THE CRIP MODULE...

This is one of the hardest places I've ever been. In Los Angeles, California, home of the Crips and Bloods. It was so bad they had to separate us. You had to be somewhat HIGH-POWER, not just anybody could make it, you can go over there if you wanted to, but you had to be a MAN, if you were weak any and everything was go happen to you. I seen it first hand. You are on 23/1 twenty three hours a day in a two man cell, you only got one hour to handle your business, use the phone, hop in the shower and/or just hang out on the rec yard. It was tense at all times, everybody was facing LIFE or 30 years. I was facing LIFE (three strikes), but I was so young it didn't even hit me until I was in trial getting judged by 12 of my so-called peers. Every day was a party to some because a lot of us would never see each other again. I seen so many of my own homeboys get life like it was nothing. There were no Law Libraries, we just had to put our lives in the hand of the Public Pretenders, that's what we called them because they didn't really care, we were just another file to them. There were some of the most famous Crips in this place, they couldn't walk the mainline due to their status. A lot of dudes were scared to come over there because if you were not a man, you would get treated as such. A lot of people don't understand how it really goes, people just think that you just get raped or something like that. It's nowhere like that. Truthfully it's all how you carry yourself and if you stay away from it, it will not come your way, but you do have predators and they know who to try, I never had a problem, personally. In the module, well, in our block we did not have any of that stuff going on, but in other modules it was going on. I would hear about it but you would see the person leaving, then you would ask "what happen to him", then you would hear the horror story. They had a thing if you get tied up it was all over for you. I used my street rep to hold me down, I was not going for none of that. I'm serious, I told them if they tried it I was not go play fair, if you know what I mean. I was a young dude, but I was always smart so it played to my advantage. I had a couple of older homies, who really pulled me up on everything and how it really goes, see, when you a youngster you think you know everything, but you don't know nothing at all. It was a learning experience that will stick with you for the rest of your life. I was one of the last generation of dudes to go through there, after us they tore it down and put everybody together, that made it worse, but they don't care, they want to see us go at each other. It's all set up, some places they would even bet on us like we were professional boxers. I really didn't know that I would beat my case, I fought it for about 18 months, that's like a lifetime in that place. I was forced to trial and I won, I really was my own lawyer, I had to study my case and put everything together. I'm not go lie, it was the scariest thing I had ever went through, knowing that your life is in 12 people hands. Now I see why some people say they would rather be buried by (6) than to be judged by (12). I was blessed, I had a hung jury, 9-3. I still had to take a deal because I did not want to go through it again. I lost weight and everything. There was one young lady that I will never forget, it was like we both knew I was innocent. They were trying hard to persuade her, my lawyer was telling me everything. I had a pretty decent lawyer, but he was not as good as me. I knew I was on my way to the PEN, so I had to get ready because it's no joke. I learned how to do everything that I needed to, I can't go into details, but you should get the point. I went to the hole on New Year's Day, now the hole in the Crip module is no joke, they feed you what's called "JUKE BALLS", it's whatever the meal is all squished up in a ball and it cold as ice, they try to make you break, I'm not go lie that was a hard 90 days, but I made it through, the only book you get is the BIBLE, so I read it all day and prayed, yeah, we are very religious too. It's something about being in a room for 24 hours, sometimes you get a celly, but I BUCK cellies, they will put anybody in there and I can't live with just anybody, I'm still like that, once you been doing it so long you will know all the tricks of the trade. But they will try to "TEAM" you. Putting on all their gear and spray you with all kinds of chemicals. But it's ways around that I make sure I'm in the right. It's a cruel place and I don't wish this on anybody, but like I keep stressing you have to have a strong mind, if not you will not make it, I promise. Some of the strongest men, break down, I've seen it. I keep a mental note to always keep focused, my #1 rule is "SELF PRESERVATION". My freedom is next, and I continue to work on that to this day. I just got some good news last week, so if you are one of the ones who has been praying for me. THANK YOU...