or staff, they re sent to the security housing unit or shu, in what is essentially a prison within a prison. inmates like jeremy towner spend the majority of their time in an 8 by 12 cell. the first words i ever heard from another inmate was welcome to hell. it was a zoo for men. our producers were granted an interview with jeremy under strict supervision of the officers because of his violent history. ten days was our orientation to stay in the cell, i guess. then after the ten days were up we were allowed to go to yard. we met some of the other inmates and they told us that there is a structure to live in, you know. whites live with white, hang out with whites on the yard. you don t deal with any other race. the fact we were lifers, we were probably going to have to stab people. first thing that got into my
a sewing needle is made out of stainless steel. and stainless steel will cut this metal that they use. so over a period of time, you can shape a knife out of your toilet as long as the cops don t find the pattern cut in your toilet. there s many things you can do to make weapons back here. it s not that hard. usually in high desert we got them out when we got haircuts. because they haircut they pull us out of the cell and take us to the concrete yard to cut hair. that s when we would drop the knife off. and when they came to search for us for yard, they didn t find anything. we went out to yard and found the knife that we already stashed previously, and that s how we got it out. some inmates choose to do it a little immorally. they put it in places where the sun don t shine, and they carry it out to yard. that s how they get their knives out. i wasn t about to do that. jeremy s weapon smuggling days may be over now that he s locked up in the shu. but the officers in corcoran deal wit
happened. and he didn t say anything. just like a normal occurrence. you know, [ bleep ] happens. jeremy s confession to his friend is what led to his arrest weeks later when 48 ran into trouble of his own. he testified to get out of a drug warrant in oklahoma city. he turned himself in to testify against us because i told him what happened that night. that s how i got caught, just like that, you know? every attorney said i had no chance. they postponed my sentencing until after i was 18. and county jail was where i started learning about prison. what was to come, you know. all the stabbings and the fights and the riots. the drugs. everything that was going to come my way. being isolated in a single cell has prevented jeremy from further violence.
it being just one on one, more like it was just a disagreement between those two. now the yard resumes program, and we ll just go back in the unit. meanwhile back in the security housing unit, inmate jeremy towner is nearing the end of his time in solitary confinement, and while he s scheduled to return to the general population, jeremy has requested placement in sny for fear of prison politics. if i go to sny, if i go back to the regular mainline, you know, daisies are going to be growing out of the ground real soon. they ve got my name on a little tiny list.
i lost all the liquor i drank, all the food i ate. i told 48 everything that happened. and he didn t say anything. just like a normal occurrence. you know, [ bleep ] happens. jeremy s confession to his friend is what led to his arrest weeks later when 48 ran into trouble of his own. he testified to get out of a drug warrant in oklahoma city. he turned himself in to testify against us because i told him what happened that night. that s how i got caught, just like that, you know? every attorney said i had no chance. they postponed my sentencing until after i was 18. and county jail was where i started learning about prison. what was to come, you know. all the stabbings and the fights and the riots. the drugs. everything that was going to come my way.