Jess Delgado and AJ Rafael – Snow Patrol “Chasing Cars” cover

The County Lockup: Dicks and Politics

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

PART II

Talls also does something during his tracks, and does it quite well, that is a trait of many of my favorite emcees’, in which he takes a topic like cereal or TV (Continental Breakfast or The Charlie Sheen Theme respectively) and uses characteristics of these subjects to tell a story.  Listening to him rap and actually make sense about the early 90’s TV show “Small Wonder” and Soleil Moon Frye of Punkie Brewster is nothing short of a “small wonder” (get it?..lame).  Continental Breakfast’s are both delicious and usually consist of a wide range of products.  In easily my favorite song on the CD, (and quite possibly one of my favorite songs about food period), Talls and lyrical companion, emcee Parker Edison, do exactly that- offer a delicious song while vividly tackling an assortment of breakfast topics. They rip through hooks about Rice Krispies, Back to the Future toys, and how much of an ass hole Captain Crunch really is.  When they perform this song live- they make it even more exciting by throwing small boxes of breakfast cereal at the crowd (ingenious!).  So when I had a bit of time to sit down with both of the emcees, it was no surprise that our discussions ultimately led to why 2% milk doesn’t ever hold a fight to whole milk.

(INTERVIEW TOMORROW)

Feel the Crash – Empire State of Mind x Party in the USA (Jay-Z & Miley Cyrus Drum Cover)

Part 1 in a 3 part series about San Diego Based Alternative Hip Hop group- The Bully Blinders

CITY OF DIRT is exactly how it sounds. It’s an album that’s a bit rough around the edges. It’s not very polished- and has a dirty kind of texture to the soul/horn samples and vocals that produce the tracks. The mixing isn’t completely done well (at times it’s even difficult to hear what Emcee Mike Talls is actually saying) and the imagery he uses is dark and grimy. However, it is all of these characteristics that make CITY OF DIRT and the BULLY BLINDERS (Talls and producer/bassist Chad Tuthill) such a memorable experience.  Unpolished and gritty, Talls weaves lively stories together, each with their own feeling and message.  Usually when I listen through an LP, most of the tracks just meld together leaving nothing that truly stands out. However each track on CITY OF DIRT has something that remains with the listener.  Although he tackles topics that are usual food for thought for any underground emcee (life on the road, the education system, striving to get by), he does so in a way that is both unique to his style and very lyrically exciting.

(more tomorrow)

VH1 returns to the scene of some of pop-culture’s and music’s most shocking deaths with “Famous Crime Scene.” The series premieres with VH1 investigating the murder of Tupac Shakur on Friday, February 12 at 9/8C PM.

While accounts tell only part of the story, VH1 has rounded up the witnesses and investigators who were there to give viewers the intimate details: from the initial 911 call to the investigators’ final determination to help piece together what really happened.

Using expert interviews and true-to-life reenactments, as well as advanced computer graphics, viewers will witness full recreations of these historic events. They’ll tour virtual crime scenes searching for clues and learn the science behind the investigators’ findings: ballistics, fingerprints, DNA evidence, toxicology, profiling and more.

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/famous_crime_scene/series_about.jhtml

“the loop” part 2
2:30AM – I wake up after less than an hour of sleep to the sound of another guy screaming… I don’t give a sh*t what anybody says or how cold hearted you claim to be, but hearing a fully grown man scream because he’s in pain is disturbing…It doesn’t seem to be bothering the deputies though…O Shiet! WHADDAYAKNOW? It’s the same guy again, this is definitely not his day…The guys next to me are debating odds on whether or not he’s going to get “mashed on” again. I say it’s about 50/50~ Once they’ve ‘put hands’ on you, you’ve already attracted too much attention and thats the last thing you want in jail: to be targeted by the cops as well as other inmates. Its definitely not a good look. (A quick side note: At this point I haven’t seen food in almost 24 hours. Time seems to stand still when you’re hungry…)

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”)

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