can you come out and give an estimate? And one of the guys that they call, he said, absolutely, as soon as you guys cut me that check for $40,000 you've owed

me for five years from the last time I trimmed them back. Wow. And because what can you do? Who do you sue if the federal government doesn't pay you? I mean. And so these guys are like, oh, okay, they hang up the phone and call the next guy. Who do we get next time? We'll get another guy to come out, trim them. You know, to their, to their defense, they can't, they, they don't even have the pool. You know what I mean? Whoever's making the calls, he don't have the pool. He just wants to get the job down. I understand that. But I'm saying like that's how like they're just, it's just, you know, it's just such a broken system. Oh, no, it is. It's 100%. Like it's, it's almost a guarantee

that whoever is running like the cafeteria knows somebody who owns a restaurant. Because I've talked to so many guys that would work there and they said the show, the trucks would show up, they'd unload a whole bunch of stuff. And then there'd be boxes that are steak. And then there'd be boxes that are steaks and lobster or whatever, and they'd pull him off and they'd stick them in the truck of the guy who runs the cafeteria, and he drives to his buddies, to his buddy's restaurant and gives them to him or sells him.

And every once in a while, they'll bust these guys. Right. The guy got, you know, he's been stealing for 10 years. He owns his own restaurant. His family owns a restaurant. He's half the budget of the restaurant is coming from the prison. And it's like, of course you're being fed dog food because he's selling all this, he's ordering.

And people don't really realize how they, like they literally give like the warden a budget he's got like a checkbook of course he can pay whoever he wants right so you think oh no it can't be that easy yeah it's that oh it's that easy he don't care about he don't care about that he don't care about no he's having friends and family set up corporations go he can write a check to a corporation for two thousand 1500 800 900 a thousand you know and then you at the end of the day they're like oh we don't have the money to replace the I know that you guys have three microwaves in the unit, but we don't have the money to replace them.

Well, maybe if you weren't cutting checks to your cousin Louis for deliveries that aren't being made or whatever. Yeah, the system is really broken, for real. There's not enough money for everybody to go around. No. So they have to generate money somehow. So that's what they do. So that's why you pay $2.80 for a Snickers bar.

and $3 for, well, it's more like, more like $15 for a six pack of soda that I could go to grocery store get for 80 cents a piece. You know what I'm saying? Like everything is marked up two, three times. You just named off the price of the candy bar right now. Right. They're like two bucks.

I mean, I remember my mom saying, oh, I remember candy bars were a nickel. I remember when candy bars were a quarter. Yeah. I go, now for $2 for a damn candy bar, that's damn worth it. It's insane. Yeah, the economy is effed up bad.

So what are we doing, man? Are we, what are we wrapping this up? What's going on? I don't know. Thanks for coming by. Oh, this is my book right here. Yeah. Catch 420.

Yeah, by the way, that's not probably going to come in, get into the prison anyway. No. Remember we were talking about that? The hardback. Or even if it wasn't, you're right, because of that. Yeah, yeah. True, true. True story.

True story. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's the truth be told. there it is yeah I try to think how you can you got a yeah and I have my cousin he's a life he's a lifer in there and I can't send it to him yeah just to print an entire copy and paper bind it and send it in yeah I can do that or just mail it in which would be easy because I already have it I have the whole thing already

and yeah you format on my Google box how many pages is it um I don't know how it pages is it 100 200 look at the back page it is 2 something. 196 or something? Okay, so roughly 200 pages. Yeah. You print that out front and back on your computer and that's 100 pages and you mail it to him. Yeah.

I'll definitely got to do that. He's butt hurt of me. He's butt hurt at me anyways. He wants to download these apps and I can send them pictures. So I go download the apps and then it starts, and then the thing comes wrong saying, people have been, this has been, what do they say, compromise? and people's information has been stolen.

Yeah, I'm probably not going to do this one. And my sister's like, it's just your name and their phone number. I said, you know, how are they getting, how is it compromising? How are they taking all your information? That makes no sense to me. I don't know. Hey, you guys, I appreciate you watching. Do me a favor.

Hit the subscribe button at the bell so get notified of videos just like this. Also, we are going to be putting all the links to catch 420. We'll put the links in the description box so you can click on it. It's on Kindle, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, so you can click on the link and go there and buy a copy. Once again, I appreciate you guys watching the video. Please share it. Also, please consider joining our Patreon. It's $10 a month, and it really does help Colby and I make these videos.

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