“Corcoran.”

This week we’re going to jump on the phone again with Samuel so he can share with us a little bit about his time spent at Corcoran State Prison. 

“You have a call from Sammy ****** an inmate at the Kern Valley State Prison, Delano, California. This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded. You have a prepaid call. You will not be charged for this call. To accept this call, say, or dial five now. Thank you for using global Tel Link.” *Beep*  

Magida: Hey! Are you cool if I record this conversation again?

Samuel: Yeah for sure, you’ve got my total attention. I’m not gonna get caught slippin’ and give you an opportunity to embarrass me like our last conversation. *Laughs* 

Magida: *Laughs* Yeah, well, people enjoyed me taking shots at you, so I can’t promise it won’t happen again. Okay, so tell me about Corcoran State Prison - I’ve read many stories about its reputation, but our readers most likely don’t know much about this prison. Well, maybe those who are aware of the Golden State Killer may have heard of Corcoran.

Samuel: Or, Charles Manson, he was there too. Anyways, I got transferred to Corcoran, which is another maximum security prison, after serving my first seven years at Pelican Bay State Prison. Corcoran was very notorious for staging “gladiator” fights. It’s a very crazy place, cops were literally putting somebody they don't like in a cell intentionally with a predator. Dudes were getting raped and fucking dying on a weekly basis. Cops were also throwing inmates into the SHU with predators and gambling on which inmate would kill who. This was actually an active federal investigation that went on at that time. It was really well known that they were staging these fights, it was fucking crazy. So, anyway, when I got there it was towards the end of all of that.

Magida: You know how sometimes you could transfer to a prison by choice, was it by choice to go to Corcoran? 

Samuel: Yes, yes, yes. I chose to go there because it was a little closer to home. So, when I got there, a modified program was actively in place. This means that there's limited movement throughout the prison because of all the stuff happening there. So, during this time, the cops would only allow a few inmates out of their cells at a time and it’s controlled, very controlled. There was this group of individuals that called themselves “Bulldogs” and they are from Fresno, California. They're a pretty active bunch of guys that don't follow the rules. There's a certain set of rules that the general population have to live by, to maintain respect and peace. It works because if not, then inmates would just be consistently fighting and killing each other. So, these guys from Fresno didn't want to follow the rules, they had no respect, no courtesy, nothing. It's a little different now- but say, for instance, a certain person from a group starts a fight, that person who started the fight is deemed the aggressor. When you’re the aggressor, that whole group of individuals that associate with the aggressor will then be put in full lockdown for two weeks or whatever, because of that one person. After the lockdown is over, they'll try to reprogram. For example, if we go to yard, maybe the cops will only let two people from each race or gang out, and then make sure it's controlled and test it out like this until it's back into full programming for everyone. So, every time they let the Bulldogs out, they caused havoc. 

“...this call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded.”

Samuel: I'd only been at Corcoran for maybe three months, and this one day while they were running dayroom, four of us were standing and talking on the right side of the room. It was on the weekend and happened to be at the same time that they ran visits. So, these Bulldogs were coming back from a visit and they were supposed to be under escort because of a prior incident, but on the way back from the visit, the cops decided to allow the Bulldogs to walk through the doors freely by themselves. This was already a red flag to me and the guys I was standing with. We had a feeling that something was about to happen. Obviously, we were prepared, meaning we had weapons. You just had to be prepared. Sure enough, these four Bulldogs started running directly at us from across the dayroom and you can see they had weapons in their hands.

Magida: Would you say that the correctional officers knew that this was going to happen? They kind of wanted it to occur.  

Samuel: You know what, maybe. They were to be under escort and they just allowed these guys to fucking go. So, when you see them walking in, they walk towards the doors and then they start running across the dayroom directly towards us. The four of us kind of spread out a little bit and we ended up getting on a four on four. Basically, each guy took one guy. I got stabbed two or three times and I ended up stabbing one.  

Magida: Where did you get stabbed?

Samuel: I got stabbed in my side, my shoulder, and the back of my head.  

Magida: Jesus Christ. 

Samuel: But I think it was a plastic weapon and it broke on the back of my head and I ended up puncturing one of the guy’s lungs. But what happened at that time, being that they were the aggressors, we didn't get in trouble. I mean it was considered a mutual combat, but they were the aggressors. That was my first introduction to Corcoran, and I’m thinking “Alright, this is fucking Corcoran, let’s go.” There were incidents like this all the time, and I was only there for nine months. Three months into Corcoran I ended up getting thrown into the SHU indefinitely and going back to Pelican Bay State Prison. This child fucking rapist guy got murdered, and they happened to pick up whoever was nearest to the crime scene, which was me and several other guys. Cops can be very retaliative if they don’t like you. They could do anything to you, and back then it was very easy for them to lie. They can basically put you in solitary confinement to never be seen again.

Magida: You mentioned previously that people who commit crimes on women or children are not allowed in general population. So why was this person in general population?

“...this call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded.”

Samuel: What happens often is that some people may have a previous crime they were committed for and then when they come back to prison for something else, they think “I'm okay. I'm not here for that. I'm here for something else.” If somebody happens to see their paperwork, the “128” I mentioned a few weeks ago, and notices that this guy was previously in prison before for rape or child molestation, word gets out. I think that was the case here. I mean, that's what mostly happens. Anyway, this incident occurred and there was no camera, so all the guys near the scene end up going to the hole. And at the time, the cops didn't really like the Mexicans in my building.  

Magida: Why is that? 

Samuel: Because one of my friends assaulted a cop. So, they already kind of had it out for us. When I get to the hole, they end up hitting me with a *******  So at the time a   ********** means that they're going to find information from different sources that say you're      **********and when that happens *********** (Magida redacted statements for legal purposes.) They can put you in solitary confinement for the rest of your life. Cops have it set up pretty much foolproof for them, they could literally not like somebody. When I got thrown in the SHU, honestly, I didn’t think I would ever see the light of day again. And then I met you and everything changed. 

“...you have 60 seconds remaining” 

Magida: Next time we talk, maybe we can dive into that, the SHU at Pelican Bay and us finally meeting. 

Samuel: Yeah, we’ll talk about that, for sure. 

Magida: Okay, Samuel, have a good afternoon.

Samuel: Good looking out.

*Click.*