for some inmates sny is freedom. the iyp is a small taste of what s to come. after over a decade in the shu, inmate angel chaves looks forward to a more interactive prison program. i feel like i got let down by the familia. the situation was, i was doing time for the familia. i ve asked for assistance. i m not going to specify what assistance. i asked for assistance to handle business for me because i was in the business for them. sure. and they never came through although they said they would. at that point, i felt like, what s the point of this? since you ve entered the debriefing process, up until now you re getting ready to get endorsed to an sny, how has it been for your phase one, phase two? what have you been feeling? i feel like the world s been lifted off my shoulders. i had so much responsibility. i was always concerned about everybody else and what i had to
my head that, third, but unthinkable, you know, come this way as far as do the debriefing process. go out on program. and you feel comfortable with that decision? it s funny, i honestly i honestly believed that because the decision itself tore me up, it was tearing me up, and the few days that it was actually in my head and as i was writing the kite to the floor officer, it was tearing me up. i ve been in some straight wars. i ve been hit. i ve been shot. i ve been ran over, crowbarred. and i ve done the exact same damage. and i can honestly say that that was the roughest thing i ever had to do. that was my life, my whole lifestyle. giving that up that s what that was on that piece of paper. throwing that away was crushing me. once they walked me off that
innocent people getting hurt. and seeing too many people doing things they didn t want to do, being forced to do. it s like the higher you go up, the more you see. the debrief process takes months, sometimes even years. because the igi must verify the truth of an inmate s autobiography. for myself, back in 2001, when i was in county jail, they ordered me to hit my own uncle because he was a dropout. and then after that, that s when i got my little points, what they call points. they train us to do all that. how were you trained? you got different educations. you got your street education, your squad leaders, which they
i told her, be strong, and you ll get through this. it s a learning experience. i am being strong and trying to make the best out of the situation. she shot me a little glossy, i cuddle with it at night. no, i m just kidding. once an inmate is validated as a gang member in corcoran, they have a choice, stay in the gang or drop out and debrief. our officers were allowed to follow officer garcia into the debrief process. there s one building set aside for inmates who are
requesting protective custody. the inmate has to notify us, he has to request to be placed in protective custody. from that point we ask him to go ahead and draw up or write his autobiography, detailing his involvement with the gangs from the street to the county jails to the prisons, and back out to the street. anything he s been involved in, anything he s witnessed. everything. right now there s quite a few inmates that are dropping out. you know, they re realizing there s no future in these gangs. because gang dropouts become immediate targets to the former gang, the debrief process must occur in secret. usually an inmate will pass a kite to the officers who will remove the inmate from their cell under the guise of something like a medical checkup. you want to disassociate yourself to be honest, i got tired of all the corruption. i seen a lot of bad calls and