tv Lockup Raw MSNBC June 29, 2014 2:00am-3:01am PDT
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one, we get a chance to see how correctional officers control the troublemakers. each facility has a different way for doing that. >> when i get on the street. i'm going to -- >> [ bleep ]. >> also, when we spend enough time with them, we get to peel back the layers and usually we find out there's a story underneath. >> when we travel to a part of the country with a reputation for cowboys, we not only found troublemakers -- >> yeah. >> -- but at the tulsa county jail, oklahoma, where most of the only criminals are charged with crimes. they're awaiting resolution. we meant sergeant colette who says he understands why they have a propensity for trouble. >> their coping skill is to act out. that's the only way to get their
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issues solved. what are small issues for us are large issues for inmates. if someone is controlling you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, when you can get up, have the phone, visit, visit with your friends, yeah, we pretty much control every aspect, little things are important to these people. >> one of the hot beds for the jail is the booking department. most go through the lengthy process without incident. kenneth witty is already on probation. >> he falls into the category of someone who has poor coping skills. >> while awaiting to be processed, he moved a chair to the pay phone so he can sit while talking. it's a type of mild rule violation that's usually quickly
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resolved about a detention officer. >> sir, don't sit in the chair while you're on the phone. push it back. you want to go to a holding cell. >> this is kenneth witty who threw a chair across the room. he gets agitated. doesn't want to do what he's toefd to do. >> as they lead him to a holding cell, he continues. >> he stepped toward me. pushed him into the wall, got his arms behind the back and put him in hand restraints. >> he continues to struggle all the way to the holding cell. >> we have him leave the cell and stay on their belly until they can leave the cell for our safety so they don't try to spit on us or kick us or whatever they think they might to want do. >> that was eight months earlier.
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since then, witty had become a well-known inmate as tulsa county but his days were numbered. he was sentenced to ten years. during our shoot, he was awaiting transfer to prison. >> kenneth witty, a problem child from the world go. >> sergeant colette. >> it's colorful. let me put it that way. >> i have demands i need met! >> mostly the problems i've had with him is his disrespect. >> put your shirt on. >> no. >> it tends to be vulgar, always agitated. he doesn't listen. he wants things when he wants them. he just starts screaming. he goes from zero to 150 in 2.1 seconds. he has no medium ground when it comes to the elevation of his anger.
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>> but when it came to speaking to us, witty took on a different demeanor. >> what's your last name. >> witty. >> witty? >> yeah. i think it fits me. >> when i first started dealing with kenneth, i found him to be very much like a child. he was very funny. he was very sarcastic. he was very much the clown. but he also, like a child, lacked impulse control. he could act out in a heart beat negatively if he didn't get what he wanted. >> one technique witty used to get his way is known as taking the bean hole hostage. >> bean hole is how we give the inmates their clothes, cuff them up. inmates sometimes when they're agitated they'll hold their their bean hole hostage and we're not allowed to shut it because we could risk slamming
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their arm or hand in the door. >> how many times have you taken >> the bean hole hostage? >> a few. but the thing is, i take it when i'm trying to make a point. >> we were filming in the seg unit and we started hearing the commotion and it turned out to be kenneth witty holding his bean hole hostage because he wasn't getting toilet paper. >> staff say he removed a roll because he was borrowing rolls from other inmates and hoarding them. >> i took two [bleep]ing roms. >> i took two [ bleep ] rolls. the other night it was running into my mouth and i needed toilet paper. the snot was running from my mouth to my face. >> come on, whit. [ bleep ]. >> a lot of what isn't necessarily always seen on our
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show is all of the other stuff that's going on. the one officer in seg is dealing with all the other inmates in that unit. and there's a tremendous amount to do. he wasn't saying he wasn't going to give him the toilet paper but before he could leave to get it he had to shut the bean hole door. >> the deputy comes over to assist with the situation. >> whitt, put your arm in there. >> i need a roll of toilet paper. >> i've been asking for toilet paper all day. why do i have to be the one that waits? >> if i could get some toilet paper, would that do for now? >> my allergies have been killing me for the last four days. i've been blowing my nose every 15 minutes. so half a roll, something like that, that's all i need. >> all right. i'm going to close it up and i'll go get you some paper. >> appreciate it, man. >> all right. >> i'm not going to undermine you or seem like i'm going over you, because this is your pod.
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he's one of your more troubled ones. more verbal ones, you know what, let's go ahead and do it now so you don't have to waste your time later. >> i'm going to give this to you. no issues for the rest of the night, right? >> i'll be on my best behavior. >> you do that. we have to to be here, right? that's the only way to get any respect around here. >> that's all you got? >> that's right. >> appreciate it. >> no problem. all good now! >> my nose is dry. >> he's going to remain in seg. i'm not going to deal with him anymore. i do not have the time to. >> witty says causing problems for staff is just part of the natural order. >> it's like cat and mouse. your job is to stop us. our job is to evade them. >> i like your haircut. >> thank you. thank you .
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it's one of the most common phrases we hear among both inmates and staff. you have to give respect to get respect. but at the tulsa county jail, inmate danero says he's given up on that concept. >> i've been in this county almost two years now and they just, when you're respectful and things like that they take advantage of you. >> he had recently pled guilty to shooting with intent to kill. he was awaiting transfer to prison to begin a 12-year sentence. we first encountered him as he was being transferred to a new housing unit. >> we happened to be following a
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mental health staff member one day as she was visiting the segregation unit, and as we were heading toward medical, we heard inmate chairs being brought down. and from that moment, things just kept spiralling. >> he began to threaten that he was going to, you know, do whatever he could to manipulate his housing to get put back to where he wanted to be. >> i'm going to have to cause havoc down here. they might as well put me in my cell. >> he's a manipulator. he does what we call supervisor shopping. if he doesn't get what he wants on one shift with a certain supervisor, he'll put put a spin on things to get that shift supervisor to change him to where he wants to go. >> causing problems. >> no, we're not. no, we're not, mr. chairs. we're not going to fight.
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so now he's administratively confined to segregation until he leaves and he's angry about that. >> according to staff he had recently come from a segregation unit where even though he was confined to his cell 23 hours a day he had friends that looked out for him. >> those guys over there that feed me, basically. he wants to eat good and get commissary and talk all night and basically, have fun. >> okay. then i'm going to find a new cell for you. >> why? >> because you're telling me you're going to break stuff >> yeah. >> all right. >> i'll break it. >> then i'm going to find a new cell for you. quit! he just broke it. he broke the metal part on the sink. >> i'm kind of filming him on the medium shot and the next thing i know he's got the bottom of the sink off. and it threw me for a loop because, up, it just happened. it happened in a matter of less than ten seconds he had that
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sink apart. >> they will find a place but you have to give us a little bit of time. we have to practice our patience. >> i can't cope with this no more. >> yes, we can. we will figure this out but you're going to move cells in just a minute. >> what cell? >> 14. >> i don't want to be in none of these cells here. >> the thing that you're doing right now are causing you to move cells. and you know that. >> really, chairs? >> chairs' actions will get him moved, but not to where he wanted to go. >> come on. we'll cuff up. >> all right. >> are they putting me back in my cell? >> tell you what, you don't want to be medical, you can't handle
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medical, you trashed our medical cell, i'll put you in a holding cell until i can find you one. >> mr. chairs broke the sink and had some metal parts that he was probably going to hurt himself or something with. so they decided to place him in what we call a suicide cell. that's different from suicide watch. it's just a cell where there's nothing to harm himself or harm others or break apart or do anything like that. so, we typically have to do that with those that become a behavior issue and tend to act out a lot. >> got nothing, man. what is going on? >> i don't know, man. >> what is this? what is this? >> i don't know, man. >> he tried to hide a piece of the sink. >> what is this? this is preposterous. >> something like that could be used as a weapon. this kind of shows what the staff goes through on a daily basis. these guys are pretty good.
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if they want to cause harm, they have a lot of time to figure out ways to do it. and that, for me, was a reminder of just how easy somebody could be hurt. >> what were you doing with the pipe? >> i could do a lot of things with it, but i wasn't doing nothing with it. >> really? you just wanted it as a memento? >> yeah, i just wanted a souvenir. >> he would just kind of smile. it was almost like he knew what he was doing. >> what pod am i going to? two? hell no! why can't i go back to 11? [ bleep ] >> with limited housing options, chairs provided a dilemma. he could not be in general population due to his behavior. and when more pressing needs came up for the stripped down
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cell he was in, the only option left was to move him back to his segregation cell. the one place he wanted to be. >> they put me back in my same cell. >> wow. so the squeaky wheel really does get the oil. you know that expression? >> yeah. >> is that what your whole intent was? >> yeah. it was okay. then i would probably still be in medical right now sitting in that same cell, waiting. >> chairs would not be a problem for staff much longer. two days later, he was transferred to state prison to serve his sentence. coming up -- >> because they hate me because of my tattoos because these punk ass police screwed up. knocking, knocking, knocking. >> an intoxicated satanist shows his sensitive side. da(????
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>> this is -- >> one morning we arrived at the jail to see witty was more trouble than usually. he used a food tray to smash his cell window after the officer hunt told him to wait to take a shower. >> inmate whit says when i can i something to my shower? and i talked to him, well, i'm not quite sure if you had your shower yet and i can't go by your word. let me talk to my partner and i'll get back to you. he just went back on break, he'll be back in 30 minute. >> he said, it's another 30 minutes. i have to verify you haven't had a shower. >> i'm standing here with dry hair and a dry towel telling you i need a shower. >> i can't go by your word. i'm not going to have you take two showers when everybody else in the facility has had one shower. >> i blew up. i didn't even see it coming. i walked back to the end of my rack and i grabbed my tray off the floor, picked it up and just boom. >> how much did it take to break that window? >> about four hits.
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>> i'm kind of chunky and i got little arms. i'm like yosemite sam figure without the mustache. don't underestimate the strength. there's a lot of strength in a little guy. >> witty was charged with a felony for destruction of county property. he was later found guilty and given a one-year sentence that would run concurrently with his ten-year sentence in prison but a new cell didn't correct his behavior. >> have a seat right here. >> a few days later he was given a 15-day suspension of his phone and commissary privileges. >> eight rolls of toilet paper. multiple crushed pills. dried out orange peels and banana peels. >> what do you do with the banana peels? >> the official line is it's my religion. i crumble it up as herbs on my food. tastes like a banana even if
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it's dried. the unofficial line is you got to have something to smoke in here. and it works. >> i've been in a lot of jails and prisons, believe it or not i have heard of people smoking banana peels. i've heard of orange peels. i think people will smoke anything if they think they'll get a little buzz or high off it. >> whitey kept the staff an our team on their toes during our shoot. but then he showed another side. >> when we're filming with inmates, we also do what we call a sit-down interview and that's where we really learn who this person is. when it came to kenneth witty. because he always had to act the clown, i was dreading the sit-down interview. i thought, he's going to give me a hard time throughout the whole thing. i'm never going to get a serious answer. we were setting up and he was still playing the clown and joking around with everybody as we got everything prepared. but when we both finally sat down and it was one-on-one, i
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was stunned. he became this very calm, somber, self-reflecting person who was very honest. >> roughly, i've spent over half of my adult life locked up. i was running the streets. i learned to pickpocket and i learned how to steal from stores i didn't have time to actually sit here and say, i'm going to be a doctor when i grow up or anything. i want to be a astronaut. i never was able to think about anything like that. >> he said in his early teens he joined one of tulsa's street gangs. >> i was 12 1/2, almost 13 and i learned how to sell drugs. learned how to seriously provide for myself. i had girls. guns, clothes. i'm not proud. i've been stabbed, shot, and frankly, i'm tired of it. where has it gotten me? nowhere. they label me as a problem inmate. it is hard.
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but what can i do about it besides try to change my behavior? >> we're thinking about letting him out, but that's going to be dependent upon my interview with him. so, we'll start with that. >> during the course of our shoot, sergeant colette who runs the segregation unit, felt it was time to give witty a chance to prove himself and allow him back into general population where he would have more privileges and opportunities to interact with other inmates throughout the day. >> your behavior is not exactly been stellar. okay? let's not beat around the bush on it, all right? we are willing to give you a 72-hour trial in a pod if you want to go to a pod. >> i'd love to go back to the pod. i mean -- >> 72 hours, trial basis. remember my rule of engagement? >> if i got 72 hours if anything happens in 72 hours i come right back. >> uh-huh. and how many shots of redemption
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do you got with me? >> probably just that one. >> that's right. >> so you chill out. put a mouth filter on. you know you need one. >> i do. >> as many issues he's had, he's never assaulted a staff member. that's the big thing i look for. if he assaults a staff member, then he's one of our true bad people that need to be in seg. >> trial basis he knows that if he goes, this is it. it's the last hurrah. he loses he loses everything. he comes back in here he gets absolutely nothing. he gets a roll of toilet paper, a blanket, a mat and his toothpaste and toothbrush. that's it! >> why are we doing this? this gives him something to reach for as a goal. that if i can stay out 72, okay, well, i've stayed out of seg 72,
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maybe i can go longer. and it becomes a game to them and they get preoccupied with it. and all of a sudden we've changed our directions mentally with these inmates mentally from looking what i can do to get in trouble to, i've made it this far and i'm out of seg, let's see how far i can go without going back in, and he's well aware of the fact when he comes back in he'll lose everything. >> you said "when?" >> yes, i said "when." i give him a month. i hope he proves me wrong. i give him about 30 days and it will be all over with. >> coming up -- >> 666, pentagram, i got an upside down cross. demon pride on my neck. >> the challenge of being a satanist in the heart of the bible belt. and -- >> these are going the other way. he's more than nervous. >> kenneth whitey's saga in general population takes an unexpected turn.
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here's what's happening this hour. in a move to threatens to escalate tensions, north korea has reportedly fired two short-range missiles into eastern waters. ahmed abu khattala pleaded not guilt idea in d.c. court. and obama will ask congress for $2 billion to help deal with the flood of immigrants crossing illegal by from the u.s./mexico border. now back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. tulsa, oklahoma, is not only located in the bible belt it's actually been called the buckle of the bible belt. so, during our "extended stay"
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shoot at the tulsa county jail, one newly arrested inmate caught our attention because he appeared to be anything but religiously conservative. >> we were filming in the booking area of the jail and i saw a guy with 666 written across his head in tattoos all over his face and he looked like he might be an interesting candidate for "lockup." >> dude, i'm not on [ bleep ]. i'm not on nothing, dude. i'm not. >> he was being pretty loud and definitely causing a commotion back there. i wasn't sure what was going on. >> roger wood had been arrested on a charge of public intoxication. >> i haven't been drinking. i haven't. and you're judging me, dude. >> i'm not. >> because of what i look like. >> tracy came over to me and said, there's a very interesting looking guy who's been booked in right now. i kind of noticed he latched onto brian. he was looking for someone to hear his story. >> they were trying to pick on
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me, bro. they hate me because of my tattoos. these punk ass police. knocking, knocking, knocking. >> he was acting out. he was swearing and being belligerent at the arresting officers. >> you arrested me for no reason, bro. you arrest med for no reason, bro. >> but it was his look that got us. >> i'm a satanist. >> we're in tulsa, oklahoma. we're in the heart of the bible belt. this man with all these tattoos attributed to satan all over his face and neck and he was just acting in this very bizarre way. >> i wish someone would breathe. why am i so fascinated by these things? who cares what they think? they'll never understand me. >> malice makes me this way. malice! m-a-l-i-c-e, malice makes me this way. >> this was not wood's first arrest.
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now 31 years old he had numerous stays in jail and prison since age 18 on convictions ranging from assault to burglary. >> i always wanted handcuffs off. >> are you drinking today? >> no. i just ain't brushed my teeth in a week, bro. >> all right. need you to walk through that metal detector and have a seat on the front. >> can you get me a sack lunch? >> in a second. >> walk through there. to the metal detector. have a seat on the front row. >> after being searched, it was time for wood to have his booking photo taken. >> going to take a picture. right there. >> look at the camera. >> right there. >> and then when i saw him having his intake photo taken, he rolled his eyes back in his head. i said, we have something here, visually. the story was yet to be told but i felt visually, we're good. >> but wood's time in booking
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was not complete. as he awaited his cell assignment he grew agitated and threw a chair at another man in the waiting area. >> get on the [ bleep ] ground now! >> officers subdued wood and took him to a holding cell commonly known as the drunk tank, to sober up in isolation. when we visited with wood the next day, we confirmed it was okay to have filmed him and he agreed to talk with us about what brought him to this point. >> tell me this. what's your future? >> i just want a life like everybody else. i want to be able to, you know, want to be able to own a nice car, a really nice house, instead of living in the projects. >> i was pleasantly surprised by the sober roger. he was so outlandish the night before when he was intoxicated that when he sat down to have the interview, he was very calm. >> i'm a satanist.
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basically, you know, against everything about the christianity bible. i don't believe god is real. >> how did that come about? how did you find this belief system? >> well, i got tired of my dad and everything. me and my dad don't have the bestest relationship in the whole wide world. he likes to preach so, i mean, he's a southern baptist. i turned into a satanist. i didn't tell my mom and dad about it or nothing and i went ahead and they found out one day especially when i got the tattoos. i can't come home because -- >> what have you got on? >> 66, i got an upside down cross. demon pride on my neck, you know. i got them all over me. i got 38 of them. >> you live in tulsa, oklahoma, in the heart of the bible belt. >> uh-huh. >> and you walk around like this. >> oh, yeah. i like it. >> why? >> because it's different from everybody.
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it just helping me be myself and it's lonely. i hardly can talk to people and man, i want to talk to somebody today and you never get to talk to people because no one wants to hang around you because of what you look like. i would die for these tattoos if i have to. i mean, they're my religion. i have to be respectful to my religion. i never had a problem with it. i got to stand up for it. even if it takes my life, i'm going to do it. >> more than anything, he was kind of a sad guy. i mean, he had gone to such great lengths to have this very scary looking exterior. and when i sat down to talk to him about what he saw for his future, you know, he wanted a house and a car and he wanted these kind of typical things. i said, don't you ever want to get married? >> children? marriage? anything? >> and his response was very sad to me. >> no. >> why? >> i'm not going to get married. >> why? >> because i'm afraid of my feelings getting hurt.
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yeah. if she dumps me, then i'm like -- oh, man. >> so, you're this hard core guy who's a satanist but you don't want to get married because you're afraid of getting hurt. >> yep. >> you can't find a nice satanist girl. >> i've been looking all over the place and haven't found one. i've been looking everything. >> maybe tulsa, oklahoma, isn't the place? >> i'm beginning to think that. i want to get out of here. i want to get out of tulsa. i'm getting out of here. i hate this place. >> wood did get out a couple days later. and then he was sentenced to time served. >> are you going back to prison? >> no. >> you are? >> all right. bro, i'll keep in contact with you, bro. >> sign your bond. take care of yourself and don't come back. >> all right. y'all, take it easy. coming up, kenneth witty winds up back in segregation but
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♪ at the tulsa county jail, kenneth witty was regarded by the staff as one of the jail's better-known troublemakers and we got a small taste of that ourselves. >> kenneth was always messing with me and in one way or another, whether it be that i was doing a walking shot and he would start off on a nice pace and i would be backing up and then he'd slowly start to increase his speed and i would try to stay with him. >> you're going to have to learn to back up faster, brian, for real. come over here. start running. >> he would laugh. it didn't really bother me
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because it's part of his schtick and i went with it. >> right here and we're playing hand ball. if your camera gets broke i want y'all to sign waivers so we can't be held liable because i know that's expensive. >> he would go out of his way to prevent us from doing what we needed to do so he could be very exhausting for me. >> susan is going to be mad about that. >> and i did find myself on a number of occasions, chastising him and trying to keep him in line. you know, he was like a little wild puppy and i literally had to come on like this mom figure sometimes and say, stop, you need to stop. >> uh-oh, mother heard that one. >> it's about respect. >> i'm not disrespecting nobody. he wanted some candid shots so i'm showing him my finger that's [ bleep ] up. >> since the day he arrived, witty had proven to be a handful for detention officers. >> middle citizen. >> model inmate. i'm a model -- i'm not even a model inmate.
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i'm a model criminal. >> but during the course of our shoot in tulsa, whitey was given a chance to be, if not a model inmate, at least one that could live outside the confines of disciplinary segregation. >> when sergeant colette let whitey out of segregation and back into general population -- >> 72 hours, trial basis. remember my rule of engagement? >> if anything happens in 72 hours, i come right back. >> uh-huh. >> he said, 72 hours. if you keep your nose clean, we'll see what happens. but if you don't, you're back in here for the rest of your stay. and so we visited with whitey. 72 hours later and he was very proud of himself. i made it through the 72 hours. everything is good. >> how are things going for you in general population? >> it's cool. i'm done with my little 72-hour trial period so i'm going to raise some hell today. >> we looked at each other. wait, wait, wait, i don't think
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that's what sergeant colette meant. >> remember what he said. >> he said i had 72 hours as long as i made it 72 hours in general population i get to stay. if i got in trouble i had to go right back and i wasn't getting out. i made it my 72 hours so i can raise hell now. >> if you get in trouble you go back to seg forever. >> not necessarily. >> i think that's -- >> this wasn't the deal. that's not the deal that i signed. >> i found that be comical in complete witty fashion that he would look at it that word for word. 72 hours and thought once that 72 hours is over everything is back on. >> that wasn't -- you guys heard wrong. >> whitey held his destructive side in. when sergeant colette came to the unit later that evening, he found witty's actions a bit suspicious. >> interesting. >> what? >> witty is going the other way.
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and up the stairwell. i would say he's a little more than nervous. he's like, i'm getting the hell out of here. >> how are you doing in here? >> i love it. >> behaving or not getting caught. >> a little bit of both. >> at least you're honest. that's what i want. >> at least i'm honest. >> i always told you, be honest about it. don't be a fool about it. i think you're aware of the fact by now you can't win in here. you can't win. if you did, it wouldn't be jail. >> for several days whitey stayed out of trouble and then he did something that surprised everyone. >> i got a call from the midnight shift sergeant and he explained to me that mr. whitey wanted to go back to seg, out of fear of either having to get in a fight with somebody or having to fight one of our detention officers or some kind of physical altercation he didn't want to get into. >> when we found out that kenneth witty had put himself
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back into segregation i think we were all a little surprised. obviously, i wanted to talk to him as soon as possible to see what motivated the change. >> what happened? >> i went to visit yesterday and i come back, i was missing like $50 worth of commissary. basically i could just feel myself at that boiling point. so instead of fighting a bunch of [ bleep ], i told them to put me back in segregation. >> obviously, he learned some things that getting in a fight in here won't get you anything than more trouble than what you bargained for. >> he was placed on cool-down status meaning he could return to general population when he felt his anger was under control. >> you all right? >> put myself in here. >> yeah. tell me, tell me. >> i felt myself coming to a little breaking point. i said, look, i'm ready to going back up to seg.
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i'm not trying to catch a write-up to do it. >> okay i told him to make sure. it was kind of like a time-out, basically. >> right. >> it was a self-initiated segregation on your part. which i applaud that. i'm impressed with your self-control and your check. because the old kenneth would have been on, like, you know, tomorrow. now you're thinking about what you're doing. when you think you're ready, then you let me know, okay? and we'll put you back out, when you think you're ready. >> all right. >> appreciate it, sergeant colette. >> i'll let you go. >> all right, man. >> wow, that's impressive. had that been the old mr. witty he would have started swinging and consequences be damnd.
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he would have done whatever he wanted to do. he's come a long way since he has been here. now if he can continue, well, maybe we're on a well on our way to a road to rehabilitation. >> i'm happy to be in segregation with the knowledge that, like sergeant colette said, when i'm calm and ready, i can go back. >> i'm not going to save the world but if i can get one or two of these guys in here to stop and think about what they're doing before they do it, i've done something. >> kenneth, is it possible i'm actually seeing you grow up? >> i think so. coming up -- >> there's a number of emotions that go with this right here. hunger, arousal, love. lust. it's amazing. >> kenneth witty displays his passion for food and for his new fiancee. >> me amore.
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adjusting well to general population. staying incident-free for several days. but when he felt an angry outburst coming on, he requested a return to his segregation cell. officers praised witty's restraint and told him when he felt ready, he could return to general population. witty seemed content as long as he had money for the commissary's sugary snacks. i noticed throughout the four months we were there his weight gain. he had a great attitude about it. >> it takes a lot of work to be this [ bleep ] sexy. straight up. >> one item he said he could not resist. >> in all the different jails and prisons we see honey buns. they are a coveted item but witty loves his more than other
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people did. >> can i get on the foothd food network? i want cookies. make kind of a second frosting for the honey bun. once the oatmeal is fully cooked i'll throw in the peanut butter and crumble up the snicker's bar and take the fresh hill clover honey bun and place the sickers all throughout it. evenly put it throughout the oatmeal/peanut butter frosting and, bam. there's a number of emotions that go with this right here. hunger, arousal, love. lust. it's amazing. i can feel the clouds beneath me right now. and my cholesterol building. i got to do this for the camera.
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>> do it. >> hey, look, when i first came to jail, you could read my tattoos on my stomach straight across. now it's like a banner. >> we would soon learn that witty's decision to return to segregation rather than lash out at the inmate he had problems with didn't have anything to do with losing commissary privileges. it had everything to do with not wanting to lose visitation privileges. >> the motivating factor for kenneth to move back into segregation and to stay out of trouble was he had found love. >> i just got engaged like four days ago. >> what? >> yeah. >> to whom? >> this girl amanda. she's coming to see me on saturday. >> kenny witty. kenneth and i have actually
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known each other 2 1/2, 3 weeks at the most. i talked to one of my female friends. he talked to me one time. after that, it was just like love at first sight. the love on the phone more than anything. >> i can get 1015 kenneth whitey for a noncontact visit. >> he called me and said, i want to ask you something. would you spend the rest of my life with me? and my exact words were [ bleep ] yes. i miss you so much. >> me amore me amore, my baby girl. from this day forward i vow to make you my world. never again will you fight your battles alone. i'll make you as happy as i can for the rest of my life. i'll buy you a ring and make you my wife. i'll never do anything to hurt you. i'll never make you cry. i'm a true down ass soldier. i'm in this until i die. this moment with tears in my eyes, i have only one thing to ask. will you stand by me as i stand by you for all the days of your
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life? will you make me the happiest man alive and say you'll be my wife? >> yes, i'll be your wife. >> i love you, amanda. i'm going to smear my makeup. >> it's okay, baby. you still leek pretty. >> i love you so much. you are mine until the day you die. >> tell the gravedigger dig two. >> or we can just dig one. >> are you going to be on top or am i? >> either way works for me. i like both. >> i love you. it's hard to do time. i've seen people who just lay down and take whatever the system gives them. and i use comedy to keep that from happening to me. >> can i just get naked for the cameras? >> no, no. you know that.
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>> i understand i'm in jail. i understand i'm going to prison. but i might as well have some fun while i'm doing it. doesn't mean i think that it's a game and i want to keep coming back. a lot of people would assume that because of my attitude. no >> i get assaulted by that. he was totally touching my penis. >> kenneth witty to this day is still one of my favorites. i know he was a challenge but you spend a lot of hours in jails and prisons and there's a lot of dark stories and dark information coming at you all day long. and to kind of lighten it up with and deal with witdy, someone who liked to smile and give everybody a hard time, i enjoyed our time we were able to spend with him. >> make sure this doesn't go on there. get the [ bleep ] camera out of here.
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. . . due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. when they tried to beat the odds on the outside, they wound up on the inside. >> in the process of starting the fire, my best friend ended up catching himself on fire and he died in the process. >> so they've taken on the roles of jailhouse preacher. >> no matter where we are, we need to be serving god. >> poet. >> if i were a free man, i'd whisk you away. we'd be on the lam but on the
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