and here he was incarcerated in a pretty hard core prison, and i could see he hadn t come to terms with the fact he was once a law enforcement agent and now he was an inmate. he still obviously struggled with that fact. he was lucky he was put in a protective custody unit, otherwise he would be in grave danger. i wouldn t probably last five minutes on the main line. why? they don t like cops. you know. or ex-cops. tiano says if nothing else his experience here has helped him see the people he used to arrest in a new light. i ve been dealing with these people for many, many years. and you know, there s a lot of them that aren t, i mean, you know, there s a perception, unfortunately, by the majority of our society that everybody is in prison is really a bad person.
i had an idea that i would never end up in prison, that i was somehow exempt. i m not saying i was an exemplary citizen but i had no idea that it could get this bad. that s what i [ whistle ] in the middle of interviewing stefan the alarm went off. and the protocol at the prison is, all inmates have to get down on their stomachs and all staff and other personnel remain standing. false alarm! it was a little sad, actually watching stefan, on the ground. because we were in the midst of having this great conversation almost, and he started to think of himself i think as a regular guy back out on the street, and suddenly it was very clear no, he s an inmate and he has to get down on the ground like all of
sounds like my ride s ready. don t get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. coming to prison can be culture shock for almost anyone. when we met armand at california state prison corcoran, he was recovering from a shoulder surgery. but that didn t help ease the pain of being here after a 26-year career in law enforcement. worked in the patrol division, narcotics bureau, detective bureau. personnel training in the jails and then i was promoted to lieutenant in 1984. after retiring, he and a group of friends started a charitable foundation. they raised over $3 million in donations.
they hit me with baby oil and hair grease, and i didn t see the person who did it because there was too many, there was a lot of prisoners out so i didn t see who it was. i m not the type that would tattle tale on somebody anyway. he acknowledged what might be his biggest problem in prison. one of the problems and issues i had was talking a lot, excessive talking without you know, going on and on a lot of times. not only was witlow a sex offender, he was a sex offender that constantly talked about his crime and even his current behavior which was disturbing. he talked about to anybody who would listen. and this provoked the other inmates in effect, to attack him. what did you feel? i know it s a stupid question but what do you remember feeling? it was very painful. a lot of pain but nothing like the pain i went through for a false charge for why i m in here for the last 13 years. whitlou was insisting that he was not a rapist, just an
clothes, you make the ritual of having coffee, just like you did out there, you know. you don t have the option to go to starbucks. you get folgers out of the canteen and make what you can make. i think one of the interesting things that i kind of woke up to was that that s what life is here or elsewhere. so you better get something out of it. so if i can actually enjoy making coffee here in corcoran surrounded by a lot of loud people, and a lot of other discomforts, then i m going to come out a lot better for it when i get out there. if i m going to live through this and i have a son so i better live through this, i ve got to do something, no matter how difficult it is, you reach down and you find mettle that you didn t know you had. that s what prison is about really is finding strength that you never thought you had. coming up