Whistleblower Exposes Corruption and Violence Inside the California Prison System | I Was There

00:11:34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv--Rab8-mo

Summary

TLDRHector Bravo Ferrell, a former employee of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, discusses the failures of the California model of rehabilitation. He highlights the increase in violence, manipulation by inmates, and unsafe conditions for correctional officers. Ferrell shares his experiences over 16 years, noting significant policy changes that led to dangerous environments. He criticizes the lack of accountability and the cover-up of violent incidents, emphasizing the need for real rehabilitation programs. Ferrell believes that providing hope and proper treatment is essential for effective rehabilitation and aims to educate the public about the realities of the prison system.

Takeaways

  • ๐Ÿšจ Increased violence in prisons under the California model.
  • ๐Ÿ‘ฎโ€โ™‚๏ธ Correctional officers face unsafe working conditions.
  • ๐Ÿ”’ Mixing of gang members and sensitive needs inmates leads to conflict.
  • ๐Ÿ“‰ Lack of accountability for violent incidents.
  • ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ CDCR controls the narrative about prison conditions.
  • ๐Ÿ’” Ferrell emphasizes the need for real rehabilitation programs.
  • โš–๏ธ Corruption and cover-ups within the prison system.
  • ๐Ÿง  Mental health treatment is crucial for inmate rehabilitation.
  • ๐Ÿ’ก Providing hope can change inmate behavior.
  • ๐Ÿ“ข Ferrell aims to educate the public on prison realities.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The California prison system is facing significant issues, as highlighted by Hector Bravo Ferrell, a former correctional officer. He describes a shift from a focus on rehabilitation to a dangerous environment where inmates, many of whom have gang affiliations, are not being properly managed. The California model, inspired by a rehabilitative approach from Norway, has led to increased violence, including stabbings and murders, as gang leaders were released from isolation. The mixing of general population and sensitive needs inmates has exacerbated tensions, resulting in a chaotic and unsafe atmosphere for both inmates and staff.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:11:34

    Ferrell recounts alarming incidents, including the rape of a female officer and multiple assaults on correctional staff, which he attributes to the failures of the California model. He expresses frustration over the lack of accountability and the cover-ups by the administration regarding violent incidents. Ferrell ultimately resigned due to the systemic corruption and the disregard for safety protocols, believing that the system could have been improved with better management and rehabilitative programs. He now aims to raise awareness about these issues and advocate for change.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the California model of rehabilitation?

    The California model is an initiative aimed at transforming the incarceration system, focusing on improving the well-being of inmates and staff, but it has faced criticism for failing to address gang influences and safety.

  • What issues did Hector Bravo Ferrell raise about the California prison system?

    He raised concerns about increased violence, manipulation by inmates, unsafe conditions for staff, and the failure of the system to provide real rehabilitation.

  • What changes occurred during Ferrell's career in corrections?

    Ferrell noted significant policy changes that made the environment more dangerous, including the mixing of general population and sensitive needs inmates.

  • What was Ferrell's experience with violence in prisons?

    He witnessed an uptick in violence, including stabbings and assaults on correctional officers, and described a culture of fear and manipulation among inmates.

  • Why did Ferrell resign from his position?

    He resigned due to the unsafe conditions, corruption, and the lack of accountability within the California Department of Corrections.

  • What does Ferrell believe is necessary for true rehabilitation?

    He believes that providing hope, proper mental health treatment, and substance abuse counseling is essential for effective rehabilitation.

  • How did the California model affect inmate behavior?

    The model led to increased violence and manipulation, as inmates felt they could act without consequences.

  • What does Ferrell say about the narrative controlled by CDCR?

    He claims that CDCR controlled the narrative about prison conditions, preventing staff from speaking out about the realities inside.

  • What was the impact of the California model on correctional officers?

    Correctional officers faced increased violence and were often instructed not to take necessary safety precautions.

  • What does Ferrell hope to achieve by speaking out?

    He aims to educate the public about the realities of the prison system and advocate for necessary reforms.

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Subtitles
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  • 00:00:00
    The inmates in California are running a
  • 00:00:02
    muck. What is transpiring within the
  • 00:00:05
    California model is not rehabilitation.
  • 00:00:08
    They are failing to address the fact
  • 00:00:10
    that these are inmates that have had an
  • 00:00:13
    upbringing indoctrination into gangs.
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    CDCR controlled the narrative for a very
  • 00:00:19
    very very long time. The only people
  • 00:00:21
    that knew what was happening inside of
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    there was the people that worked there
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    and the inmates in there. Hopeless in
  • 00:00:26
    prison ising bad, man. Let me tell you.
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    My full name is Hector Bravo Ferrell. So
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    I worked for the California Department
  • 00:00:37
    of Corrections and Rehabilitation for 16
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    years. I began in November of 2006 and I
  • 00:00:44
    ultimately resigned in December of 2022.
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    The way I started out as a prison guard
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    was my father was a CO started in 1993.
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    began learning about the career in high
  • 00:00:55
    school, career day, and ultimately with
  • 00:00:58
    a goal was to join the military at the
  • 00:01:00
    age of 17 and then get out at 21 and
  • 00:01:03
    then apply for corrections. My goal was
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    to do 30 years, 28 years up until my
  • 00:01:08
    retirement age of 50. There was so many
  • 00:01:11
    changes that transpired within those 16
  • 00:01:13
    years, man. Policy changes became very
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    dangerous,
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    very unsafe. The California model
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    originated from a lady. She took a trip
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    to Norway, more of a quote unquote
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    rehabilitative,
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    friendly, be friends with the inmates
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    type of mentality. Welcome to the
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    California model, a revolutionary
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    initiative transforming the
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    incarceration system for all, committed
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    to improving the well-being of those who
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    live in, work in, and visit state
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    prisons. The first half of my career,
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    the first eight years was a real uh
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    unique time because all the prison gang
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    leaders, the Mexican mafia members, the
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    Noestra Familia members, Black Gorilla
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    Family, and Aryan Brotherhood members,
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    they were all locked away in the shoe in
  • 00:01:57
    the security housing unit. Fast forward
  • 00:01:59
    to the California model, prison gang
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    leaders got released from the shoe, but
  • 00:02:03
    we did see an uptick in murders.
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    The California Department of Corrections
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    and Rehabilitation had a general
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    population side which is your regular GP
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    uh inmates, your gang members, your
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    murderers, your robbers, and then it had
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    a sensitive needs yards, SNY, which is
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    in essence is protective custody that
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    houses child molesters, gang dropouts,
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    uh informants, rats. With the California
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    model, somebody got the bright idea to
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    mix to mix GP and SNY inmates in essence
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    enemies. So we were getting instructions
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    from our captains, our associate wardens
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    not to lock up inmates, not to place
  • 00:02:42
    them in the administ segregation. Well,
  • 00:02:44
    these inmates were stabbing and slashing
  • 00:02:46
    each other in hopes of going to the hole
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    so that they can get removed off that
  • 00:02:51
    yard, but we were not removing them off
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    that yard. So in essence, they were
  • 00:02:54
    committing a lot of violence and not
  • 00:02:55
    going anywhere. So that frustrated them
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    to the point where they knew they had to
  • 00:03:00
    hit a correctional officer, they had to
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    stab a correctional officer in order for
  • 00:03:04
    them to finally get removed. And I had
  • 00:03:06
    told my staff too beforehand. I said,
  • 00:03:07
    "Hey, get ready. They're going to start
  • 00:03:08
    hitting us." From 6:00 in the morning to
  • 00:03:10
    10:00 at night, every time the cell
  • 00:03:12
    doors open, they they came after us.
  • 00:03:15
    Prison riots can happen for numerous
  • 00:03:17
    reasons. The inmates racially segregate
  • 00:03:19
    themselves. That can start a riot, man.
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    Simply walking in somebody else's area.
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    We cannot go over and change people's
  • 00:03:26
    whole ideology. They are failing to
  • 00:03:28
    address the fact that these are inmates
  • 00:03:30
    that have had an upbringing
  • 00:03:32
    indoctrination into gangs. New Corkran.
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    There's a video of the Fresno Bulldogs
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    getting put on a yard. They're in their
  • 00:03:41
    red jumpsuits. There's no correctional
  • 00:03:43
    officers in sight. Torrenos and Nortenos
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    start attacking those Fresno Bulldogs,
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    man. Start stabbing them. Stabbing him
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    in the throat. He almost got decapitated
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    by the cane. It's a miracle he didn't
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    die. It left an unsettling feeling in my
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    stomach. Everything they're saying is
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    totally opposite of survival. CDCR
  • 00:04:02
    controlled the narrative for a very,
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    very, very long time cuz the only people
  • 00:04:07
    that knew what was happening inside of
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    there was the people that worked there
  • 00:04:10
    and the inmates in there. And if you're
  • 00:04:12
    an employee, you are forbidden to speak
  • 00:04:14
    about what happens in there without fear
  • 00:04:16
    of retaliation or harassment or being
  • 00:04:18
    terminated. And ultimately, you cannot
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    cover up 72 dead bodies. Two of which
  • 00:04:24
    were two visitors. Two female visitors
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    strangled to death.
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    Caesar Hernandez, a level four general
  • 00:04:33
    population convicted murderer, escaped
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    from Kern Valley State Prison. That's a
  • 00:04:38
    fact. And that had never happened prior
  • 00:04:41
    to the California model.
  • 00:04:46
    In 2025, the inmates in California are
  • 00:04:50
    running a muck. They're running a muck.
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    It's a free-for-all. What is transpiring
  • 00:04:55
    within the California model is not
  • 00:04:58
    rehabilitation. If an inmate assaults a
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    staff member, you don't reward the
  • 00:05:02
    inmate by playing a game of foosball
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    with him right afterwards. You have
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    these new officers telling them to
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    befriend these inmates. So, not only is
  • 00:05:11
    it setting you up for violent
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    encounters, but it's also setting you up
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    for manipulation.
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    And inmates are masters of manipulation.
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    We have been seeing incidents that have
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    never really transpired within CDCR
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    before. One of them, a female
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    correctional officer at Sierra
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    Conservation Center in Jamestown. She
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    was working in the control booth up in
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    the tower and an inmate managed to sneak
  • 00:05:34
    his way up there into the tower where
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    there's a rifle. And over an eight hour
  • 00:05:38
    span, he proceeded to rape her. And this
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    is all after the California model has
  • 00:05:43
    been enacted. And if it was working, I
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    would be fair enough to say it was
  • 00:05:47
    working. But the 72 murders and the
  • 00:05:50
    numerous attempted murders on correction
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    officers show that it's not working.
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    There's no more safety and security.
  • 00:05:56
    There's no more consequences for
  • 00:05:57
    people's actions. We just had an inmate
  • 00:06:00
    murder three people,
  • 00:06:03
    three other inmates in a year time span.
  • 00:06:06
    How did that happen? There was an
  • 00:06:07
    attempted murder on two correction
  • 00:06:09
    officers at Richard J. Donovan
  • 00:06:10
    Correctional Facility August 2020. It
  • 00:06:13
    was a Mexican mafia member. He was drunk
  • 00:06:15
    with his entourage. They walk around
  • 00:06:17
    with bodyguards. Apparently, some words
  • 00:06:19
    were exchanged with between the
  • 00:06:20
    correctional officer and the inmates and
  • 00:06:22
    they viciously attacked him with
  • 00:06:23
    weapons. They stabbed the correctional
  • 00:06:26
    officer all up in his mouth, knocked his
  • 00:06:28
    teeth in, took the officer's baton,
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    crushed his face. It's a miracle that
  • 00:06:33
    these these these officers didn't die.
  • 00:06:35
    Uh, they got stabbed, beat up,
  • 00:06:37
    pepper-sprayed with their own pepper
  • 00:06:38
    spray. And what did the warden do at
  • 00:06:41
    that time? He covered it up. How do I
  • 00:06:43
    know this? Because I was a public
  • 00:06:44
    information officer at the time, the
  • 00:06:46
    PIO. I was the warden's right-hand man.
  • 00:06:48
    An associate warden blew the whistle by
  • 00:06:50
    sending an email saying, "Hey, this
  • 00:06:52
    attempted murder happened because of the
  • 00:06:54
    incompetent warden, the incompetent
  • 00:06:56
    captain, and the chief deputy warden."
  • 00:06:58
    And I got a call from headquarters from
  • 00:07:00
    the director's office saying, "Hey, we
  • 00:07:02
    need you to type up a letter to the
  • 00:07:04
    media refuting those allegations against
  • 00:07:07
    our managers." And I'm like, "Refuting?
  • 00:07:09
    Why would I refute? What is the truth?"
  • 00:07:12
    And 5 minutes later, I get an email
  • 00:07:14
    saying, "Hey, don't worry about that
  • 00:07:15
    letter. We already typed one up." And in
  • 00:07:17
    that letter that she wrote to the
  • 00:07:19
    public, it said, "Crad headquarters has
  • 00:07:22
    full support of the administration at
  • 00:07:23
    Richard J. Donovan Correctional
  • 00:07:25
    Facility. There has been no wrongdoings
  • 00:07:28
    found and I was absolutely disgusted,
  • 00:07:30
    man, because it it hadn't even been a
  • 00:07:33
    day and there had not even been an
  • 00:07:34
    investigation. Once I realized that
  • 00:07:37
    Headquarters Sacramento had covered up
  • 00:07:40
    the attempted murders of those two
  • 00:07:41
    correctional officers, I knew how far
  • 00:07:43
    the corruption went up. The last and
  • 00:07:46
    final straw for me to quit was we had an
  • 00:07:49
    associate director come down from
  • 00:07:51
    headquarters to Donovan prison and speak
  • 00:07:54
    to all of us supervisors at the
  • 00:07:56
    conference table. And this is what he
  • 00:07:58
    proceeded to tell us. If an inmate tells
  • 00:08:00
    you he does not want to be placed in
  • 00:08:01
    handcuffs, you will not place him in
  • 00:08:03
    handcuffs. So we were all confused and
  • 00:08:06
    and told him like, no, that's not going
  • 00:08:08
    to happen. You know, penal code penal
  • 00:08:10
    code dictates that we can place an
  • 00:08:12
    inmate in handcuffs for our safety. and
  • 00:08:14
    he said, "No, we don't do what penal
  • 00:08:16
    code does. That's what cops on the
  • 00:08:17
    street do. If you do it, you're going to
  • 00:08:19
    get in trouble." So, I realized that
  • 00:08:21
    they were blatantly violating the law
  • 00:08:24
    all to push an agenda. If I can turn
  • 00:08:26
    back the hand of time to 2009,
  • 00:08:29
    a perfect CDCR model would be release
  • 00:08:32
    the inmates from the shoe, put them in a
  • 00:08:35
    certain prison, okay? crack down more on
  • 00:08:39
    the inmates going to the sensitive needs
  • 00:08:41
    yard, cut off the intake to SNY unless
  • 00:08:44
    it was a legitimate reason and implement
  • 00:08:48
    rehabilitative programs at that time.
  • 00:08:51
    Substance abuse counselors, uh, mental
  • 00:08:54
    health treatment. When the laws changed
  • 00:08:57
    in around 2014ish,
  • 00:09:01
    that's when these lifers started getting
  • 00:09:02
    action and started going home. I saw the
  • 00:09:05
    change in in the inmates behavior when
  • 00:09:08
    it comes to hope. Hopeless in prison is
  • 00:09:10
    bad, man. Let me tell you. So,
  • 00:09:12
    if there can be a perfect system, it
  • 00:09:14
    would have been in ' 09, but give them
  • 00:09:16
    hope. I resigned at the age of 38. It
  • 00:09:20
    did cross my mind to stick around and do
  • 00:09:23
    my full career and collect a pension.
  • 00:09:26
    How much value would that hold that I
  • 00:09:27
    finished off my career went along with
  • 00:09:30
    the BS
  • 00:09:32
    and then now all of a sudden I want to
  • 00:09:34
    talk and now all of a sudden I want to
  • 00:09:36
    blow the whistle in hindsight. I figured
  • 00:09:38
    it was paramount that I do it then and
  • 00:09:40
    there while it was happening real time
  • 00:09:42
    and I felt that it would hold more
  • 00:09:44
    value. The California Department of
  • 00:09:46
    Corrections and Rehabilitation have
  • 00:09:48
    opened up investigations into seeing
  • 00:09:51
    who's uh
  • 00:09:53
    contacting me, who's talking to me, who
  • 00:09:56
    may or may not be sending me
  • 00:09:57
    information. So, they're actually
  • 00:09:59
    utilizing taxpayer money and state
  • 00:10:01
    resources to try to go after people that
  • 00:10:04
    want to do the right thing. They said
  • 00:10:06
    that I got fired from the prison system.
  • 00:10:10
    That's false and inaccurate. They said
  • 00:10:12
    that I quit because I was going to get
  • 00:10:14
    fired. That's false and inaccurate. I
  • 00:10:17
    believe I'm living my purpose. I'm
  • 00:10:19
    believe I'm living my passion. There's a
  • 00:10:21
    reason why I didn't die
  • 00:10:23
    in Iraq when I should have very well
  • 00:10:25
    died and a lot of my brothers did.
  • 00:10:27
    There's a reason why I worked in the
  • 00:10:29
    California Department of Corrections and
  • 00:10:30
    saw what I saw and was able to leave and
  • 00:10:33
    speak out on it. I believe my purpose is
  • 00:10:35
    to speak to the masses, educate them.
  • 00:10:39
    And you're right, I wasn't an outsider.
  • 00:10:41
    I know exactly what it is to be human.
  • 00:10:43
    It's a gift. It's a gift. And a lot of
  • 00:10:47
    people take that for granted.
  • 00:10:50
    [Music]
  • 00:11:04
    Heat. Heat.
  • 00:11:08
    [Music]
Tags
  • California model
  • rehabilitation
  • Hector Bravo Ferrell
  • prison violence
  • CDCR
  • gang influence
  • corruption
  • safety
  • manipulation
  • prison reform