"I gave birth in literal chains."
What is life in prison like? These formerly incarcerated people are sharing their stories on TikTok ...
What is life in prison like? These formerly incarcerated people are sharing their stories on TikTok ...
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00:00Female prison is no joke. I gave birth in literal chains.
00:04And that's how you pass water through a door in prison.
00:06Have smears in prison? Was I provided one in the almost two years I was incarcerated?
00:11No, I was not.
00:31Pads can be used as so many things.
00:34Insoles for your shoes. I can use this to clean the cell.
00:38I could use this as a sleep mask.
00:40I could make tampons out of this, which is what I had to do in Arkansas to survive a period.
00:46How to pass water with a chip bag in prison.
00:48First thing you want to do is feed it through the door, just like this.
00:55One person's going to have a bottle on one side of the door.
00:57The other person's going to have a cup.
01:01We're about to show y'all how to make these prison wraps.
01:05Your dough is the most important.
01:07You just take some crackers from commissary.
01:09We added cookies to make the dough sweet.
01:11Add water.
01:20Whatever you are, if you respect man, man respects you.
01:24And that's just the law of prison.
01:27It's just about respect.
01:28I wouldn't pee on the toilet and leave pee stains on the toilet.
01:32It's like, no, that's disrespectful because we share this space and it's only one and we're combined.
01:38And so even taking your shoes off, because when I first went in, I got my shoes on.
01:45Never sit on anybody's bed.
01:47It is so disrespectful to go sit on somebody else's bed.
01:59Giving birth in chains was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through.
02:03And then my daughter was ripped from my arms after two days and she was put in foster care and I was sent back to prison.
02:08Imagine yourself in the utmost uncomfortable position you can be in, you know, when you're sweating, when you have your nerves shot,
02:15when you're just like visibly shaken and you're trying to like, I don't know, trying to like deal with what's going on.
02:20That was every single moment of every single day in prison.
02:24I've watched people die.
02:26I have been in solitary confinement for a long time.
02:28Mentally, that's not easy.
02:30I've been pepper sprayed.
02:31I have been beaten.
02:32So when I got taken to the hole, guards pretty much hit their button.
02:35The sirens went off, letting them know, send the goon squad.
02:39They snatch you up, bring you to the hole, and then they throw you in a cell and strip you of everything you own.
02:44When I was in the hole in Utah State Prison, one time they put me by the rec yard and it was winter outside and snowing.
02:52They left the door open all night.
02:55I got in trouble.
02:56So they took my mattress from me.
02:58So I didn't have a mattress.
03:00All I had was a blanket.
03:01The cops forget to give me my mattress back.
03:04I had to sleep on the floor with a blanket and my jumpsuit.
03:15I did make a good friend while I was in prison.
03:17He actually became my mentor.
03:18His name's Tony Vincent Correggiello and he's 86 years old.
03:22He's currently serving a 99 year sentence for the murder of a Minnesota councilman.
03:26He took me under his wing and he told me, you know, if you continue down this path, you're going to be in the same place with me.
03:32He sent me to read books like The Prince by Nicola Machiavelli, Robert Greene's book, The 48 Laws of Power.
03:38He would send me to read Friedrich Nietzsche, tons of different history, politics, medical books, anything.
03:45I was learning from those guys who had been in prison 20, 30 years.
03:50My dad wasn't always in my life.
03:52And so it took for a man in prison to kind of teach me how to even like floss my teeth.
04:11Being denied jobs, I can't tell you how much this affected me when I first returned to society.
04:17No one wanted to hire a felon.
04:19Even five years later, I still have to put on my application that I am a convicted felon and I can be denied based upon that.
04:26Last time I heard there was only seven countries that would actually accept felons, which is really bummed out because I've always wanted to go to Canada.
04:35I am not allowed to be a foster mom, which drives me crazy because I want to be a foster parent so freaking badly.
04:42I still was being denied for housing.
04:44I understand as an ex-drug dealer and gun defender, I understand why someone might deny me.
04:49However, it was a charge I caught when I was 19 years old.
04:52I went to a modeling agency, acting, acting production studios and all that and tried to get involved.
04:58I heard, no, no, no, you have too many tattoos.
05:01I heard no for six months, probably.
05:03And I was like, you know, I'm not going to give up.
05:05This one agency took me on.
05:07They used my photos and those photos went into magazines.
05:11Those photos went into a ton of different things that just kind of blossomed my career.
05:14I got out in 2016.
05:17I started a bar tending bar backing job that lasted two months.
05:22And I immediately knew that this isn't it.
05:24That's not what I signed up for.
05:26And then I just started doing the fitness thing.
05:29And it kind of just grew because I always embraced who I was and coming home from prison.
05:36So how is it that I've been able to stay out?
05:38Well, I learned what was going on in my mind.
05:40I studied psychology and I did everything by myself.