Girls Behind Bars Stacey Dooley in the USA

This programme contains some strong language.

We're going to get the leg irons off for you all.

You're going to have your cuffs taken off and have a seat inside the cage and you'll be quiet, right?

-Ma'am, yes, ma'am.

-Awesome.

'These girls are all facing up to three years in prison.

'But they've been given a choice.

'Instead of serving time in prison,

'they've taken the option of going to a boot camp

'where military discipline is used to change behaviour.'

..3, 4, 2, 3, 4...

WHISTLE BLOWS

Listen up, let's go, ladies, for the haircuts.

'It's called doing "shock".'

This is an opportunity for them

to get some sort of structure in their life

and hopefully to get them back on the right track.

You know, get them to think different, act different, talk different.

'If they make it, they'll be free in six months.

'But if they fail, they'll be sent back to prison

'to serve out their full sentence.

'I'm going to spend time with girls going through shock.'

This is not easy. It's really not.

'And I'll be visiting a regular prison to find out

'what their lives could be like if they don't make it.'

I'd... Literally, I'd be so rubbish in here. I wouldn't last 30 seconds.

No, your primitive side is going to kick in

and you're going to do what's necessary.

'There are prison boot camps all over America.

'The military-style regime is designed to re-programme offenders

'and literally shock them into going straight.'

-I need your watch.

-Oh, yeah, of course.

Bobby pins cannot come in.

-OK.

-We don't want them to pick no locks.

-Oh, gosh...

'But Lakeview, a shock incarceration facility in upstate New York,

'is unique. It's currently the only camp in America that takes in girls.

'It's 5.30 in the morning

'and I'm about to meet the inmates who make up G1 platoon.'

HIGH-PITCHED WHISTLE BLOWN SHARPLY

GROANING

-Morning, G1.

-WOMEN: Sir, morning, sir.

-I said, good morning, G1!

-WOMEN: Sir, good morning, sir!

One step forward march.

'DI Vasquez is in charge of the platoon.'

You want time? Now you've got time to fucking clean this stuff up.

Does that go there? I guess you don't want to be here either, huh, ma'am?

You want this the whole six months?! That's how it's going to be.

'DI Ricci is one of the platoon's drill instructors.'

What they got to do, they've got to get dressed.

They also have to make their bed and straighten out their locker

-and everything in eight minutes.

-Why have you shaved their hair?

-They get their hair cut approximately a quarter to a half an inch in length.

-Why?

Because they only get three-minute showers, and with the long hair,

they're going to take more than three minutes just to do their hair.

Everything is timed, everything is so timed and regimented.

There's no walking,

they've got to move with a purpose everywhere we go.

Step heel, step heel, step heel!

-Some of the girls are quite young, aren't they?

-Yes.

The youngest is 17.

Hurry up, let's go!

CHANTING

'G1 is made up of 56 girls.

'They've been given the chance to come to shock because their crimes were non-violent

'and they have less than three years left to serve on their sentence.

'The ultimate aim of shock is to keep people out of jail.

'Statistics show these girls will be less likely to re-offend

'for three years after their release

'than if they'd gone to regular prison.'

What we're doing now is detoxing.

If they've done a lot of drugs or been involved in gangs,

it is very hard for us to break that ice, but we do it. We do it.

We keep going after them and after them and after them,

until we do end up breaking that ice.

You'll do those three that you owe, or you'll go.

What is wrong with you today, ma'am?

All that stupid thinking, all that stupid thinking right up in there,

that's what got in your way.

DI Ricci, what's gone on there?

She... She'd failed to do her complete set

of that particular exercise.

She's really got that extreme mentality because she's an ex-Blood.

-An ex-Blood?

-Yeah.

-So that's one of the gangs?

-It's one of the gangs.

Do you think she'll talk to me?

-I can get her over here if you want to talk to her.

-That's possible?

Yeah. There's no problem. Caride, get over here, hurry up.

-Right here.

-I'm Stacey. What's your name?

-I'm Tiffany, ma'am.

-You've just been here two weeks?

-Ma'am, yes, ma'am.

-How are you finding it?

-Ma'am, it's hard.

It's structure, something that I need, ma'am.

And where would you be if you weren't here this morning?

-What would you ordinarily be doing?

-Selling drugs, gang-banging,

just running the streets with the wrong people.

-How come you're here?

-I'm here for a gun charge.

Did you ever use it?

-How long did you carry it for?

-A long time.

I've been carrying a gun since I was 16.

-Seriously?

-Ma'am, yes, ma'am.

-Why?

Part of my lifestyle.

Dismissed, ma'am.

Yes, sir.

-23 years old.

-23. Two years younger than me.

-Wow!

'After 45 minutes of military-style exercise,

'there's still a mile to run before breakfast.

'And it looks like more of the new arrivals are struggling to keep up.'

-Would I be allowed to...?

-No problem.

-Hi.

-Hello.

-How are you?

-I'm fine. Yourself?

-Well, thank you. What's your name?

-Sharmeek Brown.

-Sharmeek, you were struggling to keep up

-with the rest of the group.

-Yes. I'm not physically fit.

-How are you feeling right now?

-I just want to go lay on my rack.

Oh, my God, I bet you do.

What did you do to get in here?

-Burglary.

-Wow.

-Burgled someone's house?

-Several times. This one time I got caught.

-Why, if you had a job?

-I was bored.

I'm being truthful with you, I was bored.

-There they come.

-Oh, gosh.

-Oh, yeah.

Go, go, go! You can do it.

Come on, man, come on.

Right now, we're going to do showers.

Eight at a time. Eight at a time.

Three minutes in a shower, that's it.

That's insane. Three minutes, yeah?

-Ma'am, yes, ma'am.

-Tell me how to have a shower in three minutes.

-Work as fast as you can.

-And get out.

Put your shampoo in your hair before you go in there.

And you work it in there and then soap up your wash cloth,

wash yourself and rinse off real quick.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - go, hurry up.

Stand right in front of it, facing it.

She's just been sent to the back of the room. She's facing the door.

-What happened?

-She was talking.

When you're standing here waiting to use the shower, there's no talking.

We're taking a couple of minutes of shower time from her.

-How long has she got now?

-She's going to have one minute to take a shower.

-60 seconds?

60 seconds.

You want to take a shower, ma'am?

What is there to talk about, ma'am?

-I was talking about shampoo, sir.

-Huh?

-I was talking about shampoo.

-Shampoo?

-Sir, yes, sir.

You wanted their Finesse? They had Finesse and you didn't?

It'll be a long six months for you, ma'am.

Go, get in there. You have one minute, go.

Hurry up! Get it done.

They tell you to get out, you get out!

I see I'm going to get you in about another week. Keep going!

Don't give me that look.

What did that lady come in and say to you?

They think that I'm going to get sent out over here and put in G2.

-That's where the disquals go.

-What's disquals?

Kicked out of the programme, restarts. Recycles.

It's when you keep doing that - you keep rolling your eyes - they just get so mad.

-It's feedback to them.

-Can you not stop yourself?

Sometimes, no. I'll learn, though.

'I joined the girls for breakfast,

'where I was told inmates have just eight minutes to eat.'

-You can't sit down until all the seats are there?

-You cannot sit down

until you're given the command of "seats".

They've got to get permission to eat, permission to sleep,

they've got to get permission to use their head, to take a shower, talk.

-Go to the toilet? Wash?

-Yes. Everything, everything.

And I can see there's guys just sat here and girls sitting here.

-Are they allowed to interact?

-No, they're not.

They're not allowed to interact at all with the guys.

And what would happen if one of the girls

-just muttered something to one of the guys?

-They would get a misbehaviour report

and get kicked out of the programme.

'I noticed the new inmate, Tiffany Caride,

'who I'd spoken to earlier, was having to eat standing up.'

Cos my feet wasn't together. You know, I have to stand...

I have to sit like this. I was sitting like this...

I would say, "Fuck it, jail is way easier than this."

-Is jail easier?

-Mm-hmm.

-You can go fight when you want to?

-Say that again?

You can go fight when you want to.

This is some bullshit that we're going through.

# Sick in the head and out of your mind

WOMEN: # Sick in the head and out of your mind

# You must be loco

# You must be loco! #

'After breakfast, I asked if Tiffany could be excused

'from the daily regime to talk to me.'

I have a big dollar sign tattooed on my arm.

So talk me through this dollar sign. What does it mean?

It says, "The root of all evil is money,"

the root of all evil, cos I've done evil.

-Let me see. Oh, yeah.

-The root of all evil, money.

You know, I done evil things for money.

I've sold drugs to people that I should care about, you understand,

like people that, I don't know,

people that couldn't take care of themselves

or couldn't fend for themselves because it was their addiction.

I took advantage of them for that.

Talk me through what a normal day would be like

-when you were dealing drugs?

-I'd be at the crack house,

you know, making money, and I'd stay up till like...

About the time we wake up here to exercise,

I'd be just going to sleep, from being up all night,

and I probably pop, like, three pills within a day.

So I'll go to sleep at five and then the next day,

I wouldn't go home to wake my daughter for school.

-Like, my mother would do that.

-So did your mum know?

My mother used to cry all the time.

But it's just the money.

I used to make anywhere between 1,500 to 2,500 a day. You know?

It's like...what's better than that?

-It's addictive.

-It's very addictive, very addictive.

I was just like a boy, always walking around with a gun.

Why were you walking about with a gun?

What's your train of thought when you get up in the morning

and you think, "Oh, I must get the gun"?

It was a part of my outfit.

I was so used to it that it's just a part of my outfit.

Like now I'm talking about guns and my whole palm is itchy.

-Cos you want the gun?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Mm-hmm.

-Would you ever use it?

-If I had to.

Sometimes you feel guilty for liking parts of her,

because she has done these terrible things.

You know, if she was selling drugs to my little sister,

I'm sure I'd feel very differently about her.

If she'd robbed my mother on the street,

I'm sure I'd feel very differently about her.

Straightforward.

-Sir, 73, sir.

-Sir, 74, sir.

Sir, 75, sir. Last on G1's count, sir.

'When I came back the next morning,

'I found the new girls were being punished.'

-Hurry up!

-Can you tell me what's going on?

We have to do a lap with our mattress on our heads.

Because when we came back to the dorm,

he said the bathroom was closed and somebody went to the bathroom anyway.

-So, it was after formation?

-Ma'am, yes, ma'am.

-You guys are not having a good day today.

-No.

It's all right, though, we do this a lot.

Sharmeek Brown looked like she was struggling again.

This place is ridiculous and I want to go the hell home.

Why are you upset today?

I'm not even mad, people are just assholes.

-We gotta pay for everybody else which is un-freaking-fair.

-Yeah.

I'm just frustrated right now and I want to go back to Albion.

-Is Albion another prison?

-Yes, I'd rather go to prison.

DI, can you see how some of the girls get frustrated

because it's not them that did the wrong thing,

yet they're still having to pay?

They still have to pay because of the fact that they have to learn

to hold each other accountable. You may have come by yourself,

but you can't get through the programme without the help of the staff and the help of each other.

And there was no let-up back at the dorm.

WHISTLE One...

WHISTLE ..two...

WHISTLE ..three...

WHISTLE ..four...

WHISTLE ..five...

WHISTLE ..six...

WHISTLE ..seven...

WHISTLE ..eight...

WHISTLE ..nine...

WHISTLE ..one zero.

-Come on!

-Come on, come on, Come on.

-Come on, Brown,

Come on! Everybody else is doing it, ma'am.

Brown, you got any kids?

-Sir, no, sir.

-You got any family?

-I have a lot of family, sir.

-OK. They waiting for you?

-Sir, yes, sir.

Think about the pain that your family feels

every day that you're not home, where you belong.

-Sir, yes, sir.

-Sir, yes, sir.

They did absolutely nothing but stick behind you.

And you're upset because you got to pay for someone else, as they call.

Peter paid for Paul.

What? Your family's paying for you every day that you're not home.

Where are you going, ma'am? Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Ma'am, come here. Back it up. Back it up.

Let them tears roll down. You do not move. You understand?

-Hello? Ma'am, yes, sir?

-Sir, yes, sir.

-Tell me the right way.

-Do you understand?

-(Sir, yes, sir.)

-OK, good. Very good. See? It's good.

Little progress there.

You're workable, ma'am. You got it inside you to do this programme. You know that? You do.

Everybody got five minutes. Locked up at one o'clock. Got it?

ALL: Sir, yes, sir.

(I want to go home.)

SHE SOBS

(You want to go home?)

This is not easy.

It's really not. You've really got to humble yourself.

It's basically...

You got to do stuff that you're not normally used to doing.

I'm not used to nobody telling me what to do.

She's going to be one of my projects, I tell you.

Hopefully, I can work with her, hold my compassion with her,

you know, just...be strong to her, you know?

And with these girls that are tough - and they are very strong -

do you sometimes try to push them to the extreme?

Try and get tears from them to see how far you can go?

I go to an extreme where I want them to realise what they messed up,

why they're here - because what they did was wrong, you know?

I work with them. I work with them for the whole six months.

-So, we'll see what happens.

-Do you think about them sometimes

-when they leave? Do you think, "I wonder how X getting on"?

-Yeah.

So, you keep in contact with some of them?

They keep in contact with me, yeah. They just send me cards,

-and I read them, you know?

-Can you imagine Brown sending you a card

-in a year's time?

-You know what? Yes.

SHE LAUGHS

THEY SING MILITARY DRILL

'I met up with the most senior members of the platoon,

'who are nearing the end of their six months in shock.'

WOMEN CHEER AND CLAP

Hey! What's going on? I heard you cheering?

-We got our pictures.

-Pictures? What's the pictures of?

It's a picture of our whole platoon, and our DI, and we're in

our white shirts and our little ties, and we're holding up our flag.

It's like a platoon picture.

-Oh, I see my head from here!

-Is it hard for your self-confidence

when someone shaves all your hair off,

says you can't do your eyebrows, you can't wear a scrap of make-up,

you've got to look like a boy for six months?

It is. I feel ugly all the time. I say it all the time,

I look in the mirror, and sometimes I feel like I want to cry

because I look like a boy. I have this ID, and this picture,

and it looks like a little Italian boy to me.

Is it hard for you, not wearing make-up and not wearing nice clothes?

I hate it. Because I wear make-up all the time when I'm at home.

-Yeah?

-All the time, eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow...

I'll never get used to not wearing it. It's weird.

'Although the shock programme lasts six months,

'inmates can be kept here for longer, if necessary.

'It's called recycling.

'I was told senior inmate Nicole Hartman

'had been through this process.'

-Is it OK if I have a chat with you? Would that be all right?

-Yes.

Perfect. Can I come in?

How long have you been here, Hartman?

-I've been here for ten months.

-It's a long time.

-Yes.

-Have you been recycled?

-I have been recycled twice.

What did you get recycled for?

Well, I had a really big anger management problem.

I would flip out all the time, and then I got recycled for that,

and then the second time was the week before I supposed to go home.

-You were a WEEK away from graduation?

-Yeah.

Were you quite violent? Did you fight a lot?

I fought a lot, yes.

Just because people said things that you didn't like?

Yeah, sometimes if people just... I was really bad.

I would just be walking down the street,

and somebody rolled their eyes at me, or just... I was out of control.

Has shock changed that mentality? Or do you still think that?

Sometimes I still think it, but the first thing that shock teaches you

is you have to change how you think.

-I'll have to let you go. Sorry.

-I got to go to dinner.

-OK.

-OK.

-Thank you for speaking to me.

-You're welcome, ma'am.

She seems quite, erm, vacant, doesn't she?

She just seems...

..quite distant.

She's due to graduate in two weeks.

I can't imagine what she must have been like ten months ago.

-'Counsellor Kubick is one of shock's therapists.'

-Counsellor Kubick, nice to meet you.

Seats.

ALL: Lakeview!

'She runs the drug and alcohol programme.

'Almost three-quarters of inmates arrive with a history of addiction.'

What we're going to do is have inmate Hartman come up,

and she's going to do a lead for us. OK.

Go ahead, Hartman. Come on up.

'Hartman's here for drink-driving with her young children in the car.'

My name is Nicole Hartman. I'm 22 years old.

The environment that I grew up in was pretty bad.

My dad's part of a biker club.

There's a lot of violence, and a lot of drugs.

When I was nine years old,

both of my parents went to prison,

and me and all my siblings went to foster care.

I acted out and I got kicked out from foster home to foster home.

When I was 15, my mother got out of prison and she got us back.

I went and lived with her. I'd started drinking and smoking weed.

I smoked weed, and I drank with my mom.

We used to go rob stuff together.

She wasn't really a mom, per se.

I met my husband.

He was a drug dealer for my dad. He was selling drugs for my dad.

I started selling a lot of drugs.

My kids are out there.

-And I'm in here.

-Hartman, during that period of time, when you and your mom...

What was your relationship like during that period of time?

My mom had always been in and out of my life so much

that when she was gone, I took care of everybody.

I took care of my dad. I took care of my brother. I was the mom of the house.

What was your relationship like with your dad during that period of time?

I was the right-hand man. That's what I did and...

..in times...in times of whatever, I would take the heat for him,

or if something needed to be done, I was the person that would do it.

Family always comes first, no matter what.

No matter what the consequences are.

That's how it's supposed to be.

-To any extent?

-To any extent. To any extent...

You're doing fine.

Where do things stand with Mom and Dad right now?

Right now... I haven't talked to my mother...

and my father...

It's like I want to be mad at him, but I can't. I just...

..it's my dad.

That's OK.

Good job. Thank you.

APPLAUSE

INAUDIBLE

To hear her background, where she's from,

you kind of understand a lot more, I think.

She's come a long way, because in the beginning of the programme,

the only thing that came across was the aggression.

-When I spoke to her, I found her a bit scary.

-Absolutely.

Her father is in a motorcycle gang,

and she learned very well how to be aggressive,

how to get what she wants, even at the sake of other people,

how to step on people's toes, how to not feel feelings,

you know, to be tough.

She's so far enmeshed into this family dysfunction

that six months isn't going to take all of that away.

If I'd have sat here and told you before shock incarceration

that I found you scary, what would you have done?

Probably...

Good. You should be.

I mean, how does it make you feel, knowing that you do

come across as scary to some people that don't maybe know you?

I think I've done it for so long that it's a defence mechanism.

And I'll do it subconsciously, without even... Just walking around.

To me, that's what's normal, is giving off the persona

that is intimidating to people.

I've tried to lose some of the edginess.

I smile a little bit more, but it's a work in progress!

Step it up, ma'am. 4-30 a step.

'Just weeks into her time in shock,

'inmate Brown is still struggling to adapt.

'Along with some others in the platoon,

'she's been called up in front of the weekly disciplinary committee.'

Report.

Inmate Brown, reporting to the Learning Experience Committee, as ordered.

Thank you. While you're in here, you can make eye contact with us, OK?

-Sir, yes, sir.

-OK.

The way the officer wrote... It's from Officer De Jesus, OK?

Sir, yes, sir.

He wrote that feedback towards staff during the morning run -

negative attitude and body language. OK?

What exactly led Officer De Jesus to believe that you were giving

negative body language to him? What exactly did you do?

Probably standing like this.

-OK, which is negative body language, right?

-Ma'am, yes, ma'am.

-We talk about flat-tyre sound. You know what that is?

-Sir, yes, sir.

-All right, let me hear the flat-tyre sound, so I know you know it.

-Ssssssss...

Yeah. What do you think that conveys?

Sir, I believe it's that "You're getting on my nerves," sir.

OK, that's exactly... Frustration.

"You're getting on my nerves," all right? "I'm getting angry."

We want to learn how to communicate through our words,

not through our body language, OK?

What we're going to ask you to do over the next seven days

is to wear what we're going to call a "positive attitude sash".

-Do we have the sash?

-Yep.

OK, what you're going to do is put this through your left arm,

just like that, and over your head. OK?

Let that yellow sash be a reminder to you

to keep the attitude positive.

Positive attitude starts this minute, OK?

When they told you you had to wear the sash,

-you didn't look that impressed?

-It was humiliating.

-It really is.

-What's humiliating about it?

I know it's obviously quite embarrassing to wear the sash.

It's yellow. Everybody's going to look at me.

Tell me what your mates would say on the street

if they saw you knocking about in that yellow sash.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Why do you think this sash might work, if you think it will?

It's going to work for me, because I don't like wearing it!

I do not like wearing this.

When I saw the lady pass it to me, I wanted to cry,

but I refuse to cry.

It's just... I don't like it. I really don't.

But I will learn from it.

'The whole dorm is gathering for an afternoon session

'known as "confrontation".

'It allows the platoon to air their grievances with each other

'in a controlled way,

'and Sharmeek Brown has found herself voted into the hot seat.'

So if you're in the inner circle and you do not have a confrontation for Miss Brown, stand up.

If you're in the outer circle, tap in. Take your seat, change seats.

All right, come on, straight up, let's go.

You gave up on yourself and didn't push yourself on the morning run after PT.

We pay for you constantly.

You constantly give feedback. While we're paying for you,

you're not even PT'ing. You're complaining, giving feedback.

You roll your eyes, and you respond to him in a very sarcastic way.

You're rude, you're very rude.

Your military bearing is very ghetto, very hood.

You can't even do an about-face, because your pants are so tight.

You don't be quiet, you lay on your rack a lot,

and I feel disregarded, and that's my confrontation with you.

I'm sick of listening to your nonsense.

Now, you're either going to get real, or you're going to leave.

Because you didn't become like this before you got to us.

You were like this in the world, except worse.

You were worse in the world, correct? Treating people like...

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

-Correct?

-Yes.

What's wrong with you...really?

What's going on?

Tell your peers what's going on.

And, yeah, you do got to answer the question.

Look at them, and tell them who you are, and what's going on,

and why you act like you act to them.

The reason why I treat y'all the way I do is because I've been hurt

so many times in my life, and it's basically just

-a defence mechanism, because I just don't want to get hurt no more.

-Hurt how? Break it down for them.

You ain't the only one sitting here that's been hurt.

Violently. In many different ways.

Physically? Sexually?

Because what you're suffering from right now

is that terminal uniqueness - nobody knows what I'm going through.

-Tell them.

-I've been violated sexually before and...

-How old were you?

-Probably about 12.

-OK.

-And...

That hurt you, didn't?

-Yes.

-Very much.

-Yes.

-That's right.

-That's right.

-And I never would have talked about it before...

-Was it a family member?

-No.

And that's the problem. You are not talking about pains you need to talk about,

which is the first step of ASAT.

And until you start getting that stuff off your shoulders

and clearing yourself,

you can't go nowhere in this programme,

because look what it's doing to your programme.

I'm over here. Put your head up. I know it's hard,

but you can't go nowhere in this programme until you get real.

Because you're not fooling us.

-You're fooling you.

-I don't know how to deal with it, still to this day...

You say something? Who have you talked about that in here?

-Nobody.

-Exactly.

I've seen some of your fellow peers raising their hand,

saying, "Yes, I understand that feeling, because I have experienced some of those feelings."

And they're raising their hand, some of the people that confronted you,

raising their hand, because they can identify with that.

But if you won't talk to them, you don't know who else in here has experienced those same things.

-Do you need help?

-Yes.

-Then say what you want to say, say what you need

and say what you're going to do.

-I need help and...

-I need...?

-I WANT help...and...

-Look at them.

..I'd appreciate it if all of you would help me.

What do you want them to help you on?

Help me work on me.

Who here would be willing to help her? There you go.

And if I was you, I'd pick 'em all.

Especially those that got confronted.

You let this sit with you. Leave her alone.

Let her sit with her stuff, think about her things.

Feet.

There were times in there, more towards the beginning,

where it felt really quite harsh, too harsh, and I looked at Brown,

and I thought, "I really feel uneasy about this.

"I feel really uncomfortable, I don't really know where to look."

Do people experience that? Do they get that?

Their feelings are really intense,

so that comes across when they confront,

but when you get the breakthrough, I think that it's worth it.

Yeah, because I'm certain critics would say,

"That's humiliating. It's a step too far. It's not productive.

"Why are you doing it? Are you doing it just because...?"

And I would say that if you only looked at confrontation,

didn't look at the context in which it was in,

didn't look at the entire programme, and everything,

then I think it would be easy to draw that conclusion.

'But I wanted to catch up with Brown on her own,

'to see how SHE felt about what was revealed during confrontation.'

-How are you?

-I'm better, ma'am, yes, ma'am.

Are you surprised by what confrontation can do?

I never thought I would say that to anybody that I didn't know.

So, for me to break down that wall,

that felt good to me. It really did.

That's another stepping stone that I stepped on, I crumpled it up

and I can let it go now.

And how did you feel when, at the end, the counsellor said,

"Who can help Brown? Who's willing to help Brown?"

and every single girl in the room put their hand up?

At that moment, I felt good, because when I thought that, like I said,

I don't like most of them, but when I thought that they didn't like me,

and they put their hands up, it just let me know, that's another wall that

I can probably put down, because they didn't have to put their hands up.

It was quite full on for you...

..and you didn't have to let me be there, so thanks for that.

I feel that I can talk to either one of y'all about anything,

especially you.

You made me feel so good being here. You really did.

There you go. I know you've got to go.

-I'll walk over there with you.

-OK.

I don't really want to be seen dead with you in that bloody sash, but...

-I know!

-..what can I do?

They're going to think you've got an attitude problem, too.

(Good night.)

'For some, the regime at Lakeview is hard to handle,

'and a third of shock inmates might not make it through.

'They could find themselves serving out their full sentence back in a regular prison.'

Ready, mount.

-ALL:

-Sir, good night, sir.

-Good night, ladies.

'I've come to Manhattan to try and understand what life

'might be like for the girls who don't make it through shock.'

The crazy, craziest thing is, this prison I am going to visit,

Bayview, is literally smack bang in the middle of Manhattan.

You know, it's literally like someone throwing a prison up

on Oxford Street in sort of central London.

'Bayview is a high-rise medium-security prison.'

BUZZER

Hello.

OK. Here we go.

'I'm being shown one of the floors by Officer Batts.'

OK, Stacey, this is the eight-floor housing unit.

And this houses our general population.

And, as you can see, these are the cells. Or rooms.

MAN SHOUTS ORDER

'On this floor, there are 37 inmates serving anything from three years to life.'

OK, ladies, clear.

'Batts suggested that I speak to one of the girls

'who's been in and out of the prison system for years.'

< No, no, no, no.

She's got... She's gone back to bed.

Offley?

-It is seven o'clock in the morning!

-No, I know.

-What time should I come back?

-I already said at 8.30. Come on!

-8.30, yeah?

-Yes.

-OK.

Oh, dear. She's not a happy bunny.

She's got the hump, she doesn't want to be up this early.

Hello. Are you all right?

'Eventually, I find an inmate who's prepared to show me around.'

-Can I come in?

-Come in.

-What's your name?

-I'm Danielle.

-Danielle, I'm Stacey.

'Danielle's serving a six-year sentence

'for badly injuring people while drink-driving.'

-Is it scary, this floor?

-Hmm?

-Is it scary, this floor?

-Not to me.

-No?

-I think you get used to things.

OK.

-So, we are left or right?

-We're going to go right.

-Right.

-So, this is our bathroom.

-Ahh.

Oh, wow. OK.

Sometimes girls will come here just to hang out, because there's no visiting.

Most notorious for fighting.

Most of the time, people will come in here fighting.

If you want to be out of view, someone will lock the door,

hold the door and block the window so no-one can see,

-or you go in the shower area.

-How bad can it get?

Just fighting. Just fighting.

I mean, nobody dies, if that's what you mean.

What kind of things do they tend to fight over?

Typically, here, it's either disrespect or other females.

You don't hold your ground, then you're a guppy, you're a dodger.

-So...

-It's jealousy, a lot of jealousy here?

I think that women are a bit more free, sexually, than the men are,

so it's more, you know...

-this one is messing with this one. You know? That kind of thing.

-OK.

I'd... Literally, I would be so rubbish in here.

-I just wouldn't last 30 seconds.

-No, that's not true.

-I swear.

No, I know. I know I wouldn't.

No. Because it's either, you do what's necessary,

or you fall apart.

And your primitive side is going to kick in,

and you're going to do what's necessary.

-Want to see the showers?

-Yes.

-OK.

Show me these showers.

Gosh.

-Is that it? Two? Oh, no.

-No, it goes back.

OK, and this must be, I'm assuming,

where girls come to get intimate with each other?

More so in the stalls than actually in the shower.

Forgive the frankness, but just to finger-pop in a stall...

So what, they just lock the door, and one of them sits on the toilet...?

No, one will... You'll stand and cock a leg.

-And they just finger each other in the toilet?

-Yeah.

-Does that happen a lot?

-I don't really want to know.

I mean, I see pairs of feet under there,

but do I enquire as to what they're doing? No!

Thank you.

'I was surprised by the relative freedom the girls have here.

'They even have their own kitchen.'

Yum, yum, right? SHE LAUGHS

Danielle, what are you cutting? Is that the lid?

-Yeah.

-It's the lid off the can, innit?

-Mm-hm.

Have these ever been used for anything other than cutting peppers?

No, because if that would be the case then they'd take it from us.

'I was still keen to meet the inmate on the wing

'who's on her third stretch of prison time.'

I'm going to see Offley.

She said I can only have five minutes with her,

and then I have to leave her alone for ever.

'At 25, her convictions include armed robbery and assault.'

I got something to do.

-Sorry. Offley?

-Yes, ma'am.

-How are you today?

I'm aggravated, because you keep on following me,

-you keep on bothering me.

-I don't want to aggravate you, I'm sorry.

You cannot learn from my time here.

You cannot understand nothing about what goes on in the penitentiary environment.

That's why I need to come here and speak to people like you.

Tell me, tell me what your life is like.

-You would not understand what my life is like.

-Try to explain.

I don't want to try and explain, you're wasting my time.

You want to get to know something you're not going to know.

You have to experience for yourself.

You have to come, commit a crime, it could just be steal from a store,

whatever, come to jail, be an inmate,

and then you'll see what it's like to be in prison.

What would I see if I was in here as an inmate?

What you see now. You're filming everything,

-you're going to see the same thing.

-Why are you angry with me?

Because I just told you, you keep on bothering me,

I don't want to talk to y'all.

-I want you to leave me alone, for real.

-No, I will.

I'll leave you alone, but if we don't get it...

Oh, lunch is now being served. I've got to go, excuse me. Thank you!

Wait - can you close the door?

She's unbelievable.

Is she ready to be let out in a couple of months?

It's part of the prison system. It's part of the prison system.

She might change tomorrow, we don't know, we just got to wait.

But like I told you before, if she changes or doesn't change,

she has two be released, especially if it's her max date.

We have to let her out.

'There's no compulsory exercise at Bayview,

'but there's some outdoor space. It's known as the rec,

'and it's where the girls can go to relax.'

-Hey!

-Oh, my God, do you know them? Danni, who is it?

It's a friend of ours.

-Did she used to come here?

-Mm-hm.

-Which one is it?

-The one on the left.

-She looks nice.

-Yeah.

-She looks good, right?

-How long did she do in here?

-Six-and-a-half.

-Six-and-a-half years? If she's been in here for six-and-a-half years,

the last thing she'd want to do is come anywhere near this place.

No, when we make bonds, we make bonds.

-She looks good. >

-I know, doesn't she?

'After serving four years of her six-year sentence,

'Danielle could get parole any time soon.'

I never even really considered the future,

cos I didn't care if I had one.

-And I'd smoked weed since I was seven.

-You smoked weed at seven?

-Yes.

-Seven?

-Yes.

My mother started me on it because it would make me go to sleep, initially.

My mother's pretty much who I had,

but she was kind of involved in her own life.

She was a drug addict. She was an alcoholic.

Everything from shooting up, smoking crack, snorting coke, drinking... You name it, she did it.

And she got sick of her life, and she committed suicide,

and me and a friend came home, and I found her in our living room.

Where's your dad?

I don't know...

..and I don't care.

'I wanted to know how Bayview had helped Danielle

'prepare for life outside.'

A, A, A, A, A, A, That's really amazing.

Yes. I came in with an eighth-grade education,

and I'm going for my bachelors.

Why do you think you are so focused

and so into taking everything you can, education wise,

when there's so many people here who do just plod along?

Because my life before I came here, I wasted it. It was a waste.

I was a waste of existence.

And I'm not going to be that when I leave.

The things that I've accomplished being in jail is not something

I would have on the street.

It's not.

I do find this place depressing, and it's draining,

and it's not a nice place to be.

But, you know, you have to take into account that Danni,

you know, she may be an exception,

but she does seem to have taken something from prison.

It is quite a telling sign, isn't it?

You know, if you can flourish in prison.

SIRENS BLARE

'I'm back at Lakeview.'

-Home sweet home.

-Home sweet home, right?

It's not Manhattan, but it'll have to do.

'The senior members of the platoon are due to graduate tomorrow,

'so preparations are under way.

'But I was keen to see how new inmate Brown was getting on.'

How have the last few days been here?

-For me, they have been good, ma'am.

-That's good.

What about the others?

I guess cos they're going home, they're fooling themselves,

-so a lot of them are getting in trouble, ma'am.

-Oh, really?

The attitudes, them talking, back-talking...

Somebody got a Super, meaning that they might not go home tomorrow.

-(Really?)

-Mm-hm.

(Hartman.)

-What did she get it for?

-For back-talking, body language.

(Oh, my God.)

Hey...

Hartman, what's going on?

I don't want to talk.

-Will you talk to me for two seconds?

-Uh-uh.

It's just that I want to understand...

-I don't want to talk right now, Stacey.

-Will you talk to me after?

I don't want to talk right now. I'm trying not to be rude.

I don't want to talk right now, Stacey.

OK, I'll speak to you a bit later.

'Hartman's already been here for ten months

'and been recycled twice,

'and now her chances of leaving tomorrow are in doubt.'

She must go before a specially convened disciplinary committee.

Sometimes when they do this, it's because they don't want to go home.

They sabotage themselves and stay here,

maybe from not having nothing to go home to, or scared to go home...

..but to get this close and to display her behaviour,

especially being here this long, you know, she's been here a while,

it just makes me think she doesn't want to go home.

God, if she doesn't graduate...

-When will they decide?

-They'll discuss what's gone on today

and then they'll give her a decision.

INDISTINCT ORDER

-Hey.

-Hey, how you doing?

-How was that?

We asked her...if she should think she should go home,

-or is she ready to go home...

-What did she say?

She says she is. I mean, I go, "Well, what happened yesterday with the attitude?"

She goes, she was having a bad day and the stress of going home.

She actually said she was afraid to go home.

Personally, I think she IS ready to go home, but I told her,

"I'm not going to be there to save you when you screw up out there,"

you know, "You'll end up back in jail," and she knows it.

'Back at the dorm, the rest of the senior girls are preparing to go home.'

-Have you cleared your locker yet? No?

-I haven't.

I've just cleared some trash out but I'm going to take these clothes and stuff out,

that I'll never wear again in my life.

Goodbye!

-Have you got anyone coming to graduation tomorrow?

-My mom, my daughter and my aunt.

-Your daughter's coming?

-Mm-hm.

-How old is she?

-She just turned three on August 3rd.

She's this one.

-Oh, my gosh.

-This one.

Aw!

Oh, my God, she's the spitting image!

Hartman is still on track to graduate,

but she's requested a session with Councillor Kubick

before she leaves.

One of the things that you mentioned on Monday was your fellow peers,

you know, that they're excited, they're getting ready to go home,

and you're at the point where you're feeling not the elation that they're feeling

but more of being terrified.

It's scary because everything that I left at home

is at home waiting. Just like I'm counting down days to go home,

all my problems are counting down days until I can come back,

so...it's scary.

If I were to fail, I would say it would be because I went back

to being with my mom and my dad.

Now, we've talked before,

and you have mentioned about not having anything to do with your mom

and you have mentioned before, in passing, that

you know that you probably shouldn't have anything to do with your dad

but now sitting here today, you've said emphatically,

"Not having anything to do with my mom and my dad."

So that's a shift from the last time we've talked

and from previous months that we've talked.

How is that hanging in your head and in your heart?

It hurts.

But like you said the other day, sometimes making the right choice

is the one that hurts more than...doing the wrong choice,

and...

I just know that I can't be the person that I want to be

and do all the good things

and still have that much dysfunction going on

because it just won't work.

It's not going to work.

Are you on the fence about it? Are you still struggling with it?

It's so hard because...I never had to do anything by myself.

OK, I'm doing the right thing in ending all my dysfunctional relationships

but that leaves me with just me, and now, how am I going to do

all the stuff that I need to do by myself?

-Mm-hm.

-So it's...

-It's terrifying.

-It's scary.

Yeah, it's terrifying.

It means you have a lot of work to do, that the work doesn't stop just because you get out of the gate,

but you are definitely more prepared now

than you have ever been

to handle those tasks when you get out.

Stay focused...on what you've got to do,

so that you don't slip back into old Hartman.

(OK.)

You feel good? You feel OK?

-Yeah.

-OK...

Y'all better hurry up

cos we got somewhere to be at ten o'clock.

-Show time! Whop! ALL:

-Whop!

Won't ever be another Thursday, y'all!

Show time! Yeah!

LAUGHTER

WOMEN CHANT

ALL CHANT: Ta-ta-ta t-t-t-top girl!

Ta-ta-ta t-t-t-top girl!

ALL: Ta-ta-ta t-t-t-top girl!

'It's expected that 90% of the girls graduating today

'will stay out of the prison system for the next three years.'

LAUGHTER

EXCITED CHATTER

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Ah! Why you gon' buy a wire bra, girl?

They literally haven't worn anything except state greens

for some of them six months, some of them eight months, some of them ten months,

so this is like a huge, huge, huge deal.

-Bye!

-Bye, Stacey!

-Bye-bye.

-Best of luck with everything, yeah?

Aw! I've missed you.

Hartman, you're off?

Yup.

Who's here? Dad and Mum?

Yeah.

-Are you going to go home with them tonight?

-Yeah.

-Bye, Stacey.

-Bye, Hartman.

-Bye.

-It's been nice getting to know you.

-You, too.

-Good luck, yeah?

-Be nice.

-I have been nice.

It's so great to see you.

-Bye, Stacey.

-Bye.

It must be incredibly hard for Hartman. Really, really difficult. She's...

in a really, really, really tough situation.

She has to... You know, they're family,

they're her blood, they're...

who she's came from but... they also seem to be the reason

why she's found herself here.

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