REVOLVING DOORS: Ray Gates: ‘We ain’t angels. We aren’t innocent.’By TERI FIGUEROA – Staff Writer | |
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REVOLVING DOORS: Ray Gates: ‘We ain’t angels. We aren’t innocent.’ “We have to live together, so we all get along. You get a lot more respect in here than by people on the outside. It’s policy here (among prison inmates, whose behaviors are unofficially regulated by prison gangs). Everything here is respect; you find a lot of respect given here. Otherwise, it would be real chaotic. Read more on Revolving Doors: Parole system in crisis “A typical day here is really boring. Everyone likes to make it seem like a lot of crazy things happening. A lot of dudes in here just want to get by and go home. You wake up, you eat, say your prayers, come back and work out; read for a little while, write lots of letters. The biggest excitement of the day is mail call, and people get real sad. … When you see a counselor, that is up there with mail call. “Everybody gets along as far as gangs. … Everyone gets together (in gangs for protection). I am proud to be from Escondido and North County. Everyone sticks together in here. There is segregation, of course, and it will be like that after I leave. “I hear a lot of people talking bad about (the parole system). But my first (parole officer) was a good dude and he kept giving me chances, but I am just a knucklehead. I get that end-of-the-week (pay)check and sometimes I mess up. (My parole officer) exhausted his options on me. It was my decision. A lot say they can’t get no love from parole. I have had good parole officers who have really cared. “I resort to criminal activity. … When you get arrested, your clothes are gone, cars are gone. When we get out, we start everything all over. I don’t know how they expect us to survive out there. I’ll go and see family (upon release from prison) and wrap my arms around my (4-year-old) daughter and talk to my brother about work. He always gives me that chance. “It’s crowded (in prison) and it is because we keep getting sent back here for dumb stuff. They wanted me to go to nine to 12 months of drug rehab. I’d rather keep doing what I am doing out there and working and get caught and come back here for four months. They are trying to do the best they can, so are we. … I gotta take these risks sometimes. We ain’t angels. We aren’t innocent.” About this series SUN: California’s parole system is in crisis —- and it stands to get much worse. TUES: The R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility is a place where society unintentionally creates better criminals. WED: Nearly 2,000 ex-cons call North County home. THU: Overworked parole officers are cops and counselors. |
Filed under: California News, Health and Medicine, Human Rights, Prison Issues, Prison Reform, Prisons and Prisoners, inmates, law
