What Do Convicts With "Life-In-Prison" Do All Day?

Summary

In this thought-provoking video, Larry Lawton delves into the life of inmates serving life sentences in prison. With over 200,000 people in the U.S. facing life without parole, Lawton explains the psychological battles these individuals endure, including despair, acceptance, and attempts to find meaning within their confines. He shares personal anecdotes of his encounters with lifers, highlighting their survival strategies and the mental coping mechanisms they adopt to navigate the endless days. This glimpse into prison life challenges viewers to reflect on the harsh realities of the prison system and its impact on human lives.

Highlights

• Larry Lawton explores the life of inmates serving life sentences in prison. 🔍
• Over 200,000 people in the U.S. face life without parole, many never to see daylight again. 🌅
• Larry describes lifers' ways of coping, from accepting their fate to finding purpose and meaning. 🧘‍♂️
• Inmates often become resigned to their conditions, finding ways to live within their confines. 🔒
• The psychological impact of life sentences can be profound, leading to mental health challenges. 🤯

Key Takeaways

• Life sentences in prison can lead to severe psychological challenges for inmates. 🧠
• Some lifers manage to find purpose and meaning despite their sentences. 🌟
• Larry shares personal anecdotes to depict the varied experiences of individual inmates. 📖
• Inmates often avoid discussing the outside world to cope with their reality. 🌍
• The U.S. prison system has a large number of inmates serving life without parole. 🚔

Overview

Larry Lawton, in his gripping video, takes us inside the walls of prison to explore the daily lives of those with life sentences. These 'lifers' often never escape the endless routine behind bars, leading to unique psychological and emotional challenges. Lawton's narrative is both sobering and insightful, offering a compassionate look at an often misunderstood population.

The video brings to light staggering statistics, such as over 200,000 people living out their days under life sentences across the United States. Lawton shares poignant stories of inmates he's known, painting a complex picture of humanity in an unforgiving environment. These stories reveal how some individuals hold onto hope and strive for personal growth, despite their irrevocable situations.

Lawton also touches on the systemic issues within the prison system, questioning the fairness and effectiveness of life sentences without the possibility of parole. His personal connection to the topic, coupled with his background and experiences, provides viewers with a unique perspective on legal justice and rehabilitation, encouraging them to reconsider preconceived notions about life in prison.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:30: Introduction to Life Sentences Larry Lawton introduces a video focused on life sentences in prison. He mentions his own experiences in Atlanta where there were about 880 people with life sentences, although he himself did not have one. Before delving into the topic, he gives a shoutout to his YouTube and Patreon member programs, Discord community, his book 'Gangster Redemption', and merch. Finally, the video subject was a request from multiple people.
• 02:30 - 05:00: Legal System and Exoneration This chapter explores the legal implications and realities of life sentences within the federal system, emphasizing the inevitability of permanent incarceration as encapsulated in the term 'letters'. It highlights that a significant portion of over 200,000 individuals serving such sentences across the United States, particularly in state prisons, will remain imprisoned indefinitely. The chapter acknowledges the seriousness of certain crimes justifying these sentences, while also raising concerns about others not meriting such a harsh fate.
• 05:00 - 07:30: Appeals and Legal Remedies in Prison The chapter discusses the theme of wrongful convictions and exonerations in the justice system. It highlights the staggering number of false imprisonments, such as the case of Aziz, who was wrongfully convicted in the assassination of Malcolm X. The narrative emphasizes the shocking reality that since 1989, 3,000 people have been exonerated after being falsely accused, drawing attention to the prevalence and serious implications of errors in the legal system.
• 07:30 - 12:30: Experiences of Inmates with Life Sentences The chapter titled 'Experiences of Inmates with Life Sentences' provides insights into the perception of inmates and the justice system. It challenges the common belief that most people in prison claim innocence, highlighting that while a few might be, the majority are not. The discussion shifts to highlight a significant issue within the legal system where many inmates, possibly serving life sentences, are overcharged or convicted under questionable circumstances. It is suggested that legal technicalities, such as incomplete evidence disclosure by the prosecution or errors in jury decision-making, contribute to these unjust outcomes.
• 12:30 - 17:30: Mental State and Coping Mechanisms This chapter discusses the importance of understanding the legal process and being proactive in one's own defense. It emphasizes researching one's own case, especially when facing serious charges. The author shares personal experience facing a potential life sentence due to a gun charge, highlighting the necessity of being informed and involved in legal proceedings.
• 17:30 - 22:30: Legal Work and Inmate Interactions The chapter discusses the harsh realities of the federal prison system, highlighting the aspect of serving 85% of a sentence with no opportunity for parole. The speaker reflects on life sentences and encounters with inmates serving such sentences, emphasizing the lack of leniency and the need for prison reform, particularly in relation to parole systems.
• 22:30 - 26:00: Reflection and Conclusion The chapter 'Reflection and Conclusion' discusses the emotional and psychological approach of inmates towards their incarceration. It emphasizes the idea of 'doing the time,' meaning inmates actively engage with their time rather than passively experiencing it. The speaker highlights that inmates often refrain from discussing their life outside prison, including their families, although close bonds with some reveal emotional moments where they open up about their children and occasionally break down in tears.

What Do Convicts With "Life-In-Prison" Do All Day? Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey everybody larry lawton here i got a good video for you today it's going to be about people who have life sentences in prison before i get started check us out on youtube member programs patreon member programs discord the book uh gangster redemption the uh merch all that kind of stuff would be great well let me just get right to this video this video was asked to me by a bunch of people of course i didn't have a life sentence in fact when i was in atlanta we had uh 800 i think it was 880 people with life
• 00:30 - 01:00 sentences out of 2 000. what a life sentence means in the federal system is they call it letters that means you'll never ever get out of prison now doing some research on life sentences over 200 000 people around the united states and state mostly in state prisons with life sentences two hundred thousand most of those people will never ever see daylight now don't get me wrong some of them should never see daylight uh some of the crimes that that they committed are atrocious some of them aren't and that's crazy you
• 01:00 - 01:30 know i did my news show and when i looked up crime and and exonerations with uh the guy aziz who who who was uh falsely convicted of killing malcolm x 3 000 people since 1989 were exonerated for falsely being falsely accused and falsely uh imprisoned 3 000 people think of that number that number is just atrocious to me i mean it's just it bottles my mind to think of that and i never even thought the number was that high myself you know when you go to
• 01:30 - 02:00 prison everybody thinks oh you know you know other innocent or people you always say yes there's going to be a few but most of people in prisons are not innocent you know it's funny you know i did a lot of legal work now what i can say is doing legal work a lot of people are probably overcharged or they're convicted under dubious conditions meaning whether they're guilty or not that that's really here or there by law the feds didn't give exactly all the evidence and release all the stuff and or they would the jury was wrong or
• 02:00 - 02:30 the vorder which is jury questioning and stuff of that nature or even the jury instructions were dubious at best and there's where good lawyers come the technical end of it obviously what i tell anybody who's ever going to get arrested no matter what crime you're really facing do your own research if i didn't do my own research i wouldn't be here talking to you i was facing a life sentence well i was facing 85 years for the gun charge alone to me that's a life sentence 85 plus what i
• 02:30 - 03:00 got i would have got 90 something years in prison i think that's a life sentence although they don't consider that a life sentence because there is a number but in the federal system you got to do 85 of your time so it's not like you're getting out you know you can say oh okay you can get good time or the parole board will come at one third or anything like that it doesn't work like that there is no more parole board they did away with all that which i think they should bring back let me go into life sentence and people i know and met in prison now i met a lot a lot of life sentence
• 03:00 - 03:30 guys and i got to know them very well and there's a couple of things i always noticed when i when i talked to them about that they really they did their time they didn't let time do them i often talk about that you do the time don't let time do you and most of them don't really talk about the outside at all even their families they don't talk about much uh you'll hear a few and i got really close with a few and something you'll hear them you know when you get close to them we'll talk about a kid and i've seen them cry i've seen them break down but they try to keep
• 03:30 - 04:00 that that whatever it is that makes you live in prison you know after your appeals are done most people in prison of course want to get to prison if they have a life center any sentences they go for an appeal after your appeal in prison you still have other remedies to get back into court and if you're in a state you can go to the feds and if you're in the feds you can go with ineffective assistance to council which is called a 2255 so there are ways to get back into court to try to remedy what happened to you not all of it works
• 04:00 - 04:30 some of it does obviously after you do so much i was with a guy had a life sentence and he was in the cell in fact uh i was in a cell with a drug dealer and and got in the prison and this guy had life says i knew him well and he comes in to the guy and he says to the guy he'll say listen i need five papers of heroin the guy looked at him like what do you think your jerk off you or he owe them money he says what are you [ __ ] talking about you owe me money don't play me for a jerk off the guy goes listen i'm checking out i'm like at
• 04:30 - 05:00 first it didn't click then he clicked and the guy looked and i'm like quiet just sitting on the bunk and he says uh i can't do it anymore and the guy was probably 50 years old at that time and sure enough the kite gave him the heroin and said you better be dead in the morning i'm going to kill you and he meant it i mean this is real [ __ ] now this is [ __ ] i was there and i witnessed the guy took to heroin and he overdosed that night uh i've seen a lot of people overdose and come back but a lot of people overdose in prison because in
• 05:00 - 05:30 atlanta and in most prisons heroin is the number one drug and it it [ __ ] kills you you know i mean people people are [ __ ] they shoot it and that's how to get dirty needles and but who gives a [ __ ] if you're at a point where you have life do you really give a [ __ ] i mean there's a percentage of the people in prison will keep fighting their cases for years five years ten years they get into the law i met him in the law library we would talk about their case other cases they're always researching cases new cases coming out hoping the supreme
• 05:30 - 06:00 court changes certain things a whole bunch of stuff goes on and uh which i would too obviously but then there's a percentage of them who literally get resigned to the fact that they are here for life now they'll get a lover yes a guy lover or whatever and they'll go to work they'll go to unicorn they call it or whatever they work and they'll go make money and they'll come back and they'll have dinner with their celli which is their wife at that point or whatever it is whether it's under the table or not
• 06:00 - 06:30 uh most of them don't give a [ __ ] what do you give a [ __ ] got life in prison who am i to judge any i don't judge anyone anyway just to do what anybody does i mean hey good for them whatever you're gonna do you do here's an old saying we used to say what goes on in business stays in prison but uh these guys literally literally just get a life now that is resigning yourself to i'm never getting out of here this is the best life i can make for myself and i often used to think about that always having a date i always had a date
• 06:30 - 07:00 so when you have a date you look at things a whole different way you know my my worry was always that people who didn't have a date are looking at me like getting jealous you know [ __ ] him and although they don't say it most people are like happy that you get out you get transferred you're getting close you win an appeal everybody is like that but some i mean it's just people are crazy then i often say you do have a percentage of the life sentence people that are just [ __ ] crazy they really don't belong
• 07:00 - 07:30 in in the free world they probably don't even belong in a regular prison they're freaking mental when i say mental i mean off the [ __ ] charts that i knew them and i would hang even hang with some of them and but you always had your eyes behind your head opened uh or you hear things you watch things you see the demeanor of people change i also learned like when you see them change even what they talk about i mean i've watched a number of suicides in prison and you'll see them start talking about
• 07:30 - 08:00 different things and before you know you hear about oh he was down in b house and you know he hung himself or he killed himself obviously the first thing we all think did he really do that you know i mean because we've seen the cases where let me tell you that the questionable stuff of what goes on in prison meaning listen they took a guy off a [ __ ] down off a freaking hanging off the top bunk but he had a hole in his head how the [ __ ] can you put a hole in your head and then [ __ ] hang yourself so i i don't know what happened there obviously uh you know the system is pretty broke
• 08:00 - 08:30 and nobody the sad part is not many people care about these people who have life sentences now when you get down to it a lot of people look at this and say why should i some of them killed [ __ ] kids or old people were [ __ ] were just you know the worst of the door and that is true i made it a point of mine not to know what people did usually i didn't care unless i did their legal work or i'm really really close with them i didn't give a [ __ ] with anybody i didn't want to know
• 08:30 - 09:00 what people did that that was my way of coping and saying hey listen i'm just going to keep my counsel to myself what i believe and what what happens i dealt with shock callers so i would find out a lot about what people did because the shop callers which is the leader of xml whatever group it is they'd say hey lad can do us a favor can you get the paperwork on this guy or that guy and i did so then i would know and some of the [ __ ] i read was just [ __ ] disgusting and uh you know it gave me to like wow
• 09:00 - 09:30 and i thought many many times i'm sitting in these places i'm living with these people literally eating with them living with him uh who knows the guy down the corner who knows how sick of a crime he committed or whatnot but i also know i've met some really really good people in prison and uh whether it's a paul cellini or a big ron gotta get big ron on here ron to this day man i met him you know when i was out since i've been out when i went to vegas once i met him we went to the hoover dam and ron is just one of the sweetest guys great guy
• 09:30 - 10:00 stand up guy uh he'll have stories about me too but uh so i met good people there's no question i met some good people but you do meet people you never want to see again you just want to do your time and get away from these people for whatever reason or not because they're [ __ ] not right in the head and you'd never know what can happen to them or what you're going to do and i had a cellmate it was a life sentence guy and you know everybody used to say to me when i started doing this they'd say oh larry so and he's a good guy yes he was
• 10:00 - 10:30 a good guy he killed a guy with an ax handle on a military base i don't know the whole particular why that i think it was a robbery or something gone bad or whatever it was and but he was a good guy i hung with him i partied with him listen to music with him talk to him nice guy really was and i you know isn't that crazy you say well i was a nice guy to kill the guy but you know i'm not judging that whole guy's whole life on that one incident i hope nobody judges me on the incidents that happened to me and when i was a bad guy because i was a bad guy i never tried to tell people i was a great guy
• 10:30 - 11:00 and oh larry was you know just got mixed up in a little robbery here no i was a bad guy i was wrapped up with the wrong people i i was [ __ ] balls to my knees i i was crazy i never thought i'd live to 50 years old no less now so i mean i'm looking at it a different way and i do look at people that way now i look at i look at people in that good way of hey listen everybody shouldn't be judged on the worst of their acts they shouldn't they should be judged in the totality of their act i hope
• 11:00 - 11:30 people realize that i try to help people i try to make people better i try to make young people not make the choices i make i try to give people who've been in prison that step up to say listen if larry can do it anybody can do it because it's true i never came from money i never come from stuff when i got out i had it rough everything else and i want you to know that you can make it people can't make it it's not like you know you can't yes you're gonna have hurdles all the time what i tell you about an [ __ ] probation whatever it is half a house going back doing everything but you can
• 11:30 - 12:00 make it the life sentence people now these people are never ever getting out i mean the mentality of it is crazy a guy who has a life sentence if he gets mad there is no question he's going to try to do something to you and kill you he doesn't think it a consequence what are you going to do put him in the hole transfer him you know i dealt with a kid in a life sentence he had three life sentence and he was a great kid and how i i helped him become a bookie i know it's crazy but he become a bookie and and when he was wanting to kill somebody
• 12:00 - 12:30 i grabbed him i said hey come here you know listen to me do you like this place yeah yeah i do like it he was making money had guards in the pocket doing everything do you like it yeah yeah he said if you do something you're going to get transferred you're out of here that's the the best he might go to what they call adx colorado and then get into what they call the step down program if he even can get that for or but they're gonna transfer you for a while they're not just throwing anybody into the adx they don't have the beds just to do that either but these guys
• 12:30 - 13:00 who who have a life they think of things a little different you gotta understand what makes him tick he liked the prison he had the yard he knew the people he was you know entrenched in that place so he knows he's been transferred many times and and now do you want to get transferred again do you want to lose what you got do you want to lose your hustle do you want to lose everything you got maybe your family knows you you're here now and and you can visit here it's closer or whatever the reasons you have to find out what that person i did at least when i talked to them and
• 13:00 - 13:30 that and i always had a walk on that balance of like listen to me you know i i don't have a life sense so when you're talking to a guy with a life sentence you got to wonder if you're going to look like who the [ __ ] you love what do you tell them i never did it like that because i always try to educate whoever it was i was with even life-saving guys with what i knew my knowledge whether it was bookmaking loan sharking or whatever legal act i did how to do things better how to figure things out maybe it's just the way my mind works but that's what i did to try to
• 13:30 - 14:00 help them realize that hey there is more to yes you got a life sentence but you like it here you know it's funny you know i remember being in a in a uh tv room and we had where there were about three guys who had life life it was myself and maybe another two guys we were watching a movie that i don't know what the freaking movie was it made us cry literally you're seeing these [ __ ] badass crazy [ __ ] crying i mean you know they try that
• 14:00 - 14:30 topic you'll see a tear you go you know you see go somebody go like that or doing a movie or whatever it was and i thought afterwards i says what do you think someone would come in there and say what are you crying over a movie [ __ ] no every one of those guys in that tv room i knew for a fact had a shank on them those guys i knew guys who never left their cell without a shank i used to have a shank ready to go but i didn't have to carry it at all times i didn't think i did and thank god i didn't because once you get caught with a shank you're going right to the hole you're
• 14:30 - 15:00 gonna get a shot you're gonna lose good time and you're not gonna get down to the level of prison you want to get down my goal was always to get to a medium i did but then i [ __ ] up and going back to the penitentiary it's just because your mentality is so different you know when you're with life sentence guys when you're with the respect you have on a prison yard of a penitentiary it's a lot different than than going to a lower level prison whatever it is but even the prisons i went to they're lower they were either a gang unit or a new prison and it was pretty wild i never
• 15:00 - 15:30 got down to a low or a camp or anything like that i can't even imagine me being in there some guy [ __ ] crying about his three years he got prison i think i [ __ ] slapped the [ __ ] at him because i mean shut your [ __ ] mouth especially in prisons listen i had four 12-year cents running concurrent meaning they run consent you know together and i never mentioned anyone i had 144 months never you could because you'd get guys who got 240 months it's 20 years they'd
• 15:30 - 16:00 have 240 months it was like nothing then of ken once a guy has life it literally is life there's no number it is life you die in that prison you will never get out of prison unless you die and that's just the way to assist the federal system is there is no parole there is no you try to do what you can legally but life is not and the demeanor of the people who have life most of them are pretty quiet most of them are i guess in their own thoughts uh
• 16:00 - 16:30 obviously suicides uh obviously drugs obviously whatever it is and depending on the level of the person and you got to know listen we played sports and i played sports for some life said that's what their their life was you know to win that title on the yard or to beat another team or to play and go you know hit a baseball you know we played softball not baseball play softball or play uh handball there was some great great handball i mean great handball players
• 16:30 - 17:00 and that's what their life became is that exertion and maybe it's getting out that that exercise i was a big physical guy where i did a lot of push-ups and pull-ups and dips on stairs everything i did i used to be a that's how i got energy out of me when i got mad or frustrated and stuff and i always had something going on just that's just my nature i can't not keep busy i can't not connect even now i can't not connect with my youtube audience or i can't not
• 17:00 - 17:30 answer the stuff on on videos i i just love to be active i'm not the kind of guy can ever sit down and retire that's not larry it's just maybe someday it will but it's not now that's for sure and it was not then either it wasn't back in those days either it was not even close to that i was the kind of guy that had to be involved in things now some of these life sentence guys become zombies i seen that literally zombies some of them get on medications
• 17:30 - 18:00 at the medical because they all can get medication immediately i mean you know how much depression has got to be involved when you got a life sentence and never getting out i mean they get antidepressants in what they call the thorazine you see a guy doing thor's shuffle he's all [ __ ] up he's like a zombie and so you'd see all that kind of stuff and someone would even get it to try to sell it to get money to get stuff off the commissary some of them lose everything i don't know their cases i don't know why they lost everyone why they lost family i was always blessed to have family and
• 18:00 - 18:30 friends that would support me even when i went away they supported me in a big way which is very very important when you're in prison so that made me always if you want to call happy happy but again there's a big difference i didn't have a life sentence the lifers that i was around i noticed the main thing they i i don't ever remember them talking about the outside like i could be with a friend who we're both getting out and we're talking oh man when i get out i'm gonna try this i you know we're gonna do this we're gonna do that
• 18:30 - 19:00 you don't do that around guys who are never ever getting out i mean i i mean you'd see it and they'd be up and they'd walk away and i've never seen them like live in the outside world they lived in their little bubble that bubble of the prison that prison was their world forever and it you know it actually boggles my mind just like people who are death throw you know on death row and or people in life i don't know if i can do it i don't know if i'd want to do it they say the will to live is just amazing and i get that
• 19:00 - 19:30 because i was in the hole for 11 straight months three years out of my time and i thought i was gonna die and there was no question i you know i thought about suicide i thought about a lot of those things but i was at that you know like point and i i can't imagine if i had never ever all appeals are lost all's ready to go i don't know if i can do it i don't know if i could sit there and want this for the rest of my life ever unless you just
• 19:30 - 20:00 like i said i've seen them fall into it and get get it like i said get their lover go eat at night make soups you'll make all the stuff i talk about on here actually i got a video coming out about another meal but all of that kind of stuff and it it it just boggles my mind that they can compartmentalize but again they snap and i can understand it but the common denominator is they never talk about the outside world i never heard them i never sat down with life sentence guys and they start talking
• 20:00 - 20:30 about their family out there or you know you know the kids just never did i'm sure they had them they did it and i'd see them go for visits but i never saw them like come back like all happy like hey great guy you know how i hate it visits were the roughest time in prison because you know you get so psyched up to get a visit you get it and then it's like a big letdown could you imagine if you you're seeing somebody and then you know you're never ever going to see him again how do you talk to them out there that would always you know i always
• 20:30 - 21:00 wanted to ask one but you you don't do that i wouldn't do that i never did and i always respected the time they had to do now i watched drug dealers that i helped in the law i had some pretty big kingpins who had life prison and they'd asked me for help in law and i got to know him we'd sit down it was all law though it was all legal it was all their case what they did who's the snitches how do you get them what they say was wrong not wrong how did the lawyer [ __ ] up everything else so it was all legal so we did legal work and that's how we
• 21:00 - 21:30 worked with those guys so i hope i gave you a little bit of an insight of life sentences i just hope i gave you a little bit enough to realize think about that 200 over 200 000 people united states with life never getting out think about that uh you you'll be surprised a lot of countries don't have that a lot of countries have a number and then they can get parole or whatever the united states doesn't have that so think about that and think about our system and i'm not saying again i'm not sticking up for life people because some
• 21:30 - 22:00 of them did atrocious things and i want to say that as well but i hope you like my insight into life people with life senses inside if you like what we do please pass it on please subscribe if you haven't have a great day please make good choices and please please help somebody along the way it'll make you feel good i know it makes me feel good when i do that have a great day everybody [Music]
• 22:00 - 22:30 you