The first day in jail is always a mystery…Where will I go? Who’s gonna be there? Are we chillin’ or is it drama? These are all good questions…
There are a lot of different types of housing: dorms, cells, barracks~ all of these have pros and cons….The dorms and barracks are all the same, busy and loud…About 60 to 200 people pretty much walking around freely, but there’s no privacy…On the flip side, the cells are quiet, most of the time too quiet…The good thing is you don’t have to worry about getting killed in your sleep, unless of course your celly does it…it happens…

The dorms are filled with mostly petty crimes, drug offenders etc…But that doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous. When it goes down, it goes down hard, but I’ve done 90%of my time in cells because of violent crime history and gang affiliation…

In Orange County, the cell facility is divided into sectors, each sector has 16 cells, with 2 inmates in each cell…The 16 cells are divided into 4 groups…the 4 groups are let out seperately once a day for “program.” “Program” is the dayroom which has phones, a shower, and a TV…The collect calls cost an arm and both legs, the TV is old and shitty, and the showers are worm infested. Take your pick. You’re supposed to get 2 hours a day minimum by law, but you’re lucky to see an hour…Furthermore, the program can get shut off for the stupidest reasons. Fights, breathing the wrong way, or because the Correctional Officer’s (C.O.’s), or “sir”, as they like to be called, are busy scratching their asses and they forget to let you out….”STOP SCRATCHING YOUR ASS AND TURN ON THE FUCKING TV” is a popular request in the cell facility…

The system works to keep the violence to a minimum. You can live 5 feet from your worst enemy, looking at him every day, and it wouldn’t matter if he’s not in your group. You will never have physical contact with him. You can look at him and talk shit, but that’s about it. You can have two morons talking shit for months straight in the cells sometimes. If you ask me, it’s a waste of breath, but that’s just me. It’s a strange world…

This time around, however, none of this shit is going to matter, because I’m going to ’the hole’…

-IZ
www.real66.com

Let me take a moment to clear some things up for those reading this blog…The intent of this blog is mainly to satisfy your curiosities about jail life and also to keep me from being bored to death in here…There is, however coincidentally, another by-product which arises out of my ranting which is far more important than just entertainment or simply killing time. This blog sheds light, albeit accidentally, on issues concerning the public jail system including but not limited to: overcrowding, lack of funding for programs as well as food and the inhumane / unlawful treatment of inmates…

Over the course of my first few days in jail, I’ve seen multiple instances of police brutality which were completly un-called for, nor were they investigated….I’ve seen inmates verbally abused and kicked around like dogs amidst racial slurs and disparaging comments. These issues must be addressed…

Decades ago in Orange County Main Jail, the staff began to permanently house inmates in a section of the facility called the IRC…The purpose of the IRC was to hold incoming and outgoing inmates until they had been classified and were ready to be moved into regular housing or be released. The IRC is a 22 hour lockdown facility which was never inteded to house inmates for an extended period of time. I once did 15 months straight in the IRC. The holding tanks then took the place of the IRC even though they are not supplied with any hygiene items such as soap or toothpaste. Requests for toilet paper are often ignored for hours by the Correctional Officers…This is not what the holding tanks were inteded for, the IRC was. Hence the acronym: IRC (INTAKE / RELEASE CENTER…)

In all fairness, I must concede that there are still good cops (I say that with extreme discretion). They do exist and it is unfair that the ones who serve with honesty and integrity should have their images tarnished by those who choose to abuse the power given to them BY THE PEOPLE. Some take their jobs much too seriously, and others dont take their vows of service seriously enough. It is a tragedy that in my personal observations, I see a tendancy towards vice and corruption among C.O.’s compared to a dwindlng number of those who do their jobs professionally without prejudice.

In short, jail SUX! To any students reading this: don’t come to jail because it is equivalent to the longest detention you will ever serve…I was probably just as bored writing about the loop as you were reading about it. Imagine living through it…THE LIFE OF A “G”, GLAMOUR AND FAME RIGHT!? Think twice youngstars…

-IZ

5:00AM – Finally! Food! I’ve never been so glad to see a nasty ass sack lunch in my life! Dry ass carrots grown at a prison farm by other inmates who dont give a fuck if u think the carrots are dry, stale ass bread that also serves as a bludgeon, and of course, “mystery meat”~ Anyone who’s ever been incarcerated knows exactly what I’m talking about. It tastes like ass, soybeans, and leather boot…straight nasty! But hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do~

9:30AM – This is where it gets ridiculous, after waiting all this time with no soap, no toothbrush, barely any sleep or food, guess what? We change back into our street clothes and get transferred to another jail…I’ve been through this before and at this point, all I can do is laugh at the situation. You don’t like it? Don’t get locked up right?…

5:00PM – Finally, the wait is over. After 15 hours in a concrete room, being handcuffed to a NATIVE-AMERICAN guy with stank-ass breath named JARRET KNIFECHIEF (NO B*LLSH!T) on a county bus, being re-booked for another 7 hours at a different jail, you get a mattress and a bunk…The mattress is only an inch and a half thick but hey…anything is better than cold-ass concrete~NAW MEAN?!

(*NOTE! All times are approximate, there are no visible clocks at any point during “the loop”)

—> NEXT BLOG – The County Lockup: Dicks and Politics

First letter and intro:

To all my peeps on the streets:

Much luv and respect….Due to unfortunate events, and a foul-ass b*tch named Priscilla Suzuki-Johnson (my P.O.), I will be incarcerated for an unspecified amount of time. I was taken into custody 1 week before Christmas, ain’t that some shiet!? Some foul sh*t from a foul b*tch..

Anyways, I just want to reassure everyone that I am just as passionate, if not more passionate about my music despite this F*CKED UP SITUATION! I got plans to come back 10x stronger, and 10x harder, believe it!!!!

Until my release,however, I will be keeping a blog which will be hosted and updated frequently by kali kaliente… These blogs will give an in-depth description of the daily life of an inmate, brought to you live and direct from someone actually living it as you’re reading it… As I’m writing this, I’m steadily examining 4 brick walls, a steel door, and my sanity. But that’s for a later date.

So keep posted and stay swingin! Sincere thanks to all of my supporters and growing family. One love.
I’LL BE BACK MUTHAF*CKAS!!!!

-IZ
(First Entry: The Loop (booking process) coming soon Jan 18 on izreal66.blogspot.com…hollaz

Click the picture for more…

-IZ
PS… There will be a “Never Fall 2010″ giveaway contest with dope prizes (CDs, calendars, shoes, designer jeans etc.) Stay tuned on twitter.com/66iz for details on how to win!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.