we might have cleaned this corn. probably. same corn we cleaned. corn we picked. shucked, bagged. loaded up. good thing we did a good job on it. mm-hmm. despite the differences in both age and race, cellmates scott parker and alvin mchellon have come to think of each other more as family than friends. for the past few months, they have shared a small cell in the close management or confinement unit at the santa rosa correctional institution. but mchellon may soon be leaving for the general population compound. the prison s internal classification team has recommended the transfer. but it must still be approved by a state classification officer. today is supposed to be the day ms. beasley comes through, let us know if we re going to the compound or not. it can go either way. i know i did everything i m supposed to do. you know i ain t been in no trouble, keeping a clean record, keeping self occupied whatnot. i m looking for it to go
it, i m saying once, they feel they can always do it. you know. people do die. people do get stabbed. people do get raped. you got to carry yourself a certain way to get respect. parker s desire for respect is what landed him in confinement. he and three others brutally attacked another inmate. he lost a lot of blood so that s why they had to airlift him out. he never did nothing to me, at all. i had nothing against him. i had no right to do what i did. mchellon has dedicated himself to teaching parker a better way to do time. he s more or less like a son figure to me, you know. but at the same time i know i m not his father. he has his own mother, and his own father but right now, he s more or less in my care. i m concerned about him in the sense that he tends to get influenced by his friends, you know. i told him, i said you don t even have to go there, you know what i m saying? while mchellon has become a surrogate father of sorts to parker, he says his multiple
blank off gun, what you say? sawed off shotgun. i can go for that. while mchellon and parker have developed a father and son type relationship, it may soon be coming to an end. mchellon expects that any day now he will be released from confinement and transferred to a general population unit. open population is, you got a lot more privileges, a lot more room to move around and do things. you don t have so many restrictions against you. i can go outside of the dorm and walk along without having the shackles and cuffs on me. i don t have to be supervised continually. the downside is leaving parker behind. i don t want him to go. you know what i m saying? at the same time i m going to miss him. you know what i mean? i want him to go. you know what i m saying? he needs to get out of here. this ain t a place that like i said, this is a prison in prison. nobody wants to be here. coming up, cellmates, nixon and young find themselves in hot water over a telephone call. i m
you do in life. so if you do something good, something positive, expect to be good rewards from it. but if you re doing negative, bad things in life, expect that reward also which will be bad things. the bible tell us, do unto others as you would have them do unto you and you re going to reap what you sow. now serving his fourth prison term, alvin mchellon understands the meaning of reap what you sow as well as anyone. he currently has a 12-year sentence for drug possession. even though on most days he s woken up at dawn and shackled at the ankles for his job on the restricted labor squad, mchellon says it s better than the alternative. my father told me to never be a stranger to work. it s just doing something to keep from just wasting away.
you got to do something. you got to take care of your body before it can take care of you, you know. every shackle has two locks on it. one lock, and two locks. all the 1s are keyed the same and all the 2s are keyed the same. so you have to have two sets of keys for each shackle. it s security. in case inmates get ahold of one of our key chains, it s more than likely they re not going to get ahold of two. go to secure the chains so the lock won t go up and down on your foot all day long. the most comfortable place for you to walk, or you re going to trip on them all day long. you have to secure them. with the shoestring. get your bags two at a time starting up front. at age 50, mchellon is one of the oldest inmates to work in the fields. his 20-year-old cell mate scott parker is one of the youngest.