Most people don’t know this: in prison, jobs aren’t just assigned—they’re hustled for. Bought. Traded. Sometimes even stolen (allegedly).
When I was locked up, I cleaned human waste for $0.45 an hour. And I considered myself lucky.
Why? Because that job meant I could leave the dorm. It meant I didn’t have to sit in a 100-degree room with 80 other men, no privacy, no peace. It meant I could move, work, and earn—just enough to buy deodorant or toothpaste.
In this new video, I break down what work in prison actually looks like—how it gets handed out, who controls it, and why the system is designed to punish, not prepare.
It’s not just about labor. It’s about power, identity, and whether we believe people can ever come back from what they’ve done.
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