George K.L. Smith (1:39)

Why? Shh.

Nigel Poor (1:40)

No hands.

Earlonne Woods (1:52)

All right. Can you. Can you. The listener alert is what comes on in the beginning, remember? So she gonna say it, and then once she stop, then you just repeat.

Nigel Poor (1:59)

So say I am. And a little something about yourself.

Tanaya (2:01)

I am Tanaya. My rap name is Hood Princess. I'm here at ciw.

Earlonne Woods (2:09)

Okay, Y gotta get in. We gotta get down there.

Tanaya (2:13)

Just sit at the table.

Nigel Poor (2:20)

The following episode of Ear Hustle the.

Tanaya (2:22)

Following episode of Ear Hustle contains language and content contains language and content that.

Nigel Poor (2:27)

May not be appropriate for all listeners.

Tanaya (2:30)

That may not be appropriate for all listeners.

Nigel Poor (2:32)

Discretion is advised.

Tanaya (2:34)

Discretion is advised.

Earlonne Woods (2:47)

Well, Nigel.

Nigel Poor (2:48)

Yes.

Earlonne Woods (2:49)

The time has come for me to reveal my mystery episode to you.

Nigel Poor (2:53)

Finally. I am so excited, Earlonne. I have been really looking forward to this.

Earlonne Woods (2:56)

Okay. And A quick reminder for listeners, the way these mystery episodes work is I've been working on a story on my own, and you, my co host, have no idea what you're about to hear.

Nigel Poor (3:07)

Exactly. And, Earlonne, I love the premise of these mystery episodes.

Earlonne Woods (3:11)

All right?

Nigel Poor (3:11)

So without further ado, let's do it. I'm Earlonne woods, and I'm excited. Nigel Poor, and this is ear hustle from PRX's Radiotopia.

George K.L. Smith (3:27)

My name is George KL Smith. Incarcerated at the age of 17. Sentenced to double life plus 44 years. I was charged with first degree murder and three attempted murders. I grew up where my uncles, my father. My father figured these men in my life. Most of them were gang members. So I always seen gangs as a sense of power and authority and masculinity. Right. Nobody messed with these people. 23 inch arms, tall men, San Quentin, built prison experiences, so no one really messed with them. One of the first things that I did was align myself with that community, got jumped into the gang, and approximately 10 months later, I would be sent away for the rest of my life.

Earlonne Woods (4:19)

You know, here on Ear Hustle, the place that eavesdrops.

Nigel Poor (4:23)

Yes.

Earlonne Woods (4:24)

We believe in telling the raw, greedy, and grimy stories.

Nigel Poor (4:28)

Right.

Earlonne Woods (4:29)

Well, we're gonna hear one of those today. All right, let me give you a little bit of setup for George.

Nigel Poor (4:33)

Yeah, please.

Earlonne Woods (4:34)

He was a young cat that went to prison at 17. And pretty much as soon as he gets there, he realizes that the fastest way to get by in prison, the way to be comfortable, is to be a part of the drug and the contraband.

George K.L. Smith (4:52)

I had a Celia. I watched this man. He used heroin. He had been down 25 years in 97. I watched this man take his pillowcase and literally push almost everything in there into this pillowcase. He gave it to one of my fellas from the city, right? I'm like, damn, what'd you give all that stuff for? And dude slid him the dope. It was some heroin, but it was like the size of a match head. And I was like, bro, you gave him all of that for that? Like, all. That's all you had for that? He's like, yeah, you know, this is what I do. But my mind went to somewhere else. I need to figure out how to get that. That's what I need to get my hands on. What do I need to do to get some of that?

Nigel Poor (5:42)

Mm.

Earlonne Woods (5:43)

There are a lot of topics we usually don't touch on this show.

Nigel Poor (5:46)

Are we getting to the underground economy?

Earlonne Woods (5:48)

We are breaking our own rules. And the reason we don't usually talk about the drug trade or the contraband or the underground economy on Ear Hustle is because we don't want to say anything that would make someone feel like we're exposing them or exposing the game. You know what I'm saying? But in some instances, it's the elephant in the room, because the drug trade is a big part of life in jails.

Nigel Poor (6:21)

I'm definitely gonna learn something from this episode, and I think we're gonna piss a couple people off at this episode. I love it.

Earlonne Woods (6:28)

I think everybody might just, you know, feel a little funny after this one.

Nigel Poor (6:31)

All right.

Earlonne Woods (6:32)

Anyway, for George, getting into the drug trade means all of a sudden, he's moving in different circles within the prison.

George K.L. Smith (6:40)

Typically, black people in prison don't do heroin, especially where I was from. It's completely taboo. Right. You get disciplined for doing heroin, Sherm. Stuff like that. Right, right. But everything outside of black typically used it. The Asian, the others, the white population, the Hispanic population, they would be the ones that would use it, you know? So you find yourself in these conversations and these dealings with these people. You're learning who you can sell to, how you can sell it to them, because you don't want them to get hurt as well, because their politics says that they can't buy dope from black people. Navigating through that, you end up in different conversations with different people. And then I had a little influence with our community, with the black community. Crips, Bloods and things like that. Right. So you're just relaying the information back, going back and forth. And that was a part of the bigger identity that I was building for myself.

Earlonne Woods (7:32)

Prison is one of them places where, you know, you gotta prove yourself. So he built up his reputation through the gang life. Now he's running the drug trade, getting involved in a lot of that. And he's, I guess you could say, at the peak of his power. But you know what happens when a person climb too high.

Nigel Poor (7:53)

Yeah. And it's not going to be pretty. I'm guessing.

George K.L. Smith (7:58)

17 years into my sentence, everything changed. Right. I've been smuggling, doping through the system, conniving. I've been doing hurting people, fights and stabbings, and I lived that way that entire time. All gas, no brakes.

Earlonne Woods (8:13)

Also, he has a brother that's younger than him that followed in his footsteps, and his brother just got transferred to the prison that George is at. And so now they in prison together.

George K.L. Smith (8:25)

So that's just added pressure. Here it is. My little brother's with me now, same Gang, same name, all this stuff, right. He has 235 years of life, and we need to figure out how to live together in this space, you know? So I'm bringing in dope in the prison, and then this day, it goes terribly wrong.

Earlonne Woods (8:45)

As you know, or as you may have heard or as you may have seen in the news, in the media. Usually when people smuggle drugs in is through the visiting area.

Nigel Poor (8:54)

Right?

Earlonne Woods (8:55)

Right. So this one day, that's what George is up to. He's waiting for a visit where he's going to get a handoff and get his supply.

George K.L. Smith (9:05)

There's this process that you go through before you go to the visiting room because you know you're going to go get dope. Right?

Earlonne Woods (9:11)

Right.

George K.L. Smith (9:11)

So that means you've prepared your anal area, all that. Right. So you're standing there, and I don't mind sharing this. Like, you literally lubricate your anus. So when you get out to the visiting room and the person gives you the drugs, it just goes right in. So I'm standing there, got all these nervous jitters, but I need to get this dope back. I got alcohol debts, marijuana debt, gambling debt. I owe these people. And I know if I get to this visiting room and get this dope, it all goes away. I go out the gate, go to the visiting room, and I rush right into it. Not really greeting the person who came to visit. None of that. It was just like, okay, the general traditional, hey, how you doing? Oh, good to see you. Boom. And I went to work.

Nigel Poor (9:58)

You know, I'm dying to know who the visitor was. Like, is it a girlfriend? Is it a mom?

Earlonne Woods (10:02)

Well, I'll say this, we never disclosed that information.

Nigel Poor (10:06)

Okay.

Earlonne Woods (10:07)

But the first thing he did is he, of course, got the stuff from the person. I would say it's in balloons, Saran Wrap.

Nigel Poor (10:17)

Like, how much is it? Do you know?

Earlonne Woods (10:19)

I want to say it's a ounce or better, a couple of ounces. And he's got two of these little packages or bundles that he needs to, you know, get up there. It's not easy, you know, because the guards are watching, visitors are watching. Everybody's just, you know, people. People watching. They don't know what they watching. They just watching.

Nigel Poor (10:39)

You're about to do something rather private, right?

Earlonne Woods (10:41)

Right. And the best place to try to pull this off is by the vending.

George K.L. Smith (10:47)

Machine because it's this crowded area. Right. And the more crowd, the more people that are there, the more likely the cameras can't see you trying to put this in your body. The officers can't see you trying to put this in your body. My little brother's blocking. Former comrade is blocking. And I managed to get one in there.

Nigel Poor (11:09)

Okay, I just have one technical question. So is he, like, holding it in his hand or is it, like, up his sleeve?

Earlonne Woods (11:14)

It's in his hand, and he's.

Nigel Poor (11:17)

And he's just, like, putting his hand down his pants.

Earlonne Woods (11:18)

Putting his hands down his pants and trying to just squeeze, scoot up, right up like a. Like a. Like a peel. But then some of the other guys at the vending machine figured out what was going on.

George K.L. Smith (11:31)

The man that was standing behind me, like these. I know these people, right?

Earlonne Woods (11:35)

Right.

George K.L. Smith (11:35)

But they weren't with what I was with. Right?

Earlonne Woods (11:38)

Right.

George K.L. Smith (11:41)

When I turned around and there's no one there because they realized what I was doing and they didn't want to be a part of that. I'm literally putting the second plug in my body, in my butt, more specifically. And there's nobody standing behind, straight in view. Straight in view. I'm facing the vending machine, which is straightforward. At 12 o'clock, my behind, 6 o'clock, I have my hand in my clothing, under my clothing, trying to shove this stuff in my body. And mind you, it's stuck, so it's not going in. So I'm putting effort, like, what the hell? Get it in no matter what. Right? It just wouldn't go in. They said, hey, man, everyone's watching you. And I just kind of froze. And I looked around, brother, and everybody was watching me. People's women, the fellas, officers. And suddenly, brother, like, the chills just came. I knew it was all bad, so I just left it in my body. It was still hanging out. And Igi comes in. The goon squad, the police of the prison, not just the officer, like the real folks, came in, right? He's like, oh, okay, come with me. And when he says, come with me, he pointed towards this door where you would go out to be stripped down. And in that area, there's an actual bathroom. This door is supposed to remain locked the entire time. So the rookie officer, he tells me, stand next to the door. And I did. And I realized that it was open. I seen the sliver of light, and I just broke. And I ran. When I got to the bathroom, and I pulled the door behind me, and it was a small bathroom. So one hand's holding the bathroom door, the other hand. I was able to pull the dope out of my butt. Mind you, it's hanging out. Put it in the toilet. The Moment that I'm still holding on the door, and I flushed the toilet, and I seen the dope go down the toilet. I let go of the door. Mind you, I still have one of these things in my body. They're getting me up. They want to lift me up off the floor. The strangest thing in the world happened, brother. Man, they went to lift me up, and I couldn't put weight on my right leg. Just dropped to the floor. Boom.

Nigel Poor (13:54)

Wait a minute. So he just can't stand up.

Earlonne Woods (13:57)

I would say his whole mental state, his body, everything is just. Just.

George K.L. Smith (14:03)

It's at that point, no pain, no nothing. I just dropped to the floor. And then I hear the officers get his ass up. He's faking. So they lift me up again, and the same thing happens, brother. I just fall. And one of the officers said, wait, hold up. What if it's true? What if he really is injured? That'd be trouble for them. So they paused everything, and the nurses came, and they checked me out. They're like, there's no reason that he should not be able to move his leg. But we're not certain. Let's put this cast on him. My little brother's yelling, are you all right? So they took my little brother. They took the fellow with him. They handcuffed him. They took them, the ad seg with me and separated all of us.

Earlonne Woods (14:47)

They all were taken to ad seg, which is administrative segregation, where they segregate you from the general population. They call it the whole. But for his situation, he's on potty watch.

George K.L. Smith (15:01)

Potty watch is where you would have to sit in this cell with an officer at the door watching you the entire time. And when it's time for you to defecate, they will, in this toilet, chain you down on this toilet. Mind you already chained up. Chain you down on this toilet, you poo. Boom. It's in the back. Ain't no wiping your butt. Ain't no none of that. The officer comes, he ties that bag off, takes it with him. They search it, right? To determine if there's anything in the feces. You defecate three times, and if they find nothing in your poo, they let you go, Right? I need to figure out how to get this thing out of my body successfully and beat this situation.

Earlonne Woods (15:49)

George, as. As you see at this particular moment, he's been kind of sorta unlucky, but lucky.

Nigel Poor (15:57)

Okay. Okay.

Earlonne Woods (15:58)

And, you know, first it was the bathroom door that was accidentally left open. Then it was the temporary paralysis, okay. That changed the Whole dynamic of the situation, right? You know what I'm saying? And now he's being watched by officers, and it's pretty clear that the officers are slipping.

Nigel Poor (16:20)

Okay? Okay.

George K.L. Smith (16:22)

Just imagine having that's your job, to sit and watch somebody on this little bitty 4x4 window for your entire 8 hour shift at work. No. Doesn't happen, right? I thought it would happen until I seen them walk away. Until I seen them walk away again. Until I seen them walk away again. My hands are chained down to, like, my sides, like where my hips and stuff will be at. So there's very minimal mobility. So I'm laying in this bed. There's no toilet paper, there's nothing in it. It's just gonna be a mess. And I poo laying down. That means there's feces everywhere. On my pants, on the bed, on the underwear that I have on. Everything is just feces. I get the dope in my hand and I need to figure out how to get rid of it.

Earlonne Woods (17:12)

The one little package that he pooped out, it contains two separate bundles in it, okay? One contains heroin and one contains methamphetamine.

George K.L. Smith (17:22)

There's about two layers of electrical tape, right? Because you need to secure this. You're gonna put this in your body. If it pops, you can die. There's a balloon on top of that electrical tape. There's another balloon on top of that. So I have all this rubber, I have all this tape. This is in my hand. The dope is in my hand, and I need to get rid of all of it. My mind goes to the crutches, right? I know on these crutches they have holes, you know, things you could take off. That little rubber thing comes off. So I managed to get the bottom of the crutch out now to get the dope inside.

Earlonne Woods (17:55)

But the smart. The space inside the crutch is really small, so he's got to compress it.

George K.L. Smith (18:04)

I throw the heroin in my mouth.

Nigel Poor (18:06)

I knew it. I knew it.

George K.L. Smith (18:10)

There's feces on it. I chew down on it till it makes this shape where it can fit inside this crutch. The methamphetamine wouldn't fit with it. So just put the heroin in there. The next morning, when the officer comes and he gives me the food, I get the methamphetamine out and I put it inside the oatmeal and I stirred it up. But the tape, the balloons I have to do something with, I swallowed all of it. My feces was on that plastic. My feces was on the dark, the balloons. I put all that stuff in my mouth, bro, to not get in trouble. The man tastes his own feces, bro. He in the wrong line of business. All the tape, all the balloons, all the Saran Wrap that had the methamphetamines on it, I swallowed all of it.

Nigel Poor (19:16)

That is a low point in your life when you're eating your own shit.

Earlonne Woods (19:19)

That is definitely a low point. And on top of all of that, he realized that those drugs are now in his system.

Nigel Poor (19:31)

Wait a minute. Oh. Because what was attached to.

Earlonne Woods (19:34)

To the plastic.

Nigel Poor (19:34)

To the plastic. So he took. I just want to make sure I understand. He took the message out of the wrapping, mixed it in with the oatmeal.

Earlonne Woods (19:42)

Right.

Nigel Poor (19:43)

But there's still drugs and stuff attached.

Earlonne Woods (19:45)

To it on the plastic, and he's.

Nigel Poor (19:47)

Swallowing that along with his shit.

Earlonne Woods (19:49)

Yes.

George K.L. Smith (19:53)

For the first time in my life, I would be high on methamphetamines. And then I understood, like, what people were, you know, the people had been serving all those years, like, what they were going through, why they kept, you know, acting like they act. You know, spiders and stuff coming out of the vent. I can hear down the pods. I hear all kinds of stuff. Man talking fast. All this stuff. But the dope is gone. The methamphetamine is gone. The tape is gone. The heroin seems secure inside this crutch.

Earlonne Woods (20:27)

But then. And remember, days are going by. Potty watch takes a while. Yeah, I bet George starts to doubt himself.

George K.L. Smith (20:37)

What if they grab the crutches and they want to search the crutches? End up taking it out of the crutches and put it under my tongue.

Nigel Poor (20:46)

Wait, wait, wait. Sorry. So he took the bundle of heroin out of the crutch, and now he's going to swallow it?

Earlonne Woods (20:52)

No, no, no, no. He just wants to hide it in his mouth under his tongue.

Nigel Poor (20:57)

Okay, okay.

Earlonne Woods (20:58)

Just to keep it there temporarily.

Nigel Poor (20:59)

Okay.

Earlonne Woods (21:00)

But remember, to get it into the crutch in the first place, he had to chew on it to mold it into a shape that would fit into the little spot in the crutch.

Nigel Poor (21:09)

Right.

Earlonne Woods (21:09)

And it turns out that in the process of doing that, his teeth put some little holes in the package, and now the heroin is leaking out.

Nigel Poor (21:17)

Oh, God. Not good.

George K.L. Smith (21:20)

Now I'm going in and out of being really up. Right. Like the methamphetamines really fast. To now I've slowed down and my heart is doing some weird stuff. I've never used heroin in my life, so this is the first time on heroin. Now I swallow again. There's more heroin. So I'm getting high, bro. I'm on the verge of dying.

Earlonne Woods (21:43)

Damn, E. Hey, we on the other side of it. We on the other side of it. So at this moment, he got real emotional, you know? I mean, as he was talking, you could see it. He just started, like, feeling it and living in that moment, what he was going through. And he just started, like, breaking down a little bit.

George K.L. Smith (22:06)

And, you know, like, you have to sit with that, bro. Like, I have to process that. I'm not in that right now. I remember how scary that was and how hopeless I was. So I'm swallowing, and I know it's all bad. My heart's slowing down, and suddenly I can't feel my right arm. An officer came that I had never seen in my life. And I told the dude, the officer, I'm like, man, I'm in trouble. He says, I know it. Like, just straight to me, like, yeah, I know. I said, can you just. Please just walk away? Just give me a minute. And he did. He walked away.

Earlonne Woods (22:52)

So while the officer's not looking, George grabs some more plastic and wraps it around the Doe so he can keep it under his tongue without ingesting it each time he swallow.

George K.L. Smith (23:03)

Now it's time for my poo. Hey, officer, I'm ready to poo now. I was cool. There's nothing in it at that point, right? He says, as hard as there's no dope in here, but there's a bunch of plastic and balloons in shit, right? And mind you, people are tired, bro. They probably 16, 20 hour shifts, bro. Well, if it ain't no dope. F dash, flush it, move on. And that's exactly what happened.

Earlonne Woods (23:35)

So to make a long story short, he end up beating a potty watch system.

George K.L. Smith (23:43)

They put me back in the cell and told me, you're gonna go back to the yard.

Earlonne Woods (23:48)

It's been discharged.

George K.L. Smith (23:49)

We found nothing. We found no contraband on you. We're gonna take your visits away because we know something happened. We just can't prove it. We don't know what it is. But you won't be allowed in the visit home for a year, right?

Earlonne Woods (24:00)

And there's one more consequence that hits pretty hard for George.

George K.L. Smith (24:05)

We're gonna separate you and your little brother. Brother's gonna go to wherever, and you're gonna go to wherever. You know, like, I couldn't sit with that. He's my little brother. He's worked his way down, you know, to get to me. This is what it's been about since we were Kids, we were gonna go to prison. They set us up for prison. We go to prison. We're supposed to be together in prison. And while we're. George, you blow it. This is your little brother. And for that first time in my incarceration, at this time, I'm in jail probably 17 years. 16. 17 years. First time that I settled on God, if you are real, I need you to show up today. It's not about getting out of trouble. I'm already pretty much out of trouble. It's about don't separate me from my little brother. I made God that promise. Lord, if you get us, keep us together, God, I'll be done. I'm done with all this stuff. Just show me. I took the dope out while I was in the shower. I turned the shower on hot water, burning hot water, and eat everyone that I knew. I had to pay when I got back. I can see their faces, bro. The heroin I could have took back to the yard, and it would have really set me straight with everybody. But I was like, nah. I made this declaration. God, if you're real, just don't separate me from my little brother. I'll do anything right. Popped it out my mouth, put it over the drain, turn that hot water, I'm done. August 8th, my birthday came, and I call a big homie and tell him I'm done. I'm no longer align myself with gang culture. They're like, you just can't come back. Right? I'm like, in my mind, I wasn't planning on coming back, but I need to say this out loud to people. So I had to make a declaration like you did. He. I'm done. This doesn't mean I'm a coward. This doesn't mean you can come slap me. This doesn't mean you can come spit on me. I'm not a gang member anymore.

Earlonne Woods (26:09)

And you know what?

Nigel Poor (26:09)

What?

Earlonne Woods (26:10)

It worked. George got placed back with his brother.

Nigel Poor (26:14)

Wow. I mean, this guy is one lucky dude.

Earlonne Woods (26:18)

Well, you know, call it luck. But the way George sees it, he made a deal with God. God kept his part. So now George gots to deliver. Okay, so that is coming up after the break.

Nigel Poor (26:32)

This is. What do they call it? A true cliffhanger.

Earlonne Woods (26:35)

Cliffhanger. Nigel, we'll be right back.

George K.L. Smith (26:49)

Happy January, Naj.

Nigel Poor (26:51)

What? You can't say happy New Year.

George K.L. Smith (26:52)

Yeah, we supposed to say happy New Year.

Nigel Poor (26:54)

Happy New Year to you. Rahsaan, New York. Thomas.

George K.L. Smith (26:56)

Thank you.

Nigel Poor (26:57)

I am super excited to tell you listeners about Radiotopia's newest show, Hyper Fixed.

George K.L. Smith (27:03)

Hosted By former Reply all co host Alex Goldman. Hyperfix is a podcast where you, the listener, write in with your problems and Alex solves them. He tackles everything from the origin of a mysterious button to whether a listener should have kids or not.

Nigel Poor (27:18)

This gets pretty personal.

George K.L. Smith (27:20)

That's crazy.

Earlonne Woods (27:21)

That's such a big decision.

Nigel Poor (27:22)

Also, what is this button? Is he talking about like buttons on your shirt? Or is it a very specific button somewhere?

George K.L. Smith (27:28)

Benjamin Button?

Tanaya (27:29)

I don't.

Nigel Poor (27:31)

Each episode of Hyper Fixed attempts not only to solve listeners problems, but exposes the hidden systems that cause those problems in the first place. Alex is kind of obsessed with solving your problems, and he will go to absurd lengths to try and resolve them.

George K.L. Smith (27:47)

Help us welcome the newest show to the Radiotopia family. Find Hyperfix on your favorite podcast platform. Now.

Nigel Poor (27:59)

Listeners, do you want even more.

Earlonne Woods (28:01)

Ear Hustle and even fewer ads? Like, zero, zilch, nothing, Nada.

Nigel Poor (28:06)

If so, subscribe to Ear Hustle Plus.

Earlonne Woods (28:09)

Ear Hustle plus subscribers get access to ad free episodes and bonus episodes.

Nigel Poor (28:14)

Our Ear Hustle plus episodes are really fun. Subscribers can find out what's happening with people they've heard on previous episodes, and they can also send in questions for us to answer.

Earlonne Woods (28:24)

And me and Nigel get to sit here and chop it up with our producer, Bruce and just talk about whatever.

Nigel Poor (28:30)

If you want to hear more of that, subscribe to ear hustle+@earhustlesq.com or directly in Apple Podcasts.

Earlonne Woods (28:39)

And thanks for supporting the show. We appreciate y'all. And send in some provocative questions, spicy questions. So, Nyge, Yes. We said at the top that we were going to be breaking some Ear Hustle rules today.

Nigel Poor (29:08)

You said that.

Earlonne Woods (29:08)

Yes, I did say that. And the first rule was talking about illegal drugs in prison, right?

Nigel Poor (29:14)

The first one.

Earlonne Woods (29:14)

Never really talk about that.

Nigel Poor (29:15)

Nope, you're right.

Earlonne Woods (29:16)

That's the first. So the second one.

Nigel Poor (29:18)

Wait a minute. Oh, my goodness. Is this gonna be a redemption story?

Earlonne Woods (29:21)

Yes, it is. This is a story about a guy, George, who saw the light, who cleaned up his act, apparently. Yeah, but you know what?

Nigel Poor (29:30)

What?

Earlonne Woods (29:30)

I'm gonna tell it.

George K.L. Smith (29:31)

I'm gonna tell it.

Nigel Poor (29:32)

All right?

Earlonne Woods (29:32)

Because, you know, people in prison, they fuck up.

Nigel Poor (29:36)

Yes.

Earlonne Woods (29:36)

Right. It takes some time to understand your role in this world. People fuck up, but then people turn their lives around at some point. The light switch flip. You know what I'm saying? So? So I'm just saying that's a part of the prison life too, Nige.

Nigel Poor (29:50)

Okay. I'm gonna buy it.

Earlonne Woods (29:51)

Okay, so George leaves the gang and his behavior improves and when cats do that, what happens is, is you get transferred to a lower level prison.

Nigel Poor (30:02)

Okay.

Earlonne Woods (30:04)

Now around the same time, there's a big change on how prisons in California are ran. So before this, prisons kept, you know, a separate yard for people that wouldn't be safe. You know, like say for instance, your police officers, your certain type of crimes that were committed, people who excessively talked to the police, people who left gangs, debriefed, stuff like that. So you had a yard just for them. So in gang culture, if these type of people entered, let's say, a general population yard, you know, the gang members had to fight them. There just wasn't no way around it. They had to fight him. And if they didn't fight him within 72 hours, then they would be considered the same as the person that they were about to fight.

Nigel Poor (30:50)

Oh.

Earlonne Woods (30:51)

Because they were only, they were, they were on the yard too long with them. So the old, the way it worked was, I guess, to keep the peace. The old system was to keep people on separated yards. But now there's a new memo coming down from Sacramento. There would no longer be special yards designated for these type of individuals.

Nigel Poor (31:11)

And we should just say for people outside of California, when we say Sacramento, we're talking about headquarters.

Earlonne Woods (31:15)

Yes, headquarters. So yeah, when they was like, you know what, we need to break these yards down and just, you know, put them back together as one.

Nigel Poor (31:24)

Are we talking about designated and non designated yards?

Earlonne Woods (31:26)

Yes, exactly.

Nigel Poor (31:26)

Okay. The thing that we can never really quite explain is finally going to be explained. Amazing.

Earlonne Woods (31:31)

I hope it be explained. And this change is about to hit cmc, which is, you know, as you know, it's acronyms, right?

Nigel Poor (31:39)

It's California Men's Colony.

Earlonne Woods (31:41)

Right, exactly. Damn.

Nigel Poor (31:42)

I know some of them. I know some of them.

Earlonne Woods (31:44)

Oh, Felon. And that's the prison that Georgia's at.

George K.L. Smith (31:49)

2019. They told us our turn is up for the non designated merge. You general population, who says you don't like rapists, you don't like snitches, you don't like people who need protective custody. We're going to force you together. You guys can kill each other if you want. That's on you. And mind you, CMC west still has his gangs. Sorenos, North Daniels, Bloods, Cribs. Everybody's there. They still have the stabbings, they still have the fights. So it's coming there, man. And everyone's freaking out, man. And I'm like, what are we gonna do then Gang members are talking about burning the whole prison.

Earlonne Woods (32:28)

And that's when George has his big idea.

George K.L. Smith (32:31)

Middle of my sleep popped up. Grow. I wrote grow. I had a sticky pad, I opened my locker door, I wrote G R O W.

Nigel Poor (32:41)

I hear an acronym, I hear a group acronym coming our way any minute. Sorry to laugh at that, but you.

Earlonne Woods (32:48)

Know, prison, you know, prison is all about acronyms.

George K.L. Smith (32:52)

And I thought I was going to go back to sleep and I couldn't. I put growth G R O W T H reinforces our worth. And I just had this wonderful idea. We're gonna have the most peaceful transition in the state of California based solely on the fact that we know these people. Everybody has a common theme in mind. They all want to go home. So I started on paper and I told this officer, I said, I got this idea, I said, I have this idea, I want to pitch to them about this non designated program coming up. He says, you know what? George put it on paper. So the prison would go to sleep in the middle of the night. I'd be up and I created the very first curriculum by hand.

Earlonne Woods (33:40)

What George realized is that he's in a unique position here. You know, he can try and have a conversation with all the leaders of all these different groups, these different factions because of what he was doing in prison.

Nigel Poor (33:53)

That's so interesting, right? Because he was selling drugs to everybody. He understood how to talk to them.

Earlonne Woods (33:59)

He understood how to talk to them. Like most people can't talk to different races. And how, you know, fascinating. Just don't have that way in. George had it in. So he knows this and he also knows that a lot of these guys have been in prison for 20 to 40 years or more. And a lot of these guys want to go home, you know, so if they, you know, partake in what's going on with this bus, then that's gonna prolong them to going home. So George starts working on these guys.

George K.L. Smith (34:30)

These people that are called PC sensitive need, they're gonna get off the bus. That's when your change is gonna be determined. What makes you better than them? You murdered two people. You're better than this person who, excuse my language, who raped somebody. I don't wanna make a justification or distinguish between the two, but you're no better according to George. So let's throw this in the air and talk about it, right? He told on somebody. You ever told on somebody, bro? Just cause your paperwork you're in jail with right now, don't say it. But what about that last time you were arrested? What about that crime you committed that nobody knows about? What about the fact that you hold tight to a politic that says that we can't hurt kids, we can't rape people, we can't do drive by shootings. But you're selling dope to all these people. That's killing them, man. I wrote it legibly. I mean, it just took me hours and hours to do this, bro. And that's all I heard. Boom, I was done with it.

Earlonne Woods (35:28)

So when George finishes, you know, he's.

Nigel Poor (35:32)

Writing the curriculum out.

Earlonne Woods (35:33)

Writing his curriculum out. He sends it to the administration.

Nigel Poor (35:37)

Okay.

Earlonne Woods (35:37)

And the prison administration, all the way up to the warden, they all signed off on this plan.

Nigel Poor (35:42)

That's impressive.

Earlonne Woods (35:43)

Yeah. So George started holding these groups with maybe like 50 guys at a time, and he finds himself working through the whole prison like this.

Nigel Poor (35:52)

That's amazing, right?

Earlonne Woods (35:54)

Talking to people, getting them on board.

Nigel Poor (35:55)

It's really like a grassroots thing.

Earlonne Woods (35:58)

But this comes at a risk to George because somebody can just be like, man, I don't like the direction this fool is trying to take us. Try to knock him down, stab him up, whatever, he's out the way, this whole thing go away.

Nigel Poor (36:09)

Yeah.

Earlonne Woods (36:09)

But George keep going. He even convinces people to start pulling together care packages that they can give to these new arrivals as they show up.

Nigel Poor (36:18)

Wow. Like a real welcome.

Earlonne Woods (36:19)

Yeah.

George K.L. Smith (36:24)

When they come in your building, they have nothing. So we had gathered up from the church, from the Muslim community. We had gathered up hygiene, shower shoes, everything you would need getting off a bus, noodles, all that stuff, right? We asked the church, everyone donated, to give to them, right? So it's time for the buses to come. I'm scared to death, right? I'm not sleeping well. I probably was sleeping two, three hours a night. I was expecting to be hurt and harmed at some point. The buses come, SWAT team everywhere. Entire prison is surrounded with fire trucks, National Guard, everything, bro. The rumors are going around they gonna burn the prison down, all this stuff. The bus comes, we go to R and R, take like five people with me. I got a Hispanic man, I got a Caucasian man. Other an Asian man, blacks. We're there. We mean you no harm. I told all of them, at least 85% of this population is in favor of you being here. Can't promise you that you all won't experience something, but majority of this prison right here is all for you.

Earlonne Woods (37:32)

He also has to convince the guys that are on this bus, look, we ain't with all what y'all been hearing, we're accepting y'all peacefully. Because of course, a lot of these guys, they think soon as they jump off that bus, they finna get molly whopped. Yeah, woo bop. You know, they already got a strategy in their head. You know, soon as they get off the bus, fight somebody so they can get sent to the hole.

Nigel Poor (37:53)

And they think they'd be safer in the hole?

Earlonne Woods (37:55)

No, they think not just be safer in the hole. They feel they'll be transferred out back to either the prison they came from or to another prison that, you know, served their needs.

George K.L. Smith (38:04)

I also needed to motivate them because they were getting off the bus, the sensitive need, protective custody brothers, and they were attacking people so they didn't have to go out to that prison. They'd heard an officer, the first inmate they seen, they just jump on them to not have to go out there. And then they would put them back on the bus and take them where they came from. So we needed to quell that. I needed to motivate them to know, bro, we are doing this for you. We see a lot of gang members out there. They're waiting. The sensitive knee brothers come out and they're walking to the exercise yard. There you can see all the fear. Everyone's so quiet, bro.

Earlonne Woods (38:40)

What they say, did it get quiet?

George K.L. Smith (38:42)

Everything was quiet. And mind you, there's a line of maybe 50, 60 officers completely in all riot gear. They come out and some gang members, I won't say where they're from, they came to these guys and they just started fighting, right? Neutral combat, the officer spray, you know, the pepper spray, and people disperse. They took those two guys, they took the guys that they were fighting in this mutual combat. Ten minutes later, they resume yard, yards open. Those same guys, the guys that were the first fighters and stuff that came off the bus, they came out again and this time we were like, to hell with what the officers were telling us. We just came out, all of us, all brothers, to greet this population of people.

Earlonne Woods (39:37)

There were still some guys at this prison that were not down with this new plan at all, because they still wanted they status, especially younger guys that's just now getting into the prison system. They still want their status when they go to the next prison, the next prison, so on and so on. So those individuals had a plan. Each time somebody get off that bus, they gonna send two people at them. They go fight them, resume the yard. Next get off, they send two more.

George K.L. Smith (40:03)

They were supposed to keep going, right? Clean off those guys who came off the bus, attack them, boom, Take those men, two more go. Until they exhausted all their numbers. What the officers did was, you know what, let's go get all those guys.

Earlonne Woods (40:19)

So the officers went and scooped up the whole group where they were coming from. They say, since y'all over here grouped up like this, and this is y'all mission.

Nigel Poor (40:27)

Yeah.

Earlonne Woods (40:27)

Then we just gonna take all y'all to the hole.

George K.L. Smith (40:31)

We had no more incidents after that. They came out a busload of protective custody folks. And we just got to mingling with them, giving them stuff. Everyone's loving on them. You know, you got those people who cool on them. I talk mother, you know, F them fools, right? Yeah, F them fools. But thank God you ain't touching them. The other places people are passing away, getting stabbed, dying officers are hurt. You can Google this stuff. This stuff really happened. Families were picketing outside of the prisons to protest against this stuff. Administration realized it was working. Drop bus loads on them. They're just bringing buses now. Oh, this thing worked. Two, three buses, and they just flooded the entire prison. The most peaceful transition in the state of California.

Earlonne Woods (41:20)

I know you hate redemption stories, but this one I felt was worth making because.

Nigel Poor (41:29)

Okay, tell me why.

Earlonne Woods (41:32)

George had a lot of courage here.

Nigel Poor (41:34)

Yeah.

Earlonne Woods (41:34)

I think George went through all that hell, smuggling the drugs, being in the gang, being in all that to get him to the point where he knew every angle, every person, every race, every, you know, gang member. He knew them all and was in a position to talk to him.

Nigel Poor (41:54)

Right. To use that knowledge in a different way.

Earlonne Woods (41:55)

Exactly.

Nigel Poor (41:56)

Yeah. Now, can I just explain why I don't like redemption stories, please? Because I know people are going to be like, well, what's wrong with you, Nigel?

Earlonne Woods (42:02)

Yeah, what's wrong with you? This is supposed to be it.

Nigel Poor (42:04)

So there's a couple things, but one is what I don't like is I feel like a lot of people only want to hear redemption stories. They only want to care about people who are, in quotes, redeemed. And that discounts a huge population in prison that is still worth considering, that is still struggling. Right. So people can be doing messed up things and still be worth telling stories about.

Earlonne Woods (42:28)

Oh, of course.

Nigel Poor (42:29)

And the second reason is that I think sometimes redemption stories are just, like, too easy. You know what I mean, Earl? Like, first somebody's bad, and then they're good. And in reality, everybody is more complicated than that. And what's interesting to me is all the messy stuff that happens. And here thinking about him using all of his nefarious knowledge to do something different makes it interesting. Puts an interesting spin on it. So.

Earlonne Woods (42:53)

But, you know, it's still, I was bad. I know I did good. I found God.

Nigel Poor (43:01)

Wait A minute. Is he gonna get bad again?

Earlonne Woods (43:06)

It has those helmets.

Nigel Poor (43:08)

I know it does.

Earlonne Woods (43:09)

So I don't want to necessarily end this like this. I got one more little twist.

Nigel Poor (43:14)

Okay, Groovy.

Earlonne Woods (43:16)

I want to bring back Count Time.

Nigel Poor (43:18)

Oh.

Earlonne Woods (43:19)

Remember Count Time.

Nigel Poor (43:20)

I love Count Time.

Earlonne Woods (43:22)

Count Time has nothing to do with the episode or it's some tape that we didn't use that we wanted to.

Nigel Poor (43:27)

Use, and we just throw it in.

Earlonne Woods (43:28)

Count Time.

Nigel Poor (43:29)

Yes, yes.

Earlonne Woods (43:29)

So remember that lady we heard doing the listener alert at the top of the show today?

Nigel Poor (43:35)

Yeah. The incarcerated woman from ciw, the one that you helped. Yes.

Earlonne Woods (43:39)

She told us that it was a program in there that did a rap contest, and she missed it. And she was so hurt that she missed it. And you know me, I encouraged her. So I'm throwing her rap into Count time. Here's Hood princess. Do you do music here?

Nigel Poor (43:55)

Yeah.

Tanaya (43:56)

Ooh.

Earlonne Woods (43:56)

So what do you do?

Tanaya (43:57)

I'm an artist. I'm a rapper.

George K.L. Smith (43:59)

Oh, they were looking for rappers.

Tanaya (44:00)

I was. I cried because I didn't make it.

Earlonne Woods (44:03)

We can always hear you spit right now.

Tanaya (44:04)

All right, here we go. Uh.

George K.L. Smith (44:06)

Oh.

Tanaya (44:06)

All right. I'mma make it either give it up or I'mma take it I be tripping but I don't shy from it I embrace it they be dissing, I'm a makey either give it up or imma take it I be tripping but I don't shy from it I embrace it they be dissing, I ain't mad look at me, I'm amazing if my life was a hood, I swear motherfuckers are claiming doing good, doing bad they gon have something to say too hood or got class they gonna judge you either way broker in your bag you can't have a nice day in this new life and time? You a predator or a prey? Everybody got it hard so it's who got it harder everybody trying to make it so you gotta move smarter if thinking somebody thought gotta think larger and if you think you thought first then you better leave a marker what? Huh? Don't ever think you can trust it's blood or water folks that don't give a fuck they got they own problems that can't let you be one so stay in your own lane and always keep it a buck keep your eyes and ears open sell a bow switch your routines up the ones who know you do you cold I don't care who wanna tell never tell a single soul and if you friendly out here you digging your own hole imma make it either give it up or imma take it I be trippin but I don't shy from it I embrace the baby diss and I ain't mad look at me I'm amazement my life was a hood that's what motherfuckers acclaim it. Your friends could be friends with your enemy chopping it up they really could be plotting anything that hell look crazy cause it's never who you thought it'd be I troop alone they lying if they say they friends with me on God they lying if they claiming plans with me Cause once one you gonna always be an enemy Cause once you switch you can never be a friend of me cause I'd be damned if a fake be the death of me cause I'ma make it.

Earlonne Woods (45:30)

She did her thing. I called up Antwan Banks Williams. I say bruh, sweet Banks, I got this acapella I need you to, you know, put beat up under it. So he took it from there. That's count time.

Nigel Poor (45:43)

That's count time.

Earlonne Woods (45:44)

That is count time and that is the story.

Nigel Poor (45:46)

First of all, I think we should bring count time back, right? I think this is going to be the story with the most references to excrement. Any story that we've done is not.

Earlonne Woods (45:57)

Going to like this.

Nigel Poor (45:58)

Poor Julie Shapiro is going to die when she hears this one. And I will reconsider my hard line on redemption stories. Earlonne, you may have redeemed the redemption story.

Earlonne Woods (46:11)

George Smith. See what you done did, George?

Nigel Poor (46:13)

So thanks so much, Earlonne. I love these mystery episodes because we never know what's gonna happen. Surprises all around. I can't wait for next season.

Earlonne Woods (46:21)

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Nigel.

Nigel Poor (46:22)

I did.

George K.L. Smith (46:27)

My name is George K.L. smith. I am the founder and CEO of Growth ReinforcesOur Worth. I am also the director of reentry and violence prevention for Options Recovery Services in Berkeley, California. Special thanks to Antwan Banks Williams for remixing that song by hood princess. Ear Hustle is produced by Nigel Poor, Earlonne Woods, Amy Standen, Bruce Wallace, Rahsaan, New York Thomas and Kat Schutnacht. Shamnam Sigman is the managing producer. The producing team Inside San Quentin includes Darrell Siddiq Davis, Tony De Trinidad and Tom Nguyen. The inside managing producer is Tony Tafoya. Thanks also to Aristeo San Pablo. Thanks to acting warden Andes and Lt. Barry in San Quentin and to the acting warden part at the California Institution for Women for their support of the show. Thanks also to this guy. I am Lieutenant Newborg, public information officer.

Nigel Poor (47:30)

At the California Institution for Women and I approve this episode.

George K.L. Smith (47:34)

This episode was made possible by the Just Trust building a smaller, more humane engine of justice and safety across the country.

Nigel Poor (47:45)

Earlonne woods sound designs and engineers the show with help from Fernando Arruda, Harry Culhane and Darrell Siddiq Davis.

Earlonne Woods (47:53)

Music for this episode comes from Darrell Siddiq Davis, Antwan Banks Williams, David Josse and me. For more information about this episode, check out the show notes on Ear Hustle's website, earhustlesq.com youm can find us on.

Nigel Poor (48:10)

Social media, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube @earhustlesq.

Earlonne Woods (48:15)

Wait, no TikTok yet.

Nigel Poor (48:17)

Soon, right? We need to dance, my friend.

Earlonne Woods (48:20)

And if you're not already, follow and review Ear Hustle on any of your favorite podcast apps like Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Earlonne Woods Show.

Nigel Poor (48:33)

Ear Hustle is Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia from prx, a network of independent, creator owned, listener supported podcasts.

Earlonne Woods (48:46)

Discover audio with vision at Radiotopia fm.

Nigel Poor (48:50)

I'm Nigel Poor.

Earlonne Woods (48:51)

And I'm Earlonne Woods.

Nigel Poor (48:53)

Thanks for listening. Hey, come on, join in with me.

Earlonne Woods (48:56)

No, I wanted to hear your voice.

Nigel Poor (48:58)

Now can we do it together, please?

Earlonne Woods (48:59)

All right.

Nigel Poor (49:00)

Thanks for listening. All right. Thanks for listening.

Earlonne Woods (49:06)

Thanks for listening.

George K.L. Smith (49:13)

In prison bro, you can be a former Crip or blood and walk away and become a Muslim or non affiliate and it's okay. But Christianity, like the. The white man, the blue eyed baby owner, right?

Tanaya (49:27)

Are you gonna go for that again?

George K.L. Smith (49:29)

Sorry brother, but that's what the language Radiotopia from PRX.