happened. melvin gathers, who is awaiting trial for alleged armed robberies is, also from john s island. what s up? you doing all right? i ve known his family for some time because we ve been in school together from middle school through high school. by knowing his family, it helped in being able to talk and engage in conversation. sergeant kitchings hopes that officer greene s relationship with gathers will provide insight into gathers role with the gang called folk nation. a set of gangs under a common name, folk nation, black gangster disciples, manic, latin disciples. out of chicago, they fall under the umbrella of folk nation. we have documented cases of a leader of a gang sending out orders to members to assault other inmates. we ve had some members get caught up with smuggling contraband to the facility. they have assaulted staff before. so they get it can be a real big problem. melvin gathers, he is a second lieutenant in folk nation. he is considered one of the h
what did you see? their life. i could tell that they feel this could be a life-and-death situation. gathers says he always hides his identity during hold-ups. i choose to disguise myself to give the law a little bit more of a challenge to identify me. prosecutors say this security camera image shows gathers on the right and his co-defendant on the left. both in disguise at the scene of their latest robbery. you got to the explain this to me. well you have to explain this to me. they saying that could be me. but it s not for sure that they know that it s me. that s my statement. and that s what s going to court. coming up you actually put an order out for someone to be punished from here. it was more so like a warning. melvin gathers plays a game of cat and mouse with dangerous implications. and
trials rarely move quickly. i was running from somebody facing six counts of armed robbery and several related charges, melvin gathers case has also been lengthy. most of his time is spent in disciplinary segregation where he walks around the rec yard during his one hour. what can you see from here? grass, freedom. i think of another chance. in the penitentiary, it s not granted you see another chance. the only thing you see is another facility. when i look outside, it flashes. will i be able to touch the outside society freely again? it gets emotional sometimes. that s my life. that s the first leaf i ve seen in a long time, brother. [ laughter ]
years. and he is one that you can t come at hard. you just got to listen to him and have patience with him because he flips like that. it s some people who i have zero tolerance for, and there s some people that i have about 10% tolerance for. i don t trust him when he has his hands handcuffed in the front of him. i stand here like this because i don t trust him. he s unpredictable. you never know what he s going to do. he can be be smiling and be your best friend, then turn around and he s ready to swing. melvin gathers is in distribution segregation after he became agitated and grabbed a phone from the officer s desk and smashed it on the floor. i got upset. i asked to speak to the sarge. then it became the demand. the demand wasn t carried out. i took the phone and chucked it, and then it shattered. gathers was given 60 days in
and he has my address so we can write each other. this is the test. she s going home. will it just be a county jail thing, or will it develop into something beautiful? am i processing yet? am i gone yet? it s driving me crazy. mcdonald then asks officers for a favor regarding personal items. the stuff in my box i need to give to melvin. okay. some of them with the purchase canteen. they ll leave their hygiene items and stuff like that for another inmate to have. radios, brushes. gave him the soap dish and the radio. gave him lotion and everything? yes. meanwhile, gathers returns to the event for his final good-bye to mcdonald, whom he calls tiny.