ziggy faces several potential penalties for attempting to alter his drug screen, including time in the hole, a loss of his prison job, and even a judgment that can make his whole plan backfire, a transfer to another prison. that s one punishment i really don t look forward to is being transferred somewhere else. ziggy s reluctance to leave prison became all the more puzzling when we learned some of what he d endured during his 30 plus years of incarceration. i was not born gay and every relationship i ve had has been a forced type, a, well, this is what i have to do type of thing, but i didn t enjoy it. as a younger prisoner, i would be made fun of quite a lot, because the lord gave me a big butt. well, i decided to turn it around, and so i would say to them, say, i got a nice one, ain t i?
ziggy had grown accustomed to life in riverbend s minimum security unit. he has what he calls a cushy prison job, editing the inmate newspaper. my punishment is not going to begin until i walk out those front gates because this is the world i ve gotten used to since age 12. but when i get out there, it s an entirely different world, and it s a changed world, and to be honest with you, i m very, very scared. our crew would soon learn just how scared. every once in a while you meet an inmate who has been in prison so long, that they ve really developed a comfort zone. but ziggy took it to a new level. he apparently was sabotaging his own parole hearing by tampering with his urine test, not to conceal the drug use, but actually to make it appear that he was using drugs in order to be denied parole and stay in prison. during our shoot, ziggy was
prison. but bailey says there s a practical side to his behavior. in prison there s a delicate balance because some guys here are never going home. and for those of us who are, if we lose our edge one bit, then like wolves, your own could turn on you. being in this environment, i ve had to become and to be a predator in order to avoid being prey. finding appropriate housing for convicted killers who have continued their violent ways behind bars is always a challenge. a fact dramatically illustrated during our visit to kern valley state prison in california. it s all we got, work, work, work, you know. when we met james randall, he was working his prison job helping officers serve food to his fellow inmates.
among the challenges facing officials at kern valley state prison is the growing number of inmates with long-term sentences because typically this population is the most angry and the most violent. the staff knows the importance of keeping these men occupied. there are 1,300 inmates serving life sentences at kern valley. their crimes were often cold-blooded. i m here for aggravated mayhem, attempted murder, kidnapping, and great bodily injury. i m in here for the heat of passion. i caught my wife with somebody and killed her. for some of these inmates, the prospect of spending decades behind bars affects their ability to function. for others, a prison job can give them a sense of purpose. they work in the kitchen preparing and serving the food. they serve as porters, clerks, and barbers. marcus armstrong and jeffrey
morgan also earned the respect of other inmates as well as compensation in the form of commissary goods by providing skilled services not often found in prison. among other things, he s a tailor. now stand up here on the chair. i ain t getting on my knees, honey. you got me twisted. i m not getting on my knees. you do it any other time. [ bleep ] none of the straight inmates were embarrassed to be seen with peaches. and that was also unusual in a general population setting. for a gay man in prison. it s like disney land. you just don t know what ride to get on. my family goes, are you ready to come home? i said yeah i m ready to come home i just haven t earned my mickey mouse ears yet. so a couple more years and i ve got my mickey mouse ears and i m out the door. uh-huh. and i m taking all the rides with me. i ll go ahead and fill out the paperwork and have you sign it. morgan also held a prison job as an inmate advocate. a sort of amateur lawyer for