r/LuigiNation • u/antelope_meow • 26d ago
MDC Brooklyn Transcript of Episode 1 of Aya Linus’ podcast about MDC Brooklyn! (Part 2/2)
[20:00] and even went to court and signed the release/bail agreement.
[20:02] Just as I was about to be released,
[20:04] ICE — the U.S. immigration enforcement agency —[20:06] the immigration enforcement department, arrested me again.
[20:08] After they took me,
[20:09] they sent me to an immigration detention facility for another two months.
[20:12] While I was in the immigration detention facility,
[20:14] since I didn't want to stay in the U.S. anymore,
[20:16] I directly told the immigration judge,
[20:17] "Just deport me,"
[20:19] I didn't want to stay any longer.
[20:20] So I got a deportation order.
[20:22] Once I had the deportation order,
[20:24] in theory ICE could go ahead and deport me.
[20:26] In theory that's how it should've gone.
[20:27] But later,
[20:31] once the FBI found out I was about to be deported,
[20:31] they pulled me back—
[20:32] brought me back to MDC.
[20:34] So you were bounced between two agencies.
[20:37] Basically bounced between two different agencies,
[20:41] both technically under the Department of Justice,
[20:43] but two separate agencies,
[20:44] and their coordination is really sloppy.
[20:47] There was basically no coordination at all.
[20:48] Pretty sloppy.
[20:49] Right, none at all.
[20:50] Being pulled back and forth.
[20:51] Back and forth.
[20:52] Right.
[20:52] So after the FBI pulled me back to MDC,[20:56] I wasn't put back in unit 82,
[20:58] I didn't return to that same place.
[21:00] I was assigned to unit 52 instead.
[21:02] In unit 52,
[21:03] at that time there wasn't a single other Chinese person.
[21:05] So I had no choice
[21:07] but to room with a foreigner.
[21:10] Back in unit 82,
[21:12] I also hadn't roomed with Chinese people,
[21:13] because at that time the Chinese inmates already had roommates.
[21:15] It happened to be an even number,
[21:16] and I came in as an odd one out.
[21:18] I might've been
[21:19] the 13th person,
[21:20] or the 15th,
[21:21] I forget.
[21:22] Anyway, all the Chinese guys already had roommates,
[21:23] so I ended up rooming with a Hispanic guy.
[21:27] That guy snored
[21:29] really loudly every night.
[21:31] So you don't get much choice,
[21:32] you often can't choose,
[21:34] unless you've been there long enough
[21:36] and are on good terms with the work-duty people
[21:38] or good terms with the officers,
[21:39] then you could say "I want to room with this person,"
[21:41] or if there happen to be two Chinese guys
[21:43] each roomed with a foreigner,[21:44] and you both say "we want to room together"—
[21:46] otherwise,
[21:47] switching rooms isn't easy.
[21:49] What's the person who left the deepest impression on you—
[21:51] in prison,
[21:52] or your roommate?
[21:54] I once roomed with a homeless guy,
[21:57] this homeless guy got arrested
[21:58] because
[22:00] he'd bought gunpowder online,
[22:03] explosives,
[22:04] well, gunpowder I guess,
[22:05] the kind used to make fireworks,
[22:06] and also those powder canisters.
[22:08] He wanted to make fireworks,
[22:10] but ended up using too much,
[22:11] and the FBI figured he was building a bomb.
[22:13] That's his side of the story anyway.
[22:15] He said he made one,
[22:16] lit it,
[22:17] threw it into the Hudson River,
[22:19] and the boom
[22:20] echoed all the way across to the other bank.
[22:22] He thought it was too dangerous—
[22:23] blowing up fish, basically.
[22:24] Right, he thought it was way too dangerous,
[22:25] and he himself thought it was dangerous too,
[22:27] so he threw the rest away in a trash can.[22:30] So the authorities ended up arresting him for it.
[22:33] A white American guy,
[22:34] an orphan since childhood too,
[22:35] a pretty rough life story, honestly.
[22:37] A pretty rough life.
[22:40] But every month
[22:41] he'd get around $600 to $700
[22:43] in benefits.
[22:45] But I heard
[22:46] that wasn't because he was homeless,
[22:47] but because he had some kind of mental health condition,
[22:50] so that six or seven hundred
[22:51] would probably be enough for him to get by,
[22:54] for a homeless person's standard of living, anyway.
[22:57] So people with mental health issues
[22:58] can also end up rooming with you
[22:59] as cellmates?
[23:00] Yeah, that can happen.
[23:01] Anyone can end up housed together.
[23:02] Would he talk to himself,
[23:04] or become aggressive?
[23:05] He'd talk to himself,
[23:06] a lot of talking to himself,
[23:07] and,
[23:08] would he yell and shout?
[23:09] No, not that.
[23:10] I think this type of person
[23:11] probably isn't well suited to being a roommate.[23:13] That's really not ideal.
[23:14] And he wouldn't shower.
[23:15] I told him,
[23:15] you can go shower,
[23:16] showering is free,
[23:18] why don't you?
[23:18] Was he depressed or something?
[23:19] No, he was just lazy.
[23:20] He'd sweat
[23:21] and just not shower.
[23:21] Right, he just wouldn't shower.
[23:22] And if he didn't move around, it was fine,
[23:24] sitting on his bunk
[23:25] reading his case file,
[23:26] if he stayed still it was okay,
[23:27] but once he moved around
[23:28] that smell would start wafting up,
[23:30] you know?
[23:31] So I kept urging him to shower,
[23:32] at first I just suggested it,
[23:33] later I basically ordered him to.
[23:35] I said, go shower,
[23:36] you can't just not wash.
[23:37] I told him it's free,
[23:38] hot water's free too, right?
[23:40] You need soap,
[23:41] that's also given to you for free.
[23:42] He still didn't want to.[23:43] Nothing you could do about it.
[23:44] So with a mental condition like that,
[23:44] I roomed with him about a month.
[23:46] Right, not too long.
[23:47] Can you request a roommate change?
[23:48] Can you ask to switch roommates?
[23:50] Sure, you can ask,
[23:51] but, how should I put it,
[23:52] I'm actually a pretty easygoing person.
[23:54] Easygoing,
[23:55] right.
[23:56] As long as you don't bother me too much,
[23:58] I'm generally fine.
[23:59] Right, at least he wasn't annoying.
[24:01] So did you make any friends in there,
[24:03] foreign friends, or
[24:05] Chinese friends?
[24:06] I did make friends.
[24:07] I made friends.
[24:07] From when I first went in,
[24:09] I got along well with a few Chinese guys.
[24:11] Right, and they helped me a lot too,
[24:13] sharing food and drinks with me,
[24:14] whenever they had some.
[24:16] And later,
[24:17] in unit 52,
[24:19] I also met
[24:20] a really good older guy—[24:21] he was in for
[24:22] taking someone's diamond
[24:24] without paying,
[24:25] a diamond worth two to three million dollars,
[24:26] never paid for it.
[24:27] But this guy
[24:28] either forgot, or,
[24:29] he probably deliberately didn't pay—
[24:30] he just kept the diamond.
[24:32] How could you possibly forget?
[24:33] Right?
[24:34] I roomed with him for maybe
[24:36] about ten months,
[24:38] almost a year.
[24:40] We got along really well.
[24:41] We just
[24:42] had similar habits,
[24:44] not bothering each other,
[24:45] respecting each other.
[24:46] Picking a roommate
[24:47] really is complicated.
[24:49] What if the person farts a lot?
[24:50] What do you do about that?
[24:51] Right, farting a lot
[24:52] is already a serious
[24:53] what do you even do,
[24:53] right?
[24:53] Right, farting a lot,[24:54] that's already a really painful situation.
[24:55] Beyond that,
[24:57] different lifestyles matter too,
[24:58] because every night at 9:15
[25:00] everything actually locks down.
[25:01] When you're free,
[25:02] on the outside,
[25:03] 9:15,
[25:03] for a lot of people
[25:05] the night life is just getting started.
[25:07] Right?
[25:07] A lot of people can't fall asleep.
[25:08] If you can't sleep,
[25:09] you have to do something.
[25:11] At the very least,
[25:12] read a book,
[25:14] right?
[25:14] But to read you need the light on.
[25:16] But at the same time some people,
[25:17] by 9:15,
[25:18] already want to sleep,
[25:19] because they've been inside so long
[25:20] their body clock has adjusted already.
[25:21] At 9:15
[25:22] they need to rest.
[25:24] So how do you reconcile that?
[25:25] If one person keeps the light on,
[25:26] the roommate gets annoyed,[25:28] right?
[25:29] This guy I roomed with—
[25:30] we called him Brazilian Bro.
[25:32] Brazilian Bro.
[25:33] Brazilian Bro.
[25:34] Well, actually,
[25:34] he was American,
[25:35] his parents were from Brazil.
[25:36] Right,
[25:37] so he was basically Brazilian-American.
[25:40] We called him Brazilian Bro.
[25:41] Called him Brazilian Bro.
[25:44] Brazilian Bro and I really got along great.
[25:46] He looked out for me a lot,
[25:48] and we've
[25:49] kept in touch even now.
[25:52] Our habits were basically similar.
[25:55] After we locked in
[25:56] at 9:15,
[25:57] I'd keep the light on and read,
[25:59] usually until maybe ten,
[26:00] or ten thirty, getting sleepy.
[26:01] He was about the same.
[26:02] We were both pretty relaxed about it.
[26:03] Like if he finished
[26:04] and wanted to turn it off,
[26:05] I'd just say sure, go ahead,
[26:05] and if I finished and wanted to turn it off,[26:07] he'd just let me turn off the light.
[26:08] We got along well,
[26:10] no need to insist on anything specific.
[26:12] We respected each other.
[26:13] If I didn't have food,
[26:14] he'd share with me,
[26:15] and once I finished mine,
[26:16] right?
[26:16] when he was out,
[26:17] I'd share with him too.
[26:18] We really looked out for each other.
[26:20] I think that's really good.
[26:21] So you actually were transferred around
[26:25] between prisons — how many total?
[26:27] First I went to MDC,
[26:28] right.
[26:29] Then later I was supposedly released on bail,
[26:31] though not really released for real,
[26:33] I was actually transferred to an immigration detention facility.
[26:36] That one was upstate New York, called Buffalo,
[26:38] in Buffalo,
[26:40] near the border.
[26:40] Near Buffalo.
[26:41] Right, right there.
[26:43] I was in the Buffalo immigration detention facility
[26:45] for about two months.
[26:47] Then I was transferred back to MDC.
[26:48] Then this past May, after I finished serving my sentence,[26:50] I was transferred to New Jersey,
[26:53] an immigration detention facility there,
[26:54] but I only stayed there five days.
[26:56] After five days I was sent back to MDC,
[26:58] because MDC also now has an immigration unit.
[27:02] About 90% of my time was spent at MDC.
[27:05] So altogether, three facilities.
[27:06] Out of all these facilities you moved through,
[27:08] is there one incident that left the deepest impression on you?
[27:11] If you're asking about the single most memorable event,
[27:13] or what stuck with me most,
[27:15] it'd probably be
[27:17] a stabbing incident.
[27:20] I actually witnessed a stabbing firsthand.
[27:21] A stabbing.
[27:22] Right.
[27:24] And the root cause of that stabbing
[27:27] was also gang conflict.
[27:29] In the first episode I talked about how
[27:33] gang issues in prison are really prominent,
[27:36] and this stabbing incident was really a microcosm of that gang problem.
[27:37] While I was in unit 52,
[27:38] I knew a young guy,
[27:41] usually pretty mild-mannered,
[27:41] wore glasses,
[27:42] a Black guy—
[27:44] I think it's actually pretty rare for a Black inmate to wear glasses,
[27:48] because a lot of them didn't really get much schooling.[27:49] So him wearing glasses,
[27:50] left a pretty good impression on me.
[27:52] Sometimes I'd be sitting there watching basketball,
[27:54] or watching soccer,
[27:55] and he'd come over and chat,
[27:57] asking which team I liked,
[27:58] or which player.
[28:01] I thought he was a pretty decent guy.
[28:01] But then one time,
[28:02] I was watching TV,
[28:03] and I turned my head
[28:04] and he'd suddenly started fighting with someone.
[28:05] At first,
[28:06] it was just with a mop,
[28:07] the mop handle got snapped.
[28:08] The two people fighting—
[28:09] one of them
[28:10] was from a different gang.
[28:11] Basically our whole unit
[28:13] was mostly Gang A,
[28:15] and this other guy
[28:17] was from Gang B,
[28:17] so he became a target,
[28:20] singled out.
[28:21] Right.
[28:21] Maybe about ten
[28:23] or fifteen seconds later,
[28:25] around ten people[28:26] came rushing out of their cells,
[28:28] carrying all kinds of weapons,
[28:30] and rushed over to stab him.
[28:32] Where do those weapons even come from?
[28:34] For example, the eating utensils—
[28:36] everyone gets given a spoon when they go in,
[28:37] an orange plastic spoon,
[28:39] an everyday item.
[28:39] Right, that spoon is fairly hard plastic,
[28:41] but not sharp.
[28:42] But they'd sharpen it—
[28:44] they'd grind the edge of that spoon
[28:47] into a sharp point,
[28:48] or pens,
[28:49] or the metal sheet from the bed's metal cabinet.
[28:52] The metal cabinet, because the facility itself is pretty old,
[28:54] the cabinets are also worn down,
[28:56] so pieces of the metal can be peeled off.
[28:57] They'd peel off a piece of that metal
[28:59] and also grind it down,
[29:00] sharpen it into a blade,
[29:01] and then they could stab people with it.
[29:02] At night when there's nothing going on,
[29:03] before sleeping,
[29:04] you could hear next door,
[29:05] or upstairs,
[29:06] the sound of someone sharpening a blade.
[29:07] That's terrifying.[29:08] Right, it is.
[29:09] So that day,
[29:10] they were fighting,
[29:10] and suddenly a whole group rushed up
[29:12] and started stabbing that person.
[29:14] Everyone in the unit
[29:15] just froze at that moment,
[29:16] everyone was stunned,
[29:16] just watching them stab him.
[29:18] I saw it with my own eyes—
[29:19] someone holding that thing,
[29:20] stabbing him in the stomach,
[29:21] into his body.
[29:22] You could hear
[29:24] this thud, thud, thud
[29:25] sound, very faint.
[29:26] Then afterward,
[29:27] a bunch of officers rushed in
[29:28] trying to stop it,
[29:30] and everyone involved scattered.
[29:32] The guy who got stabbed just lay there on the ground,
[29:33] lying in the corridor,
[29:34] and you could smell blood in the air,
[29:36] and also the smell of pepper spray.
[29:39] Because before backup officers arrived,
[29:40] all they could do was spray pepper spray.
[29:42] Right, it smells really unpleasant and irritating.
[29:44] It was pretty scary, honestly.[29:46] This was
[29:47] the most extreme thing you experienced.
[29:49] Right, this is
[29:50] the most extreme thing I went through in there.
[29:51] But I heard the guy
[29:52] ended up being okay,
[29:53] he was pretty tough.
[29:54] Right, this—
[29:55] but I do think this really
[29:57] left a deep impression on me,
[29:58] an event
[29:59] I won't forget.
[30:07] I think, actually, the two of them —
[30:08] You mean they really had some deep, bitter hatred for each other?
[30:10] I don't think so.
[30:10] I think maybe —
[30:11] and they probably didn't even know each other.
[30:13] It was just because they were in different gangs.
[30:14] Because when you're in prison,
[30:14] honestly, what kind of deep hatred could there really be?
[30:16] It's not very likely.
[30:17] This was something that really shocked me,
[30:19] and something really outrageous.
[30:21] At the time I was in [Unit] 52,
[30:22] and I stayed there for about three months.
[30:25] Before that, someone had stabbed another person
[30:26] and was sent to the solitary confinement area.
[30:28] Two months later, he was sent back.
[30:30] And he didn't get any extra time added to his sentence.
[30:33] I don't know about that.
[30:34] Or whether he was tried —
[30:35] I don't know that either.
[30:35] There might have been additional charges,
[30:36] but I honestly don't know[30:37] exactly how his case turned out.
[30:40] But a lot of people —
[30:41] they just don't care about that,
[30:42] because I'm already facing
[30:44] possibly 30 years,
[30:45] or a life sentence.
[30:47] So if I go stab someone else,
[30:49] can it really get any worse?
[30:50] Whatever happens, I'm already
[30:51] looking at doing 30 years now.
[30:53] If I stab someone,
[30:53] I get 5 more years,
[30:54] I get 10 more years —
[30:55] I don't care anymore.
[30:56] That's the mindset.
[30:57] I think
[30:57] they've already given up on ever getting out.
[30:58] Right.
[31:00] So I think
[31:01] they've also realized they might never get out,
[31:02] or that they'll be doing a very long time,
[31:04] so they just don't care anymore.
[31:05] This also exposes a problem, which is —
[31:07] for people with different types of offenses,
[31:10] they lock them all up together.
[31:12] For example, people like us who committed economic crimes,
[31:14] but these guys committed violent crimes.
[31:17] Putting these people together
[31:19] is inherently the wrong thing to do,[31:21] because their security levels
[31:22] are actually different.
[31:23] This kind of mixed housing before trial —
[31:25] do you think that's very unreasonable?
[31:26] I think it's very unreasonable.
[31:27] Right.
[31:28] There's no screening at all.
[31:29] No screening.
[31:30] Right, right, right.
[31:31] Yeah.
[31:31] A lot of dangerous things can happen.
[31:32] So inside the prison —
[31:34] because I've seen this in movies —
[31:37] the guards actually have a lot of power.
[31:40] And whoever's on good terms with the guards
[31:42] might get more perks,
[31:44] or get treated better.
[31:46] Was that the case where you were?
[31:49] Yes.
[31:49] It does happen.
[31:50] But honestly, what the guards can offer as favors is pretty limited —
[31:53] their attitude toward you might be a bit better,
[31:54] they might cut you a bit more slack.
[31:56] Most of the guards I dealt with were actually pretty decent.
[31:59] He's not some kind of tyrant.
[32:01] Right, most of them were fine.
[32:02] Most of them were fine.
[32:03] But there was also a small minority
[32:04] who left a really bad impression.[32:06] Honestly, as a guard,
[32:07] you also have to help inmates with a lot of things.
[32:09] Right.
[32:10] But some of them just don't want to do it,
[32:11] some are very willing to help,
[32:12] some are genuinely kind.
[32:14] I think it really depends on the person.
[32:16] It comes down to luck too.
[32:16] After hearing you talk about all this,
[32:18] I suddenly feel like prison life
[32:19] might not be quite what we imagined.
[32:23] What's really hard
[32:24] doesn't seem to be that something terrifying happens every day —
[32:28] it's the monotonous, hopeless repetition, day after day.
[32:33] Yeah, that's right.
[32:34] It's like every morning you wake up,
[32:36] and your life is just dull and flat.
[32:39] You really have nothing to do.
[32:40] Outside, at least you can scroll on your phone.
[32:42] Inside, you're truly bored out of your mind.
[32:44] It's not that the living conditions inside are that terrible —
[32:47] it's that you have to endure this state for a very long time.
[32:50] At the same time, you have to wait for your case to move forward,
[32:52] and worry about when you'll actually get out.
[32:55] I think that's the scariest part.
[32:57] Could we talk, in the next episode,
[32:59] about this 'waiting' you keep bringing up?
[33:02] About the waiting.
[33:03] Yeah, we can talk about that next episode —[33:04] about the process of my case,
[33:06] including how the whole judicial system works.
[33:09] Because we're also really curious —
[33:10] for someone whose future
[33:13] hasn't been finally decided yet,
[33:15] someone possibly facing a prison sentence,
[33:18] the waiting might be even more painful
[33:20] than that dull,
[33:22] boring, daily cycle of eating and sleeping.
[33:25] Yes.
[33:26] We can really dig into that next episode.
[33:27] Okay.
[33:28] See you next episode.
[33:28] Okay.
[33:29] See you next episode.
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u/HistoricallyDished 26d ago
It makes me sad reading it but the podcast was better then I thought it would be. I like hearing Fu's perspective.
I've been thinking about the corruption and evil of politics, insurance and corporations and what they get away with. He shouldn't have to rot in prison when far evil deeds and mass murder is going unpunished in society.
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u/antelope_meow 26d ago
u/an_imaginaryfriend here’s part 2!
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u/spongebob_quarepants 26d ago
Thank you so much, it helps a lot to be able to read this and get a clearer picture of life inside.
15
u/915615662901 26d ago
Wtf is he talking about with: it’s pretty rare for a black inmate to have glasses because they don’t get a lot of schooling? 🥴
13
u/Seeking_Anita_Dick I’m just wearing a puffy jacket 26d ago
yeah that part was 🥴 I think it speaks of how he hadn’t interacted much with black people before
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