Unlocked: A Jail Experiment (2024) s01e02 Episode Script
Day 1
1
[tense percussive music playing]
[Freeman] Hey, yo!
-[banging on doors]
-Unlock the doors!
Listen up! Listen up!
When we walk out of here,
you can come out the doors.
Y'all can go at it.
[inmate] Yeah!
It's time. It's time!
Say it. Feel it.
What the fuck is that?
[inmate 2] Uh-oh! Uh-oh!
-[beep]
-[computer] ER, are you sure?
This ain't gonna work.
This ain't gonna work.
[beep]
[doors buzz open]
[alarm sounding]
[inmates banging doors, whooping]
Open doors, baby!
[inmate 3] Whoo! Yeah!
["I Feel Good" by SHIPS
and Jade Josephine playing]
Crazy motherfuckin' hell.
I feel good, I feel free ♪
I can do anything
And be who I wanna be ♪
[Higgins] The doors are open.
We're really doing this.
And with the deputy not in there,
we're depending on the detainees
to de-escalate situations,
and so the first 24 hours of this
is the most dangerous.
I feel good, I feel free ♪
I feel good ♪
Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.
You got me thinking
I need to go and get me a fucking knife.
This ain't fucking jail,
this a motherfuckin' mental ward.
[narrator] With the cell doors open
and not a staff member in sight,
what happens over the next 24 hours,
especially as the inmates
are amped up and excitable,
could make or break
the sheriff's experiment.
I feel good, I feel free ♪
Whoo, my cell door is open!
Wide open, wide open y'all!
-[Willie] Freedom!
-Amen.
I'm grateful for the doors to be open.
And the freedom.
It's all-day free range.
But we still
gotta follow the rules in here.
I feel free ♪
And this team that I put together,
we're helping to do that.
Still gotta have an extra shirt on, y'all.
Come on, now.
The rules still apply.
Rules still apply!
Tiny. Firecracker. Pow!
That's the firecracker.
Crooks. Sit back. Smooth. Cool.
Talk to you first.
Finch.
Quiet. Deadly.
Smart.
Squirrel. Loud. Obnoxious.
Goes straight to you. No hesitation.
And they listen when he get to talking.
All attention that way.
That's the reason why I want him
to be in charge if any problems happen.
[indistinct chatter]
The deputy ain't back here no more,
so so you know what I mean.
He took the computer.
Just chilling.
[Squirrel] You can't get behind
the desk, man!
-Goddamn, man!
-[inmate] What?
[indistinct chatter]
I like that.
Come on, man. You can't do that.
We don't smoke here.
[inmate 2] I do.
Everyone is smoking.
We smoke with that shirt on. That way.
We was just chopping it up,
and then you have motherfuckers like,
"Oh no. Get off the desk."
The old guys take it upon themselves
to run the whole thing,
them telling other inmates what to do.
These motherfuckers
some police-ass motherfuckers.
[mock crying] They're like, "You guys
are gonna ruin it for all of us."
[mock crying]
You know what I mean?
[tense music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Man, she finna bring the remote.
Don't turn on my goddamn TV.
It ain't that important.
[inmate] Some people
like to hear theyself talk.
Man!
[inmate] What's going on?
Why we goddamn have to act
like goddamn fools?
-You know what I'm sayin'?
-[inmate] I do.
Y'all that shit.
Why we gotta act a fool, man?
We ain't supposed to act no fool, man.
Know what I'm sayin'?
We trying to better this shit.
How you gonna better this shit
if everyone acts the fool?
How is you the first and only person
to say something like that.
It's like this. It's done.
-[Squirrel] It's not understood.
-It's done. It's done. It's done.
It's out of the park. It's done.
Leave that alone.
[Squirrel] It's not understood.
I ain't in it.
I'm moving 'cause you ain't
going to tell me how to fucking act.
You know what I'm sayin'?
'Cause you want something simple and shit?
[arguing indistinctly]
I ain't staying, man.
What the hell-fuck
they expect outta this shit, man?
The older folks is trying to run the pod.
That's when it's going to lead to a fight.
[rock music playing]
'Cause we young, they don't wanna hear
what we got to say.
We don't want to hear
what you got to say, motherfucker.
Damn right, y'all. Damn right.
We don't want to hear what you got to say,
so we let the old niggas do them
and the young niggas do us.
If one of us, if I get out of line,
I want the young niggas to say,
"Hey, bro, you tripping."
Them old niggas trying
to get you in trouble, man. Fuck them.
Them motherfuckers
pissing out cobwebs anyways.
The fuck you talking about.
-This nigga here, he just disrespect me.
-Yeah, that's just what it is, man.
[laughing]
Man, we already know what the rules is.
Don't come
It's basic rules.
If you wanna keep this freedom,
go by the basic rules and you'll be good.
You in jail just like us
wearing a blue PCRDF, just like us, man.
If anything, bruh
enjoy this shit while we can.
[indistinct excited chatter]
[exclaiming]
[hip-hop music playing]
[Mayham rapping]
Got locked up going missing ♪
My bitch don't want to dive into
She the only one who'll listen ♪
I'mma keep it real standing all ten
For however long I'm living ♪
For however long I'm living ♪
For however long I'm living ♪
If I've been disrespectful, I apologize.
I'm just Mayham.
The name is self-explanatory.
I'm fucking Mayham.
I get to that point where I'm up there.
I just wanna cause chaos.
Young Vice Lord is our organization.
A lot of bad and a lot of good.
Like, Mayham don't go for
a lot of bullshit.
That why Mayham crazy.
I'm crazy about my family.
I'm crazy about my daughter.
I'm crazy about my mom. I go crazy.
My charge is capital murder.
It's a bad charge, so.
It's either life or death
if you fight it,
so it's a real bad charge. You just
gotta take the licks and keep going.
The worst?
Not being able to be around my daughter.
Hoping I get to be
around my daughter again.
But while we're here,
we're trying to make it comfortable.
Make ourselves feel comfortable.
So I mess with the younger cats.
Yeah, come on ♪
Uh-huh, uh-huh ♪
You see me, you see Ten.
Graham crackers dipped in milk.
We not just no ordinary, young juveniles.
Like older guys, they gotta realize
they're in our generation now.
They're living in our world now.
We're not in their world no more.
A real live action figure ♪
[peppy music playing]
[Higgins] Growing up here in Little Rock,
I have a concern for our community.
In the last few years,
we've seen an uptick in violent crime,
specifically homicides.
Last year's numbers,
Little Rock has probably had
their highest number of homicides
they've had, um in over 20 years.
[police sirens wailing]
[Higgins] We're around 50% recidivism.
And what that means is
that when a person gets out of jail,
around 50% within three years,
they're back in jail.
That means a continual flow of people
coming into this facility.
Then you become overcrowded.
And when you're overcrowded,
jail can become more violent.
But when I look at other countries,
their jail system's
a little bit different than ours.
A little bit more freedom, accountability,
responsibility imposed on the detainees.
And I think their recidivism rate
reflects that it works.
So, can I make my jail a safer place?
And can this resonate?
Can this make my community safer?
If all we're doing is locking people up
and just housing them,
um,
that's all we're ever gonna do.
There's not gonna be a change in behavior.
So we need
to try to do something different.
I don't want this place to be
just a place for punishment.
I want this to be a place
where reform happens.
[inmates yelling, whistling]
[narrator] The six-week experiment
has just begun,
but already there's a generational divide
brewing over who should be in charge
and how the inmates
should conduct themselves.
[Tyler] Now that the doors are open,
it kind of felt the same as the saying,
"There's a lot of weight
lifted off your shoulders."
And right now,
we're just making it the best it could be.
[producer] Where do you guys get tobacco?
This ain't tobacco. It's coffee stick.
[Ty] A coffee stick.
It's like a paper towel dipped in coffee
that you dry and roll it, smoke it.
Some people are addicted to 'em.
I don't know what type of shit they're on.
But I feel like the older cats,
they see smoking, they'll be like,
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Because we're given
the privilege to be trusted
to do the right thing,
do what we need to do.
And now
somebody gonna fuck this shit up for us?
This right here
is the link between us and the free world.
You know what I'm saying?
Only way in and only way out.
Only way in and only way out.
Shit. For real.
Yeah, that motherfucker
right there you see.
It is fucking hard being locked up.
It makes me think about my life.
My son is 14 years old. A good kid.
I miss being there like a father should.
Know what I'm sayin'? At his games.
Shit like that, know what I'm sayin'?
Talk to him about his first girlfriend.
All that shit.
The last time I actually seen him, he was
My mom brought him to come and see me.
He was, like, three.
Pretty much almost nothing
up in this motherfucker, man.
This just Right now this just
a way of living. You know what I'm sayin'?
This is all we got.
Uh, I really just feel like
less than a man.
I can't really do what the fuck I need to
do as a father. You know what I'm sayin'?
This is usually where I sit right here,
where I be chilling and shit.
That's how I occupy some time.
I can hear better up here.
[producer] It's like your front porch.
Basically, yeah.
Without selling crack, though.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
That's what it's basically like, man.
Feel kinda good.
But then there's unit.
You got Bloods.
You got Crips. You got gangsters.
You know, you got Fangs.
We call 'em Vice Lords.
But in order for us to make this work,
they got to realize
that this shit is a privilege.
Because us as a community
gotta keep the bullshit down.
Door's open.
It's a big opportunity for me.
I can reconnect with my kid and shit.
Because nothing's more important
to me than my boy,
you know what I'm saying?
[narrator] Mealtimes in the unit are one
of the most charged moments of the day,
with fights over food and trays.
With no deputies present,
what happens next could mean
control in the unit or chaos.
They have to have some type of structure
where everyone gets fed.
They make sure they can do it
so everyone is not all over the place
at the same time.
[inmate] Trays!
Lockdown!
-Trays!
-[inmate] Trays.
[Randy speaks indistinctly]
We're at this point during this process.
The first meal of the first day.
Everyone has to be fed.
That's our first test,
to see how this is gonna go.
Let's go, people! Let's go!
Let's move them trays!
Everybody, we gonna lockdown!
-You gotta be inside your door frame.
-[inmate 2] Inside the door frame.
We gotta be inside the frame.
We gotta be inside the door frame.
Man, it's the people
taking this program too serious.
You're trying to figure some shit out.
Come on, man.
We ain't gotta vote for no shit like that.
Kick the motherfucker out
'cause they can't sit
Pop the door, so we can get out.
What else is going on?
These people get a little power,
it goes to their head.
I got power,
and I'm going to somebody head.
[narrator] In order to prevent chaos,
Randy wants the pod to follow
the normal jail rules at mealtime
with each tier waiting
behind the doors for their turn to eat.
Simple little rules.
Make your bed.
Lockdown for pill call.
Lockdown for trays.
Stay in your room after lockdown.
Behind this frame.
Not in between.
Not straddled.
Not on this side, but behind.
If you don't listen to Randy,
he gon' get irritated.
Like, what, you the deputy or something?
You now finna stop me from eating?
You policing.
[indistinct chatter]
You hear me? Hey.
Y'all got about four more minutes.
Four more minutes.
[Ty] I have at least, like, five minutes.
I said y'all have about four more minutes,
but don't do that, homeboy.
You got 15 minutes to eat,
so, yeah, I'm gonna tell you to go.
Now if your 15 is still there,
I'll lean back. But your 15 is gone.
Pick that shit up!
Straighten them trays up!
He just all too much bullshit. Every day.
Don't get me wrong, I fuck with him,
but it's like, half the shit he's saying
is just like straight dumb shit.
Okay, man. Over there.
[indistinct conversation]
He try to get you
to, like, put into his bullshit.
Don't talk to me!
I just feel like he just be trying
to run this motherfucker.
And he don't go about it the right way.
He just need to chill
and do his own thing.
But he's not gonna do that.
True Story.
I said you have four minutes.
He said, "I was about to go,
now you only gonna give me two minutes?"
I said, "Okay."
Randall, True Story,
all right, you can give it.
True Story got the voice.
True Story a little extra with it.
He just be a little extra with it.
He gotta calm down, man. Calm down, man.
We not gonna just listen to you.
Just be yourself.
You be too characteristic a lot.
You're talking crazy to him.
Yeah. I got to talk crazy to him.
He ain't like that. He ain't like that.
Yes, he is.
This is where we lay our head.
This is our bunk.
This is our home right now.
He need to be realistic
and not characteristic.
I'm not gonna let you just push
and try to run over me too.
'Cause I smoothes out everything.
I make this run
the proper way up in here,
so everybody can come together.
[bluesy guitar music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Communicating and understanding
is the best thing in a relationship.
Couple of people need direction.
So if you communicate and understand,
there won't be no problem, no chaos.
Everybody here is
basically one person now.
-So whatever you do, it affects everybody.
-[Randy] It affects everybody.
If you do something wrong,
goddamn, that disrespected me.
You disrespect everybody.
If you follow my simple rule,
you ain't gotta worry about
never coming back to this motherfucker.
-[Randy] This is simple.
-We don't.
I've been here 20,000 days,
and I ain't never failed by their rules.
You know what I'm saying?
[Randy] That's what
we gonna talk about tonight.
We gonna nominate folks
who are gonna be responsible
in the community
whatever we wanna call it,
but we have to do this ourselves.
-[Squirrel] Them is our rules.
-[Willie] Right.
We gonna have a meeting today.
We definitely Oh yes, we are.
'Cause I got some shit to say
about everything.
You just gotta wait and see.
About six o'clock,
we're gonna get this crunk,
and we're gonna sit everybody out here.
We gonna get out here.
We'll have this table pushed back,
and we gonna get to the rules.
[bluesy guitar music playing]
-[Higgins] LT.
-How's it going, Sheriff?
-[Higgins] All right. You?
-I'm doing all right.
-Thing's going well?
-[Freeman] Yes, sir.
Uh, so far so good.
Uh, there's nothing alarming
that I see, uh,
since the last time we went in.
[Higgins] Let's make sure
that the deputies are paying attention.
-Don't get relaxed.
-Will do.
-We wanna make sure everybody's safe.
-Yes, sir.
[Higgins] We need to be prepared
if things get out of hand.
Whatever we got coming, we will adjust.
All right. Thank you.
The first few hours is,
"Is it gonna get worse? Or get better?"
With this freedom
is coming a lot of tension
and could anyone in the group
be a potential target for others
who want to release their frustration?
We're still watching
and hoping for the best.
Um, but realize that
we could have some problems.
[ambient music playing]
My name is David Miller.
Before I came here, working full-time,
actually as a night shift manager
at Wingstop.
I have a culinary degree
and a business management degree.
My charge is Domestic Battery 1.
In my life,
I've never spent time in jail like this.
Never done anything
to be in jail like this.
This place has
a lot of nonsense that goes on.
I'm not really supposed to be here,
but, honestly, for me,
it doesn't really bother me.
I know how to make a football, though.
[inmate] I'll bet you do.
Socks and toilet paper.
I came up with it up here.
Guess what? Ain't shit wrapped
around a roll of toilet paper.
Two of them makes a football.
-Makes sense.
-Yep. [laughs]
Shit.
That old guy, he gets on my fuckin'
What's his name?
The guy that looks like a
Miller? Miller? Oh my God.
He's like a fucking alien
from a different planet.
It's so hard not to make fun of that guy.
Know what I'm saying?
It's really hard. I mean, I'm sorry.
I'm kind of immature
a little bit. Whatever.
I'm sorry. Forgive me for that.
I wanna make fun of him all the time.
Miller, just don't say nothing, bro.
[laughs] Don't say nothing.
He puts a target on himself.
Yeah, he deserve to get his ass beat.
You know what I mean?
I was gonna come beat his ass.
[indistinct chatter]
[Finch] I didn't even turn
that deuce that way.
-Yes, you did.
-No, I didn't.
He just called it. He might have seen it.
I saw you do it. Finch,
put them back please. Don't cheat.
Yeah.
I'm just talking
about cheating's your way.
You didn't see nothin', man. You lying.
I ain't lying, you lying.
Stop lying. Who you calling a liar?
I'll beat your motherfuckin' ass there.
[angry chatter]
[Finch] Who you talking about lying, boy?
Who you talking about lying, boy?
Finch.
[Finch] Just runnin'
your motherfuckin' mouth, boy.
[Randy] Dave Miller.
His mouth is foul.
But he was in L Unit.
They ran his ass out of L.
He was in K unit with me.
Everyone else that didn't come,
they finna whoop his ass in there.
He asked for it over there.
He got his ass kicked there.
Okay, where he go?
You go, today.
-I don't wanna hear it. You done!
-[Miller] I didn't do nothing.
You causing too many problems.
No, you causing too many problems.
You causing too many problems.
-[Miller] I called the bonds board
-I'm done talking!
You don't gotta deal
with seven people's breath in one second.
You ready, Chief?
He wrong, though. He wrong.
-Finch don't mess with nobody.
-[inmate] No, he don't.
It's like he'll just
it's just he'll forget
about what he did yesterday.
And come with something else new
and start another argument
about something else.
Don't worry about nobody else.
Work on you.
You got some issues built up inside.
Every day you get into it with somebody.
Every day.
Your tongue is like a little firecracker.
You don't know
what's coming out of their mouth
See? There you go, worrying about them.
This ain't about them. It's about you.
It's about both ways.
Here we go again.
I'm not finna do this arguing.
I'm not finna do this arguing.
[Miller] Here's the thing.
It's a problem with people
who want to think
they can just talk to anybody however
and push people around
however they want to.
And that's Randall.
He constantly stirring up shit.
He constantly is trying
to create a divide between people.
Dave, stop!
[narrator] With Miller continuing
to antagonize,
Randy enlists some of the older inmates
to see if they can
talk some sense into him.
One thing about this fucking shit,
I ain't tough.
Ain't trying to be tough.
That's not the principle behind it.
But you run your fucking mouth,
and you try snitching, motherfucker,
you'll get your ass handed to you,
that's all there is to it.
[inmate 2] Rocky Balboa's
fucking ass here.
Get out of here.
[inmate 3] What if I elbow him
in the face?
[chuckles]
Here he comes.
Bring a chair with you.
Gonna sit down
with the fucking wise men over here.
-What's going on?
-What's up?
What's up, Dave?
What's the situation at hand over here?
The situation this morning?
Do you know what's going on
in the barracks right now?
Off the top of my head, no.
Everybody say you got a foul mouth on you.
What people say is hearsay to go around.
The water's good. It's good fishing.
And you're fucking throwing dynamite
out the boat.
I'm not causing trouble.
We all gotta
We all gotta try to get along.
[laughs]
Y'all, that's called drama.
You the drama queen!
[Miller] No, not at all.
[inmate 4] Bye-bye!
Get along, catch a door,
and get your ass whooped.
That's three.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Determined to maintain order,
Randy and his team call a meeting.
They wanna fully establish
themselves as leaders,
and let everyone know, Miller
and the younger generation included,
that bad behavior will not be tolerated.
Hey, business time, gentlemen!
Hey, can we all get together
and come talk about this here.
Hey, business time, gentlemen!
This is our first time
being here with our freedom.
You know these older guys
giving a meeting,
it don't mean nothing.
Any inmates telling us, man,
they repeating the same shit
these folks saying, man.
Stop it. That's policing.
We don't need to hear it.
Yeah, it's useless as hell.
-[Squirrel] Love to hear it.
-Listen.
[Squirrel] Y'all wanna come down here
tell us what it is.
[inmate] Ain't no pod boss in here.
[Squirrel] Come on in, man.
[Randy] Nobody's my pod boss.
I don't have a pod boss.
The more freedom that we have up in here,
the less cause,
the less fights, the less attitudes,
the less anything up in here.
That's what we need. That mean having
everybody come together. That's one.
Hey, this concerns everybody, though!
Hey, we gonna need everybody, y'all!
Hold up on the kiosks and all that.
Sit down, my man.
But we gonna need everybody.
Hey, look, for those who don't know,
whatever one person do,
it could fix everybody, man.
If we do something bad,
know what I'm saying
It falls back on all of us.
It ain't about you.
It's about us too,
you know what I'm saying?
The less problem they have at us,
the less problem they got
to come down here and see us,
the more we can get out of the situation.
I just don't want the 23 and 1,
know what I'm saying?
Now, anything but that.
Try to fix that problem.
That's basically what I be wanting.
We gonna try to do it a little better.
That's the only thing I want
out of this situation.
Just a little better
than what the deputies will get.
You feel what I'm saying?
I consider myself
as being one of the elders
with some of the other guys.
All the younger guys that's younger,
man, know what I'm saying,
y'all got kids, man.
Y'all grown, just like we grown men.
Ain't no one man
should have to tell another man,
"Put your shirt on.
Don't sit on the table. Don't do this."
Come on, man.
With the young folks, we not in bullshit
like the old folks is getting into.
Ain't nobody in charge.
It's not what you say,
it's how you say it.
And our generation of us being young,
we don't like being talked to crazy.
We're not gonna wanna listen.
We wanna be the opposite
and rebellious when it comes to that.
[Big Country] I ain't shut my door
no more.
That door right there. It's open 24.
When I go to sleep, it gonna be wide open.
I ain't shutting it no more.
I don't want y'all to take that privilege.
And I'll do my best
not to take that privilege from y'all.
All this shit is new to everybody, though.
You feel what I'm saying?
This shit brand-new to most of us.
That's why it's gonna be a minute
to get this shit under control, man.
It's some structure that needs to happen.
We need structure somewhere, evidently,
'cause we're here. So somewhere
in our life we didn't have structure.
Just 'cause you're used to talking
some way to this dude,
you can't talk like that to every dude.
Yeah, but everybody knows
Squirrel talking about
Listen, I'm not
necessarily talking about
-Nah, he said
-Hold on.
I'm not necessarily
talking about just Squirrel.
I'm talking about each one to each one.
Us to each one.
We gonna respect everyone
up in here, no matter who you are,
what you are, or how you are.
We got to respect one another.
Yes, I don't care how old you is,
you get your ass beat.
I don't give a fuck.
You old, I don't give a fuck how old.
You disrespect me, I'll disrespect back.
But I'm gonna disrespect back worse.
There's gonna be some bullshit
and probably some fights,
but if it come to that bullshit there,
we ain't gonna do this
out here in the open.
If you have to
Handle it in the quarters.
Handle it in the quarters.
[Finch] Handle it in the quarters.
We ain't gonna do this in the spotlight
and bring all that drama.
Then once it's over with, it's over with.
We gonna do the jailhouse rules,
know what I'm saying?
The ones they say they want,
'cause they don't feel like it.
We gonna stay behind the door.
They watching.
First motherfucker
they catch out of bounds,
that's a good enough reason
to say, "Hey, 23 and 1."
But we out, you know what I'm saying?
We trying to stay that way.
The young niggas,
we not going to be the ones to fuck it up.
[Mayham] Yeah.
No, man. We kicking back smooth,
like Michael Jackson shoes.
We ain't gonna do nothing to them bitch.
They can't think to blame shit on us.
We not gonna be one of 'em.
Oldheads. They feel like
they can do whatever they wanna do
to control the shit that other people do.
But that's what's gonna start problems.
I'm saying about the unit, though.
Fuck the fighting shit.
About the unit,
we fighting for each other.
[clock ticking]
[narrator] After the deputies finish
their daily head count
to make sure no one is missing or injured,
H Unit begins its first night
with unlocked doors.
[Eastside] Aight. Get up out of here.
[indistinct chatter]
[laughing]
There's some mindsets that say, "Well,
the older guys, they're experienced,
and you get them on board,
and that runs the whole unit."
"And the younger folks
will do what they say."
That's a nice idea, you know.
The younger guys have a different opinion.
The younger folks don't want
the older folks telling 'em what to do.
[indistinct chatter and laughing]
There was some tension in the air.
It was rowdy with them doors.
Everybody was acting crazy.
Motherfuckers acting wild.
I'm like, "Man, what the fuck?"
This shit ain't gonna last.
I can't wait till they lock the door.
-Damn.
-All right, I can't.
They want to act like an animal,
you know what animals do.
Animals get locked up.
[yelling]
[Big Country] I ain't shut my door
tonight. My door will be wide open.
I'll be on the floor
with my socks and shoes on.
Yeah.
[narrator] As the inmates get ready
for their first night of the experiment,
some worry that the open doors
could mean a violent settling of scores.
Especially for those
who have ongoing disputes.
[suspenseful music playing]
God don't tell us
to run away when it's hard.
But he does tell us stay on that course.
But at the same time, keep your composure.
Ain't nobody gonna sleep tonight.
I don't trust nobody. Ain't gonna lie.
I'm in that unit.
I'm not gonna sleep with the door open.
Like, I'm not worrying
about nobody coming to fight me,
'cause I can get up in a fight.
But I'm worrying
about somebody coming to stab me.
Move forward, you gotta think two ahead
two steps forward, you know?
All right, then. Y'all be safe, bro.
Be careful, aight. See y'all tomorrow.
[tense music playing]
Anything could go on in here, though,
so you gotta be ten toes down
and on your pivot all the time.
In here with straight,
I ain't gonna say criminals but
So anything could happen.
There's definitely some worry.
[inmates] Oh!
Bad things happen in here.
Places like this, you never know.
Never know what can happen.
Zero to sixty at any minute.
[tense music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[music builds, then fades out]
[mellow music playing]
Randall!
[knocking]
[Dennis] I said, Randall.
What you out for?
[Randall speaks indistinctly]
I was up all night. [laughs]
Upper level, upper level, come on.
Come on and get chow.
Wake your celly up.
[inmate] Hey, wake up.
[Mayham] Wake your celly up.
Wake your celly up.
I went to sleep about 10:30.
I kinda just pay attention to me, man.
It's too much. You know what I'm saying?
I don't really focus on anybody else,
just go up there and go to sleep.
[bluesy music playing]
This gonna be a routine
in this motherfucker.
Motherfucker gonna This shit gonna work
once we get used to this shit.
There's gonna be
a couple kinks the first few days.
I slept with both eyes open.
Not really, just, you know,
I slept with both eyes open, though.
I can hear everything.
If you scared that a motherfucker's
gonna run in your shit,
and take your shit, you's a ho.
That's just it.
[laughs]
[Eastside] County man
was definitely on the prowl.
County man was a real fucking thing.
He was attacking at nighttime.
Dre came in here
and fucking beat me up in my sleep.
[Eastside] With a flip-flop.
With a flip-flop.
[rhythmic music playing]
[Dre] Dat way.
[Eastside] Dat way.
[Dre] Pound your ass.
Didn't I say I'd get you?
I can't get you no more?
[Eastside] Love that.
[Dre] All right. Good night, sweets.
[Ty] He also told me
that he was watching us sleep.
-[Eastside] What the fuck?
-Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that.
Oh shit.
I never seen no shit like that
before in my life. I haven't.
[laughs]
[hip-hop music playing]
The first night went well, but we still
hadn't completed the whole 24 hours.
In the beginning,
everybody being an alpha male,
wasn't so receptive of certain individuals
telling them what to do,
but everything kind of panned out,
and it worked itself out.
[indistinct chatter]
[music stops]
[Miller] I beat the ass of
all you cheaters!
You better watch how you talk to me,
or I'm gonna beat your ass.
[indistinct]
I can't lie about the truth.
[Willie] Hey, Scott, we don't want
to get this program shut down.
[indistinct]
[dramatic music playing]
I said, "Oh, here we go again."
I'm not the only one
having a problem with this.
I don't know what you call him,
a kid, a grown man.
I don't want to listen
to no bullshit every day.
A lot of folks in here,
you're nerve-racking to them.
'Cause you just don't know how to stop.
Ecclesiastes, chapter 3.
Number 6.
Time to speak and time to keep silent.
That's why I get upset.
You come at me out of nowhere
with an attitude, though.
I have to come at you
'cause you don't want to listen to nobody.
You want to outtalk them.
That's exactly what you're doing to me
when I try and tell
Y'all bumping heads 'cause y'all
both are outgoing and talk a lot.
Boy, you talk reckless to people.
Sometimes you gotta speak up
for yourself too.
You can't control other people.
But you can control yourself.
[Randy] You gotta think about
the things that come out your mouth.
When you do try to have a conversation,
you're not going nowhere.
You're just going around in circles, bro.
That's irritating to folks.
You is like a woman.
[Randy] Outta here.
I'm going.
Man.
Won't stop.
Now do you see?
I'm just so tired of him.
I just be trying my best to help him.
The more I help, the more they turn on me.
So, I wash my hands.
You only can do so much for folks.
It's open now.
Open season.
Open season.
You know what open season mean?
It's free. Free.
[Randy] Every day free.
-On sight.
-That a way.
Bald head mother
[indistinct chatter]
When an inmate comes in,
and disrupts the situation
that we have good harmony coming in,
you know,
we feel some type of way,
and we gotta react on it.
[inmate] They're just there.
Come and talk.
[narrator] The sheriff's program
comes to the end of its first 24 hours.
The deputies are
about to enter the unit for a head count
and distribution of medicine.
[Wutzke] It's happening.
Upstairs?
In my cell.
Violence is never the key. I don't ever
We don't want to hurt or touch nobody.
That's not really what this is about.
But sometimes that's what somebody needs.
[inmate] I tell you what,
I'm just gonna go like this Boom.
And watch how
his fucking eye hangs out his mouth.
[Wutzke] Let's stop at that, though.
You and me, we gotta stop with that.
[indistinct]
-You hear me?
-[inmate] I hear ya on this.
-Just chitchat, that's all this is.
-[inmate] What if he doesn't fall down?
[Wutzke] Might catch one more.
He know it coming too.
Why do I feel hot right now
'cause of this shit?
[Wutzke] I feel like don't get hyped.
Keeping that cool mellow head on yourself.
There's repercussions
to the shit you do in life.
You're gonna have to pay the piper,
and it might not be in a good way.
You know, you made the bed. Lay in it.
-[Wutzke] Pill call?
-Pill call is coming.
[tense music playing]
No. No. No. No.
Why you making me look like a dumbass?
What's your punk-ass tryin' to do, bitch.
[poignant strings music playing]
[tense percussive music playing]
[Freeman] Hey, yo!
-[banging on doors]
-Unlock the doors!
Listen up! Listen up!
When we walk out of here,
you can come out the doors.
Y'all can go at it.
[inmate] Yeah!
It's time. It's time!
Say it. Feel it.
What the fuck is that?
[inmate 2] Uh-oh! Uh-oh!
-[beep]
-[computer] ER, are you sure?
This ain't gonna work.
This ain't gonna work.
[beep]
[doors buzz open]
[alarm sounding]
[inmates banging doors, whooping]
Open doors, baby!
[inmate 3] Whoo! Yeah!
["I Feel Good" by SHIPS
and Jade Josephine playing]
Crazy motherfuckin' hell.
I feel good, I feel free ♪
I can do anything
And be who I wanna be ♪
[Higgins] The doors are open.
We're really doing this.
And with the deputy not in there,
we're depending on the detainees
to de-escalate situations,
and so the first 24 hours of this
is the most dangerous.
I feel good, I feel free ♪
I feel good ♪
Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.
You got me thinking
I need to go and get me a fucking knife.
This ain't fucking jail,
this a motherfuckin' mental ward.
[narrator] With the cell doors open
and not a staff member in sight,
what happens over the next 24 hours,
especially as the inmates
are amped up and excitable,
could make or break
the sheriff's experiment.
I feel good, I feel free ♪
Whoo, my cell door is open!
Wide open, wide open y'all!
-[Willie] Freedom!
-Amen.
I'm grateful for the doors to be open.
And the freedom.
It's all-day free range.
But we still
gotta follow the rules in here.
I feel free ♪
And this team that I put together,
we're helping to do that.
Still gotta have an extra shirt on, y'all.
Come on, now.
The rules still apply.
Rules still apply!
Tiny. Firecracker. Pow!
That's the firecracker.
Crooks. Sit back. Smooth. Cool.
Talk to you first.
Finch.
Quiet. Deadly.
Smart.
Squirrel. Loud. Obnoxious.
Goes straight to you. No hesitation.
And they listen when he get to talking.
All attention that way.
That's the reason why I want him
to be in charge if any problems happen.
[indistinct chatter]
The deputy ain't back here no more,
so so you know what I mean.
He took the computer.
Just chilling.
[Squirrel] You can't get behind
the desk, man!
-Goddamn, man!
-[inmate] What?
[indistinct chatter]
I like that.
Come on, man. You can't do that.
We don't smoke here.
[inmate 2] I do.
Everyone is smoking.
We smoke with that shirt on. That way.
We was just chopping it up,
and then you have motherfuckers like,
"Oh no. Get off the desk."
The old guys take it upon themselves
to run the whole thing,
them telling other inmates what to do.
These motherfuckers
some police-ass motherfuckers.
[mock crying] They're like, "You guys
are gonna ruin it for all of us."
[mock crying]
You know what I mean?
[tense music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Man, she finna bring the remote.
Don't turn on my goddamn TV.
It ain't that important.
[inmate] Some people
like to hear theyself talk.
Man!
[inmate] What's going on?
Why we goddamn have to act
like goddamn fools?
-You know what I'm sayin'?
-[inmate] I do.
Y'all that shit.
Why we gotta act a fool, man?
We ain't supposed to act no fool, man.
Know what I'm sayin'?
We trying to better this shit.
How you gonna better this shit
if everyone acts the fool?
How is you the first and only person
to say something like that.
It's like this. It's done.
-[Squirrel] It's not understood.
-It's done. It's done. It's done.
It's out of the park. It's done.
Leave that alone.
[Squirrel] It's not understood.
I ain't in it.
I'm moving 'cause you ain't
going to tell me how to fucking act.
You know what I'm sayin'?
'Cause you want something simple and shit?
[arguing indistinctly]
I ain't staying, man.
What the hell-fuck
they expect outta this shit, man?
The older folks is trying to run the pod.
That's when it's going to lead to a fight.
[rock music playing]
'Cause we young, they don't wanna hear
what we got to say.
We don't want to hear
what you got to say, motherfucker.
Damn right, y'all. Damn right.
We don't want to hear what you got to say,
so we let the old niggas do them
and the young niggas do us.
If one of us, if I get out of line,
I want the young niggas to say,
"Hey, bro, you tripping."
Them old niggas trying
to get you in trouble, man. Fuck them.
Them motherfuckers
pissing out cobwebs anyways.
The fuck you talking about.
-This nigga here, he just disrespect me.
-Yeah, that's just what it is, man.
[laughing]
Man, we already know what the rules is.
Don't come
It's basic rules.
If you wanna keep this freedom,
go by the basic rules and you'll be good.
You in jail just like us
wearing a blue PCRDF, just like us, man.
If anything, bruh
enjoy this shit while we can.
[indistinct excited chatter]
[exclaiming]
[hip-hop music playing]
[Mayham rapping]
Got locked up going missing ♪
My bitch don't want to dive into
She the only one who'll listen ♪
I'mma keep it real standing all ten
For however long I'm living ♪
For however long I'm living ♪
For however long I'm living ♪
If I've been disrespectful, I apologize.
I'm just Mayham.
The name is self-explanatory.
I'm fucking Mayham.
I get to that point where I'm up there.
I just wanna cause chaos.
Young Vice Lord is our organization.
A lot of bad and a lot of good.
Like, Mayham don't go for
a lot of bullshit.
That why Mayham crazy.
I'm crazy about my family.
I'm crazy about my daughter.
I'm crazy about my mom. I go crazy.
My charge is capital murder.
It's a bad charge, so.
It's either life or death
if you fight it,
so it's a real bad charge. You just
gotta take the licks and keep going.
The worst?
Not being able to be around my daughter.
Hoping I get to be
around my daughter again.
But while we're here,
we're trying to make it comfortable.
Make ourselves feel comfortable.
So I mess with the younger cats.
Yeah, come on ♪
Uh-huh, uh-huh ♪
You see me, you see Ten.
Graham crackers dipped in milk.
We not just no ordinary, young juveniles.
Like older guys, they gotta realize
they're in our generation now.
They're living in our world now.
We're not in their world no more.
A real live action figure ♪
[peppy music playing]
[Higgins] Growing up here in Little Rock,
I have a concern for our community.
In the last few years,
we've seen an uptick in violent crime,
specifically homicides.
Last year's numbers,
Little Rock has probably had
their highest number of homicides
they've had, um in over 20 years.
[police sirens wailing]
[Higgins] We're around 50% recidivism.
And what that means is
that when a person gets out of jail,
around 50% within three years,
they're back in jail.
That means a continual flow of people
coming into this facility.
Then you become overcrowded.
And when you're overcrowded,
jail can become more violent.
But when I look at other countries,
their jail system's
a little bit different than ours.
A little bit more freedom, accountability,
responsibility imposed on the detainees.
And I think their recidivism rate
reflects that it works.
So, can I make my jail a safer place?
And can this resonate?
Can this make my community safer?
If all we're doing is locking people up
and just housing them,
um,
that's all we're ever gonna do.
There's not gonna be a change in behavior.
So we need
to try to do something different.
I don't want this place to be
just a place for punishment.
I want this to be a place
where reform happens.
[inmates yelling, whistling]
[narrator] The six-week experiment
has just begun,
but already there's a generational divide
brewing over who should be in charge
and how the inmates
should conduct themselves.
[Tyler] Now that the doors are open,
it kind of felt the same as the saying,
"There's a lot of weight
lifted off your shoulders."
And right now,
we're just making it the best it could be.
[producer] Where do you guys get tobacco?
This ain't tobacco. It's coffee stick.
[Ty] A coffee stick.
It's like a paper towel dipped in coffee
that you dry and roll it, smoke it.
Some people are addicted to 'em.
I don't know what type of shit they're on.
But I feel like the older cats,
they see smoking, they'll be like,
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Because we're given
the privilege to be trusted
to do the right thing,
do what we need to do.
And now
somebody gonna fuck this shit up for us?
This right here
is the link between us and the free world.
You know what I'm saying?
Only way in and only way out.
Only way in and only way out.
Shit. For real.
Yeah, that motherfucker
right there you see.
It is fucking hard being locked up.
It makes me think about my life.
My son is 14 years old. A good kid.
I miss being there like a father should.
Know what I'm sayin'? At his games.
Shit like that, know what I'm sayin'?
Talk to him about his first girlfriend.
All that shit.
The last time I actually seen him, he was
My mom brought him to come and see me.
He was, like, three.
Pretty much almost nothing
up in this motherfucker, man.
This just Right now this just
a way of living. You know what I'm sayin'?
This is all we got.
Uh, I really just feel like
less than a man.
I can't really do what the fuck I need to
do as a father. You know what I'm sayin'?
This is usually where I sit right here,
where I be chilling and shit.
That's how I occupy some time.
I can hear better up here.
[producer] It's like your front porch.
Basically, yeah.
Without selling crack, though.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
That's what it's basically like, man.
Feel kinda good.
But then there's unit.
You got Bloods.
You got Crips. You got gangsters.
You know, you got Fangs.
We call 'em Vice Lords.
But in order for us to make this work,
they got to realize
that this shit is a privilege.
Because us as a community
gotta keep the bullshit down.
Door's open.
It's a big opportunity for me.
I can reconnect with my kid and shit.
Because nothing's more important
to me than my boy,
you know what I'm saying?
[narrator] Mealtimes in the unit are one
of the most charged moments of the day,
with fights over food and trays.
With no deputies present,
what happens next could mean
control in the unit or chaos.
They have to have some type of structure
where everyone gets fed.
They make sure they can do it
so everyone is not all over the place
at the same time.
[inmate] Trays!
Lockdown!
-Trays!
-[inmate] Trays.
[Randy speaks indistinctly]
We're at this point during this process.
The first meal of the first day.
Everyone has to be fed.
That's our first test,
to see how this is gonna go.
Let's go, people! Let's go!
Let's move them trays!
Everybody, we gonna lockdown!
-You gotta be inside your door frame.
-[inmate 2] Inside the door frame.
We gotta be inside the frame.
We gotta be inside the door frame.
Man, it's the people
taking this program too serious.
You're trying to figure some shit out.
Come on, man.
We ain't gotta vote for no shit like that.
Kick the motherfucker out
'cause they can't sit
Pop the door, so we can get out.
What else is going on?
These people get a little power,
it goes to their head.
I got power,
and I'm going to somebody head.
[narrator] In order to prevent chaos,
Randy wants the pod to follow
the normal jail rules at mealtime
with each tier waiting
behind the doors for their turn to eat.
Simple little rules.
Make your bed.
Lockdown for pill call.
Lockdown for trays.
Stay in your room after lockdown.
Behind this frame.
Not in between.
Not straddled.
Not on this side, but behind.
If you don't listen to Randy,
he gon' get irritated.
Like, what, you the deputy or something?
You now finna stop me from eating?
You policing.
[indistinct chatter]
You hear me? Hey.
Y'all got about four more minutes.
Four more minutes.
[Ty] I have at least, like, five minutes.
I said y'all have about four more minutes,
but don't do that, homeboy.
You got 15 minutes to eat,
so, yeah, I'm gonna tell you to go.
Now if your 15 is still there,
I'll lean back. But your 15 is gone.
Pick that shit up!
Straighten them trays up!
He just all too much bullshit. Every day.
Don't get me wrong, I fuck with him,
but it's like, half the shit he's saying
is just like straight dumb shit.
Okay, man. Over there.
[indistinct conversation]
He try to get you
to, like, put into his bullshit.
Don't talk to me!
I just feel like he just be trying
to run this motherfucker.
And he don't go about it the right way.
He just need to chill
and do his own thing.
But he's not gonna do that.
True Story.
I said you have four minutes.
He said, "I was about to go,
now you only gonna give me two minutes?"
I said, "Okay."
Randall, True Story,
all right, you can give it.
True Story got the voice.
True Story a little extra with it.
He just be a little extra with it.
He gotta calm down, man. Calm down, man.
We not gonna just listen to you.
Just be yourself.
You be too characteristic a lot.
You're talking crazy to him.
Yeah. I got to talk crazy to him.
He ain't like that. He ain't like that.
Yes, he is.
This is where we lay our head.
This is our bunk.
This is our home right now.
He need to be realistic
and not characteristic.
I'm not gonna let you just push
and try to run over me too.
'Cause I smoothes out everything.
I make this run
the proper way up in here,
so everybody can come together.
[bluesy guitar music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Communicating and understanding
is the best thing in a relationship.
Couple of people need direction.
So if you communicate and understand,
there won't be no problem, no chaos.
Everybody here is
basically one person now.
-So whatever you do, it affects everybody.
-[Randy] It affects everybody.
If you do something wrong,
goddamn, that disrespected me.
You disrespect everybody.
If you follow my simple rule,
you ain't gotta worry about
never coming back to this motherfucker.
-[Randy] This is simple.
-We don't.
I've been here 20,000 days,
and I ain't never failed by their rules.
You know what I'm saying?
[Randy] That's what
we gonna talk about tonight.
We gonna nominate folks
who are gonna be responsible
in the community
whatever we wanna call it,
but we have to do this ourselves.
-[Squirrel] Them is our rules.
-[Willie] Right.
We gonna have a meeting today.
We definitely Oh yes, we are.
'Cause I got some shit to say
about everything.
You just gotta wait and see.
About six o'clock,
we're gonna get this crunk,
and we're gonna sit everybody out here.
We gonna get out here.
We'll have this table pushed back,
and we gonna get to the rules.
[bluesy guitar music playing]
-[Higgins] LT.
-How's it going, Sheriff?
-[Higgins] All right. You?
-I'm doing all right.
-Thing's going well?
-[Freeman] Yes, sir.
Uh, so far so good.
Uh, there's nothing alarming
that I see, uh,
since the last time we went in.
[Higgins] Let's make sure
that the deputies are paying attention.
-Don't get relaxed.
-Will do.
-We wanna make sure everybody's safe.
-Yes, sir.
[Higgins] We need to be prepared
if things get out of hand.
Whatever we got coming, we will adjust.
All right. Thank you.
The first few hours is,
"Is it gonna get worse? Or get better?"
With this freedom
is coming a lot of tension
and could anyone in the group
be a potential target for others
who want to release their frustration?
We're still watching
and hoping for the best.
Um, but realize that
we could have some problems.
[ambient music playing]
My name is David Miller.
Before I came here, working full-time,
actually as a night shift manager
at Wingstop.
I have a culinary degree
and a business management degree.
My charge is Domestic Battery 1.
In my life,
I've never spent time in jail like this.
Never done anything
to be in jail like this.
This place has
a lot of nonsense that goes on.
I'm not really supposed to be here,
but, honestly, for me,
it doesn't really bother me.
I know how to make a football, though.
[inmate] I'll bet you do.
Socks and toilet paper.
I came up with it up here.
Guess what? Ain't shit wrapped
around a roll of toilet paper.
Two of them makes a football.
-Makes sense.
-Yep. [laughs]
Shit.
That old guy, he gets on my fuckin'
What's his name?
The guy that looks like a
Miller? Miller? Oh my God.
He's like a fucking alien
from a different planet.
It's so hard not to make fun of that guy.
Know what I'm saying?
It's really hard. I mean, I'm sorry.
I'm kind of immature
a little bit. Whatever.
I'm sorry. Forgive me for that.
I wanna make fun of him all the time.
Miller, just don't say nothing, bro.
[laughs] Don't say nothing.
He puts a target on himself.
Yeah, he deserve to get his ass beat.
You know what I mean?
I was gonna come beat his ass.
[indistinct chatter]
[Finch] I didn't even turn
that deuce that way.
-Yes, you did.
-No, I didn't.
He just called it. He might have seen it.
I saw you do it. Finch,
put them back please. Don't cheat.
Yeah.
I'm just talking
about cheating's your way.
You didn't see nothin', man. You lying.
I ain't lying, you lying.
Stop lying. Who you calling a liar?
I'll beat your motherfuckin' ass there.
[angry chatter]
[Finch] Who you talking about lying, boy?
Who you talking about lying, boy?
Finch.
[Finch] Just runnin'
your motherfuckin' mouth, boy.
[Randy] Dave Miller.
His mouth is foul.
But he was in L Unit.
They ran his ass out of L.
He was in K unit with me.
Everyone else that didn't come,
they finna whoop his ass in there.
He asked for it over there.
He got his ass kicked there.
Okay, where he go?
You go, today.
-I don't wanna hear it. You done!
-[Miller] I didn't do nothing.
You causing too many problems.
No, you causing too many problems.
You causing too many problems.
-[Miller] I called the bonds board
-I'm done talking!
You don't gotta deal
with seven people's breath in one second.
You ready, Chief?
He wrong, though. He wrong.
-Finch don't mess with nobody.
-[inmate] No, he don't.
It's like he'll just
it's just he'll forget
about what he did yesterday.
And come with something else new
and start another argument
about something else.
Don't worry about nobody else.
Work on you.
You got some issues built up inside.
Every day you get into it with somebody.
Every day.
Your tongue is like a little firecracker.
You don't know
what's coming out of their mouth
See? There you go, worrying about them.
This ain't about them. It's about you.
It's about both ways.
Here we go again.
I'm not finna do this arguing.
I'm not finna do this arguing.
[Miller] Here's the thing.
It's a problem with people
who want to think
they can just talk to anybody however
and push people around
however they want to.
And that's Randall.
He constantly stirring up shit.
He constantly is trying
to create a divide between people.
Dave, stop!
[narrator] With Miller continuing
to antagonize,
Randy enlists some of the older inmates
to see if they can
talk some sense into him.
One thing about this fucking shit,
I ain't tough.
Ain't trying to be tough.
That's not the principle behind it.
But you run your fucking mouth,
and you try snitching, motherfucker,
you'll get your ass handed to you,
that's all there is to it.
[inmate 2] Rocky Balboa's
fucking ass here.
Get out of here.
[inmate 3] What if I elbow him
in the face?
[chuckles]
Here he comes.
Bring a chair with you.
Gonna sit down
with the fucking wise men over here.
-What's going on?
-What's up?
What's up, Dave?
What's the situation at hand over here?
The situation this morning?
Do you know what's going on
in the barracks right now?
Off the top of my head, no.
Everybody say you got a foul mouth on you.
What people say is hearsay to go around.
The water's good. It's good fishing.
And you're fucking throwing dynamite
out the boat.
I'm not causing trouble.
We all gotta
We all gotta try to get along.
[laughs]
Y'all, that's called drama.
You the drama queen!
[Miller] No, not at all.
[inmate 4] Bye-bye!
Get along, catch a door,
and get your ass whooped.
That's three.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Determined to maintain order,
Randy and his team call a meeting.
They wanna fully establish
themselves as leaders,
and let everyone know, Miller
and the younger generation included,
that bad behavior will not be tolerated.
Hey, business time, gentlemen!
Hey, can we all get together
and come talk about this here.
Hey, business time, gentlemen!
This is our first time
being here with our freedom.
You know these older guys
giving a meeting,
it don't mean nothing.
Any inmates telling us, man,
they repeating the same shit
these folks saying, man.
Stop it. That's policing.
We don't need to hear it.
Yeah, it's useless as hell.
-[Squirrel] Love to hear it.
-Listen.
[Squirrel] Y'all wanna come down here
tell us what it is.
[inmate] Ain't no pod boss in here.
[Squirrel] Come on in, man.
[Randy] Nobody's my pod boss.
I don't have a pod boss.
The more freedom that we have up in here,
the less cause,
the less fights, the less attitudes,
the less anything up in here.
That's what we need. That mean having
everybody come together. That's one.
Hey, this concerns everybody, though!
Hey, we gonna need everybody, y'all!
Hold up on the kiosks and all that.
Sit down, my man.
But we gonna need everybody.
Hey, look, for those who don't know,
whatever one person do,
it could fix everybody, man.
If we do something bad,
know what I'm saying
It falls back on all of us.
It ain't about you.
It's about us too,
you know what I'm saying?
The less problem they have at us,
the less problem they got
to come down here and see us,
the more we can get out of the situation.
I just don't want the 23 and 1,
know what I'm saying?
Now, anything but that.
Try to fix that problem.
That's basically what I be wanting.
We gonna try to do it a little better.
That's the only thing I want
out of this situation.
Just a little better
than what the deputies will get.
You feel what I'm saying?
I consider myself
as being one of the elders
with some of the other guys.
All the younger guys that's younger,
man, know what I'm saying,
y'all got kids, man.
Y'all grown, just like we grown men.
Ain't no one man
should have to tell another man,
"Put your shirt on.
Don't sit on the table. Don't do this."
Come on, man.
With the young folks, we not in bullshit
like the old folks is getting into.
Ain't nobody in charge.
It's not what you say,
it's how you say it.
And our generation of us being young,
we don't like being talked to crazy.
We're not gonna wanna listen.
We wanna be the opposite
and rebellious when it comes to that.
[Big Country] I ain't shut my door
no more.
That door right there. It's open 24.
When I go to sleep, it gonna be wide open.
I ain't shutting it no more.
I don't want y'all to take that privilege.
And I'll do my best
not to take that privilege from y'all.
All this shit is new to everybody, though.
You feel what I'm saying?
This shit brand-new to most of us.
That's why it's gonna be a minute
to get this shit under control, man.
It's some structure that needs to happen.
We need structure somewhere, evidently,
'cause we're here. So somewhere
in our life we didn't have structure.
Just 'cause you're used to talking
some way to this dude,
you can't talk like that to every dude.
Yeah, but everybody knows
Squirrel talking about
Listen, I'm not
necessarily talking about
-Nah, he said
-Hold on.
I'm not necessarily
talking about just Squirrel.
I'm talking about each one to each one.
Us to each one.
We gonna respect everyone
up in here, no matter who you are,
what you are, or how you are.
We got to respect one another.
Yes, I don't care how old you is,
you get your ass beat.
I don't give a fuck.
You old, I don't give a fuck how old.
You disrespect me, I'll disrespect back.
But I'm gonna disrespect back worse.
There's gonna be some bullshit
and probably some fights,
but if it come to that bullshit there,
we ain't gonna do this
out here in the open.
If you have to
Handle it in the quarters.
Handle it in the quarters.
[Finch] Handle it in the quarters.
We ain't gonna do this in the spotlight
and bring all that drama.
Then once it's over with, it's over with.
We gonna do the jailhouse rules,
know what I'm saying?
The ones they say they want,
'cause they don't feel like it.
We gonna stay behind the door.
They watching.
First motherfucker
they catch out of bounds,
that's a good enough reason
to say, "Hey, 23 and 1."
But we out, you know what I'm saying?
We trying to stay that way.
The young niggas,
we not going to be the ones to fuck it up.
[Mayham] Yeah.
No, man. We kicking back smooth,
like Michael Jackson shoes.
We ain't gonna do nothing to them bitch.
They can't think to blame shit on us.
We not gonna be one of 'em.
Oldheads. They feel like
they can do whatever they wanna do
to control the shit that other people do.
But that's what's gonna start problems.
I'm saying about the unit, though.
Fuck the fighting shit.
About the unit,
we fighting for each other.
[clock ticking]
[narrator] After the deputies finish
their daily head count
to make sure no one is missing or injured,
H Unit begins its first night
with unlocked doors.
[Eastside] Aight. Get up out of here.
[indistinct chatter]
[laughing]
There's some mindsets that say, "Well,
the older guys, they're experienced,
and you get them on board,
and that runs the whole unit."
"And the younger folks
will do what they say."
That's a nice idea, you know.
The younger guys have a different opinion.
The younger folks don't want
the older folks telling 'em what to do.
[indistinct chatter and laughing]
There was some tension in the air.
It was rowdy with them doors.
Everybody was acting crazy.
Motherfuckers acting wild.
I'm like, "Man, what the fuck?"
This shit ain't gonna last.
I can't wait till they lock the door.
-Damn.
-All right, I can't.
They want to act like an animal,
you know what animals do.
Animals get locked up.
[yelling]
[Big Country] I ain't shut my door
tonight. My door will be wide open.
I'll be on the floor
with my socks and shoes on.
Yeah.
[narrator] As the inmates get ready
for their first night of the experiment,
some worry that the open doors
could mean a violent settling of scores.
Especially for those
who have ongoing disputes.
[suspenseful music playing]
God don't tell us
to run away when it's hard.
But he does tell us stay on that course.
But at the same time, keep your composure.
Ain't nobody gonna sleep tonight.
I don't trust nobody. Ain't gonna lie.
I'm in that unit.
I'm not gonna sleep with the door open.
Like, I'm not worrying
about nobody coming to fight me,
'cause I can get up in a fight.
But I'm worrying
about somebody coming to stab me.
Move forward, you gotta think two ahead
two steps forward, you know?
All right, then. Y'all be safe, bro.
Be careful, aight. See y'all tomorrow.
[tense music playing]
Anything could go on in here, though,
so you gotta be ten toes down
and on your pivot all the time.
In here with straight,
I ain't gonna say criminals but
So anything could happen.
There's definitely some worry.
[inmates] Oh!
Bad things happen in here.
Places like this, you never know.
Never know what can happen.
Zero to sixty at any minute.
[tense music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[music builds, then fades out]
[mellow music playing]
Randall!
[knocking]
[Dennis] I said, Randall.
What you out for?
[Randall speaks indistinctly]
I was up all night. [laughs]
Upper level, upper level, come on.
Come on and get chow.
Wake your celly up.
[inmate] Hey, wake up.
[Mayham] Wake your celly up.
Wake your celly up.
I went to sleep about 10:30.
I kinda just pay attention to me, man.
It's too much. You know what I'm saying?
I don't really focus on anybody else,
just go up there and go to sleep.
[bluesy music playing]
This gonna be a routine
in this motherfucker.
Motherfucker gonna This shit gonna work
once we get used to this shit.
There's gonna be
a couple kinks the first few days.
I slept with both eyes open.
Not really, just, you know,
I slept with both eyes open, though.
I can hear everything.
If you scared that a motherfucker's
gonna run in your shit,
and take your shit, you's a ho.
That's just it.
[laughs]
[Eastside] County man
was definitely on the prowl.
County man was a real fucking thing.
He was attacking at nighttime.
Dre came in here
and fucking beat me up in my sleep.
[Eastside] With a flip-flop.
With a flip-flop.
[rhythmic music playing]
[Dre] Dat way.
[Eastside] Dat way.
[Dre] Pound your ass.
Didn't I say I'd get you?
I can't get you no more?
[Eastside] Love that.
[Dre] All right. Good night, sweets.
[Ty] He also told me
that he was watching us sleep.
-[Eastside] What the fuck?
-Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that.
Oh shit.
I never seen no shit like that
before in my life. I haven't.
[laughs]
[hip-hop music playing]
The first night went well, but we still
hadn't completed the whole 24 hours.
In the beginning,
everybody being an alpha male,
wasn't so receptive of certain individuals
telling them what to do,
but everything kind of panned out,
and it worked itself out.
[indistinct chatter]
[music stops]
[Miller] I beat the ass of
all you cheaters!
You better watch how you talk to me,
or I'm gonna beat your ass.
[indistinct]
I can't lie about the truth.
[Willie] Hey, Scott, we don't want
to get this program shut down.
[indistinct]
[dramatic music playing]
I said, "Oh, here we go again."
I'm not the only one
having a problem with this.
I don't know what you call him,
a kid, a grown man.
I don't want to listen
to no bullshit every day.
A lot of folks in here,
you're nerve-racking to them.
'Cause you just don't know how to stop.
Ecclesiastes, chapter 3.
Number 6.
Time to speak and time to keep silent.
That's why I get upset.
You come at me out of nowhere
with an attitude, though.
I have to come at you
'cause you don't want to listen to nobody.
You want to outtalk them.
That's exactly what you're doing to me
when I try and tell
Y'all bumping heads 'cause y'all
both are outgoing and talk a lot.
Boy, you talk reckless to people.
Sometimes you gotta speak up
for yourself too.
You can't control other people.
But you can control yourself.
[Randy] You gotta think about
the things that come out your mouth.
When you do try to have a conversation,
you're not going nowhere.
You're just going around in circles, bro.
That's irritating to folks.
You is like a woman.
[Randy] Outta here.
I'm going.
Man.
Won't stop.
Now do you see?
I'm just so tired of him.
I just be trying my best to help him.
The more I help, the more they turn on me.
So, I wash my hands.
You only can do so much for folks.
It's open now.
Open season.
Open season.
You know what open season mean?
It's free. Free.
[Randy] Every day free.
-On sight.
-That a way.
Bald head mother
[indistinct chatter]
When an inmate comes in,
and disrupts the situation
that we have good harmony coming in,
you know,
we feel some type of way,
and we gotta react on it.
[inmate] They're just there.
Come and talk.
[narrator] The sheriff's program
comes to the end of its first 24 hours.
The deputies are
about to enter the unit for a head count
and distribution of medicine.
[Wutzke] It's happening.
Upstairs?
In my cell.
Violence is never the key. I don't ever
We don't want to hurt or touch nobody.
That's not really what this is about.
But sometimes that's what somebody needs.
[inmate] I tell you what,
I'm just gonna go like this Boom.
And watch how
his fucking eye hangs out his mouth.
[Wutzke] Let's stop at that, though.
You and me, we gotta stop with that.
[indistinct]
-You hear me?
-[inmate] I hear ya on this.
-Just chitchat, that's all this is.
-[inmate] What if he doesn't fall down?
[Wutzke] Might catch one more.
He know it coming too.
Why do I feel hot right now
'cause of this shit?
[Wutzke] I feel like don't get hyped.
Keeping that cool mellow head on yourself.
There's repercussions
to the shit you do in life.
You're gonna have to pay the piper,
and it might not be in a good way.
You know, you made the bed. Lay in it.
-[Wutzke] Pill call?
-Pill call is coming.
[tense music playing]
No. No. No. No.
Why you making me look like a dumbass?
What's your punk-ass tryin' to do, bitch.
[poignant strings music playing]