tv Lockup Tampa MSNBC December 2, 2011 8:00pm-9:00pm PST
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due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. i hit him in his jaw and he fell on the ground and i got on top of him. >> the cop finds that >> the convict finds that the jail offers a chance for revenge. >> all i remember telling him is remember me, remember me? >> when mommy gets home are you going to live with mommy or live with grammy? >> a former stripper fears losing her daughter. >> i need to go before my mom, like, runs way with my kid or something.
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>> it's a taste of tampa behind bars. >> just close your eyes and eat it and make the best of it. when it comes to good times, tampa, florida, has a lot to offer, but just outside downtown is a grim reminder of how good times can go bad. the hillsborough county jail consists of two sprawling facilities located four miles away from each other. combined they can house close to 5,000 inmates. most of the men and women here have recently been arrested and have not been convicted of a crime but are awaiting trial for settlement of their cases. some inmates have been convicted but are serving short sentences.
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usually less than two years. either way, time here is no vacation. >> jail is a pretty awful place. this is by no stretch of the mile some kind of spa. you're here for a reason and you have to make the best of a bad situation when you can. >> 31-year-old sheree dean is trying to do just that. dean is serving the last 30 days of a 6-month sentence for cocaine possession. she developed an addiction from working in strip clubs and prostitution. >> i started out being a topless stripper. i was like oh my god, i would never dance nude, i would never do that. then i started dancing nude and started meeting customers for money. it's like a whole lifestyle. i always worked at high-end clubs and dealt with high-end people who had a lot of money.
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i had nice cars, nice house. i had big $10,000 rims on my car. had a rolex. all my jeans were, like, true religion. >> but the lifestyle eventually led to the problems that brought dean to jail. >> started with ecstasy then i started doing pills and coke. when you do more pills you start to get tired and need the coke to bring you back up. i felt like without that i wasn't going to make any money. >> dean met her clients through her job at the strip club. >> all the guys i see are rich people. i stick with high-end guys. a guy asked me, he's like, what do you think about when you're doing this? i'm thinking about what i'm going to spend the money on. >> some of dean's past customers have continued to send her money while she's in jail. >> who wrote you that? >> my customer, randy. >> hi, my pretty lady. i hope my princess is okay. i have been thinking about you. i want to let you know i love and miss you and hope you're okay. hope to see you and we'll have some fun soon. love you.
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>> how much did he send you? >> like $100 every couple weeks. he's like a lonely guy, so, you know, we talk and i act like i care about all the stuff he has to say. they don't know nothing about me. i'm there to fulfill your fantasy and to leave. i don't care about you, your wife, your dog or nothing else. i care about how much money you brought and that's about it. some people have talents. some can write and sing and dance. i can hustle men for money. that's the one thing i've ever been good at. >> over in the jail's men's confinement unit, jason flores has been enamored of women like sheree dean and knows about tampa's thriving strip club industry. >> there's a lot of strip clubs here. tampa is the spot. there are a lot of chicks that come from out of down who come here just to dance.
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when you ask me about my ideal chick, that is her. see, she doesn't have any inhibitions. that's a stripper. that's my stripper. i respect a dancer who's got a mean hustle. some girls just don't have the hustle in them. there's other girls that can hustle. i mean, you can walk in the strip club and they can talk you out of your jeans and your shirt and have you walk to your car in your boxers, you know? >> 205. one man. >> flores isn't likely to meet his ideal woman any time soon. he has been temporarily transferred from state prison to hillsborough county to appeal his sentence in the nearby court. >> flores' case is a 25-year sentence. our policy is is anybody with a 25-year sentence or over gets sent to confinement. while they are running through the court systems we don't want the population to be a training ground for criminals. >> flores received a sentence in
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part of a deal many which he pled guilty to multiple felonies. including home invasion robbery and two counts of attempted murder. but he says he is innocent. >> i had to take a plea marie bargain because my co-defendants were going to testify against me and say he had something to do with it or he played this role in the crime. >> according to prosecutors, flores and two co-defendants broke into a tampa home with the intention of stealing prescription drugs. they allege that flores and his male co-defendant were masked and shot one of home's occupants and injured two others. both the victims and flores' co-defendant were prepared to testify that flores was the man with the gun. >> they say it all revolved around me. if it wasn't for me, it would have never happened. >> flores hopes his appeal will reduce his sentence by at least a decade. >> the 25 years that i have,
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i'll be 53 when i get out. i don't have any kids. i don't have a family like that. so i would at least want to get out with enough time to have at least a family. that's my whole goal. >> it wouldn't be flores' first experience with starting over. seven years ago he spent 2 1/2 years in prison for grand theft auto. but that was just one more chapter in a life worthy of a novel one in which his youth was robbed from him and might have led him down a dark path. coming up -- >> it was like this demonic seed that was planted in my son's soul. >> the horrific event that changed both jason flores and his mother forever. and sheree dean reveals a morbid fascination. >> some people like baseball and football. i like serial killers. all energy development comes with some risk,
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for those inmates at the hillsborough county jail in tampa who have actually been convicted of a crime, coming to terms with the past might be the difference between ever making it on the outside or not. >> how you doing today? >> april arnold decided to do that four years ago during her last stay here. back then, she was one of the better known revolving door inmates. >> i actually counted. i've been to jail 43 times and to prison twice. cocaine, crack, marijuana, possession, paraphernalia, you know, all that. >> all right. this is april arnold. her arrest date was august the 20th of 1997. possession of cocaine is her most severe charge. you can see she's really young there. back in that time i didn't know her, but i heard lots of stories. everybody knew when she was coming. this is where it gets hard.
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the face starts to change. this is probably where she was sentenced to some time, some serious time. and this was where we start to see the hard april. >> i would fight the officers. there were probably at least a dozen of them can tell you how many times they've handcuffed me to the bed, maced me, fought me. >> she came to jail being a complete and total disruption all the time. >> i just didn't care. i just wanted to get back out so i could finish getting high again. every time i'd come, all those times, i'd say, god, get me out of jail and i'll never do it again. and i would get out and come back. >> during arnold's last jail term almost four years ago she received tragic news. >> after six months of being here, my sister passed. yeah. she was 31 and she had a heart attack from smoking crack. and she had -- she wasn't even -- her life was not as out of control as mine was.
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she wasn't a prostituter. she was a home smoker. she had her kids. she still juggled life on life's terms but had a heart attack. but at that time i really prayed. god, please get me out of here. this time it just felt different. >> she said, i'm never coming back and we hear it a lot. she meant it. her years welled with tears and she said you'll see me again but it won't be in orange. >> good afternoon. how are you? my name's april. i work along with a ministry called created. >> she was in civilian clothing walking into this jail with a badge as a visitor to mentor to the current females. >> i guess i started prostituting and heavy drugs at the age of 18. and from 18 to the age of 31, i was just in and out of this jail. >> i met other girls in the street and started doing robberies and burglaries and home invasions and robbing the guys. i would get in their car and i would just pickpocket them and
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they would never know i became one of the world's famous pickpocketers. i can pickpocket your wallet with my toe. you have to be tired. you have to be ready to stop. so many decisions you could make. you have make the decision sometimes to take the hard way. you guys can change. i don't care if you feel that there's no hope out there, there's no hope for your life, that you suck or whatever, you don't. you can change. >> we love having her come back and we love having her mentor. we utilize her as a tool so we can get these females through these programs and hopefully get a handful of them to turn out like her. >> i want to thank you guys for having me here and i'm really looking forward to getting to know anybody that would like to get to know us. thank you. [ applause ] >> it's good to see you always. >> yes. i'll be back next week. you know i will. >> it will be a pleasure. >> thank you.
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>> while april arnold volunteers to mentor women whose drug problems often coincide with jobs in the sex industry, sheree dean feels no need for such mentoring. nearing the end of a six-month sentence, she's anxious to get back home. >> my sister-in-law sent them to me. that's me and my daughter when i was pretty. >> what's the hard part about seeing this picture? >> i was so pretty. you have makeup and look pretty. here you don't have nothing. no lotion, no makeup, no bronzer, no lip liner, nothing. >> because the jail doesn't allow the inmates to purchase cosmetics, dean's beauty arsenal is one simple tool. >> we break up the pencil and put the graphite in here and take it and wet it to put it on our eyes. i call it graphite black. >> while in jail, dean keeps a distance from other inmates and has not made many friends, but there's one criminal element she's drawn to.
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>> some people like baseball and football. i like serial killers. i think anybody who can do what they do is -- i don't want to say cool, but i think that it's cool. i feel like they're secure and really confident people and, like, i want to be that confident and be able to control people like that. i think that violence and all that stuff, i think it's hot. i would definitely be part of their fan club. i want to write them. i want serial killers to write me and i want to be their best friends. >> but the person who most often writes dean is his 6-year-old daughter, reina. >> dear mommy, i love you more than the animals in the world and the stars in the sky. i love you so much. you're so special to me. you're so beautiful to me. you're so fun to make arts and crafts with. i miss you so much and hope you come home very soon. you're the bestest person i have ever played with. look in the back for the picture i drew you. that's me and her. i'm assuming that's a zebra.
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she is the opposite of me. she loves school and listens to country music. she deserves a better mom than me because she's such a good girl. >> what comes to your mind when you read that letter? >> just how sweet she is. this makes me feel special. it makes me feel good. but it makes me feel bad that i should be there with her. >> but reina is in the care of sheree's mother and that's a major source of conflict for sheree. >> my mom treats her like she is her kid. she does things that i would never do. she parents her different than i would. she kind of pisses me off. she takes over the role of being a mom, not a grandma. >> i see that next to your picture of your daughter you have your "helter-skelter" books. >> yeah. is that weird? coming up -- >> the only jail i know of that does a heart-healthy menu. >> the challenge of cooking 14
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million meals a year. and -- >> he grabs both of us by our necks, held us on the ground and started choking us. >> the horrific crime that forever changed jason flores. >> he walks over to me and wraps his arms around my leg and says, mommy, somebody raped me. ok, people. show me the best way to design a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia. hut! go! here it comes! right on the numbers! boom! get it! spin! oh, nice hands! chest bump. ugh! good job, man. nice! okay, halftime. now, this is my favorite play.
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jail food rarely earns praise from its critics and the hillsborough county jail in tampa has more than 3,000 of them secured within its confines. >> the food is crappy. >> the food is horrible. >> it is garbage. the food is, like, just enough to get you by. >> i think that the food tastes reasonably good. >> despite the complaints, the man in charge of the jail's kitchen takes great pride in the nearly 4 million meals prepared each year. >> we make up 11,000 meals a day and a 28-day cycle menu with a variety for inmates. this is our breakfast meal for
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tomorrow. it his a biscuit, a one ounce slice of bologna, comes with cereal, with a carton of milk and a violate min enriched -- vitamin enriched fortified beverage. they are served with breakfast, lunch and dinner. we have to serve nutritious meals. they have to leave here in better health than when they came here. >> when you come up, last name and bunk number. >> 71. >> and our last menu design we decided to make this a heart-healthy menu. it's the only jail in florida that i know of that does a heart-healthy menu. >> one of the inmates in the kitchen, john powers, was a chef before he was brought to hillsborough county on grand theft charges. he pled not guilty and is awaiting trial. but he has reached a verdict on the kitchen's recipes. >> i critique it. i say, they could have used some more cornstarch or salt or garlic. but they are trying to have a
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budget contain only spend so much per inmate for food. so you just take in the stride and close your eyes and eat it and make the best of it. >> we got cheeseburgers and pizzas and steak and cheese sandwiches and ice cream. in prison compared to this, it's no comparison. there's chicken in here but the chicken is not -- it's not real good chicken. >> jason flores has temporarily transferred to the jail from state prison in order to appeal his sentence for murder. >> you are more restricted in county jail. in prison it's like another world. it is a society, where there's drugs, where there's prostitution by male inmates. there's tattoos. anything nupt prison you can get. it's another world. >> it's a world very different than the one in which flores was raised. >> our real dad was a cop. step dad was a cop. we had a good life growing up. we were always in sports,
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baseball, football, popular in school. good grades. >> but when flores was 11 years old his world was shattered by a vicious attack. >> me and my best friend were riding our bikes. and there was a guy that was waiting at the bus stop and he convinced us to use our bikes to take him somewhere. we ended up going through a shortcut supposedly which was a cut through by some woods and that's when he turned violent and that's when he grabbed both of us by our necks and held us on the ground and started choking us. well, from that point on, that's whenever the molestation took part. >> don't you miss jason, huh? >> flores' mother, julie cornett vividly remembers the moment jason came home. >> he wraps his arms around my leg and looks at me and says, mommy, somebody raped me.
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it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my life. >> it was devastating. it was extremely traumatic. because after this happened it's like my innocence was gone. >> he dropped out of football. jason stopped playing baseball. jason didn't want to go to school. there was no more kisses good night, there was no more hugs. jason started sleeping with weapons in his room. he would sleep with baseball bats. his whole life changed. >> once someone found out about it, i cut them out of my life. i wouldn't want to associate with them anymore. because i knew that they knew. >> flores says it wasn't long before he joined a gang and began using drugs. he paid for his habit by stealing cars and breaking into homes. >> it was like this demonic seed that was planted in my son's soul. and we couldn't kill the weed. >> flores was able to identify
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his attacker, a man named kevin kinder. eventually kinder was convicted and incarcerated for attacking flores and three other boys. but cornett says that wasn't the end of their nightmare. >> kevin kinder got sentenced to 17 years. he only served six. he got released and when he got released, i followed him everywhere he went. >> some mothers are going to fight for their kids until the day they die. my mom is the one that's going to fight until she dies. >> she not only tracked kinder and reported his activities to the authorities. which eventually led to his arrest for being in possession of a stolen car and having pornography on his computer. a violation of his parole. this time he was sentenced to 60 years. >> kevin kinder taught me things about people, there are more sex offenders out there than him. core net has continued to the advocate for sex victims and
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started two nonprofits. one to counsel victim and the other to put sex offenders in prison. >> i've had 21 sex offenders in the last couple years locked up. you know how many kids i saved? that's a lot. >> but flores says his mother's advocacy only deepened his wounds. >> it was something that happened to me that i never want anyone to know about. i wanted to forget about it. my mother wouldn't let it rest. i used to hate my mother for it. my mother was on the news all the time and on shows and stuff. and my friends knew my mother and i used to tell them, no it wasn't me. it was my brother. so you know, so it's taken me a long time to accept it, be able to talk about it. >> despite his shame over the publicity, flores says his mother used it to get him help. her public appeals resulted in several offers from reputable professionals for mentor and counsel him. but he turned his back on everyone. >> after this happened it was
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like, it was a grown-up that did this, it's like now i don't trust grown-ups. it's like when you're a victim of something, no matter what it is, physical, sexual, verbal, no matter, when you live a life with so much trauma, that throughout life growing up, if someone else don't victimize you, you victimize yourself. i am my own worst enemy in that respect. >> flores eventually reestablished a positive relationship with his mother. >> come here, baby girl. and now, core net -- cornett is less vocal about her son when she works with other victims and their families. >> it's not about me. it's not about jason anymore. our damage is done. there's nothing that's going to fix what we have. we're broken and i put it together the best i can with superglue and i have to move on. >> while flores says his shame he felt over his case going public helped lead him to crime, it was an earlier stay at the hillsborough county jail that led to another strange chapter in his life.
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one in which he would exact revenge on the man who stole his childhood. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪
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here's what is happening. the state is set for a major announcement from republican presidential candidate herman cain on saturday. sources tell nbc news heed likely to drop out of the race. the cain campaign says no decision on that has been made. secretary of defense leon panetta said he is concerned with the volatile region. back to our program. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised.
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matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> being here -- >> you believe it because you have to believe it. >> i know it, yeah. >> nearing the end of a six-month sentence in the hillsborough county jail in tampa, florida, sheree dean says she's ready to give up her life of drug use and prostitution. >> i realize if i keep doing the [ bleep ] that i'm doing i will keep walking through the doors. oh, didn't you just leave? there are people who come in here are detoxing and strung out. i used to do that personally. it's embarrassing, it's humiliating. i never, ever want to be that person again. >> the deputy lori garcia is concerned dean refused the court's officer of a drug program. >> she chose not to be enrolled in a drug program but she should
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be. she has to be educated on what brought her here. that is one that is not quite ready yet, and she might come back. >> what are you going to do when you leave here? >> go to cosmetology school and graduate. >> dean says she will open a beauty school after her release. first she has to raise the money which she plans to do by temporarily returning to her old job as a stripper. >> you worry about getting hired? >> yeah. i gained so much weight in here. i gained 40 pounds. i'm 170 something. i'm big. you have to be in shape. looks are everything. the job where you have to be a beautiful person. like, i know if you go and go on a cooking diet, you'll lose all of it in a week. that's the worst thing in the world. that would be, like, my only worry, is the drugs again to get even skinnier. >> in the meantime, dean practices her future career on other inmates. but in jail, resources are few. >> hairspray would be great. gel would be great. mousse would be great. eyeliner would be wonderful.
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the reality is you get deodorant, lotion and hair grease. this is the only stuff you're allowed to have in here. deodorant you can scrunch up in your hands. before deodorant, i used to get jell-o and pour it in a cup. but then i think people said ants were getting in their hair. when they laid outside and stuff. >> deans says her skills are in high demand but she is selective about who she practices on. >> i only have a few people. i don't want to be like these people. there are a few nice people in here, but basically everybody sucks. their stories are so stupid. they have nothing interesting to say. all they care about is when they're going to go get high again and their loser boyfriends. they're just stupid. what do they say -- >> they say she's stuck up and
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she's crazy. >> i'm crazy. >> but other inmates in the unit aren't as taken by dean's charms. >> all i see about sheree is she's fake. i don't like anything about her. she gets under my skin. i try to stay away from her. >> is this supposed to hurt my feelings? i could care less about what these people think of me. i don't need these people to like me or think i'm cool or anything. these people are scum. she's shaving her armpits with the clippers that people are supposed to cut their hair with. that's disgusting. are you almost done with those? i need them for five minutes. i would rather be hated than liked. i would never associate with these people in here. give me the people more reason to talk about me. i can't wait to get out of here. i want to eat real food. i want to put on makeup. i want to go to work.
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i want to make money. i just can't wait. i hate this place. i hate these people. i've got to go. >> jason flores seems to get along with his fellow inmates. >> you ain't keeping up on your -- >> confinement inmates are in their cells 23 hours a day, but flores says it doesn't bother him. >> me, i have a lot of experience. i've done a lot of time in confinement. i spent 13 months in confinement solid in prison. well, if you know how to do time, you use your environment and what you have to pastime the best way you can. without spending too much time in your head. >> flores is at the jail appealing his 25-year sentence for home invasion robbery and attempted murder. and even with so much on the
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line, this stay at hillsborough county might prove less traumatic than a prior stay when he was arrested several years earlier. that's when he came face to face with an inmate named kevin kinder. the same man who raped him when he was a young boy. >> it was actually in a holding area where everyone goes before they go to court. i seen the guy standing on the wall and i handed my lawyer's folder to the guy next to me and i told him make sure i get this back. >> let's see where he's at. >> flores' mother, judy cornett, who dedicated most of her life to keeping kinder in prison, knew both men were due in court that morning. >> one was in one courtroom at 9:00. the other one was 9:00. i was bouncing back and forth to the courtrooms and neither one of them was in the courtroom. >> sure enough he was talking to the officer. the deputy. they were standing next to each other having a conversation. i worked over to the water fountain which was three feet behind them. they had their backs to it.
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i turned around from the water fountain and walked up right next to him and i got off on him nice. i hit him in his jaw and he fell on the ground. i got on top of him. the officer grabbed me from behind. it was like an out of body experience. >> i stopped somebody in the hallway saying can you find out. kevin's not in court. jason's not in court. she came out with a smile and a grin and she said that jason beat the [ bleep ] out of kevin kinder. >> all i remember telling him is remember me? remember me? remember me? he was laying on the ground. i don't think he really heard what i was saying. it felt good to say it. >> i'm wanting to say, yay, but how dare you, jason, do this? now you're going to get another charge and in trouble. i was in a panic. >> i didn't want to scuffle with him or grab him. or wrestle with him. i wanted to break his jaw. i wanted to punish him. >> i think that jason probably needed that.
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>> the world was, like, lifted off my shoulders, you know? i was in denial for so many years about dealing -- i didn't have a problem or nothing. when this encounter happened, it was like all these emotions came back. it was just like it was really overwhelming. my lawyer intervened and told the detective there's no way you're going to prosecute my client, because if we go in front of a jury, what jury is going to convict my client of any kind of aggression toward his attacker? so it went away. they didn't pursue it. >> flores says things could have been much worse. >> if the deputy wasn't there, he was done. i would have beat him and choked him and tried to break his neck. i would have killed him. i would have. i would have killed him without a thought in my mind. i would have beat his corpse. after he was dead, i still would have punished him. you know? i would have felt good about it. that's what would happen if i
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had got him by himself. i wouldn't be that lucky. you know, god's not that good to me. coming up -- >> i think you're one hell of a person to be able to control and manipulate the minds of so many. >> sheree dean seeks a friendship with a psychopath. >> that's like a god to me. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the personal attention tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair.
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or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. is your cholesterol where your doctor wants? ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. [ female announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. i when a former inmate returns to jail, it's usually considered a setback. >> thank you. >> but for april arnold it's a victory. a former cocaine addict, arnold was detained at the hillsborough county jail in tampa more than 40 times before her 30th birthday.
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four years ago, she got off drugs and began returning to mentor other women. >> i just give support to women that just feel hopeless, that feel lost. i bring a lot of hope to these women and to the people i meet. hey, julie, how are you? >> julie vaughn is serving time and has prior convictions of trespassing and drug paraphernalia. >> i'm 36 now. since i was 19 until now, going back and forth, trying to get clean, messing up and using again, trying to get clean. i can remember a time when i looked down on people who smoked crack because i was only snorting coke. i looked down on hookers because i was only a dancer. every time i went out i went below my line of morals. i truly believe there's nothing i can go below now besides wind up dead. >> when is enough going to be enough, julie? you're going to get your throat cut or go to prison. for five years. aren't you tired? >> yes. >> i started out when i was 18 prostituting and smoking crack. doing robberies.
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sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't. i'm planting the seed. they are listening eventually. i wish i had somebody when i was in my addiction like that. >> i want to be like you one day. be clean and sober. i want to help people like me. >> i know you can do it. >> thank you. >> you have to make the hard decision, though. you have to stick through it. >> sheree dean says she's also committed to staying out of jail though she rejected help from other inmates or staff. but during her six-month stay here she has corresponded with several people on the outside including past clients and her 6-year-old daughter. now she's decided to solicit a new pen pal. >> dear charles. hello. i'm sure you get all kinds of letters from all kinds of people for whatever reasons. i like to think i'm a little different. >> dean has written a letter to charles manson in hopes of starting a friendship.
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>> i am not disturbed by people in your type of situation. i think you're one hell of a person to manipulate the minds of so many. that's a god to me. i know what he did is a crappy thing but anyone who can do stuff like that you have to be a different kind of person. >> have you ever thought of the victims in any of these cases? >> no. so i'll keep this short and sweet. just let you know there's someone on your side and still thinking of you. i'm in a county right now, in a crappy bull [ bleep ] situation but i'll be out soon and i hope to keep in touch. >> think charles manson is going to write you back? >> i would hope so. probably not. you never know. stranger things have happened. hopefully he will write back. it will make my life. >> jason flores is fighting for his life or at least to get a decade off his 25-year prison sentence for home invasion robbery and attempted murder.
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he is due in court in less than 24 hours. >> i mean, yeah, i'm a little anxious, but i'm not really thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow or, you know, if anything's going to happen tomorrow. when tomorrow comes i'm going to go to court and hopefully -- i'm just going to hope, you know, i hope something good happens. >> his mother, judy cornett, has come for a visit along with family friend, pam abby. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> where are we at? >> f-15. >> all visitation at hillsborough county takes place through closed-circuit television so flores and his mother are not allowed physical contact. >> my baby. there he is. >> their visits are usually marked by mixed emotions. >> cut it out. stop. >> i know. i'm sorry, guys.
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>> why are you crying? >> i started on the way here. just because we have court tomorrow -- >> why? >> -- and just the stress. so tomorrow is just going in begging for mercy and hopefully they'll reduce your sentence or something. >> it doesn't really matter either way. i mean, i want them to knock off the time, you know. >> yeah. >> but if they don't i have to do the 25, then whatever, i'll do it. no big deal. >> what do you mean no big deal? >> they have to let me go eventually. >> i know. >> i'll be gray and bald. >> i'll be a 53-year-old stud when i get out. >> we're talking about pulling up to pick you up on our motorcycles all gray and old. i'd have to be in the side car and have somebody drive me with an oxygen tank. hopefully the judge will make a good decision and support us a little bit and see our side of everything and understand, you know, that we're just a normal family. >> there's nothing normal about us. >> there is nothing normal about
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us. >> okay. we're abnormally normal family. well, stay strong tomorrow. i'll do my best. all right. we're down to 17, 16 seconds. we're down to 17, 16 seconds. so i love you. >> all right. i love you, too. >> i'll see you tomorrow. and just be strong. >> all right, mom, i love you, too. >> all right. >> bye. >> bye, pam. love you, too. bye. >> i would rather have my freedom and not have to deal with none of this but because the situation is what it is i can deal with it. you know. but her, it's hard for her. she sees me as her first born, her little boy. it's hard for her to see me in this situation. >> i just want him home. that's all. i just want him to come home, and i know it's not going to happen. >> that's not going to happen. >> i want him home for christmas, i want him home for another birthday. >> get it all out tonight. get it all out tonight.
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>> just a baby. i just miss him so much. coming up -- >> that's not even a question. >> sheree dean confronts her worst fear. >> are you going to go live with mommy or are you going to live with grammy? ♪ [ male announcer ] sometimes, a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. is that what i think it is?
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during her incarceration at the hillsborough county jail, sheree dean's life has been occupied with disdain for other inmates, an obsession with serial killers and hopes of someday opening a beauty salon. almost every week she is confronted with an uncomfortable reality. >> last time my daughter was like, mom, i don't like you in that outfit. i'm like, i don't like this outfit, either. >> dean's 6-year-old daughter, reina is in the care of sheree's mom.
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e and that's become a source of tension. >> she treats her like she's her kid. >> reina's my life. that's my joy. just like sheree, always been, you know, my daughter. >> she comes here every sunday and brings my daughter but it pisses me off. she holds my daughter like i would hold her and sits and plays with her hair. i appreciate the fact she helps her out. i think she tries to be more than a mother. >> you tell me where we're going. >> that's my daughter. i should be able to raise her the way i want to. not the way she wants to. apparently she didn't do such a great job raising me because obviously look how i came out. but -- >> i've done the tough love with her, you know. i've told her, you don't get off drugs, you're not welcome here no more. you know? then five minutes later it's like come back home, sheree, i'll help you, you know? i've helped her so many times. you have to want to have help. sheree realizes now i won't let her have her daughter until she gets help. she's not going to ruin my
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granddaughter's life by being around drug addicts. wow, they put us all the way at the end. reina loves it with us. i tell her, mommy's getting out, you're going to go live with her, oh, i don't want to live with her, mommy can live with me here with you and papa. >> that kills me. i've done everything to get away from my mom. i feel like i'm back to childhood again like my mom won. she gets to raise my daughter now. hey, pumpkin. my mom is a really controlling person and she doesn't let nobody make decisions for themselves. so i never want my daughter to go through the stuff i, you know, went through. >> you look like you lost weight. >> i'm trying. >> are you not eating that cruddy food? >> i keep working out. >> i see it in your face. what do you have, black stuff on your eyebrows? >> it's eye liner. >> where the heck do you get eye liner from? >> pencil. >> you know, that's not good for you, sheree. why do you do it? >> i'm stuck in this hell hole.
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i have nothing better to do. hey, boo. i can't see you. what's up with your hair? >> had the window down. it was all straight. i didn't think about bringing a brush. are you singing to your mom again? >> what song are you singing, pumpkin? >> i forgot the name. >> did you hear the gucci man song? weirdo? >> we don't play that music. we play country music. >> stop making my daughter a country bumpkin. we'll change that when mommy comes home. >> i don't like country. >> l yes you do. who's taylor swift? >> i don't like the rest of country. >> she likes country. >> i like taylor swift and that's it. >> eventually, the conversation turns to the most troubling topic between the two women. >> so what are you going to do when mommy gets home? >> um --
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i don't know. >> are you going to go live with mommy or are you going to live with grammy? >> i don't know. >> you better know. that's not even a question. you're going to live with your mom, whenever your mom goes. >> you all right? >> i guess. >> sheree, you have one minute left. so we'll be here next sunday. >> pumpkin, i love you. i miss you. bye, pumpkin. bye. who do you want to live with when your mom comes home? why do you even say that to somebody's kid while i'm sitting in jail? like, who does that? >> your mommy loves you. >> yes. >> she just does dumb stuff all the time. she wants to make me feel like my daughter loves her more or something. >> who loves you more, though? grammy? does grammy love you? >> yes. >> i can't even think right now,
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i'm so pissed off. just -- and my mom that she even does that. of course my daughter is going to live with me when i leave. this is why i don't get along with my mom because of stupid [ bleep ] like that. i'm sitting in jail. my daughter's never lived with anybody but me. she's going to tell me, who do you want to live with? that's like you put a baby in front of somebody and say, who do you love more? you can't do that to people, to kids. i just want to go. i want to leave. i've been here for so long for having one charge in my entire life. this is ridiculous. i need to go before my mom, like, runs away with my kid or something. this has been an entirely too long on stay and i need to leave.
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