My first of many, many days behind bars…

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

Philip Park of Seriously

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

The good folks behind Kollaboration released a couple new promo videos for their Kollaboration 10 show!

Check them out and mark your calendars for Kollaboration’s TENTH SHOW on March 6, 2010!! You don’t want to miss this awesomely epic show.

Click the links on the sidebar to see the other great videos!

TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW! And stay tuned for special guest performers and attendees!

Please visit Kollaboration for more details.

It’s all about EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ENTERTAINMENT.

Nicholi – Wasting Time (Four Year Strong cover)

Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Vinnie Caruana (I Am The Avalanche), JR Wasilewski (Less Than Jake), Anthony Raneri (Bayside) are all IN THE VIDEO!!!

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)