Inside Prison Riots: The Truth They Don't Want You to Know | Hector Bravo DSH #666

There's probably more drugs in prison than outside of prison.

Then there were ways of handling it, right?

If you found a little bit of drugs, and I'm keeping it real with you, you can put it in the toilet and flush it and go to waste.

They definitely get their dope through like staff members, visits.

Now they got drones, bro.

Drones in 2024 is where it's at.

All right, guys, we got a former prison guard here today, Hector Bravo.

Thanks for coming on, man.

Thanks for having me, dude.

Yeah, what a story working those prison systems.

How long were you doing that?

16 years, bro.

16 years.

Wow.

Wow.

And was it by choice originally?

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

So you wanted to become a guard?

Yeah, my dad was a guard, so it's kind of like, hey, I got to do follow the footsteps.

And that's where the money was at the time.

Right.

So the salary was good for being a guard?

Definitely.

Okay.

I didn't know that.

Well, $100,000 a year?

Damn.

Within, like, after your first year, second year, you'd be making $100,000 a year.

Yeah, and 15 years ago, 100K is a lot.

Big time, bro.

With inflation these days, that's probably like 150K a year.

Yeah, it's like, well, well, I mean, where we're at now, it's like chump change.

Yeah.

Yeah.

100k a year is tough to

live on when you got a family.

Facts.

And you got a kid now, five years old.

Five-year-old daughter.

Got the wife.

100K is tough to, I know it kind of sounds ignorant, but it's just not what it used to be.

It's true.

Correct.

Yeah, and you're in San Diego, too.

So even a million dollars ain't what it used to be.

That won't even get you a nice house in some areas.

Facts.

Crazy, man.

Yep.

So that first year, what was it like?

Was it a smooth transition?

The first year.

was a different time frame.

So that was like 2007.

Gangs were very active in the prison system.

A lot of race riots.

I mean, 100 inmates versus 100 inmates.

Holy crap.

Yeah, two different races going at it.

That was pretty wild, man.

Wow.

It's like a Royal Rumble.

So you witnessed a 100-on-100 fight?

Not only did we witness it, we had to stop it.

Holy shit.

Stop it with like batons, pepper sprays, chemical agents, grenades.

Grenades?

CS grenades or CN grenades, chemical agents.

Okay.

So there's like a baby powder, but it's actually chemical agents.

Dang.

It gets in your eyes.

Were they ever coming at you or were they just coming at other inmates?

I have been involved in staff assaults.

And yeah, those are gnarly, bro.

Those

dangerous.

It's kind of like anything goes at that when it's on and cracking.

You know what I mean?

Are those planned or are they spontaneous?

It varies.

It can be a mixture of both.

Wow.

Definitely.

So what was the first one that happened to you?

Well, the first one, there was

an inmate that was not listening in the chow hall.

We told him to get up.

And when he was done eating, he decided to take his time and do his own thing.

and back then i was fairly young too and as soon as he came out my partner was verbally counseling him and he head-butted him he head-butted him so after he head-butted him we took him to the ground and we proceeded to use physical force wow on him over and over and over again then we looked behind us and all his friends were standing up in a line man and thank god they didn't you know assault us and jump us dang they should have yeah for their own rules they should have assaulted us they have their own rules too interesting so if you lay hands on someone there's by their rules, they're supposed to defend?

Correct.

You mess with one?

Well, yeah, yeah.

They're the same, man.

You mess with one bean, you get the whole burrito.

That's what they say.

Wow.

Did you have to find out those rules on the way, or did they brief you on them when you got the job?

Combination of both.

Okay.

Right.

You kind of, you feel it, man.

It's a new environment.

It's treacherous.

It's cutthroat.

It's violent.

So you're just getting a feel for the whole.

Yeah.

You can feel it in the air, dude, the tension.

I could see why they paid this job well now.

Yeah.

Your life's on the line.

Big time.

Yeah, I'm sure there's been some guards that have gotten beat up and stuff.

Yo, bad, bro.

Medically retired.

Damn.

Aside from that, there's no hostage policy, meaning that the inmates know it's a document.

It's in, it's in policy that if they take you hostage, we will not negotiate for their release.

What?

Correct.

I wonder why they do that.

So that way they don't be taking staff members hostage and leaving prison all the time.

Wow.

So it's well known, like, hey, if you take somebody hostage, we're not going to let you go free.

Yeah.

Did you know the sentences of each inmate you were dealing with?

Like how long they were in there?

For the most part, it varied.

It varied from a couple years to life, life without parole.

Because you probably got to keep a bigger eye on the life guys, right?

Like be more aware of them.

I'll tell you the truth, man.

The lifers were more chill because that was their life.

You understand what I'm saying?

That was their world.

So they weren't trying to cause drama.

They have to live there forever.

Interesting.

Because a lot of them have parole now.

Yeah, I would assume since they're in there for life, they're pissed and they're just trying to cause shit, but.

No, it's opposite.

Okay.

I mean, they're trying to relax it's the ones that are passing through two years three years four years that they could care less and they're just wilding out how common was it for them to have weapons on them sneak it in

or make them 99 oh almost all of them have them 99

but you guys are searching for them every day right yes and no uh you gotta understand with all the changes in california they they kind of it's frowned upon to fight crime you know within the directions given from the supervisors, the administrators, and the managers.

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Let's say you find you're searching for an in, you're searching an inmate, you find a knife on him, and then he turns around and he punches him in the face.

Well, your higher-ups are going to say, well, what were you doing searching that inmate?

They got you punched in the face.

Wow.

That's the way they look at things.

Instead of praising you for finding a weapon, they scold you.

There you go.

Wow.

So it's that type of culture, demeanor.

So when you said, do you search for them?

I mean, you could if you wanted to, but you better be expected to go for the whole ride.

Okay, so that makes more sense to me because I always, from an outsider point of view, I'm like, why are there so many weapons?

But now from your point of view, that starts to add up.

It adds up because it's not worth it.

It's not worth getting beat up.

It's not worth getting fired.

It's not worth, right?

You might as well just turn a blind eye.

Yeah.

And it's unfortunate that it is that way.

That is unfortunate.

Do you think it's changed since you've been there?

For the worst.

Oh, for the worst?

For the worst.

One of the reasons why I left.

Holy crap.

So these wards really don't care about safety.

Safety is not even a thought in their brain.

It's not.

Safety for human life, sanctify your life for the inmates or the staff members is not a thought.

You know, what's in their brain is, I want to promote to the next level.

I like my title, my power, and my position.

And they get paid for every inmate, right?

That's how it works.

Yeah, what was there?

I forgot how many.

Governor Newsom says I think there was 175,000 in the custody, something like that.

For each inmate, no, like that was a total population of the inmates.

Wow.

Something like that.

Yeah, I was told for each inmate that comes in, the government will fund that.

They get a lot of money.

They get paid.

So they want as many people as possible, right?

They get a lot of money.

So were the prisons you were at overcrowded?

Initially, you had bunk beds in each building, which was excessive.

You weren't supposed to have the bunk beds.

And the gymnasiums were full of bunk beds.

Holy crap.

Yeah, dude.

So every cell was filled.

200 inmates per building.

You had thousands, man.

You had thousands.

Damn.

And that was around 2007.

Around 2010, 11, they did all these laws and reforms and they started releasing everyone to the streets, man.

I saw the prisons empty out.

In 2011?

It was around 2010, 2011.

And I remember thinking, oh, this is cool for us because,

you know, less inmates.

But it's bad for our family members because we're releasing these.

Some of these guys are massive predators.

And they just released them?

And monsters.

Oh, yeah, 100% released them.

Holy crap.

They were having shootouts on the streets with the cops.

It was, it was wild.

Because they didn't have enough prison space.

AB 109.

AB 109.

It was AB 109, Prop 57.

It's not that they didn't have enough prison space, that it was overcrowded, and the federal government came in and stepped in.

Got it.

Were you

and said, you better release?

Wow.

Better do something.

Were you at federal prisons, mainly?

State.

Oh, state.

So what's the difference between that and just federal?

State, there's 33 prisons roughly in the state of california it's it's you know funded by the state employed by the state peace officer powers through the state federal would be your federal government where you have those those institutions penitentiaries up and down the united states got it how often were you finding drugs

drugs in prison are all are

there's a lot there's probably more drugs in prison than outside of prison wow yeah yeah but back then there was ways of handling it, right?

If you found a little bit of drugs, and I'm keeping it real with you, you can put it in the toilet and flush it, and it goes away, never to be seen again.

So they would just flush it before they got found out?

Yeah, or I mean, we would flush it, but now you get in trouble for that.

You know, you got to report it and this and that.

But they definitely get their dope through like

staff members, visits.

Now they got drones, bro.

Drones in 2024 is where it's at.

So they're literally sending drones to the.

In the middle of the night, midnight, you'll have a drone fly over a prison yard, drop a package full of drugs tobacco and cell phones and in the morning an inmate will get it and start distributing it wow so people have cell phones in prison now they've had cell phones man dang that doesn't sound so bad if i had a phone in there i mean probably make the day go by a lot quicker but they come they come they um commit criminal activity on the phone especially like the mexican mafia they'll order hits murders of other individuals and they will um

it's a trip because you'll see face time conference calls yeah of these very influential members, and they're ordering the murder of another Indian.

Holy crap.

Yeah, absolutely.

Which group of people did you fear the most?

I mean, I viewed them all the same because they wear blue.

Inmates wear blue.

So I just viewed it.

Staff members wear green.

And I was always taught it's blue versus green.

Okay.

So I just kind of viewed it.

So no gang had like, were extra violent or?

Yeah, the southern Hispanics, the Sureños, the Southern Mexicans, they have their own rules that are

pretty dicey, man.

Like, that's the one.

If one individual gets involved, they all have to jump in and assist.

Oh, wow.

So, you know, you're going to get jumped by like 200 dudes.

Holy crap.

That's crazy.

Those odds are not good, man.

And you can't defend against that many.

Absolutely not.

You have a gun, though, right?

The towers have a gun.

Oh, so you're not allowed to have a gun?

Nah.

Wow.

I wonder.

Yeah, because people would still seize, man.

And the pepper spray and you had a taser?

No, no taser.

No taser.

So just pepper spray spray and baton.

I'm kind of glad we never got tasers because I never wanted to get tased as part of the training.

Yeah.

I've never been tased.

I've flat on it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I've never been tased.

But to become a police officer, you have to, right?

Yeah, it doesn't look cool.

That's crazy.

Did you ever want to become like a police officer?

Nah, dude, I'm from a small town where the cops were not cool.

So I always kind of resented that.

And I'm like, man, I'd rather be a CO.

Interesting.

Prison guard has got to be traumatic, though.

You probably have some memories that haunt you, right?

Well, it's crazy because I was in Iraq for 2004 in the military and people asked me hey did that prepare you for prison was it different and yeah they're they're different and the same all at one i mean violence is violence

um

you know blood is blood it doesn't matter what caused it

a knife wound a gunshot a bomb like

um

Yeah, dude.

And then and then I and then I always used to say, I don't know where my PTSD stopped from the military and started from the prison.

But looking back, it's kind of all just been one.

Just blur.

Blur.

Yeah.

20 years from the age of 17 to the age of 38.

So, okay, it's 21 years.

21 years of straight

stress and yeah, you're feeling people's energy in there, too.

Fight or flight.

Yeah, you're feeling all that tension.

Cortisol levels releasing.

That does something to your brain and your body.

Oh, it does.

You actually, I don't know the word, but you can like take on their energy.

Facts, bro.

I'm very good at reading people.

Yeah.

I have high emotional intelligence and they are very good at reading people you know it's kind of part of the world you got to navigate right because they have to survive so they're relying on reading people that and we're kind of we're kind of like animals in the you know in our inner beings like we're looking at people in their eyes and reading and it's like yeah you definitely gotta yeah navigate that world now not everybody has that you know keen sense of awareness but they'll find out Did you ever form a personal friendship with a prisoner?

Absolutely not.

You kept it separate?

Well, you have to.

That's one of the reasons why I left the prison system now, though.

They are the higher-ups, the administration from sacramento headquarters they are fostering an environment where they want you to be friends with inmates give them hugs what yes give them hugs shake their hands play games with them

i'm glad you find that funny bro yeah that's funny because like

i'm glad you find that funny because you're a neutral player no i'm neutral but like from a prisoner point of view that's what i would want i would want to be friends with them so i could trick them and influence them i'm glad you just said that bro yeah because it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out i can't believe they're doing that.

That's weird.

That sounds like a left thing to do, though, to be honest.

Bro, go, yeah, dude.

Yes.

So you can imagine the time frame I came in to where we're at now.

Yeah.

I mean, do I prefer fighting, physically fighting inmates every day?

Of course not.

But I also don't want to shake their hand and give them hugs.

Yeah, yeah.

There's a balance.

You got to keep it.

Just want to be right in the middle.

You probably got a lot of them trying to bribe you, right?

No, no.

I only legitimately got asked twice.

Okay.

One guy was completely joking.

He's like, hey, Pharaoh, because my last name is Pharrell.

My full name is Hector Bravo Farrell.

He's like, hey, Pharaoh, what's up with them cell phones?

But he said it in front of a yard full of people.

I just started laughing.

And he's like, hey, it was worth a shot.

I just started laughing, right?

Because he kind of, I mean, he shot a shot, but it was just hilarious the way he presented it.

And another guy legitimately said, hey, too bad you're not down with the business.

There's lots of money to be had.

I took that as offense.

I took that as a sign of disrespect.

So I opened the back door and I told him to come out there.

In essence, I kind of like,

in a way, challenged him to fight.

Even though you're not supposed to do any of this, right?

Yeah.

I kind of said, hey, don't you ever disrespect me like that again, man.

Wow.

So you took it really serious.

Yeah.

And this is what I used to tell him.

I said, I'd rather go homeless, broke, without shoes, eating out of a trash can, living at a park than to ever bring any contraband in for you.

And I think they understood where I was coming from.

Did you see any of your fellow coworkers compromised?

Yeah, bro.

Did you snitch on them?

No, no, I didn't snitch on them.

I mean, I'm not a snitch in general.

However, it wasn't my role you know a lot of people wonder

they think that cos or guards are in cahoots by not reporting their partner but there's a whole unit for that there's a whole investigative unit like a detective unit that's their specialty oh wow yeah they they investigate corrupt cops so there's a whole unit just for that correct okay so that's their bread and butter you know if you're

basically it's better not to tip off the guy like let's say you're his part you're the partner it's like you don't want to give them a heads up that they're on to him so you hope they can get caught yeah and get fired and thrown in prison.

Did you see people get caught?

Oh, man.

Recently, there was a guy that I carpooled with for 15 years in a van, right?

So it was numerous of us.

He got caught bringing in grills, grills, the platinum grills to the inmates.

Wow.

I just thought that was ridiculous.

Yeah, that's not even like anything crazy.

He got three years in prison.

What?

Yeah.

He was bringing in grills?

Because he was getting the mold from the inmate and shipping it to Texas.

Because it crossed the state lines, it became federal.

Oh, shit.

And that's not even like a drug or a weapon.

That's just like a grill.

There's no need, there's no doubt in my mind.

At one point, he was probably bringing in drugs.

You know what I mean?

You just don't bring in grills.

Yeah.

So he must have been getting paid fast.

I've seen corrupt cops bring in contraband.

I've seen female officers have relationships with inmates.

I've seen it all, man.

So there's female officers where you worked?

Absolutely.

Thought it was just they separate the genders.

No.

Wow.

And now in 2024, you have male inmates housed in female prisons.

Interesting.

Very.

Did you ever do a female prison?

Never, dude.

I never wanted to work around females or juveniles.

Yeah.

Like, too much drama.

Yeah, I bet.

Yeah, the females are probably wild.

Wild.

I've seen, like, videos.

How accurate are, like, the movies and the shows about prisons?

American Me, fairly accurate, with some exceptions that cause a lot of,

you know,

problems.

And then what do you have?

Shot caller or felon?

Those are pretty.

There's one like 30 Days in Jail or something.

I haven't seen that one.

Okay.

But then they're accurate.

I mean, you know, Hollywood's probably going to put a twist on it, but for the most part.

What happened with you and Wes Watson?

I saw you make a video.

What video?

Was it Wes Watson called You Out or something?

I don't know.

No, so Wes Watson, like when I left the prison system, I utilized, I bought one of his courses so that he can put me up on game with the social media

thingy, you know, utilizing my resources.

And that's what I did.

No, I have nothing bad to say.

I see everybody taking shots on the dude on social media, right?

So if if you ask me like was it worth it working with him yeah it was worth it because i didn't have any knowledge of social media marketing or branding okay so you took his course yeah got it i mean you can't deny his success on social media exactly now as far as telling war prison stories you know i'm not gonna say whether his stories are true or not that's not my place to to talk about that did you ever have notable people on your your watch uh yes yeah shook knight oh yeah shook knight wow was he respected in there yeah he was respected in there and he was a

respectful individual.

Okay.

Yeah.

Because he's in there for a while, right?

Like 20 years or something?

Yeah.

Damn.

Yeah, I always wondered what the celebrities, because sometimes they get picked on, right, for their money and stuff.

Yes and no.

Times have changed.

Times have changed now where

they kind of get that celebrity status amongst their inmate group.

Yeah.

And what's crazy is that our managers give them that celebrity status.

Like I said, I was a straight shooter, man.

So to me, you're just an inmate.

And it's better if I just treat you that way.

Like, everybody's the same absolutely any italian mafia guys not italian mafia but mexican mafia mexican okay i just had the boss of the philly mob on did you yeah man i find all that stuff interesting bro so interesting the italian mob's probably one of my favorite documentaries to watch i find um organized crime very interesting bro i did a lot of my research and it's very like intricate and a lot of moving parts yeah and the no snitching stuff is crazy too A lot of backstabbing too, man.

A lot of, like I said, it's crazy.

I think 80% of them end up dead or in prison.

Or sleeping with the fishes, as they say.

Yeah, crazy, man.

Another life, right?

Yeah, dude.

That's predatorial.

Yeah.

Like the cartel down south.

What about them?

That's the same thing.

It's all the same concept to me.

Yeah, those cartels, man.

I had a cop in Tijuana

talking about the cartel wars.

And he dealt with that.

And he said almost everyone he worked with ended up dead.

Was it Ed Mana?

Ed?

Ed.

Yeah, Ed Calderon.

Oh, sweet, dude.

Yeah, that was a fun one.

But crazy to put your camera.

That came out on his podcast in TJ.

Oh, yeah.

Tijuana.

Oh, yeah.

Sketchy.

Was it safe over there?

It's never safe over there, bro.

Sketchy, bro.

My anxiety shoots up.

Oh, man.

Yeah, because what are you going to do?

Run to the border and ask for help?

Yeah, you probably had PTSD.

You bet big time, dude.

Yeah, that's scary, man.

But to put your life on the line for 100K, I don't know.

Looking back now, you think it was worth it?

Well, it was worth it in the sense that it

made me who I am today, gave me those experiences, exposed me to the corruption that I saw, and now I'm able to shed light.

Yeah.

You know, I I feel like it was part of my bigger purpose.

Yeah, I think it's important to get this info out there because people don't really know what's going on in there.

Nothing, man.

They were in the dark.

For the longest time, California Department of Corrections controlled the narrative.

Now they don't.

Are they upset at you for speaking out?

I would say so.

Now they're trying to go after the people that are speaking to me.

Oh, yeah.

People that are still employed.

Oh, wow.

Yep.

Just because you have information coming your way?

Yeah, from everywhere, from every prison.

33 prisons.

They won't be able to stop that.

No.

They've never experienced anything like this before, bro.

Yeah, no one's ever spoke out against the system.

Nah, I'm playing chess with them.

Not

a lot of them.

Yeah, I hope you win that battle, man.

That's a big battle.

And what do you think about the prison system in general?

Like, do you think it's a good thing for,

dude?

There's definitely so many issues with it.

And I can see that now.

I mean, for the longest time, they had all the prison gang leaders in a box in Pelican Bay Shoe.

Security housing unit for 20, 30 years.

So imagine being in a little box like this for 30 years.

Damn.

Now, to the average person, it could be like, yeah, who cares?

Put them away.

But honestly, I mean, did that prevent any violence from happening on the prison yards while they were in a box?

No, absolutely not.

Right, it was wild, wild.

That's isolation, right?

Yeah, yeah, and that so there has to be a remedy to that, you know what I mean?

Like, no extremes.

I think happy mediums is always good.

Yeah, isolation is an interesting thing.

You get sent there when you do something bad, right?

Correct.

And it was very interesting to be able to ask individuals, man, what did you do to not lose your mind sitting in a box for 30 years?

Right.

And they're like, Why?

Routine.

The same exact routine every single day for 30 years.

Wake up, work out, read a book, eat.

Crazy.

I go crazy when I don't leave the house for a week.

Facts, dude.

Imagine, I can't leave.

I got to leave the house daily.

Yeah.

Imagine a year.

Oh, my gosh.

I mean, that probably messes them up.

You could tell, dude.

Yeah.

You could tell.

That's nuts.

How do they determine how long you're in there for?

At the time, it was indeterminate shoe, so indeterminate time.

What?

Yeah, at the time.

Holy.

Now, they did away with that.

There was in 2015, a big old giant lawsuit, Ashar versus whoever the governor was, and they released him.

Anyone that got out of prison ever hit you up?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wes Watson.

Oh, you were watching him?

Well, actually, I hit him up, but

I want to say he was at the prison that I was at a certain time.

Okay.

But yeah, dude, me being a fair individual and a straight shooter, like

inmates or former inmates don't have a problem with me, per se.

Right?

They feel comfortable talking to me.

Yeah.

Because they know I'm not going to snitch or do anything crazy or sabotage them or throw them under the bus.

I've never been that way.

Oh, okay, yeah, been a straight shooter, got it.

But when they come out afterwards, are you willing to talk to them?

I have already, yeah, I have on my YouTube channel.

I already have, and

they just confirm stuff that I've been saying, okay, which is good and helps cause there.

Respect is respect is huge in prison, right?

In prison and in the world, yeah.

I'm trying to bring it back, bro.

I love that old school mentality.

Is it true when you get to prison, you get kind of tested that first day?

100%, dude.

Well, not the the first day right so they're gonna they're gonna know you're new okay you're gonna see the new uniform you're walking stiff you're scared well you're walking you it's obvious you're new yeah looking around

so they're gonna try they're gonna try they're gonna break you down it's a lot of mental they're gonna see what they can get from you yeah and they have access to your papers right like while you're in there

we do oh the guards the guards do they do too and now everything's on cell phone man so all they got to do is google somebody's name right everything comes court documents right and depending on what you did there's a certain level of respect well if you have a horrible crime on your jacket meaning anything any offenses with children or or women yeah you're you're gonna be deemed no good wow they're gonna attack you on a general population yard geez so that's like a death sentence pretty much and you saw that happen that's the thing i'm trying to tell you is that towards the end they were mixing everybody and like Yeah, there was a lot of violence, dude.

Wow.

And again, people can be like, well, what's wrong with that?

Putting these type of individuals, they're getting a taste of their own medicine.

I mean, that's cool and all.

And like, until you're the one actually involved, having to do it, you know what I mean?

Escort these guys and get involved.

Yeah.

Because you're going to, because at the bottom, nobody wins at the bottom, man.

The officers are going to get in trouble and the inmates are going to get killed.

The only people are winning are the higher-ups.

Yeah.

That's unethical.

Yeah, that's fucked up.

Did you have inmates coming to you begging for like protection?

Yeah, dude.

Yeah.

And I was a lieutenant.

So I had a little bit more juice, a little bit bit more weight pool.

So I would work my magic as far as like, man, this is nothing violating policy, right?

I was always within policy, but like, hey, man, just, I would tell them, just claim that you're suicidal.

They'll give you mental health treatment and you'll go that way.

Oh, thank you, LT.

You really care, Lieutenant.

I'm like, I do, man.

I do.

That's cool because you could have told them to just F off, you know?

I could have, but it kind of would have made my job more difficult in the long run, right?

So I'm always.

I'm not going to say I'm lazy, but I like to work smarter, not harder.

Yeah.

And that would probably affect you if they ended up getting killed.

Like that would probably eat eat at you a little bit.

But you got to understand, eventually, they're going to turn on you.

If they're going to get killed,

there are better chances of killing you so that they can go to the hole and be protected.

Oh, wow.

It's self-preservation.

Yeah, if that's like someone's last resort.

If that's their last resort, if I'm about to get killed, I'm just going to kill you and get it over with.

Go to ISO, yeah.

So once you're out of ISO, you're just going to go back though.

So it's kind of like inevitable.

Facts.

You got to deal with it.

It's dangerous right now, dude.

Damn.

And where would the fights take place mainly?

Everywhere.

Everywhere.

The yard, the kitchen, the child hall, the buildings,

the vocational areas, everywhere, dude.

Well, the yard would be tough because there's guns, right?

People are on the do not care, bro.

I've seen individuals stabbing.

I mean, murdering.

Yeah, they murdered them.

I mean, I've seen murders in real life and just stabbing.

And they don't care.

They don't care that there's a gun.

You can shoot that mini 14 that shoots a live 2-2-3 round.

They're not going to stop.

They're going to stop when they want to stop.

That's kind of crazy that they have that

initiative.

Yeah, that is scary.

And they do get killed sometimes.

I mean, recently,

an inmate got shot with the Mini 14.

You know, I mean, it's within our policy, it's within our law to prevent stuff like that from happening.

Yeah.

When a death happens, what's like the procedure for?

Oh, my God.

It's a nightmare.

From a lieutenant's perspective, it's a nightmare, man.

A lot of paperwork.

It definitely goes under investigation.

The Deadly Force Investigation Team, Office of Internal Affairs, Office of Inspector General.

Jeez.

Yeah, bro.

People, you got to take public statements, safety statements, report writings.

Oh, my goodness, dude.

Call the families too, right?

You got to next of King notifications, and I had to do that numerous times.

Call the mom and be like, hey, this is Lieutenant Farrell.

I regret to inform you that your son, and you just hear him, ah, and you're just like, because I'm human.

You know what I mean?

You never want to hear a mother.

or somebody like that receive that type of news.

Yeah, that's terrible.

How often was that happening?

Well, you got to understand these inmates overdose daily, dude.

They overdose on fentanyl.

Yeah, and they die.

We were bringing inmates back, man, every day.

Narcan, chest pains, chest compression.

I mean, these dudes would be dead, blue, dead.

And we would bring them back to life.

Wow.

So fentanyl was big in there.

And then the next day, they just overdose again.

Jeez.

I mean, some of them probably want to kill themselves, right?

Well, a lot of these overdoses were like accidental, but yeah, some fuck, I've responded to a lot of suicides.

Man, hanging and

drug overdose.

One of the weirdest hangings I saw when the dude was on his knees, tied a rope to his neck, and leaned forward.

And he leaned forward and he killed himself.

Wow.

On his knees.

That is crazy.

So when the officer was walking by, he looked like he was praying.

And then he walked by again.

He's like, wait a minute.

He's been in that same position for over an hour.

Damn.

How'd he get the rope?

Oh, dude, they cut their bed sheets.

They cut their bed sheets.

Wow.

How did they make the knives in there?

If they really want to get desperate, they'll use a shelving unit that's metal.

They will get nail clippers and they'll

carve over and over because it's made out of titanium.

It's a stronger metal than what the shelving is.

And they'll carve it over and they'll pop it out and then they'll just sharpen it on the concrete.

Wow.

That is crazy, man.

Yeah, dude, they make these things called bone crushers.

Bone crushers is like big enough to go through you.

Jeez.

Yeah.

Bone crusher.

That's what they call them bone crushers.

Just like a giant metal thing.

Well, like if a knife is like a certain length, like, damn, that's a bone crusher yeah but as opposed to ah it's a pretty good sized weapon wow i can't believe you dealt with this for 15 years man that's impressive 16 years but yeah it was pretty wild man like a lot of changes i'd assume the average guard 10 years not that long it is long oh it is not now because the game has changed but it used to be 28 years 30 years the average of 30 years oh wow okay

i i would assume it was just a few years well you got to understand the retirement age at the time was 50.

so you have to be 50 to be eligible to retire.

Now the retirement age is 57.

Whoa.

There's no way, bro.

Imagine coming in at the young, ripe age of 22.

Yeah.

You got to make it to 57, dealing with this.

Terrible.

Wait, so how did you get out early then?

I resigned, bro.

I quit.

When I got exposed to the corruption at the top, I got a first-hand view of what was actually transpiring.

That the higher-ups didn't care about anybody's safety.

They only cared about their personal agendas.

I bounced, bro.

So it all comes down to money then?

for them.

Not for me.

For me, it comes down for values, ethics, and morals.

Right.

That's something I learned in the military for my brothers.

Dang.

I wonder what the change would be then if, because they're going to want to keep making money.

So

money and power, dude.

That's what it boils down to.

Human greed.

So prison is a microcosm of society.

You see it now in our government.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I'm not a political advocate or anything like that.

I'm just, I have very good experience on dealing with good people and evil people, and I've been able to identify them.

Yeah.

I mean, it's everywhere.

It's politics, it's business, it's health, it's life.

And the crazy thing is, you would think that, oh, an inmate is automatically evil.

I've met more inmates that are more stand-up and honorable than the managers I worked for.

Wow.

Absolutely.

What a statement.

And that's one of the reasons why I left, dude.

Like, fuck.

My bad for cussing, but like, I can't afford to.

This is not, I don't want to be here.

Yeah.

Did you have plans like in terms of workoff or you just left spontaneously?

I just kind of winged it.

Kind of like, oh, so you didn't have a backup job or anything lined up

no wow so you really want it out yeah no i mean

i wrote a book that i didn't plan on like you know surviving off of the book but i mean i had like little hustles here and there but nothing like uh like secure yeah now you're full time with the with the social media yeah nice that's a big transaction it's working dude i bet you're getting a lot of views man so it's like a blessing man it's like it paid off yeah you know my higher like i said my higher purpose to serve others help others that's all i care about is being passionate I'm passionate about helping other people.

And when I was a lieutenant in a prison, I wasn't helping anybody, really.

Wow.

You know what I mean?

You probably thought you were when you signed up, right?

Yeah.

And it didn't turn out to be that way.

No, it's corrupt, bro.

Yeah, that's crazy because a lot of people devote their whole lives to a job they want.

Like some people, oh, go ahead.

Well, it's like Game of Thrones.

I don't know if you ever see Game of Thrones.

It's cutthroat.

Yeah.

Some people, I just had someone who devoted 30 years to becoming a doctor, and she saw what Western medicine was, and she had to remove nine organs.

What?

Yeah, little did she know, she just had a parasite infection.

So, if she took some Eastern medicine philosophies and had a parasite cleanse, she didn't have to remove any organs.

Wow, dude.

So, people devote their whole lives, and then they get in reality.

It's scary, but in the same time,

the gang members, the inmates, will devote their whole lives to that gang lifestyle.

And then after 30 years, they realize I just wasted my life.

And you're not allowed to leave once you join, right?

Well, you can.

It's just not going to end well for you.

Yeah.

You either got to snitch or you got to.

Yeah, you can.

It's just not going to end well for you.

It's not going to be favorable.

But in reality,

I tell everybody, just do the right thing.

Right.

Just do the right thing.

But whatever feels right in your heart and your stomach.

Yeah.

But I feel like in prison, it's almost required to be part of a gang because you need to survive.

Prison operates different.

It's a predatorial environment, and it's exactly why I'm pushing against the whole.

trying to shake inmates' hands and hug them.

Yeah.

Right.

Because it's just not going to work.

For sure.

Did you see any prisoners prisoners that were independent on their own or were they all yeah the independent oh there were some on protective custody yards okay not general population yards you're on a general general population yard you're running with uh your race blacks whites mexicans or others was there asians yeah they would fall under the others others okay yeah so i'd be probably a minority asian gang members yeah like long beach those are probably the smallest group right yeah a smaller group the others dang so i'd have it tough in there you know they're neutral and they're neutral as far as they're they're very respectful.

I didn't see them cause no problems.

I mean, once in a while, they would get involved in something, but it's very rare.

Okay, so they weren't the ones that were the other gangs that were other gangs and other races that were really at each other's throats.

The blacks, the whites, the Mexicans.

Yes, absolutely.

Damn.

Okay.

Yeah.

And it's not a racial thing.

For people to hear racial, it has to do with respect, money,

and dope drugs.

Yeah, because they want to control the drug flow, right?

Yeah.

You know, drug debts, people getting fronted drugs and not having the money to pay it back.

Somebody's getting killed.

Damn.

Somebody's getting killed.

So was there money in there?

They use

green dots.

They use mail orders.

So prepaid Visa cards, and

they'll use facilitators on the streets.

Yeah.

Like a wife, a girlfriend, and they will.

Sell the drugs in there, and then the money will get forwarded to an account.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, bro.

It's like kind of like money laundering if you think of it.

Basically, yeah.

So they would coordinate it when the wife would visit, send this amount to that person's wife.

Or a dirty staff member, you know money is getting transaction through through numbers through green dot numbers through visa card numbers interesting as far as card hard cold

uh hard cold cash i've only seen that i've seen it in there and i would assume they use that to bribe a guard i could see how they could do that yeah that you pull out a hundred dollar bill you get some

some dude makes sense yeah i heard cigarettes too right tobacco tobacco

there was a time when tobacco was selling for more money than heroin i remember that holy crap and then i remember when fentanyl came online.

At first they just had heroin.

Then all of a sudden everybody started overdosing during this period of time.

And we were telling them, like, hey, stop, throw it, flush your dope.

You guys got a bad batch of dope.

And that was actually fentanyl when it hit the line.

Oh, my gosh.

I remember.

Yeah, that shit was everywhere.

Yeah, dude.

You even got some kids.

I grew up in Jersey.

Got some people out there.

Big time.

Not that.

Me and you were talking about the homeless in San Diego.

It's like, it's everywhere, bro.

Dude.

Yeah, it's rough.

It's still pretty prevalent, right?

Yeah.

It's getting worse now that's scary um so you are 13 years sober now i am man speaking about fentanyl yeah i never met i never dabbled in the fentanyl but i mean i did use hard drugs when i got back from iraq

i was drinking a fifth of vodka the child this water actually reminded me yeah when i got back from iraq i was drinking a fifth of vodka in my barracks room holy nightly damn every night and when that wouldn't do the trick i'd buy a 12 pack of coronas wow

and dude i've had numerous uh near-death experiences.

And at first, I didn't want to live, dude, when I wasn't happy that I survived Iraq.

You weren't happy?

I had survivor's guilt.

I lost nine friends over there, and I got them tattooed on my back.

They were my brothers.

Wow.

And I felt like, why am I so special?

Why did I make it?

And they didn't.

I don't deserve to be here.

But now that I've gained my sobriety, you know, this gift, I see the true picture now.

Yeah.

My purpose.

That's beautiful, man.

Wow.

I'm sorry you lost nine people.

That's so much.

Yeah, dude.

Think about them daily.

It's not, you know, Memorial Day is every day for me.

Damn.

Yeah, my cousin lost his best friend there, dude.

He watched him die.

He

stepped on a landmine.

Dude.

So my medic, Edgar Daclon, he was a Filipino.

He was from Torrance.

He was actually killed on patrol on September 10th, 2004, while we were out there together.

And I had to carry his body to the helicopter.

Holy shit.

And two of my other friends were wounded, including the lieutenant.

And September 10th is my mom's birthday, dude.

So I actually had to get back to the camp, call my mom, and tell her, hey, happy birthday.

Wow.

And not let her know what had just transpired.

Damn, that's crazy, dude.

And I was just 19 years old, dude.

So it was experiencing all that trauma at a very young age.

Yeah, so you had to grow up super fast.

Yeah, and when you get back, they also don't talk about this.

A lot of people kill themselves.

You probably lost even more people from that.

Oh, dude, I did.

Jeff King, man, Jeffrey King, his name is tattooed on my back.

He's the ninth one.

He got, he killed himself a couple years ago.

Jeez.

And that's common, man.

I mean, so many veterans

they really don't get the help they need when they get back because they just kind of brush it to the side.

They give you opioids and all this drugs and stuff.

That's a fact, dude.

And they don't actually treat you.

I mean, there's a, there's a better, there's better uh mental health awareness now, and that's another thing that drives me, bro.

Yeah, the reason I do what I do is to ensure nobody else goes through what I went through, or at least let them know, hey, man, there's a solution, there's a way, you're not alone.

Yeah, because I didn't have that in 2005.

Yeah, no, I had to figure this shit out by myself.

Yeah, it's cool to see you turn it around.

now you got a five-year-old kid she's my favorite family bro it's beautiful yeah man um my wife my daughter my little female dog man that i rescued i'm surrounded by three females bro it's like all that uh you know hormones in my house they're all bossy yeah they all tell me what to do your daughter's gonna be a savage for sure dude i could already see it she dressed up as a little army soldier the other day at school because it was like camouflage day yeah and i was like i didn't put her up to it you know she wow yeah i love that if she wants to pursue army would you that's the thing i'm dude as a father i'm not gonna pressure her or tell her anything she's gonna do what she's gonna do wow for sure that's cool i do tell her like hey baby do you want to do videos like your daddy does like on youtube or do you want to go to a job like your mommy does like there's so many things you can do the choice is yours absolutely hector it's been a really inspiring episode man anything you want to promote or close off with all right my youtube channel that prison guard and then i'm on instagram hector underscore underscore bravo that's where you guys can find me cool we'll link below thanks so much for coming on

yeah thanks for watching guys, as always.

Check Hector's stuff out, and I'll see you guys next time.