location, the alameda county jail, which primarily serves the city of oakland, california, could easily be mistaken for a prison. and with 3,000 inmates, it s one of the biggest jails in the west. that translates into a lot of stories for our five-person production team to cover. finding them involves meeting as many inmates as possible. everybody is cool with being on? you guys just kind of, just sitting here, just like this. just like this, at the window. at the window? yes. taking my shirt off. wherever you went, you d meet one person that was completely different than the next. oftentimes, the deputies will tell us about certain inmates, and one inmate that was brought up was gabriel taylor. this is what we got right here, y all. we got 14 cells of depression, exactly. gabriel taylor had been charged with burglary and vehicle theft, to which he had pled not guilty. he was housed in the protective
ezekiel. gabriel knew he was struggling. gabriel was honest saying he wasn t sure how he was going to do. but ezekiel seemed on a very clear path of having a better life. and this piece goes like this, right? yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah, yeah. becoming a father was a big deal to him. he already had a solid job. he knew he wanted to pursue education. and he also mentioned that, you know, he was done with robbing drug dealers and had been for a while. he didn t want to touch a gun again. i can tell you what i want to do. i can t say what s going to happen. because i can get released from here and get hit by a car, you never know. but my intentions, i m not robbing nobody no more. i ain t touched a gun in years. and i won t touch a gun. know what i mean? i don t got to look over my shoulder no more. all that [ bleep ] is done and over with. i don t got to worry with the street life. the street life is the farthest
it ain t got to be pretty, long as it go in, right? it ain t got to be pretty. see what you got? don t want it? can t get hurt on the job? ezekiel said he had traded in a career of robbing drug dealers for a job as a roofer. it s hard. i make good money working, though. i can make pretty good money. better than robbing drug dealers? it s not as fast or as easy, but at the end of the day when you get home, when you take your boots off and you just feel like you accomplished something. that s how you got to do. with his first child due to be born shortly after his release, ezekiel said he had a new motivation to do well. my thing was i never had nothing to lose. truthfully, that s always been my opinion. but now, a child changes the game. i mean, i have something to lose. but as ezekiel s release date approached, gabriel feared for his brother. he was afraid their former gang affiliations could bring harm to
so what can i focus on? my child. check. got it. and down goes frazier. got it. you know what it was? the glare from the camera got in my eye. this [ bleep ] happens, right? know what i m saying? we were interviewing both brothers at the same time, and by this point, i knew them pretty well. we d spent a lot of time with them. and i thought they both had a lot of potential. and they both expressed the desire to change when they got out of this latest jail stint. so i asked them, where do you guys see yourselves in five years? and gabriel expressed that he wanted to move to louisiana, so he could get a fresh start. right now, i ve got to take a break for me. i ve got to go out there and work on my character, because i m not going to succeed out there. i m just too weak. i done came in here and wanted to change so much, but as soon as i get out, to put the plans in motion is hardest.
cutting their throat, you keep stopping them but he keeps cut himself, it s the same thing watching me, ezekiel watching me get high. and i ve watched him sitting there crying, and i ll be like, why the [ bleep ] you crying, bro. and he s like, look at you. all right, i need you to clap your hands. up high. oh, okay, that s how you get to levels and all of that? got it. during the course of ezekiel s interview, i was asking standard questions about marriage, children, that sort of thing, and he kind of sadly said, you know, i ve been locked up so much, i ve never had the chance to have children. but then he stopped himself and said, but, actually, that s changing. and actually right now, i do, i got one in the works. i told you before i told my brother. i m telling america before i m telling gabriel. what? that i m about to have a kid and my kid is due in june. yeah, june. yeah. world series of chess. it s going on. i had very high hopes for ezekiel. gabriel knew he was