the complicated world of inmate relationships often leads to violence. sometimes death. but at the holman correctional facility in alabama an inmate nicknamed cheese curl told us a very different story. why are you called cheese curl ? because i like cheese curls. when is the last time you had a cheese curl? last night. by all appearances, tommy cheese curl tunstall, serving life for robbery, was one of holman s most popular inmates. tommy was an interesting inmate to interview, actually, because he seemed very calm and confident. quietly confident. bring your ass on. [ bleep ]. more often than not, when we would start interviewing tommy, inmates would start yelling things at him. you ve got to tell me what the deal is with you. everybody you could run for president in here. i guess i get along with everybody. but tunstall chooses to spend
much of his time with just one man, kenyatta mcmillen, who is serving life without parole for murder. i love cheese because he always been there for me, no matter what, and he ain t never changed or turned his back on me on nothing. mcmillen and tunstall had been friends for about three years when we met them at holman. it done got to the point to where it s like if i m thinking about something, before i can get it out, he can say it. and it s vice versa. do you identify as gay? do me do i do? yes. you re gay? yes. i was fascinated by the friendship between kenyatta and tommy. kenyatta is openly gay and tommy was openly straight. and it seemed to me that their friendship was truly platonic but very bonded. they were obviously an amazing support system for each other. we mainly came across each other going through the struggle.
as a friend, yeah. normally, mcmillen and tunstall live in the dorms together, but during our stay at holman they were separated. mcmillen had requested to be put in administrative segregation. he had had an operation recently when we encountered him, and he was having i guess a lover s quarrel with his current boyfriend, and because he was afraid it might escalate into something violent, he had himself locked up. the person that i was with, we was on the verge of separating, but they didn t want to, and it got to the point where it started being threats made and kenyatta had indicated to us that he had been involved with a number of men at the prison romantically. he seemed to rely more and more on tommy as a big brother figure. i mean, he got to make his own decisions, but now before he do any of that he ll ask what i think about it. and i ll give my opinions. and when we sit down and agree upon it, it s going to be whether he want to deal with the dude or he don t.
as simple as that. but as far as if he do get a relationship with anybody, then i know what type of individual he is, and he don t get in no trouble, he don t bother nobody then nobody ain t got no business putting their hands on him. i get offensive like that. having a relationship with gay men or straight men here? straight. straight guys? yeah. they gay too, though. actually, in their mind they re just gay for that minute. after it s over with, they ain t gay no more. but wait till the next time, then they re gay again for another minute. as for their future, both men were serving life sentences. though tunstall would someday qualify for parole, mcmillen had life without. i know i m going back to the free world one day. so you know, the only thing i can do is make the best out of my situation.
facility in alabama an inmate nicknamed cheese curl told us a very different story. why are you called cheese curl ? because i like cheese curls. when is the last time you had a cheese curl? last night. by all appearances, tommy cheese curl tunstall, serving life for robbery, was one of holman s most popular inmates. tommy was an interesting inmate to interview, actually, because he seemed very calm and confident. quietly confident. bring your ass on. [ bleep ]. more often than not, when we would start interviewing tommy, inmates would start yelling things at him. you ve got to tell me what the deal is with you. everybody you could run for president in here. i guess i get along with everybody. but tunstall chooses to spend much of his time with just one man, kenyatta mcmillen, who is serving life without parole for murder.