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Is There More We Could Do? · Red Onion Randy - Life in a Supermax Prison

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You have to fight and fight and fight and fight
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to overcome. I can do something with my life.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Hey, everybody. Red Onion Randy again. You know, I've been
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: thinking a lot lately. I'm up for a pardon. You know,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: so far it seems to be going okay. You know,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: I'm really thinking a lot about going home. Thinking a
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: lot about my journey. Thinking a lot about, you know,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: what it was like for me coming into prison. You know,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: looking back with actual perspective. You know, thinking about, you know,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: how I felt. Why I did the things I did.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Why I reacted the way I did. You know, the
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: choices that I made, the things that I thought were important.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, I really thought image was important
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: back then. You know, I had to have certain things.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: I had to wear certain clothes. You know, state stuff
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: wasn't good enough for me. You know, I wanted Levi's.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: I wanted Nike shoes or Reebok shoes. I didn't want
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to wear a pair of state boots. I spent a
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: lot of time thinking about, you know, the fights. I've
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: spent a lot of time thinking about, you know, kicking
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: up in, you know, someone's cell. You know, taking something
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: that didn't belong to me. Even though, you know, you know,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I've told the one story, you know, about a dude
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: owed me, Jimmy, and Keith money for some tattoo work
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: and everything. So, you know, but at the end of
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: the day, Did it really belong to me? Did I
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: have that right to go terrorize another man over some commissary?
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: You know? And the thing is, for the life of me,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I can't even remember. I cannot remember how much money
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: he owed me. I can't think of a single item
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: That was in that bag. I mean I could guess.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: You know it's probably some soup. Some coffee. Maybe some
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: cheese or something. I don't know. I genuinely. Have no clue.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: And you know what. That cat probably doesn't either. He
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: probably doesn't remember a single thing. About that incident. Except.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: what I put him through. You know, and this wasn't
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: a weak guy. This wasn't some nerd. This wasn't some pussy.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: You know, he was not a weak guy. Matter of fact,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: he actually had more size than I did. But as
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: any true fighter will tell you, this shit on the
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: outside is irrelevant. It's the stuff on the inside that counts.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: And I terrorized another man because he owed a little
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: bit of money, man. Like, bro, we could have let
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: that shit slide. We should have. Looking back at it now,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: I didn't think, I didn't realize, like, you know, what
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: if this cat would have been a part of a game?
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: And I mean, look, I'm just going to be honest.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: At that time, I would not have cared. You know,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: I would have went to war against every last one
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: of them. Because... I was stupid. It's not that I
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: was fearless. It's not that I was brave or courageous
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: or I was just tougher than somebody or.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: No.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: No. I did all those things because I was scared.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: I showed up and I showed out because I was scared.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I was. I didn't realize it back then. Quite frankly,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I wasn't smart enough to realize it back then. The
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: only thing I was smart enough to know was just
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: how angry I was all the time about everything. So, yeah,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't have cared if the man was involved in
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: a gang. You know, I wouldn't have cared if, you know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: he would have went and told his homeboys. And next
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: thing you know, 6.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: 7, 10, 15, 30, of them would have pulled up
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: on us on the yard. I would have just pulled
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: my knife and stood there like, what?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: What the fuck are you bitches going to do? I
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: had heart. I had stupid heart. But I'm looking back
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: at incidences like this, and there were so many, so
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: many more. People, there is so much stuff that I
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: have never told, that I've never talked about. Because one,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: it's just not who I am anymore. I don't want
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: to be that guy. I never was that guy. I
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: was pretending. And that is a problem that I have
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: noticed in the Virginia Department of Corrections on both sides
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  Speaker 2: of the fence. Not just inmates. Not just gang members.
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  Speaker 2: Not just tough guys. Not just fighters. Not just pussies.
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  Speaker 2: Not just whatever. But staff, wardens, majors, captains, lieutenants, COs,
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  Speaker 2: support personnel, it doesn't matter. Pretending. Pretending. We're pretending like
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: we're happy. We're pretending like we know what we're doing.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: We're pretending like... How do I want to say this?
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  Speaker 2: We're pretending like what we do doesn't matter to the future.
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  Speaker 2: We pretend... Like what we do is not guided and
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: influenced by our past. And I've really been thinking a
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: lot about that. How many choices are you yourself right
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: now making? Especially the choices that are bad. Especially the
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: choices that could have, you know, a bad outcome, a
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  Speaker 2: difficult outcome in your life. Stop for a moment. Stop
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: for a moment and think. What is influencing me? What
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: is it in my past that is making me think
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: this is a good idea? What am I doing? What
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: am I doing in this moment? Is this something that
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I really want to do? Is this something that I
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: need to do? And if something that I I really
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: want to ask some of these lawmakers, some of these
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: people that are working in the headquarters building in Richmond.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: We're not rehabilitating prisoners. Not in Virginia. You got some
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: cats that are doing it on their own. But those
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: are just individuals. I look around this prison. This is
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: the incentive prison. I'm in Buckingham Correctional Center right now.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: In Dilwyn, Virginia. Matter of fact, the date is October 28th.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: It's 149 in the afternoon. Wednesday. Wednesday. And I look
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: around this prison, this incentivized prison, guys who are basically
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're behaving themselves.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: They're not catching charges. They're not doing dumb stuff. They're
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: doing so bad. I don't see anything in here making
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: much difference. Really. You got a few cats that are trying.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: You know, they're doing what they can. We'll see if
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: the department will let them You know? I talked about Coach.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: You know, and his Coaching for Life program that he's got.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: You know, go listen to the Harvey Grant comes to
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: prison or goes to prison. I mean, Harvey Grant goes
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: to prison episode. There's a few things. There's a few things.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: But all I'm seeing for the most part Guys are
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: just sitting on their asses watching television all day. Some
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: of them get up, go outside, walk around, and talk
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: about the television they watched before coming back in and
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: hopefully taking a shower and then laying back in the
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: bed and watching television so the next time they get
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: up and leave the cell, they can find somebody to
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: talk about more television. Talk about football. Basketball. The World Series. Or,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: hey man, did you see the ass on that chick
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: on BET last night? Virginia is warehousing inmates. They're not
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: building any kind of work ethic whatsoever. They're conditioning guys
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to lay on their ass and watch television all day long.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: I've talked about this in an earlier episode. I don't
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: remember what the name of it was or anything like that,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: but there are things I would do. I wish to
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  Speaker 2: God I could get an hour of Governor Abigail Spanberger's time,
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  Speaker 2: and whoever is running the Democrats in Virginia, and whoever
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: is running the Republicans in Virginia, if I could just
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: sit in front of those three individuals for one hour,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: and if they would actually listen and hear what I
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: had to say, Hoss, we could fix so much stuff
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: in this state. Why? Why? Why can't the politicians, why
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: can't the leaders in Virginia go to companies and say, hey, look,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: we've got land, we've got workforce. You know, let's partner.
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  Speaker 2: Let's work together. We will rent you the land for
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: a dollar a year. Y'all buy the building materials. We
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: will provide inmates to help y'all build. So you don't
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  Speaker 2: have to hire a private contractor who's going to charge
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: you millions because you're a name-brand company. You know, you
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: can build this using inmate labor. Yes, the inmates are
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: going to have to be paid, but again... $ 6 an hour.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: $ 6 an hour. And most inmate jobs in Virginia are $ 0. 35
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  Speaker 2: or $ 0. 45. They just opened up a few jobs that
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  Speaker 2: pay $ 1 an hour, but those are for your PRSs,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: which is just, you know, a peer recovery specialist. These
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: are guys who've taken some mental health classes and programs
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  Speaker 2: and whatnot and got certified and to help other inmates and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, to teach some of these programs like anger
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  Speaker 2: management and thanking for change and so on and so forth. Now,
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  Speaker 2: so for guys to make $ 6 an hour in here
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: would be huge, even though technically speaking they're not going
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  Speaker 2: to get $ 6 an hour because, again, $ 2 of that
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  Speaker 2: and the company, whoever company they're partnering with per prison,
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  Speaker 2: is the one who are paying these inmates' salaries. So
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  Speaker 2: it's not coming from the Department of Corrections. It's not
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  Speaker 2: coming from the prison budget and so on and so forth.
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  Speaker 2: And by doing this, it's actually adding money to the
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  Speaker 2: budget because you're saving what you would have to pay
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: these inmates. On top of that, these inmates are actually
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: paying you back $ 2. $ 2 from your six, from every
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  Speaker 2: paycheck you.
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  Speaker 1: Get, $ 2.
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  Speaker 2: From every $ 6 per hour goes to Virginia. You've got
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: to pay taxes on the street. If you work in
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: here for these companies, you're paying taxes on it. That
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: way the Department of Corrections can somewhat, somewhat become a
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: little more self-sufficient. So it's not taking all this money
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  Speaker 2: The overwhelming majority, from my understanding, the overwhelming majority of
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  Speaker 2: the yearly fiscal budget for Virginia goes to the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Corrections. We could cut that down by a significant
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  Speaker 2: amount by utilizing and implementing my plan. It rehabilitates inmates.
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  Speaker 2: It gets them conditioned to getting their ass up in
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  Speaker 2: the morning and going to work. And working eight hours
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  Speaker 2: a day. Five days a week. Instead of laying on
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  Speaker 2: their ass, watching television, playing video games, beating their dick. Like,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: get them used to working. What do you think they're
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: going to do after 20-some years in prison? of just
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: sitting around doing nothing when they get home. You really
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: think the first thing they're going to do is go
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: get a job where they've got to bust their ass? No,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: they're lazy. They've been trained and conditioned to be fucking lazy.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: That's the problem with warehousing inmates instead of rehabilitating inmates. But, okay.
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  Speaker 2: $ 2 goes to the state. It's saving them money. It's
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: saving them quite a money, and it's adding money. It's
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: adding free money to the state. Okay. $ 2 goes to
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: victim funds here in the state of Virginia so the
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: victims' families can get a little bit of help. I'm
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: not entirely sure what all these victim funds and charities do.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I assume that, you know, it kind of helps with
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: maybe some bills. It kind of helps with, like, you know,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: children's colleges, educational stuff, you know, textbooks, so on and
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: so forth. Like, man, we can start giving back. You know,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: believe it or not, some of us in here actually
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: feel bad about this shit we did. Yeah, not everybody.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: You know, not everybody has grown up yet. Unfortunately, some
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: are never going to grow up. You got that on
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: the street too. It's no different. It's just a little
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: bit more condensed in here than it is out there.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a little easier to see in here
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: than it is out there. And then, your remaining $ 2
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: from your $ 6 an hour, $ 1 goes into your spend
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: account so you, you know, for commissary, hygiene, you know,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: some new shoes, phone, Whatever. You know. Art supplies. Whatever
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: the case may be. But one dollar goes into your
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: savings and you do not get that money until you
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: get released from prison. When you get released from prison,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: you'll get that money then and whatever money you happen
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: to have remaining on your books and your spend account.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: You just... You put money in these guys' pockets, and
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: let's face it, you do 10 years, and you're working
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: 40 hours a week every single week, putting a dollar.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: You're going to have several thousand dollars to go home with.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: That's money to buy clothes. That's money to rent. Not
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: everything is going to be burdening your family with getting
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: you back on your feet. You'll have money to do
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: that yourself. You won't won't feel the overwhelming need to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: go back to selling drugs because you need to get
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: certain things. You'll have plenty of money saved up. There's
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: so many things, so many different things that the Virginia
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Department of Corrections could do that other states could do.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: And these businesses, instead of having to constantly build their
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: factories overseas and then pay for all the shipping costs
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff to bring it back over here
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: to the states, you could partner with Department of Corrections
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: across the U.S., Canada, hell, even other countries could do this.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to just be a Virginia thing. It
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: doesn't have to just be an American thing. You train
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: the guys in here to work. You develop a work
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: ethic in them. So when they go home, they're used
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: to working. They're used to having some money in their pockets.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: On top of that, you have them doing programs. You know,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: you have them thinking about things. You know, the overwhelming
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: majority of people, every single prisoner in prison, except for
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: those who are legitimately innocent, everyone has a thinking problem.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Because we would not have come to prison if we
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: could think about If we actually knew how to think
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: before we did what we did, there's no way on
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: God's green earth we would have done this we did.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: If we could have thought for ourselves. Teach guys how
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: to think for themselves. Like that right there, it... That's
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: the one thing people on the street have over us.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: You know how to think for yourself. You know how
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: to sit there and be like, you know what, this
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: ain't going to end good. You know, I can't give
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: in to this emotion or this impulse. You know, those
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: things make a huge difference. You know, teach guys how
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: to control their emotions. Teach guys how to recognize their emotions.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: And actually control them. And I've taken the anger programs
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: in here. I've taken all these different other programs and
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: this and that. And quite frankly, I'm not impressed with
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: any of them. Most of them are just... Just some
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: kindergarten bullshit. You know, they're just... They're not effective. They
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: don't reach us. They don't do anything. Yeah. Yeah. These
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: are things that can make an actual difference. I know,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I've been doing this for 35 years. Juvenile and adult,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I'm about to be 48. All I know is prison.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: All I know is prison. I'm getting ready to turn
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: 48 here in December. And I have spent every year
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: of my life in prison behind bars, incarcerated, with the
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: exception of 11 years. I've spent 11 years on the streets.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: I've spent 11 years in the real world. This is
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: what I know. Prison is what I know. Inmates are
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: what I know. I know this inside and out. I
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: know what works. I know what doesn't. Something to think about.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: That's all I got. Take care. Stay safe out there.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Tune back in next week.