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tv   Life After Lockup  MSNBC  May 26, 2012 8:00pm-9:00pm PDT

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finally the answers you've been waiting for. >> mr. bill, are you ready for your picture? >> yep. >> all right. >> when we met paul komyatti at indiana state, he had a job as a photographer. >> it keeps me occupied. or the 36 weeks, eight months however you want to break it down. right from the start, he was good natured and full of optimism for the future. despite being incarcerated for the past 26 years.
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he entered prison at 17 for his role in a bizarre family plot that ended with the murder of his abusive father. >> my dad was just an alcoholic. i was like a little kid, 7, 8 years old. i'm crawled up under the kitchen table, and he's got a belt with a buckle, putting marks all over my face and my body. i've got blood coming out. my mom is like look, stop. you've got to stop. you're going to kill him. >> komyatti, his mother, sister and husband were all convicted of the murder of his father. komyatti's brother-in-law was sentenced to death and executed. his sister testified against paul and his mother and only served four years. paul's mother was given 90 years. >> as far as i know, she's the oldest woman prisoner in the state prison of indiana. he was eligible for parole after 26 years. we were there the day he was released.
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>> you'll never see me in khaki again after today. >> komyatti quickly landed a factory job and was doing well. >> if you want to wake up with that attitude this morning, then today's going be a good day. it's going to be better than yesterday. >> but komyatti could never have prepared himself for the bizarre chain of events ahead of him. six months after his release, three indiana state prison inmates staged a dangerous and daring escape. komyatti found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. he and a friend had gone to a casino very close to the prison and were seen by an offduty correctional officer the same night three inmates got away. komyatti was picked up for facilitating the escape and was cleared of any involvement. but because he had violated his parole by driving a car with only a learner's permit, he was sent back to prison. less than a year later, he was a
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free man once again. but within 30 days of being released, komyatti would find the next chapter of his life to be even more devastating than any of the previous ones. it would leave him profoundly disfigured. and we warn you, you might find his appearance disturbing. >> you know, i think most people in that situation with injuries i have would not have survived, but i was in pretty good condition at the time, you know, for my age or anything. >> while riding his bicycle outside of his home in downtown indianapolis, he hit a pothole, flew over the hand bars and landed face first on an exposed drainage grid. >> these exposed channel bars were sticking out. i hit that. when i rolled, i turned and my
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nose was completely cut off. my upper lip was shirred off. i had a gash right here. the whole left side of my face had a gaping hole and you could see inside my face. >> every bone in paul's face was broken and nearly all of his facial muscle was torn. komyatti's girlfriend jenny sterling was at home when she got a haunting call from paul's cell phone. >> on impact, my cell phone activated. i didn't know how to unlock the key pad. so it went to the last phone number i called, and it was jenny. >> and i just started hearing voices in the background and a woman scream and a man said, oh, my gosh. don't move, don't move, don't try to get up. he said i've got to go home. it seemed like forever, maybe 20 minutes, half hour. i heard everything. you know, i heard sirens, so i knew that wasn't good.
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>> komyatti was rushed to the hospital where surgeons worked to save what was left of his face. about 18 hours later, jenny and two of her family members went to the accident site to recover the clothing the paramedics cut off komyatti's body. what they discovered was shocking. >> there in a puddle of blood was his nose. my brother-in-law said here's something over here. i go no, way, his tongue. >> jenny saved the body parts in hopes surgeons could reattach it. >> they said it had been too long. they couldn't reattach it. >> but at the time komyatti was lucky to be aleve. he had been rushed to wishard hospital, one of indianapolis's top trauma centers. one of the center's most respected plastic surgeons was immediately called in for his expertise in facial reconstruction. >> we got a call from the trauma
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team here at wishard hospital. when they described the injuries, i said we have go the operating room. we spent nine hours with him in the or. this is one of those injuries that you see a couple of times in your career. every single bone in the face was broken. lost completely the nose and upper and lower lip and half of the tongue. komyatti lay in a coma for the next 22 days. during the time he had six more surgery and a seventh after he came out of the coma. >> i need to have maybe a dozen more surgeries. this is what the doctor put on until my nose can be reconstructed. at the time it our visit, he still had another three months to the wait until the nose reconstruction surgery. it won't be the same as his old nose, but his old nose will never be far away. >> this is my nose.
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it's in his freezer. >> a very unconventional way to hold my nose. this is my nose and the tongue, inch and a half of my tongue. >> does it bother you that it's sitting in your freezer? >> i would rather have it on my face, you know. it definitely looks better on my face than it does in this baggie. coming up, paul komyatti goes back to prison, but this time to visit his mother. but first -- the incredible saga of twin brothers from colorado. >> i was in icu for, like, nine days. what's inside is a home. home protector plus from liberty mutual insurance, where the cost to both repair your house and replace what's inside are covered.
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today, i choose color. to see it. to feel it. to be in it. to be upon it. and to live a life surrounded by it.
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today, i put on a fresh coat. ♪ find your color and get $5 off premium paints and stains. download your coupon now. we met them at two different colorado prisons nine years apart.
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roy and ray slagle, twin brothers with seemingly boundless energy were two of the most memorable inmates to ever appear on "lockup." our first slagle encounter was in 2000 when we met roy at colorado state penitentiary, and he made a big impression. at the time, roy was serving a 12-year sentence for robbery and had a notorious reputation for forcing the prison to perform cell extractions on him because of his frequent refusals to obey orders. nine years later, during our shoot at the lyman correctional facility in eastern colorado, we met an inmate named ray slagle who wasted no time reminding us of our sibling. >> come here, look at this. this is my twin brother right
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here. you already did a clip on him on msnbc. he was wild as hell. but by then, roy was anything but wild. and, in fact, had recently been released on parole. so we visited him as his parents' home where he had been living. >> are you going to make it this time staying out? >> yeah, i believe i'm going to make it, no doubt. >> roy is optimistic about his future, and so were we. back at lyman, his brother ray was serving a 15-year sentence for assault but was only days away from being released on parole. we looked forward to covering their first reunion in more than ten years. but then ray got bad news. roy was headed back to prison. >> my mom told me that ray was went to the parole office drunk. honestly, i guess he wanted to come back. >> roy served another 15 months in prison, then was paroled again. we visited him five months later. >> i was on borrowed time last time you interviewed me. i didn't have my own place, you know? i was staying with my folks.
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loved them to death, but i didn't have no independence. and then i was lonely on top of it. i got to drinking a little bit, and that turned into a problem. i went to the parole office after drinking. i wasn't drunk, but i drunk the night before. i had to do a breathalyzer test and it came up hot. and here i am, trying again. the mistake i made last time was because i drink. so even when i get off parole, i'm not going to drink because it can become an issue, and i don't want it to be an issue in my life. a awe -- roy's pet cat isn't the only thing to keep his mind off alcohol. he also loves his job. >> day to day, i get up and go to work every day. i cut iron and weld sometimes. and it's great. it couldn't be any better. karma. the karma train is the ride for me, you know? this iron is utilized for
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construction. every day i'm grateful that i can be out here. i don't slack. i only know one speed and that's get her done speed. >> what's the best part of your job? >> no, the trust the company gives me, it's great. i never thought a guy could get out of prison and get treated this good in a company. that's the best part of my job right there. >> roy's awesome. i actually worked with him half a dozen times. anytime i need a hand, he's there. if i need a muscle, he's there. he's a great guy. i wish we had more. i never seen him on lockup. until he started working here. he's aggressive. but in a great way. someone who wants to come to work and wants to work, my god. >> and still, reminders of prison sometimes show up unexpectedly. >> this prison bus from the department of corrections came in.
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me being my nosy self, nude look. this right here, names and numbers of people being transferred out. not too long ago i was on that list. i wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize my liberties that i have now. uh-uh. life is great. right now, i can hear the wind blowing in to the trees behind us. there ain't no trees in any prison yards i have been in. life is great. >> i'm really excited. >> roy's brother ray was just as hopeful when he left prison. during our extended stay shoot at the lyman correctional facility we, followed him to the small trailer home where he was going to restart life. >> yeah, this is nice. >> i love it. >> come on in. all right. this is a castle to me. ray's release from prison did not go as he had hoped. we met him again a year and a half later.
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>> went home and moved into that trailer, and it became home. before i knew it, it was sitting in that trailer by myself, every night by myself, 24/7. it had become a drag. >> but things picked up for ray when he got a job with an industrial paint company. >> i was bringing home about $840 a week. i was doing good, you know, no doubt about that. >> what are you doing now? what are you bringing in now? >> $200 a month. >> after only a few months out of prison, one wrong step would dramatically change ray slagle's life on the outside. >> i was showing a guy how to dry a skylight because he didn't know how. i was making sure -- it was my girlfriend's roof. i was making sure he dried it in right. went to the edge of the roof and started arguing with her and ended up falling off. >> ray fell 25 feet to the hard ground below.
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>> turned out i had a broken back. i was in icu for nine days before they'd find three surgeons willing to even do the surgery because it was such a dramatic surgery, you know what i mean. it was a massive break. i was in the hospital for over a month. it was a drag. >> during his recovery, ray's past drug addiction problems came back to haunt him. the temptation of readily available pain medication was too much to overcome. >> i got carried away with my pain pills. what can i say? you know, i just -- i gobbled them up, and then i don't have none, and the doctor's not going to give me none. then the come-down is so terrible. you know, you're going to the streets. it got out of hand, you know, because of the pain. >> a positive drug test eventually led to ray violating his parole and like his brother roy, he was sent back to prison. he served a total of 90 days, but when he got out, things got even darker. >> i even tried to hang myself, man. really,it got so bad i tried to
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hang myself in the closet. the only reason i didn't die is because the tie broke. the shame that came over me was overwhelming that i would do something like that. it wasn't that i wanted to do something like that. it was i was in so much pain i couldn't take it no more. you know. when you're in the pain that i am, it kind of hinders life. on top of it, you've got bills that you can't pay and you're not working no more. you can't hardly work. it makes you think, man, i don't even feel like a man. and i do feel like i'm drowning. just barely, barely above water. i'm getting tired. you know, i feel like i'm going under. i keep pulling myself up, and i keep feeling myself go down. i don't know how long it's going to last. i really don't. before that have gush of water goes in my mouth and sucks me down, and i just finally go
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down, and then i can relax. the pain is over, buddy. coming up -- >> hey, bro. >> my brother. >> roy and ray slagle together on the outside. but first -- >> will you have this woman for thy wedded wife? >> yes. >> life after a prison wedding. [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are choosing advil®.
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many of the stories we cover on "lockup" involve not only the lives of inmates but of their families. and sometimes we're there when new families are being formed. such was the case with ronnie tye, who was nearing the end of an 11-year sentence for burglary at indiana state prison when weep met him and his fiancee, jodie mormon. >> i told him we want to get married october 7. >> that will work, october 7. >> ronnie had been out of jail for more than a year now. >> my last day of prison. i was anxious, anxious to go out
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there. when they hollered, tye, i ran. >> he told us it took a while to adjust to life after "lockup." >> i felt like i was in heaven because i could get up and do what i want to. >> being a free man wasn't the only change ronnie had to adapt to. he had entered prison as a 21-year-old bachelor but left a 32-year-old newlywed. >> ronnie, will you have this woman as your wedded wife, to live in matrimony so long as you both shall live? yes. >> we were there when ronnie married jodie. while they exchanged rings at a wedding, they had chosen a more permanent symbol of commitment prior to their nuptials. >> he tattooed my portrait on him, i tattooed him on my whole leg. it was like our little bond. he was released june 4th, 2009.
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i picked him up. it was wonderful. he was the husband any woman would dream of, you know? he pampered me, he spoiled me and then things just started to change and go down for the worst. >> just ten months after ronnie's release from prison, the couple separated and then divorced a short time later. >> when you get with a man in prison, you got to make sure it's a very sincere thing because it's a game in there. men find women to take advantage of them. >> but jodie believed ronnie was not one of those men and that the love she shared with him was genuine. ronnie, however, tells a different story. >> no, that was a front. i loved her money. if i wouldn't have married her, the money would have stopped. >> is this a common thing for
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guys inside to marry women with money? >> well, i'm not going to ruin it for everybody. i did it. that's why i married her. >> but now, jodie has found a new love, and if she marries him, she won't have to change her last name. she's in love not with ronnie tye. she's in love with kenny tye. >> i'm in love with his brother. what else can i say? sorry, it's the truth. i know it's history repeating itself and it kind of feels that way, but there's a difference between them. >> one reason it might feel like history repeating itself is because kenny tye, like his brother before him, is temporarily detained. >> he's in prison. i know that sounds horrible. i met kenny out here. i know kenny for who kenny is. i think that's the difference. so kenny was a plus. i never would have -- you know,
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sometimes i say you got to go through hell to get to heaven. i went through hell, but i'm now in heaven. >> jodie is with my little brother kenny. how do i feel about it? ain't no sweat off my ass, you know? i'm happy for him. >> kenny is serving an 11-year sentence at indiana state prison. for dealing methamphetamines. >> this is me and kenny taken at the county jail. kenny is behind glass. this is our only picture together. >> jodie and kenny aren't the only tyes who found new love. ronnie tye now lives with his fiance nicky, her three daughters and his grandmother. >> i'm just happy to be free. you know, i'm happy to have a good family. and i'm happy that i'm taking care of my grandma instead of anybody else because she gets taken care of real well here. she gets taken very well here, don't you? >> what? >> you get taken care of very well here, don't you? >> what?
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>> i say you get taken care of very well here, don't you, granny? >> ronnie says he enjoys taking care of his grandma, and he's taken to his role as father. >> i like being a stepfather, helping them and things, take them places, buying them things. >> like he does for them, he does me. it's more like his own kids. >> thanks, babe, for cooking dinner. >> you're welcome. >> thanks, mom. >> there's more in here. >> sure feels good to eat real food. >> real pig. >> it's cow. >> thank you for cooking the pig. coming up, jodie tye makes a major recommitment. >> all right, kenny tye, you'd better like this [ bleep ]. and more with paul komyatti and the slagle brothers. more su.
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msnbc now. here's what's happening the u.s. condemning the deaths of 32 young children in syria. secretary of state hillary clinton calls it a vicious assault. police in lafayette, louisiana are searching for a 22-year-old college student went missing a week ago. mickie was last seen riding her bike in the early morning of may 19th. i'm veronica de la cruz, now back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. even though he served 26 years behind bars, paul komyatti still goes back to prison once a week. >> who are you here to see?
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>> rosemary. >> 1704. but now it's to visit his 85-year-old mother who's still serving time for her role in the murder of paul's father. >> hi, mom. >> hi. how are you? >> love you. >> when i got locked up, she was 57. she was very physically fit, very active woman. and now, you know, she's in a wheelchair now. how you feeling? still having problems on your right side? >> yes. >> is there anything new going on? >> not too much. >> hopefully that will change soon. >> the worst thing that ever happened to him in his life is right now with his mom, where she's at. that's the worst thing, that he hasn't been able to fix right now. him being home and her not being
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able to be here with us, i just want her home. i just wanted her to come home with us, you know, where she belongs. >> next summer i'll look like george clooney. >> that's good. >> while surgeons won't be able to attach his actual nose on to his face, dr. roberto flores has a plan to build him a new one. >> this is something that's going to require several surgeries, anywhere between three and five. one of the things we can use, we can take cartilage from your ear or rib or take bone from your hip and restructure the internal frame work of your nose so you have some form in there.
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>> okay. >> his prognosis is good. he survived a terrible injury, a terrible accident. he's a physically strong bern. he has a great attitude. some people are spiritually crushed from these types of injuries and they don't ever make it back. they always feel broken, but i don't get that sense from him. >> thank you for saving my life actually. i think 99% of people that came in that condition probably wouldn't have made it. and if you hadn't been on that night, you know, i don't know if i would have made it. so thank you. >> you're so welcome. you're welcome. >> all things considered, paul komyatti has lived a most unusual life. but our last impression of him never really changed from our first impression. through all his ups and downs, komyatti has staid remarkably optimistic. >> things haven't really went my way. you can see that's an understatement. but one thing you learn in the joint, you don't live in the past. you can't change the past. you know, the past is done. it's over with. all you can do is learn from the past.
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and this situation here, i can kick myself and say, damn, you know, you're cursed, whatever. it's not going to do anything good. my outlook on this has to stay positive. i always feel in the morning, i have to feel this is going to be a good day. ronnie tye, also a veteran of the indiana state prison, is equally optimistic about his future with his new girlfriend nicky. though their relationship has at least one thing in common with the thing he shared with his ex-wife jodie, they show their love with tattoos. >> it says nicky. >> why did you get that? >> because i love her. and i really do love her. this is not a money thing. it's not about money or nothing. i don't ask for nothing. she's got my name back here. >> he has lots to cover up before i ever get another one. he has names on him everywhere. and the portrait, that needs to be covered.
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but he hasn't done that yet. >> but i want to. >> like ronnie, jodie is also ready to move on by altering her tattoos. >> mom, listen. i'm going to get my tattoo covered. >> to get rid of the tattoo on her leg, she's going to have to get her leg cut off because that's awfully big to cover up. >> i'm putting kenny over ronnie. she said does that mean kenny is going to be my son-in-law? >> i believe he might. i don't know. i don't see the future. kenny is obviously better than ronnie. >> while jodie was excited about covering the ronnie tattoo on her leg, she discovered it would be harder than she thought it would be. i'm getting ready to cover up tye's name. when i put it there, i swore i would never, ever get rid of it because i thought it was forever.
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this is it. it's over. i feel weird. it's like -- i feel like half of me feels like a death, and the other half of me feels like a birth. >> let's go. >> jodie has brought her friend amanda along for emotional support. >> kind of feels like closing a lid on a casket. >> better you than me. >> i guess, i don't know. i don't even know how to describe this. never felt like this before. the pain. no, it ain't the tattoo. i think my heart's more broke than anything. >> out with the old. on with the new.
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this should heal pretty quickly before i see kenny in prison. >> after almost an hour, jodie's tattoo transformation is complete. >> bye ronnie, hello, kenny. >> what do you think? >> right on. coming up -- >> i wonder what's in here. >> the slagle brothers discover their passion. >> just put your fresh tomatoes and fresh onions. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic.
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for a limited time get up to $200 off select computers. staples. that was easy. one of the most surprising things roy slagle discovered about himself after he was released from colorado state penitentiary is that his numerous cell extractions shown on "lockup" and then on the
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internet made him somewhat of a celebrity. are you serious? i watch this episode last night. i became infatuated with this man. he's so sexy. he has an amazing body. and a fine face. i wish i knew him. i love big, tall and muscular men. i have a lot of women making comments about how i look and stuff like that. it's nice. >> but one admiring fan stuck out from the rest, and the two began to correspond while roy spent another 15 months in prison on a parole violation. but she doesn't share roy's comfort with the limelight and has asked that we not reveal her identity. >> she's seen me on "lockup" and said she liked how i came across. seemed like i had a good energy.
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and she would look to know more. we really hit it off and we ended up getting married. real love, you know? destiny-type love that people talk about. i'm like how did this happen? a guy like me, you know, that's been to hell and back and i've got this dallas cheerleader almost. i told her, she's like a dallas cheerleader. i had to pinch myself a couple of times. she's helping me with structure. that's something that i needed. i needed structure. happily ever after, huh? >> uh-huh. >> during roy's long and well documented time in prison, he earned a reputation for being a bull in a china shop. nowadays, he and his wife collect china. >> this is a royal doulton set.
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it goes along with this. bone china. very, very nice. 1926. very old. it's a beautiful hobby. what i don't understand is why other people don't think it's fascinating, you know? we go to some of these estate sales. we're like the moth to the flame. we've go to have it. and here we are walking out with boxes of china. look at this. tell me if that ain't a work of art. seriously. look at all that glazing. isn't that beautiful? it's exactly like treasure hunting. and, you know, history, who's touched this, who ate off this. this is an old cheese platter. probably our oldest item we have. i wonder what's in here? oh, more china. i can't help it. if i'm going to have a problem, it's going to be with china. i can't get in trouble doing that.
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look at that, isn't that beautiful? i wake up and i'm happy to wake up every morning because life is great, and everything around me seems bright, clear, lots of color and full of life. and it starts off for me with my wife and us eating off nice china. >> while roy proudly displays his china, his reminders from prison, photos, letters, and cards are all contained in a cardboard box. >> what do you think of that when you look at that? >> not too happy. i made bad decisions in my youth and my karmic debt that i had to wise up and be thankful for what i had and not live outside my means. i went to prison for robbery. you know, i got excited and thought things are going to be all right. things are going to be all right no matter what, but you's got to do it the right way, even if you're
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going without a few things or if you're poor. it's still going to be all right. you got to do thing the right way. you can't take somebody's hand and tell them it will be all right because that makes it worse. and that's not right. >> have you paid your karmic debt? >> yes, i believe i have. >> that chapter's over. >> after breaking his back falling off a 25-foot high roof, roy's twin brother ray finds himself questioning karma. >> you know, it's a drag when you're out here doing the right thing and you still can't get right. i can be out here doing the wrong thing and i don't have to worry about it. but i refuse to cross that line. i'm not gonna. you know, i'm just not gonna. >> unable to find steady work because of his physical problems, ray is writing his autobiography and wants to follow his true passion -- cooking. >> you know, i'm trying to get focused, go to school, culinary
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arts, because i like to cook, you know. i can stand on my feet. i just can't be sitting down too long. if i can get the federal grants, that's what i plan on doing. >> ray showed us his favorite dish he loves to prepare for his fellow inmate inside the lyman correct,al al facility when we t "extended stay" there. >> get the packet, put it over the fish. and then you put a scoop of this and a little bit of this on the fish. it just flavors up the fish real good. >> this is a lot different than cooking in a cell. big difference. >> ray's pride is his deep fried tacos. >> i'm getting this chicken about ready to boil. this chicken is nice and lean and really good for you. i'm telling you it is really good. i like to use lemmon pepper. that's what i do with my chicken. and i use salt and pepper. lemon pepper is the key thing.
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this here, being deep fried. that's what the key is. sure you can roll it up like a burrito and warm it up. that's the lazy way. you have to put it like this and then flip it like this. oh, yeah. that's going to be good as hello. hell. then you put your fresh tomatoes and fresh onions and fresh cheese and picante sauce, and then you've got yourself a screamin'-assed fresh shell taco. >> dive in. these days ray doesn't cook for inmates but for friend in his small apartment. >> when i first got out of the joint, i woke up the next day i made myself french toast. i was listening to sade, one of the sad songs. right in the middle of making french toast, i just broke down. i couldn't even finish. i had to shut it off. i realized, you know, i was free. yeah, it hit me, though. it hit me when i was cooking.
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you're free, man. you're free. coming up -- >> hey, bro. >> my brother. ray and roy, together again. ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?
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roy and ray slagle have seen their lives change several times, both in and out of prison. but one thing that has remained constant for both men is the bond they share as brothers. >> what was it like the first time you saw him after? >> man, i had to hold him down. i wanted to cry. i just held it in, you know? he's my brother. i ain't seen him forever. >> if someone came and said one of you got to die, either you or you, i would go ahead and take the bullet. i would say, hey, man, no. i got this. >> i go to his house sometimes.
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sometimes he comes here. he has his life, and i have my life, and neither one of us wants to complicate the other's life right now, you know? >> but we were there for a "lockup" reunion a long time in the making. >> hey, bro. >> my brother! >> how you doing? >> pretty good. >> let's kick it, brother. >> it doesn't take long for the brothers to find something to reminisce over. >> grandpa's old hat. i always loved grandpa. >> my mom wouldn't let grandpa drink in the house. >> he'd grab this cowboy hat, put it on, and walk out to the trunk of the car. he had a cadillac. he'd open up the trunk of the cadillac, reach around in there, run around, look this way, look
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that way, wipe the bottle off like this after he opened it and just chug it down. we would look out the window. and we were just little kids. we'd see these bubbles going up behind the shed, spying. he'd be drinking. this is the cowboy hat he'd wear. >> ray has more mementoes as well. like this photograph taken by a friend shortly after his release. >> it was raining real, real bad. i was having a hard time adjusting to getting out. i felt like the whole world was on my shoulders. just went over there and sit in the rain. >> sat in the rain? >> sat in the rain. it was so, so free. i just cried. you know, i'm -- i'm saying, thank god i'm free. all those years locked up. i'm sitting in the rain, up in the mountains. just smell the smell, and smell the rain. >> evergreen. >> yeah, you smell the
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evergreens and the lake was right there. >> i think that's what life is about. it's going to always be hard, always. but you capture moments and the moments are what sustain you to the next moments. so i think. >> but unfortunately, too many of ray's moments have been filled with nothing but pain since he broke his back. >> what do they say on the x-rays. >> metal. >> it's all metal. two screws here, two screws here. big vertebrae. they had two screws going up through that. >> what's the vertebrae made out of? >> titanium. >> to help ray deal with all the discomfort in his back, doctors embedded a pain medication pump beneath his skin. >> it's a big metal disk. >> how heavy is it? >> it's heavy. grab it. >> i don't want to hurt you. >> you won't hurt me. grab it. grab it. >> it gives me the heebie jeebies, bro. that thing is big.
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>> repairing ray's back also required the removal of a rib. >> oh, my god. it's like a hole there. all the way down. >> there's nothing protecting your lung there. oh, my god. it's a hole. i can feel it. >> it's a big hole. >> i hate to see my brother in pain. he has been banged up pretty bad. anybody who has any kind of back problem -- i tweaked my back and i know, and that can't even be compared to what he's going through. that serenity prayer right there, that's how we live our life. we've got to keep pushing through, you know. >> yeah, i'm worried about it. he has a past history of drugs and drinking and so on. now he has to take them for his pain. it could be very easy for him to abuse them. i'm very worried about that. how's your unemployment working right now? >> real fast, real fast. i'll be under a bridge in two months.
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>> no way. >> that's the way it's looking. yep. >> you're going to have to figure something out, try to get a job even if you're banged up like you can't. >> i can't, roy. what am i going to do? rob a drug dealer? >> no. >> to get some money? >> no. >> where am i going to get the money? >> i don't know, bro. >> see? all right, then. that's all i have to say. leave it there. damn it. >> you can be a victim or a survivor. bad things happen to all of us. and bad experiences. be a victim or a survivor. you've got to make a choice. >> i'm a survivor. so are you. >> damn right. >> we survived. we have to. >> you have to overcome it. >> overcome or sink. >> don't sink. >> i'm going to try not to. >> don't sink. >> i'm going to try not to. >> all right. >> damn it. >> but even in the gloomiest of circumstances, you can count on one thing from the slagle boys. they'll always find something to
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laugh about. >> you going to be boo hill with a little old tombstone. that's too small a tombstone. you know he ain't got nothing buried with him, and they'll leave you alone. just a wooden cross. bolted down to the sides. >> yeah, i like that. >> i hope actually be cremated and you just throw me around town and around the mountains wherever you go. everybody gets a little bag of ashes and you guys just throw me everywhere. i want to be throw everywhen ev. >> get a shot of jack daniel's and sprinkle you some jack daniel's. >> no, jim beam. i hate jack daniel's. you like jack daniel's. >> not no more. >> i know, i know, i know. but. >> get a shot glass of jim beam. >> oh, yeah, yeah, do it the right way. >> i'll do that for you. >> all right. that's all i ask. >> i ain't going to drink it. >> i didn't ask you to drink it. >> going into town.
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>> go ahead. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. an inmate assaults a prison staff member. >> hold on to him. hold on. >> [ bleep ]! rip my [ bleep ] guts out when i'm getting ready -- [ bleep ]. >> while other inmates turn the violence against themselves. >> i cut my vein. [ bleep ] is squirting. >> i have a daughter that just turned 13 years old

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