The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 609 - The Founding of San Quentin Prison

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine John Murray Spear and his machine Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources   Squarespace Helix Sleep  Code: HELIXPARTNER25. Mindbloom Code: Dollop

The dollop is brought to you by Helix. Helix is offering 25% off all mattress orders and a free sleep bundle for our listeners in honor of Black Friday. The bundle includes two free pillows as well as a set of sheets and even a mattress protector. Go to helix sleep.com slash dollop and use code helix partner 25. I am a mattress protector. Go ahead. Welcome to the dollop. Is that right? Nope. Already wrong. Permission to treat the cohost this hostile. You're listening to the dollop. On the All Things Comedy Network,

this is an American History Podcast where each week I read a story from American history. To my enemy. Garrett Reynolds, who has no idea what the intro has become. to story from American history to my enemy. Garrett Reynolds, who has no idea what the intro has become. And for those you listening, I don't know what the story's gonna be. But just how hard is it? How hard is what?

Just to say the intro, like verbatimish. I came in red hot. You came in red hot to the pre-record, and now you're at the record, and the spice has carried over in an unhealthy way. It's very healthy. I don't think people understand that you are a psychotic man, and that you have no issue being completely psychotic.

For instance, let's just go through some text messages from earlier, shall we? Okay. Yeah, sure. Here's what they were. Okay. You texted me this out of nowhere today. So tired of your bullshit.

Uh-huh, that sounds right. I replied pardoned, question mark. And you said read it. That's mark. And you said, read it. That's great. And I said, I have, and it is, in fact itself, bullshit. And you said, this is exactly what I was talking about. Thank you. And I said, is it now?

Then you said, are we gonna get on early to talk? Cause we were gonna talk about something early. And on the phone call we had after where you were a rational normal person, you did say to me, you said we'd get on the Zoom at 130 and I said, oh my bad. But this is what you said.

Are we getting on early to talk? And then it goes to all caps. You cow, all caps, liar, all caps. Fucking goddamn liar. And then we got off the phone after having a rational talk. And the first thing you wrote to me is you're still a fucking liar You're listening to the dollar. We're back

And called it quote his jam patch Jim I'm the fucking about guys. Dave okay My name is Gary. What is Gary? What is it for five and this is not gonna come to tickle you podcast. Yeah I'm a five part proficient. I'm real afraid. Now hit him with the puppy.

You both present sick arguments. No, sleep down hip-hop. That's like how hip-hop. Action. I can't be. No. I see, done my friend. No.

No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. the court. Gareth, the dollop, of course, brought to you by Helix sleep.

We both enjoy deeply lovingly sincerely, sexually, Helix, what are they? Now, just to be, are they okay in your takes? Yeah, they know that you're saying, they, we have round tables. And I, I've been telling him what's emphasized what happens on the bit, what's emphasized, the love making. It's just when he's, no, I think,

I think I would make sure that they're signing off on all this stuff. I think even before we put this one out, I would maybe send this to them and maybe get some editing involved. I've had my mattress for, I don't know, we've got, they're going on seven, eight years now, my sleep is so much better

than my previous mattress. I don't, I use this a little weight better. This is a little weight better. This is a weight better for my previous mattress. My wife loves it, she loves making love on it. Okay, and just kind of stay within the confines of the stuff that I'm sort of addressing if you can. He looks as 20 unique mattresses,

including the award-winning Lux collection, which is what I have. I have that too. I have that to use. Stop trying to duck, the duck's lux. Lux. Good, good lux saying that three times. Yeah, so, Gareth and I can sleep in each other's houses

and not have any weird features to point out for sure. Okay. They have mattress designed for big and tall sleepers. They even have mattresses for kids. Finn has a helix sleep mattress. I'm doing a kids mattress. I got a kid's own. Yeah, we love it.

Gareth loves children. Now there's no way that that can go. I mean, that is flag. I'm, everyone flags that. And again, I have videos, no, me and my wife, if anybody knows, to see what happens in the next. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Helix is offering 25% off all mattress orders

and a free sleep bundle for our listeners in honor of Black Friday. The bundle includes two free pillows, is offering 25% off all mattress orders and a free sleep bundle for our listeners in honor of Black Friday. The bundle includes two free pillows, as well as a set of sheets and even a mattress protector, go to helix sleep.com slash dollop and use code helix partner 25. This is their best offer yet and it won't last long with helix. Better sleep starts now. The dollop is also brought to you in part by Squarespace.

Gareth, go ahead and tell the people with Squarespace. Dave, Squarespace is, well, for me, it's been pretty much a lifestyle. It's a way to, to webinars and site engage your business obstacles and you, you're an idiot. It is an all in one domain website. All in one.

That was the word marketing tools analytics. It's all there. Yeah, those those those escaped me. Those are the words though. Hey, yeah, what are you? Yeah, no, because it's a place where you build your empire via the keypad and the keyboard and you type into the machine and you shout at the machine.

You have a website. Yes, exactly a site. It's on Squarespace. Quick question, despite a man having websites. I have a website on Squarespace. We have the dollop sources on Squarespace and then of course we have the dollop podcast.com on Squarespace. If you want to hear clean versions

of which the Nazis have been bleeped out, we have that up on the Squarespace site. So you can listen to those with your kids, your kiddies. I have no idea what you got this talking about. I'm trying to talk about Squarespace. Well, it's I'm having a bit of fun with the Spider-Man makes webs and if you had a website. They have marketing tools, they got world class design.

The templates are fantastic, super easy to use for a dummy like me. They never have to update anything. They got a 24 seven support. It's all happening at Squarespace. Please don't listen to anything Gareth ever says. So here's what I actually called the support line and they repaired that my marriage. Go to squarespace.com slash dollop for a free trial.

And when you're ready to launch, use the Alpha Code dollop to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. We're also brought to you in part by mind bloom. Mind bloom, of course, is a at home ketamine therapy. And there's a lot of people dealing with anxiety and depression. It's tough. It's a very tough thing to get through. There's no quick, easy fix, but this might be the next best thing.

The ketamine therapy has been really helpful for a lot of people. It's good. You're going to try the mind-blue, yes? Yes, once I'm back in the country, I'll be trying it. Yep, I've got it all set up and uh... and the thing is that when you set it up you know there's a lot of back and forth you've got there's definitely like uh... you know you're talking to people about

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In a study of over 1200 mind and bloom clients, 89% reported improvements in their anxiety and depression after only four sessions. That's the craziest stat to me. Yeah. That's the stat right there, big guy. And we got it. I'm doing a study on the pepto bismo situation. It's definitely not pepto bismo.

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and use promo code dollop. Go get a thrones dot com come see me and then in December I have dates go to get a thrones dot com will be a North Carolina New Jersey go to get a thrones dot com 1850 crime was rampant that's a big California awkward okay Okay. There were a lot of murders, tons of murders. After the Hounds gang in San Francisco attacked little chili, beating and burning and plundering everybody, they were

arrested. Eight were found guilty and two were given ten-year sentences. The little Hound gang. What? No, just the H year sentences. The little how and what? No, just the how and gang. The how and gang. Sorry. I think we did an episode on the hows. I think that was probably when I was smoking a ton of hot. Mm-hmm.

What was after? And so two of them got 10 year sentences. But what's that a dog? The nearest. It's sentences. But. What's that in dog? The nearest. It's 70. Yeah. It's crazy. That's huge.

And the nearest penitentiary is actually 2000 miles away in the east. Well, it's also you want to let howons roam. You don't want to keep them caged. Well, they're, but they're, well, no, they've committed crimes. They've, yeah, but still how the, a how'd wants to go be a how'd. Yeah. You know what I mean? You don't, it's like when you create a how'd you don't want to create a how'd you can create a how'd.

No. Well, yeah. Only God can create a how'd. All right. Uh, so there's no, there's no prison to put them in. Yeah, only God can create a hound. All right. Uh, so there's no, there's no prison to put them in. Um, and they just, uh, they also had political connections. So they got released after a couple of days. How great is it to get a sentence and then for them to be like, we can't find a

prison. Well, that's my dream. Thank you, gentlemen. That's my dream sentencing. Yeah, you did it. You're doing 10 years. Where? Ah, fuck.

You're good. You're good. All right, you're free to go. So a month later, the city of San Francisco bought the stranded brig Euphemia to be the city jail. Now, the stranded brig Euphremia to be the city jail. Now this is when, because it's 1850, all these boats have come in and people will just left them

because they went to the gold mine. You know? I don't know. I think I have a hunch of where this might be headed. So you don't. So the governor. It's the story of the Colonel from the Kentucky Friday chicken.

That's right. So the, did you know his name? Yeah. What's his name? Harlan Sanders. You feel good? I was just checking for the last name. I didn't think he'd.

Then the governor declared all county jails to be state prisons. So essentially they took over all the local jails. The first state prisoner was not registered for eight months, however. His name was Charles Courier, he was a cabinet maker, but also a thief. But there's still no actual like state prison to put them in there, you know, so they have to put them in a county prison. And in 1851 former Mexican general, Mariano Guadalupe Vilejo made an offer to run a state prison on 20 acres of land. Now as partner was a democratic politician named James Estelle.

Estelle, I've been born in Madison, Kentucky in 1811. He's from a big military family. He married Martha Woods that had six kids. In 1842 they moved to Missouri. He helped build a prison there for the government. In 1849 he sells all his stuff during the Gold Rush heads of San Francisco. So now he's in San Francisco he joins the state militia and pretty soon he had the rank of major general and he dabbles in politics. He's a mover and a shaker. Yeah this is a great synopsis about this guy.

Thank you. Author Kenneth Church LeMont quote His mind was will and eduicious and his tongue was one of the foulest ever heard in a public hall Mm-hmm. It's like texting with Dave So so this guy's a Of Luce Cannon foul Fowel mouth. Fowl mouth? I don't know about Luz Cannon, Fowl mouth.

Okay. He was 41 years old, so he becomes friends with General Valetho. So young. So young. Yeah, he's a pup. He's a pup. So he becomes friends with General Valetho. And together they get the contract to give beef to the tribes.

Okay. The government has on reservations. So they're meat. So they, the, the, the, the, the, the, the land. So they basically like it. And, right, it was like another one of our Mayacolpa's basically. I don't know if I think it's a Mayacolpa. We had to feed them or they'd starve because we had them on reservations and they could no longer

You know hunt and whatnot like they used to be cool for them when they're like hey, they took everything and they're ruining everything and we're like How about is one a burger? Yeah, you go feel don't feel so bad. Here's some Chuck. Hey, you like me. I Wish we'd never met you. Yeah, okay. Yeah so So now the state needs a prison and these two guys are already working together so they they go in the proposal together So until the prison is built a stale and Vallejo Say they'll buy

prison hulks like ships to put the people in higher guards pay them out of their own pocket food and clothes the prisoners out of their own pocket And then cover any reward put out if they escape so they're gonna handle all the business until they're like, right, okay All they want is it's so strange to hear of like, you know, sounds like care, I guess, for lack of a better term of the prisoners to some extent. I'm sure they're awful. Well, but it's like, well, we'll close them, we'll feed them.

You haven't heard. Yeah, I'm sure it goes. I'm sure it goes. Haven't heard what? What they want to return. What do they want to return? Souls? Just to be able to use the prisoners as workers.

Okay, so there we, you know, I have a, I have an uncanny ability to, it's goes one of two ways. It's really two side of coin. I can sometimes jump in and predict the next thing you're gonna say. And then the other side of that coin is sometimes I'll be like a guy who's like, hair tonic, that sounds like a good,

like I'll walk in and be like, well, it sounds like he's a great guy. And then you'll be like, he murdered his women. I'm like, eh. I mean, has there ever been an instance in this podcast where you said, that person sounds pretty good. And the job Brown is pretty good. Fair.

Okay, so that's that's what they want slave labor. The state legislature only cares about money and in the country there's only four prisons that turn a profit most run a deficit of at least $100,000. So there's a lot of losing money. I seriously was like, we're gonna do an episode on Alcatraz. And instead, what we're gonna be doing now is this is gonna be hell.

You're close actually. Oh, okay. So they jumped on Vallejo and Estelle's offer and gave them a lease. Okay. So the chairman of the House and Grounds Committee said the offer, quote, briefed the spirit of an enlarged mind for which he deserved the thanks of his countrymen and the admiration of the world and that his offer looked more like a legacy of a mighty emperor to his people than the donation

of a private rancher. That almost was like basically what I was saying right before you were like, they're gonna be slaves. This man will go down in history. They always lay it on so thick when people on the inside thank each other. It's bad. It's so bad. It's so bad. It's always just like this.

Like they go, I mean, it just goes on and on, but it was like, it has slowly been deteriorating for a while, and then when you saw Trump giving a rushed limbalm metal, you're like, it's even happening anymore. But they just, they always, the way they felt, it was Strom Thurmond where they're like a public servant, a man of the people.

As slave holder. He was great. I always wanted to do a dollop on Strom Thurman's last election campaign, but I can't find anything on it, but I remember reading at the time and it's like, finestein times 20, like it's the craziest

stories of just a guy who's not there and he wins but he doesn't even know what he's doing. Anyway. Imagine having a leader like that. Oh, can you? So they get the lease the chairman of i already did that one uh... on december third governor mcdougal tells sheriff's to turn estate prisoners over to astel and valeo but then astel immediately turns them over to sheriff john haze because haze and his buddy

mayer john caperton have subleased the contracts of the prisoners. Oh my God, so they're already like. So before they even get into having the win. What is the guy who was like gonna be, was like a dignitary and now he's like, yeah, we'll just share if so, handle it. That's what was just about, baby.

So there's just a step. A meaningful step has been added. Well, they said that they would house them and close them and feed them and do all this stuff, and they just eliminated that. Right. So all the good stuff they said they're just going to do. So the sheriffs give them, yeah, the sheriffs give them

the prisoners and they're like, all right, this is going to be great. Here you go, sheriffs. Yeah, gives it right back to another guy who then has them all working. Great. So Hayes had the ship Wabu turn into a prison, so that's right near San Francisco, and then they tow it across the bay with 40 convicts in it,

and they put them to work on a quarry on Angel Island. So some of them still worked in chain gangs in San Francisco, well, building roads. Oh, by the way, Jack Hayes is known as one of the bravest and most heroic Texas Rangers of all time. Nice. Nice. Right now he's a slave guy. A month later, the 40 prisoners overtook the ship and commondered it and headed for the eastern shore of the bay.

And they went and pursued them. Seven of them end up getting away permanently. Now, there's a lot of public criticism now because people found out what happened that he's been subleased out to Hayes and that Hayes, they all escaped. And then Hayes reveals he hasn't even turned a profit after five months of using these guys as slave labor. He and Caperton were in the hole for $11,000 and Vallejo now bailes on the whole project.

He's like, I'm out. Oh, God. Okay. So now it's just a sell who's got the whole thing and Hayes asked him to end the contract. He's like look, I'm killed here like I And Estelle says he'll void it If the state legislature will agree to pay for the construction of a prison on land no ships an actual prison and So Hayes and Caberton, they're kind of connected.

And so they go to the state legislature and they lobby all the legislature to pass the bill. And also a stalospind voted in the state centers that helps too. Tell Jesus. On May 1st, 1852, the legislature passes the bill to buy a prison site. This is such a big moment.

Yeah. Like, right? I mean, it's like where this is, it almost went away. It almost, it probably would have come back, but. They, it would have come back. It should have happened, not in this way. Yeah.

So they buy a place called Point Quentin. They pay a guy really connected San Francisco guy, $10,000 for the land, 20 acres. Later on, it's discovered he doesn't actually own the land. But he sold it. Is that our hero? That guy's our hero? God, I would have fucking made a killing doing that back in the day.

Oh yeah, she's a real but she really opens up. She's unbelievable. This is all yours. Twenty beautiful acres boys for $15,000. That's all I'm asking. Can you do 10? Yeah. Oh God. Just because I like you boys, I'll do 10. All right. Oh, I can't believe I you're fleecing me. He's sons of bees., here do we have a deed? Do you have a deed? Yeah, indeed I do. Indeed I do. Here you go.

All right. And written, just how we like it. And written. There you go. And how about this? There's one condition. I want to come back for vacations. Because this looks like a great, great spot.

Okay. And one other thing, enjoy it. Let's have the role. Enjoy it. We're going to put a prison here, but yeah, we will. Well, it's not even mine. What? That to do.

I'm getting in my canoe. But I mean, people found out, but in the end, they're like, well, we're putting the prison here, like, you know, whoever the fuck owned it, like it's. So some guys some guys just like no I don't know if it was anybody supposed to be orgy land it might have just been like federal land like I don't know all right I love a good sound land it's not his so point sand quentin is in marine county and it's a little hook that like sticks out that Yeah, I heard that. That place is supposed to be the worst and the worst people are supposed to come from there. Easy, easy.

What? Essentials goes about 12 miles south. It's named after a great Native American warrior, a leader of the tribe that lived there, the Quitton. And Quitton's point was named after the Great Warrior because that was his last stand where he was killed after losing the Mexican troops. Hmm. All right. Cool.

Cool story. Now the prison is the, like I said, the shipwabu and it's now docked right off Point Quentin. Three of the prisoners are sex workers, Dolores Martinez, Scotch Mary, and Russian Kate. Ooh, Russian. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I like to afforn the Kate. Come on, play with the premise a little, maybe there's something there. Let's not be so hasty to abandon me. I could be a rich character of which I harroly enough, huh? Uh-huh. I think I became a little French for a minute. Well, you often do that when you're doing the Russian...

I'm hot, baby. So there's also other women like Lily Smith, who was a circus writer, and for Grand Larson, a Carmine Nunez, who was cross-eyed, Burkita Salazar, one eye. Was was was was that a woman who was in for being cross-eyed? Carmine, no, she wasn't in for being cross-eyed. She just was cross-eyed. Carmen Nunez. Carmen Nunez?

She's cross-eyed. Perquita Saladano had one eye. Well, it could be where I was in the cross-eyed. The lieutenant of the guards, John Gray, started enjoying the company of the women. Sure. So, they built wooden shacks up on the shore, and some of the women were moved into what was called the Overseers House.

Oh, good lord. Oh, my god. And that included Dolores and Scotch Mary. You know what's interesting? You know, it's always so incredible, the level of just comfortable hypocrisy that we just have no problem just thriving in. Like, what?

It always is like that. It's just like, why do we create these things that the people who create just break? It just should show you that it's like, look, human nature is what it is. I understand this like argument of, oh, but the morals, but it's like, what the fuck are you gonna do?

I mean, this is, you know, you cannot. At some point, you have to just be like, this is, you know, you cannot, at some point you have to just be like, all right, look, Uncle, we're perverts, let's go. People like fucking turn to you. We all gotta fuck, we all gotta fuck, we're gonna fuck whatever we want, we're gonna fuck everything, it's fine, it's legal. Some ladies are like, I like fucking

and I can get money for it, let's fuck. All right, so they can fuck, some people like to put drugs in their arms, whatever, fuck it. Yeah, so they're moved into the overseer's house. That includes Dolores and Scotch Mary. Dolores was described as squat and pockmark. Mary's face was scarred.

John Gray, and I say these things because that, like, you two get married and whatnot. You probably had to be be let's just say that ableism is off the chart. So if you have anything wrong with you like that, that's part of the conversation. Well, but also you got to remember this is the time of the men were all so handsome handsome handsome as handsome men, you know, just just really pretty and good smelling. Mm-hmm. John Gray soon just moved into the women's shack. He usually slept with Dolores, but sometimes he'd get in his scotch, Mary's bed.

But Mary was known as Judge Thompson's woman. Judge Thompson was the captain of the guard. And like Gray, he was a huge drinker. He was often seen visiting the women, visiting the women's shacks. But it wasn't just the two guards. One witness said, Marion Delores had quote, free sexual intercourse with two male convicts who were doing the guards laundry.

And two other convicts said they were the women's husbands. So they got to stay with them on Sundays. Wow. And the women, even though they're in jail, they're allowed to come and go as they want. Sure. Well, it all sounds like it's really a good system that sounds fine.

That's great. They built a house. Sounds very habilitative. Yeah. They built a guard boarding house and a bar. Great. Yep. A guard-t and a bar. Great. Yep. A guard-tended bar in the fridge.

Hey, guess what that sounds so bad, Dave? Jail. Hey, Gareth. Huh. Why just one bar? I agree. Five-butter yards from the prison, another bar was opened by the guy who had sold the land

to them that he didn't probably own. Sorry, are we competing with their, hey, how's it going? Yeah, I'm also open in a spot over here too, on your land, but it used to be my land, wink wink, maybe it isn't, but I've opened a little place. It's called TJs, and we've got everything you want.

We're wild. We got a bunch of player jerseys up on the wall, and yeah, we're excited. So, titter tots? Oh, we do, yeah, we're excited. So, titter tots. Oh, we do. Yeah, we got what we call fire tots, fire tots. Yeah, so they got do you allow murderers in? Because I'm a murderer.

I killed some guy. Absolutely. We understand the clientele of this area. So yes, we all laws in here may be broken at T.J.'s. Can I make a suggestion? Absolutely. Murderer Tuesdays. Can I make a suggestion? Absolutely. Murderer Tuesdays. Yeah, I like that a lot.

I like that a lot. Listen, hey, if you're looking to commit man slaughter, come on down to TJs. We got hot tats and law nats. Shut up. Ah. Uh, so. Is that going to be opening a bar? Like, can you admit? Shut up. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! day that's two bars right you think they can get by with two bars did they understand what kind of bars we expect in a prison no girth they could not

get by with a third bar well judge Thompson leaves in eighteen fifty three in a guy named aca s's takes over for him and he sets up a bar on the ship so now there's a bar in the prison a bar on the ship and a bar outside the prison it would just be so weird to be like, oh no, a new judge. I hope he doesn't crack the whip. And he's like, hey, how about a margarita bill? Now, he's not a judge. He used to be a judge, but now he's just a guard.

Okay. So the women drink whenever they want, they spent money they made by selling in the prison, or they got the guards to buy them drinks. Scotch Mary loved whiskey, big, masculinity. But the women started being released, and by the middle of 1854, there are no women in the prison.

So interesting because in a horrible situation like this, you would think the men would just be like, you live with me forever, but instead they're like, all right, your time. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if they could keep them. I mean, well, I mean, it feels like there were no laws. There's definitely no rules or laws in my doubt that the women were doing this uh... you know yeah they were made they were but i think they were because they

liked that they probably would stay uh... so lieutenant great now there's no women he leaves to work on uh... to oversee one of the quarries on the islands So with Thompson and Gray gone. There's a lot less scandalous activity going on the bar scene was probably not week after that Yeah, it wasn't great. Not as fun. It's a sausage fest All right, that's how we do it. All right. Yeah, all right, but I could I'll be Welcome to TJs. We call them this bar bottoms.

Welcome to bottoms. Don't ask. Ha, ha, ha. So the guard, most of the guards are ex-California rangers. But a lot, we're just kind of hired from wherever, just get a warm body. The prison doctor called them, quote, brave and desperate men,

but somewhat addicted to dissipation. Dispations like debauchery, just true. So the guards are just fucking, fuck heads. Like, sure. Well, they're not even fucking, they're just again, it's like, you know, like, look, they just, everybody wants the party. What's the problem?

Let's party. Yeah. I mean, I don't mean to sound like Van Wilder, but. No, I know you're right. But like, if you're like, if you're like in your 20s and you're in San Francisco and someone's like, by the way, you can go live in this prison thing, oversee people and then there's booze. Oh, yeah.

And before women, like, you're like, yeah, all right. That's all. Yeah. So they're working 18 hour days, seven days a week. Wow. And the one problem was escapes were often violent and bloody. Sure. A guard said, quote, every hour of the day we literally carry our lives in our hands and that at any moment is liable to be rested from us Also a lot of guards are alcoholics at least I do think that is anything to do with there being three active bars there. It's not great. It's not great Yeah, I mean you could probably in the middle of your shift just go get a pop right all the time. You're a patient. Yeah faced Yeah, hey watch what you're doing out there man. Come on We'll just keep it up. We just remember you gotta get your shit together

We're just gonna make sure we're all gonna be on the same page. You just get it. Just get it done Oops, it has air. All right come on. Come on guys, you got no more BS. We're just gonna be, hey, let's tell you what. I'm between you and me. This is a lot. I'm not even one of the law guys who digs the laws. I'm one of the law guys who's like, man, let's just wish you got a chill,

but we can't just keep your heads in your eyes and your mouth on your face as well. We'll be all right, all right? What are we supposed to do right now? All right, man, we're just going to, you just have a, what are we going to the yard? Are we going to the showers?

What are we doing? We're just sitting in the hallway and you're going to be able to do it. You got a lot of stupid questions for a jaguar. Sorry. No, I'm sorry, you're right, I apologize. Yeah, all right. Where are we?

In the hallway. Oh, man, keep your eyes on your face, man. Keep your nose hard. Come on, everybody, get your nose as hard. Come on. Okay, tacos. Shh, I'll figure this out. I just started a magic grab- up. I just got a bunch of

grab up. Okay. So I'm just gonna go back to myself. Okay. Alright, I will go to the self. We all are, I think. Hey, it sounds like you're being selfish. Shit so got it over to jays So Boy where are we? So right so some said they never saw lieutenant grace over the whole time he was there. Yeah, well So male convicts Could also go to the bar whenever they wanted. Quote, it was not uncommon to see Judge Thompson or Gray buying a round of drinks for seven or eight thirsty trustees.

So trustees are prisoners that are trusted and like guards also. So what a weird, I mean, it's almost like, I mean, it's like where you wanna go to prison, except for the hours, hours are horrible. Yeah, I was just saying. I was just, I just,

I was like, You're probably working on the same hours on the outside. Yeah, I guess, right? Yeah, okay. So yeah. Yeah. So it would be great. How's prison?

It's awesome. It's the best dudes. Great, would be great. How's prison? Awesome. It's the best dudes. Great. It's great. On New Year's Eve 1853, there was a bar fight in one of the bars and a convict bit another convict's nose off. Whoa, that's a move. Convicts would also get into bar fights with construction workers who are working on building

the prison. Oh man. I just knew New Year's Eve nose off? Yeah. That's a, the nose off bite is a really, come on. Did I ever tell you that when I was in high school, a guy that I went to high school with, older, a couple years older, got into a fight on a bus,

and I believe it was a public bus, not a school bus. And he bit the driver's nose off. Oh my God. And I later found out that's Gavin Newsom's cousin. Oh my God. Bup, bup, bup, bup, bup. Oh my God, a bit of bus drivers nose off.

Yeah, that was my stop. Pfft. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah, anyway, the new sooms. So Estelle had created the San Francisco manufacturing company as the, that's like the labor company that would use the workers labor or sell them out to somebody or lease them out or whatever they do.

Sure. The company now proposed building a new prison. The proposal was a 20-foot wall around the prison with a Roman tower with battlements on each corner. There would be Roman columns, arches, minarets, guards, quarters, an armory, fancy bathrooms, a laundry, a bell tower, insanely expensive. This is like he's been in the bathroom. And he's definitely the weirdest part I've heard.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the papers get wind of the plans and go nuts. They say it's going to bankrupt the state. Everyone turns against the plans. Everyone thinks it stells a fucking idiot. And the attorney general threatens to use an injunction to stop it if anybody tries

to build it. The Alton newspaper called it, quote, the most stupendous fraud that was ever attempted by the officials upon the people of any state in the union. He ain't seen nothing yet. I don't know, maybe he heard a slavery. The contract with the San Francisco Manufacturing Company was then canceled. Okay.

And prison commissioners were told to find someone else to take over and run the prison. But it still is just like, yeah, I'm not giving it up. Hmm. I'm not leaving. And then he says, look, I won't do the plans for the new prison. It's now just gonna be a cell block's now just going to be a cell block.

We're just going to build a cell block. And he said, every convict is going to have his own cell. So everyone just goes for it. Man, so close to having kick ass prisons. And- And- And- And like columns, like Roman fucking columns and shit, like,

minerals, like, it's all, like, I'm not trying to glorify incarceration, but if you're like, yeah, it's basically the Coliseum. When he said every comic, what his own cell and when construction was finished on the sublock, every cell held four men. The only way to relieve overcrowding at the prison was to take prisoners to one of the two islands where they were working on quarries. People visiting San Quentin could not tell the difference between a convict and a guard. Hmm. It's interesting.

They both wore civilian clothes that were falling apart. Advantage prisoner in that one. Yeah, right. Hey, all right. I'm going to get out of here. All right. See you later. See you later, guys. Bye. All right. Bye. I'll see you tomorrow.

All right. Yeah, we worked here together. So I'm, I'm with you guys. So yeah, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Right, yep, we worked here together. So I'm, I'm with you guys. So yeah, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night boys. Hold on. Yeah, yeah. And we're, we just usually don't say I'm one of you guys. I mean, I'm just saying, see you tomorrow boys.

We're just, how are we doing? I'm just saying we would, we're the guards. We're the guards. I'm one of you guys. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're the, I was just saying we would wear the guard. We're the guards. We're the guards. One of you guys. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're the, I'm just saying we're the guards. We are the guards. We can't say that.

No, I mean, it's still a guard talk. You know, like guard talk. It's not guard talk. We don't like, no one walks on going, hey, I'm a guard. Are you a guard? I don't want to get into one of these classic guard on guard chats. I'm, I'm, I'm taking, I'm beep from today.

What a long day of guard, guard, guard, guard and stuff. So I'm gonna get out of here and guards, we are. I'll see you later boys. We don't say that. We don't say that. Yeah. No, I mean, I, it's weird because some of us do and I don't know if you talk to the South.

So listen, yeah, I'm going to tackle you. All right. Well, let's not want a little guard on guard violence. We are guards. This isn't guard on guard. This is a guard on not guard. Yeah, I mean, I'm taking you down. I'm a guard. You're not a guard.

I'm guard. If you are a guard, we're putting you in a cell anyway. Just for being weird. I'm a prisoner. Just dumb that we have the same uniform as the other. All right, all right, get out of here. I didn't know you just say just say the truth. I killed two guards back there and they're dead. All right. It turns out you killed two convicts. So, it's fine. The tail, my friends. No one knows. Yeah, I get the guard of you. So, yes, so they couldn't tell.

Now, it's because they all wore civilian clothes and they were terrible. The convicts had the clothes that came in on in with, so it was falling apart. And the guards can't afford good clothes, so they're also just wearing their clothes that are falling apart. They're incredibly dirty, they're all shaggy,

even by like mining camp standards, they're shaggy and dirty. Yeah, miners are like, your boys are gross, you hear? You guys are disgusted, and we're pig people. Can you explain to me what a pig person is where we like mud and we're just Stinky we like mud and gold. Okay. That's what we are. Okay, and we never show it like a pig Exactly, sometimes mud and gold sometimes we'll mix up what's gold and what's from us? If you know what I'm saying wink wink. Yeah Yeah, no, I don't. And a lot of us are oinkin'.

I like a good oink. Oink. All right, I have to leave you now, because I'm sorry. All right, we're just family. You guys are piggy people. We're big people. Thanks for coming.

Thanks for stopping by. My family's left, but I put everything on the line for gold Yeah, well you're in any it What yeah, it's up All right, that's fair Some of the convicts carried guns and some of the guards didn't Convicts carried guns and some of the guards didn't How did this prison exist?

How did the guards the This is like the kind of place you break out like day one you be like yeah, wait what it's like Oh, yeah, we all dressed to save and you're allowed to have a gun like probably not gonna spend the night here to be honest with you I don't know I'm definitely not doing my term, but I'm probably not gonna spend here tonight I I don't know, I'm definitely not doing my term, but I'm probably not gonna spend here tonight. I don't think the trustees got guns, some of them because they are also guards, but I don't know why some of the guards would have guns. Maybe they couldn't afford to give them guns.

No, I mean, some of them. Wait, some of the guards wouldn't have guns. Wouldn't. And some of the... Because you had to bring your own stuff basically. Yeah, basically. I, well, they were, I know they were given guns, but maybe they just didn't have

enough to go round or they for you the second you are a trustee you hung out more than three days you're crazy who yeah a hundred percent uh... so you you could even tell who was a guard who wasn't a guard by who was truck and not it like not it no that was no differentiating factors

most convicts were poor and they didn't have influential friends aboard president's factor report stated that a few of the criminals were intelligent but most were quote stupid ignorant and submissive of course most of them were also foreign. Right. This was during the reign of the... Hey, it's Gap Verla even speaks English.

Yeah, Gap Verla is stupid. So it's right when the No Nothing Party is like at its peak. In 1855 the State Supreme Court declared Chinese to be American Indians. Man, we are just, we have, listen, we're just, we're not okay, we're just, we're not okay, we're not, it's like, it's not even like, like there's the whole respect angle obviously,

but it's just like, like how, I mean, you're just so dumb. Just also so stupid. Like the idea of where is that? Yeah, he's not what, so there, the other. Yeah, pretty much. It's just, At least there's no modern-day examples.

So, modern-day examples. So, so that meant that Chinese people could not testify against white men in court. They couldn't be witnesses. I mean, that doesn't surprise me, but that rationale is all, it's just all, it's all very like, let, welcome to racial hoops. Yeah. Get ready for a total nightmare. So one of every eight prisoners

was Mexican or native Californian. Or as we call them a Chinese Indian. And of course a lot of Irish who were not considered white at this point. Yeah, while they appear white, their souls are Chinese. A sales company used prisoners to make brick and stone. And then they supplied that to San Francisco. Prisoners worked sunrise to sunset seven days a week, but some lucky ones were sent into

the hills to chop firewood for the brick homes. But the problem with that was is that they would just go on other people's property. So all the landowners around were furious that they were just taking again. I also, I'd be like, I'm out of here. Like the levels of which I would leave are just off the bill. Yeah, I'm gone. Because this is timely. You just leave somewhere and go, now my name's Frank. Yeah, I own the bank. I would just, I would leave there.

And if someone stopped me, I'd be like, this is my land, wanna buy it? I just do the quick pivot to just selling the land I'm on. My name's JD Prison. You wanna buy this place? From the book Chronicles of San Quinn, which most of this is taken from, quote,

a Stel's contribution to the quasi-science of Penology was a trusty system. No, Gareth, no, no, Penology, no. Oh, that I got to make a quick phone call. It's about the penis. Yeah. All right.

Good. Sorry. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Starting from the beginning. It's still a contribution to the quasi-science of jail stuff. I'm still here in what you're not saying, Danny. You can't trick me. You want his analogy. Penology.

Was a trusty system, the like of which has never been seen before or since? Yeah. Any convict able to work. Because anyone who ever heard about this was like, why didn't you leave, though? Well, I get, that's pretty good point. Oh, I should have taken off, I guess.

Yeah, anybody who could work or is useful got to live a life that was pretty similar to being on the outside. Yeah. If the prisoner was from a well off respected family, then it still really took care of him. In July, 1854, Thomas Follier arrived for a three-year sentence. He had killed the editor of the Pacific Police Gazette.

To be fair, that paper was trash. That's why you only got three years. Yeah. You know what I call that guy now? The dead editor. What's that? The Nellipa will be back. Never back. That's it. Pen Nellipa will be never back.

That's it. Penology, remember that? The episode has peak. You know what? You know what? Penology. One day, one day when we do decide to end this podcast, Dave, we will end it in mid story when you do a pun.

That'll be great. How we, how we, we really gotta think about how we wanna end this, but we gotta go out like the craziest way. I think that's it. That's pretty good. Think about it. There's big shoes to fill with what's been, what we've heard of this podcast.

Like it's almost like you have to lobotomize me. I feel like that's what I'm doing with the podcast. It's kind of like tough to hear if you're me, you know what I mean? Sure, absolutely. Okay, where was I? Right, so he murdered the better the police. Best judge. Fully described arriving at the prison, quote,

a stale accepted my pledge of honor and placed no restrictions on my liberty and gave orders that I should live at his hotel, outside the guards and received the same fair after the officers in the dining room. It's like a relationship between Willie Wonka and his Oompa Loompas. Wait, what is that? Dude, I don't know what is going on with my- Do you not know why that happened? I did a podcast. Okay, so I'm watching Gareth on this. There's more. This is our- if you want- if you want- the site we use, it's not like Zoom or anything, it's a separate site. And you just had a thought bubble come up above your head with a thumbs up in it.

I can do other stuff. Did you, but did you, oh my god. I don't know what has happened. Now he put his thumbs up and there are fireworks going off behind him. There's other, oh, this is a bad one. Watch this one. I just discovered this the other day. Making a heart with his hands. And hearts come out of my hands.

So you have some setting on it because it doesn't have my idea. Yeah, it's just like, then you don't know how that happened. No, and it makes me, it drives me crazy because it's like, you know, you sign the terms in conditions, shit. And you're just like, it's like,

we'll have to do it, we'll be like about to start. And then it'll be like, hey, before you start, you agree to everything. And you're just like, yeah, I agree to everything. And at some time, they were just like, right, we're like paying such attention to you through your camera, that when you make a heart with your hands, hard-shup,

there's, oh wait, let's see, this does one, too. Look at this. Oh, the thumbs down, it brings rain. Now it's raining. Oh my God, watch when I take my dick out. Oh God, don't take off your pants, I'm taking off my pants. No, no, no, you gotta see this. Oh my God, it's a giant penis.

Yeah, and mine's tiny. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Okay, well that happened. I wasn't expecting that at all. Okay, so he tells his superintendent that Foley is a well-educated gentleman who had a letter of introduction from a friend of a stelse. So he used to be treated well. He said it's like college. It is. It's fucking crazy. He said Foley should have never been convicted and would be pardoned. And he told the superintendent to give Foley a total free pass, let him go in and out wherever he wanted. He slept in the guards boarding house. He ate with judge Gates, who was another well-educated respected man in prison. After two weeks, they made folia guard. This is...he...he got a gun and a night watch. Oh my god.

They give it the night watch. Aren't you a prisoner? Hey, keep it down in there. And then one day, Gareth, you're not going to believe this. He just walked away from the prison. I, this, honestly, that I don't even understand. I really don't. If you're him, I would just be like, well, you know what? I don't want to be like wanted or anything. So I'll just like stick it out. Like I'm, I'm just living as a guard. Yeah, everything's, you know, I mean, it's fine. Yeah. So he just, he just walks away. He leaves a still a note promising he would return the 500 that he stole from the prison safe. Don't stop. Pishposh. That's yours. Good man. God, we lost a good one today. So like we said, prisoners who were guards were called trustees. There's about 30 or 40 of them at any time.

The chief trustee in 1854 was E.J. Briscoe. He was an English immigrant. He was there for forgery. That's right. Yeah, my name's E.J. I'll forge a bunch of things. My name's actually J.E. Go ahead. What's your forge? A lot of stuff really. Okay.

What you want like specifics and things. Yeah, it's helping for you. Documents. Like what kind of documents? Port ones. What? Important ones. Like such as like an example of an important one. What would you consider to be like the most important document? Like a passport?

Yeah, I've done those. Yeah. Yeah. You have only a state constitution. You do forge The United States Constitution. You forged the United States Constitution? That's mine, yeah. Like 80 years ago? Yeah, that's right, yeah.

Yeah, well, it's actually made more recently. I just forged the date on it. So you think it was from eight years ago, but wasn't, was it? No, it's more recent. No, but we've had it for that long, so it wasn't more... It's not like it just showed up. We've had...

No, but have you ever held it yourself? No, probably not. So you've done that. You just believe what Dave told you about it because you're living in the paradigm they've kind of created. Well, I'm telling you, it was written five months ago. It was called a Constitution, I've done it. It's one of mine. I'm a bit like B, well I'm telling you, it was written five months ago, it was called a Constitution, I've done it, it's one of mine.

I'm a bit like Banksy, but with documents. All right, okay. I just, I didn't know we were gonna have Russell Brand on this podcast. No, well mate, come on, it's not like that. No, I'm trying to figure out how to do Russell Brand. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha So he's got this English guy, E.J. Briscoe. He's in for forgery. He had two years left on a five-year sentence and he asked Estelle if he could go to San Francisco because he wanted to get people to sign a petition to get him himself pardoned. Okay, let me tell you what you shouldn't do with a

forgerer. Be like, yeah, let's see that petition. You know, a lot of these look like your signature. What are you talking about? EJ, I know, he's a tons of different people. I was out there working the fucking streets, man. Lots of it. Oh, yeah, it took ages it has. Some people said they saw you just outside the prison. No, no, man, that's not me.

Now I was out there getting short, I told people my case and I just fell in love with me and my story really. Um, uh, a still said, yeah, totally. You can go to San Francisco for absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And any big horses I've signed down prison.

He said, take my horse too. So you can use it. Oh, wait, wait, before you go, he's probably like, oh, no, take my horse. You'll get faster so each a gathered signatures for a day or two but then he forged a check to McIntyre and company it was quickly discovered and he was arrested and got ten years added to his sentence hmm I can't believe that didn't work. Yeah, it's what almost did. Yep.

So the governor, John Bigler, asked prison inspectors to look into the peculiar state of things at San Quentin. So the legislature creates a committee to investigate. And the committee is concerned with all the escapes that are happening and all the drunkenness that's going on, also that Thomas and Gray were having sex with convicts. And then all the stuff that you've talked about was troubling for anyone who was like, why is this prison horrible? And then the bookkeeping was really bad. Yeah. Estelle was so bad. It's almost like if the show, the office, was a prison. Yes, totally.

Estelle was so bad with keeping records that the committee couldn't figure out how many prison prisoners were at the prison and how many were dead and missing. Well, and that's hard too because you're like, I can't tell who's a guard and a prisoner. And we also know what it does. It's really, let me put it to you this way, still. The point of a lot of this is to keep track of what is happening and who is in and who isn't, and when they leave and when they don't leave. And what they're in for and who's a guard and who's in charge and who isn't, and when they leave and when they don't leave, and what they're in for, and who's a guard, and who's in charge, and who's not,

and you're bookkeeping, and just general way of running things has been real bad. Okay, but I believe that the best way to rehabilitate people is to trust them, you know what I mean? And then you give guys trust and they pay it back. No. And then the counting guys is really like, like it's saying, I don't trust you guys. You know what I mean?

Yeah, no, a big part of this is that we don't trust them. So just let's get ahead of that stupidity real quick. Why? Why your prisons don't work in my mind does on the contrary our prisons. We know who's there and why they're there and how long they're there Well, that's pretty authoritative and that's kind of the whole concept here Well, that's kind of a whole thing So I guess so I guess you're you're pushing back on what a prison is and I'm telling you that's kind of the whole thing. So I guess you're pushing back on what a prison is, and I'm telling you, that's why it's a prison. So stop telling us what makes your prison great

because your prison isn't a prison. Do you understand? Yeah, see, I don't trust you now. Yeah, no, I don't care. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, but it's just all like crazy. Like the trust is gone. Like if we did a trust, like if I turn it on and I said,

and I'm talking now, now because that's just so crazy. It's a sentence that shouldn't be finished. Much like the ones you've given to most of the people here. They're fine. Everybody's good. That man is drunk. It might be a prisoner. He's drunk, but he just, he just, if you asked him to come over here and ask what it was like here, he'd say this prison is killing it. It's killing it. Yeah, that's just kind of not the experience we're going for. So I kind of can't keep repeating myself. Because you guys don't care about rehabilitating these people. I do.

That's why I gave that guy, I let that guy go in the safe when everyone's. Yeah, it's just crazy. My guess is you're not going to be doing this for much longer, but can't tell anymore. Yeah, I don't think you guys know what you're doing either. Yeah of course you don't. By the way you guys are prisoners now. That's not so you're actually not leaving. All right then we're gonna leave. Oh okay that's fair. It's crazy. Yeah all. See you later. Bye. I trust you. Don't talk to us. From March 1854 to June 1855, 114 prisoners escape, which is eight a month. Eight a month. And it should be way higher. And it's still overcrowded. And it should be way higher. And it's still overcrowded.

And it should be way higher. Trustees escaped by far the most and they often just walked away from the prison. Absolutely. And then there was, there's a really heavy fog there which dampened the powder of the caps on guards rifles so the prisoners all knew that no one would shoot at them so they would just go.

Cause they had damp bullets? So the prisoners all knew that no one would shoot at them. So they would just go. Because they had damp bullets? Well, they're the powder on the right, like this is back when they had the right. So you can't. So you would just get wet. So many people had escaped that there was now a large group of escaped convicts living on nearby Mount Tamel Pious. And so there's a halfway house that is just

furtious escaped. I mean Mount Tamel Pious is huge, like I grew up, like that was my like, stomped around inside of it, right? I did a lot of mushrooms on Mount Tamel Pious. They, so it's a huge mountain. So they were just live up there. They live off game on the mountain and then they'd also like raid the local populations.

For stuff. So they've created with this prison, they've essentially created a gang of people who are just terrorized communities. They've created like Zeus convicts. So if you live in an area with a prison, you're like, man, it's gonna be a lot safer around here. Nope. Nope. You've got a mountain game. So I'm talking about this. I still had the power to hand out pardons. Oh my God. Trump time. As did every president time.

As did convict clerks who worked in the prison office. So you could just, it's great. Tote, I mean, it's like you have a wand. Mexican women who lived in Northern California, all knew a Stel's price for a pardon was $200. Wow. Wanda Kareo testified. That's great.

It is great. This is a great system. It's a great system. It's so much better than what we have now. It is so much better. Wanda Castillo testified she gave a st ninety five dollars and fifty cents to pardon her son and he gave her a receipt uh... that's like when jerry springer wrote a check to a sex worker

uh... remarkable also testify and it's not a great term she gave the receipt to the committee and they were like that that's pretty bad. And he was like, what? He got a golden ticket. Her son was released. And then afterwards, Mrs. Carrillo was so happy. She went back to San Quentin to thank everyone who would Oh stop, it's fine. The committee was also very thrown by the social life of the guards with all the drunkenness and the selling of booze to convicts all very disturbing

Prison book showed twice as much food was being purchased then was needed So Estelle is clearly buying food on the books and then selling it elsewhere. You know, Estelle's put on 440 pounds, which we do find a bit troubling. And Estelle had not paid his guards in months. When the committee recommended to stay by. I can't tell who's one and who isn't. How am I supposed to pay him if I don't tell who's one and who isn't. How am I supposed to pay him if I don't have paying everybody? Come on, you're a prisoner.

When the committee recommended the state by the contract, the committee, so the committee is like, you got to get this guy out of here. Like by the contract, take it over, make it a public prison. But a still is very good friends with Governor Bigler. And Governor Bigler would only agree to a bill that said the state would take it over only if a stale agreed to give it up. And I don't think that's going to happen.

So they go into negotiations, the state and the still. And the negotiation ends when a still is found out on the street of Sacramento holding a double barrel shotgun, saying he's going to blow a hole through his friend, Governor Bigler. Okay. So I think the negotiations were going, you know what, we're actually, we're gonna shut this down. Um, feels like we're straight up.

No, so we're passing on whatever this is. So that didn't, I mean, he must have sobered up and be like, oh, that was probably bad. Oh, shit. I did what during negotiations. Oh, I drunk shegated. Fuck. That's why I negotiated with the police.

And the ghost you wasted. Oh, no. I'm gonna stop going to the prison bar. I don't even remember that. Two weeks later on, June 1st, 1865, a still turned over San Quentin. So the state appoints three men to run it. Major John love, Richard Snowden and William Palmer. But John love essentially ran everything. And they immediately start

spending money like they have a bottomless bank account. Love gives a wall contract to a guy who brought in gangs of stone maces or stone maces and brick layers. And the wall is horrendous. At some places, it's nine feet high and at other places, it's 20 feet high. In some places, it's a two feet thick. We got to hope that if they're gonna try to get out,

they're not gonna go over for that nine area. Pretty straightforward. Just put up a bunch of guys around the nine foot area and then it'll be. Just put signs that say no escape in over the nine. Yeah. Bingo. In some places, it was two feet thick

and other places under a foot thick. The mortar was green and damp because it should not be green and damp. It had been mixing it with beach sand. Sure. Great. So, hey, that's not a story about a bad wall. That's a story about some great profit. It should be celebrated.

Love paid 125,000 for the quote moist doughy wall. Oh my god. It's what we call a cookie wall. Taster. You can eat through it. Other contractors said a well-built wall should have cost no more than $50,000. Well, but to be fair, this is not a well-built wall. Those well-built walls cost less than if one that's basically Kate. We built a well-built wall. How hard it is to build a soft wall. Do you know what I'm talking about it?

Now listen, anyone can build you a wall that keeps people at close. How many people can build a wall that if you push really hard, you can walk through it. Walk right through it and ladies, gentlemen, you can eat this wall. This is an edible wall, you can walk through this wall. This is, to be honest, if you run and you jump feet first in that wall, you can spring in the other direction. This is a trampoline wall. Hey, I think this should have been a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You're gonna pay three times as much for a wall that is this fun and funky. It's a goof wall. It's a goof. So now love demands an investigation because he wants to clear his good name.

I love when they do that. The investigating committee comes and they look at the wall and they immediately conclude this is just 100% pure fraud. All right, fine. All right, yeah, whatever. Yeah, love just drops the matter.

He's like, okay, yeah, no, I do. Whatever, whatever, my name is. I hope some of you guys be a little more chill, but you seem to actually be here to figure some stuff out, which I drops the matter. He's like, okay, yeah. I hear you. That's whatever my name is. I hope some of you guys be a little more chill, but you seem to actually be here to figure some stuff out, which I don't love. I thought we were all on the same side. Have you even tried,

is anyone even tried to bang this thing? That was awesome. In the seven months that these three guys, you could go in there, you like Han Solo. Go in guys go in there you like Han Solo go in there Put your you'd be like Han Solo when they put him in that copper stuff for whatever that was Hold on I'm making a snowman on the wall make a snow make a wall man everyone come out over here. We make a wall man Oh my god I just put my head in the wall. There's like shit loads of dead people in the wall

the wall, there's like shit loads of dead people in the wall. So seven months, these three, these are government employees. These are the solutions. Running the prison, the three guys, they went through $382,000. Holy shit. Staying state budget in California, the state budget in California is $700,000. So they spent half of what would normally be the state budget. Their budget was supposed to be $60,000. And where is the stealth during this time? He's just off at this point.

He's, I think he's a, no, he's in politics. He was one of those ones where you're just like, yeah, see, that was actually really good at news. Well, so good. So the committee now decides it would actually be best if the state didn't run the person and it should go back to a private contractor. With a still? Well still, during his time away has become a leader of the No Nothing party. And he has been elected to the legislature. And he uses his sway, his power, to get a guy named J. Nealey Johnson nominated to run for governor. And then Johnson beats

Bigler and becomes governor. Okay. So now he's got one of the first things Johnson does is put a still back in charge as governor is to tell the legislature to approve a bill that puts the prison back in private hands. And it had to be under 15,000 a month. A still then steps forward and says, look, I can run that prison for $10,000 a month. The prison commission takes no other bids because they're working for the governor. And they negotiated contract with the still. Oh, you've got you've also got to be like, if you're a prisoner there, you're like, seriously, he's coming back. Yes, yes, yes, it's party time. We're back baby, hey, we're back.

We are back baby. So back in charge, a stale does an even worse job. The food is now horrific. The beef is spoiled. The ham's are Maggity. There's worms in the flower. Why aren't you boys eating Maggity's ham? Eat up!

I got extra protein in there. Eat your Maggity's ham. There are 192 men in 48 cells. And then below the cell level, there is something called the long room, which is just a giant open space. And in there, they've packed 226 men. I mean, that is so disturbing.

It's almost like it's today. A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a So, they'll try to build a new building to house prisoners, but it collapsed. So, does he know about, like, say, cement or things like the regular materials that people use or he's just kind of always going for these sort of pillow walls? I mean, they also make fucking bricks in stone. Like, they- He's like, well, where are we going to find a material that's unbreakable? Come on, guys. I mean, all we're talking about is like, whatever, they have to put up wood for the frame.

And then, you know what? More mishay, we'll mishay it. We'll do a mishay. We'll do a mishay. We'll do another mishay. Can we use the mortar from the wall? It's still soft. My concern, I mean, I just, I love the wall so much.

It's just becoming, I do too. Like, but I've been eating. Real selling point. I've been eating it too. We're all, I mean, we've only got Magity Ham here, you know. Magity Ham. That's how it's sold, by the way, in the store. Magity Ham, that could be like an M and M line, right?

Mm-hmm. Magity Ham, like Raggedy Ham, you know? Mad, I didn't know. Something like that. That's pretty good. I mean, you try it. It's pretty good. You have to, you have to. I still have them. It's not working for me either. So the prisoners are now more filthy than they've ever been.

Shockingly filthy. They're now visibly starving and they're all barefoot. And they're now being punished with whippings. Jesus Christ. So this has gone from kind of comical, like TGI Fridays, the prison to like, okay, this is, are they still able to leave? TGI Fridays. Yeah, this is leave? DJ Fridays. Uh, yeah. By the way, which is actually TGF Fridays. That's true.

Dystopian TGF Fridays is TGF Fridays. Yeah. James Hudson got 50 lashes for stealing and quote, general in attention to his duties as cook. Leonard Tufts got 150 lashes for planting a rebellion. Now, just so we know, that's not something people would usually survive. 150 is crazy.

Right. Prisoners got 10 for lying, 18 for fighting, 12 for stealing, they got 30 for quote, indulging in the most disgusting propensities. Okay, sure. It's gotta be sex, right? It has to be, yeah. Cause they're like, we could even say what it is.

They were chained to their cell wall or they were sent to work with a ball and chain on their ankle. So it's just really, right, draconian awful now. Yep. James King was a very aggressive San Francisco paper editor and he called himself James King of William because there are other James kings and he wanted to differentiate himself. And what about it? Williams is dad. No, William is the prince, the prince, whatever of William. It's a place he's English. So it's like

yeah. When you talk like that, like when you, you just, you just, you're already like people want to beat you up. And that James King of Wheelium. Yeah. Gillon. I hate you. Yeah. On May 14th, 1856, King's paper, The Bulletin, had an editorial accusing politician James Casey of serving time in Sing Sing Prison

and stuffing ballot boxes to get elected. When King came out of his office that night, Casey was waiting in the street and shot him in the chest. King died six days later. A good friend of Casey was a still, and he just happened to be standing on the street nearby. Oh boy.

There's no proof he was involved, but- Why would he be there? I don't know what he was doing. He was definitely involved. Then why would you be there? Because he's- Yeah, I just want to make sure. He might have been like telling him when he was coming or something or, you know,

a look out of some kind. Just come and get ready to kill him. Or like make sure there wasn't a cop around. I don't know. I was getting a churro. So now there's no proof he's involved, but the San Francisco Vigilance Committee took note and they also took Casey and hanged him. And then they turned their attention to Estelle

and the bullet in newspaper who was like a mouthpiece for the Vigilance Committee starts publishing articles about Estelle and his crop prison and the horrific management. I mean, that's like, once, I mean, they're basically like, we're gonna do a dollop on this guy They're basically they just did what you've just done to me, but in the paper Like it's not gonna be hard

They came up with a bunch of crimes they claimed is still had committed that he murdered a man a Missouri and got away Yes, that he'd run a run a fraudulent post office and told immigrants he would deliver letters home for a dollar and then just burn the letters. That was goofing, but yes. But he was involved in at least one murder in Marine County. Way more. And all of the drunken behavior of the guards and the sex with the convict women. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

That he let people buy partens. Yeah, of course he moved away. In other words, yes, and that because of that, they were gangs up in the hills plundering. Yeah, there's a well, it's not the hills that's a mountain, but yes, they're up there for sure. Yes. That he had two prisoners taken from San Quentin and shipped to New Orleans to be sold as slaves.

Well, to be so it's a little outside of it. it's French. Yeah, it's okay. It was outside of New Orleans a little bit, but yes, everything else remains true. Absolutely. So this leads to another investigating committee coming to the prison. And the prison is now a shit show. They can't find six prisoners. They can't locate a robber named Francisco Esparsa. And Estelle says he's never heard of a sparsa. Oh, I don't think we have a sparsa here. And then the committee then finds records that show the last place he'd been seen was working

as a servant and Estelle's house in San Francisco. Oh, a sparsa. The bloodlip. Yes. I remember a sparsa. Yes, absolutely. Yes, I remember a sparser. Yes, absolutely. Yes, yes, he's my team. So he clearly did that guy be his butler,

and then it was like, now you can go. Yeah, you did for a year, and then you're free. He is, it's like, it's peak corruption for a while that was kind of just like goofy, but now like, I mean, yes, it's very clear that this man is operating purely for self-interest, but that's a story of power in America pretty much the whole time that we've been in charge. Yeah. So the committee concludes Estelle is incompetent and a liar and much of the accusations

from the vigilance committee are true, especially that he's criminally guilty of letting prisoners escape. So Estelle rents a public hall and makes what is just an insanely attacking speech that's ever been heard against his enemies. Okay. And at first, his fellow assemblymen are there and they're just totally shocked, but then they start loving it when he said King his wife and his brother had been horing and pimping and theming. Okay.

It doesn't matter though, his contract is voided. He said he'd be, he said he, he said he's now he says I've been bankrupted Because I was devoted to my duty to the state And he wants the state to bail him out not just for himself though, but also for the poor guards right who need to be paid yeah So the state starts looking for a new person around the prison No one wants the job. And Estelle still has four years on the contract. Stop it. Stop it. But he doesn't come back. What he does do is turn it over to a businessman named John McColley.

McColley was from Virginia. He'd fought in the Mexican War and then come to California. He had been doing the beef contract since major love would have been in charge for the prison. And he makes a deal with the still, a 50-50 split of the $10,000 that comes from the state every month. And then McColley gets to keep all the profit from the prison workers. So Estelle's still making money. He's making $5,000 a month. Now he's making $5,000 a month doing nothing. Yeah.

Right. So McColley runs it like a prison labor camp. He ignores any orders from a state capital and his prison officers. He only cares about profit. He works the any orders from a state capital and his prison officers, he only cares about profit. He works the comics in a brick yard all day, giving them only two meals a day. He doesn't provide shoes or socks. They work with rags wrapped around their feet. And again, they're closer just disintegrating out their bodies. He fires half the guards to save money. Some of those were prisoners.

And any point were they, did they change the wardrobe? And any point were they like, no, the whole time. Yeah, I changed the wardrobe. No one changed the wardrobe. Okay. That, because that cost money. Right. Well, which they have, but okay, fair. I mean, even like a bandana. Yeah, right. McCauley did open a Keg of whiskey every Saturday in the yard. I mean, even like a bandana. Yeah, right.

McCauley did open a Kegger whiskey every Saturday in the yard. When Governor Johnson left office in his final speech, he said the prison should be abolished. And it took, and it was taking up a quarter of the state's budget. And so in the final month, he was in office. He refused to pay the $10,000 to the prison. New Governor comes in in John Weller and is an inaugural address. He says the prison budget is bigger than the entire Indiana state budget and four times

what New York spends on three prisons that have more convicts in them. It's essentially the military. Yeah, it's a giant grift. I mean, the military is that the military is just people taking money at the top. Budget. Yeah. It's like, whatever there's a war, half of that money is just fucking taken and gobbled up.

Like the number of times you read about it and I racked like we're 14 million dollars is gone. What do you do? I literally think one time I think one time they were like we can't find two billion. Yeah, I mean, it's just a giant. How much there are two billions gone. That's crazy, huh? I mean, that's the down who's saying as a corrupted leader who can no longer be in charge. We can't find the two billion. So the legislature sends another committee to investigate San Quentin. The commission are upset when they get there and they see about 125 barefoot prisoners. Most had old

gunny sacks on their feet instead. Most had old gunny sacks? Yeah, what's a gunny sack? I can't remember. It's just like a probably like a brodo sack. Yeah, it's a scrotum. Oh, thank God. And then, and then they're very upset by the committee. And then the next day, a bunch of prisoners are like a brand new burlap basically. Yeah. So they're very upset by the committee. And then the next day, a bunch of prisoners are suddenly having a brand new. Oh, it's like a potato burlap, basically. Yeah. So they're all upset. Then the next day, a bunch of the prisoners have brand new shoes.

Okay. They're like, well, where were these? And McCauley told the committee the comics had hidden them because they wanted to look bad for the committee. Oh, wow. They're not wearing the shoes on purpose. They'd rather walk around a bare feet.

Yeah. Ouch. Ouch. You know what, I want to do work with bricks and bare feet. Yeah, that sounds really good, for sure. So the press was split. The Alta wrote that Estelle was doing a very good job. And the bulletin said he should be deported, because if they locked him up in San Quentin,

he would quote, further corrupt the base wretches now confined within its limits. God, please put him in San Quentin. Please, please, I've been so good. A few days later, after the Bulletin published the committee report, it called a stale quote, the embodiment of filth and vice. Fair. If the burlap fits. If the burlap fits, um, a stale then pushed the legislature to investigate the vigilance committee and published a pamphlet responding to all the charges.

Now for the third month in a row, a stale and McColley were not paid their $10,000. And then the attorney general came out and said, that payment is unconstitutional because convict leasing is illegal. And then the committee submits a final report on February 26th, and the legislature immediately votes to null and void the lease in order to take over the prison.

Man. Now, McColley says he'll leave if the state takes care of his debt. And the governor and his crew instead head for San Francisco because they're going to go take over the prison. Right. And then McColley's like, okay, I'll send a boat to get you guys. Wait on the dock. And so they're waiting. Oh God. And they're waiting. And then someone comes and says, Hey, McCauley is trying to get an injunction to keep you from being able to go in the prison. So the governor calls a taxi robot

to take them across the bay. It's a thing. Taxi robots. That's great. And then McCauley flags down another robot and starts chasing them. So it is a robot chase across the San Francisco Bay to get to the prison to take it over. Follow that boat! Wow.

A row. A row chase. A row chase. Wow. Wow. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov.

Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov.

Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Gov. Go Yeah, it's just all open. And then there's another guy there and he goes, the keys are in the strong room. So the governor orders them to batter down the door. So his guys take a while, they knock down the door

and then they get the keys. And then I don't understand this part. He then orders the head guy to hand over the prison seal. I tried to look at what a seal is. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Like I know what a California state seal is, it's like the little emblem, right? But I don't know, I don't know why he needed

the seal of the prison, but I guess that's kind of like the seed. Oh, like who's in control, whoever has the seal made there? It's like capture the flag. Sure. Sure. So he asked for the seal, the guy says it's in his pocket, but he's not gonna hand it over.

And so the governor's crew tackles the guy and risk the seal out of his pocket. Why in the name of God? Would that be how you'd answer that question? I don't know. Why would you? It's like, it's like in a movie, it'd be like, that'd be a note. You'd be like, he can't say that. They've got to figure out that he has it a different way.

Okay. It's in my pocket. Yeah. I have the seal. It's in my pocket and I am super ticklish. Give it to us. Super ticklish. Stop it. Come on guys. No, wait. Super ticklish.

Just give it to us. Oh, oops, at your hand. Put your socks back on. Stop. Oh my God. Why do you always feathers? Oh, Jesus. Oh, get the seal with the you lose feathers? Oh, Jesus. Oh, get the seal with the feathers.

Get it. No. Oh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Oh, my God. It's heavy. Honestly, we don't even need the seal. We really, it's just crazy.

We're not going to take, not, you've been doing this. What happens if we tickle you? Oh, my God. That tickle me. Don't tickle me. No, we're not gonna take not you've been doing this what happens if we tickle you oh My god, that tickle me don't we're not going to no stand back You doing put your shirt on how makes your arms down put your burlack? This stop it don't tickle this bro. That's not this which is a good... Which can't tickle this. Of course we could. Big tough governor. Can you tickle this guy? I bet you can.

You can't... I bet you can't tickle. Grab the deed through the seal over there. Oh fuck! Yeah. God dammit! Yeah, it's pretty stupid. God dammit!

Yeah. Yeah. Now I gotta get one of the trustees to tickle me now. Well, the whole vibe... Okay. Nope. You're in a tickle prison. It's just, this place is really, it's wild.

Go into the tickle room, because that place, yeah. You should be called the long room, but it's 226 guys tickling each other. God. This place is going off. You came do the right place. We got the seal. We don't need to talk to you anymore. Okay. Okay. We're done. You know what you're missing. So the delay gives McCall enough time to get

there and he runs into the office holding the injunction. He is also brought with him a local sheriff and a county judge to back him up. And the governor is just like, fuck you and just ignores it all and takes control of the prison. Now most of the governor's time in office in 1858 is spent dealing with prison shit. He doesn't like up until May he is 100 hundred percent at the prison working in the prison dealing with prison stuff Wow And then after maybe the lieutenant governor takes over and for years now the lieutenant lieutenant governor would be the warden of the prison

Which everyone's fine with because they had no idea what he should be doing as the lieutenant governor They're always just like I don't know what this guy does right which everyone's fine with because they had no idea what he should be doing as the rich and a governor. They were always just like, I don't know what this guy does. Right. There we go. So McColley sues because he had the injunction and all that stuff. And that July, the state Supreme Court rules against Governor weller and for McCulley. Wow.

And McCulley gets $12,000 for forcible entry. And he gets control of the prison. Oh my God. Who wants that? And he also starts a campaign to get the lieutenant governor impeached. Wow. I can't believe he's on top. He's like, say, that's why I don't mess with me. I know what I'm doing.

The lieutenant governor loved to drink. And he enjoyed dancing at the bars at the at the prison. Great. Which are still in the prison after all this time. There's still bars. That why would those go away? No idea. And McCauley loved dancing.

There were dance parties. He had a prisoner come in and play the fiddle and he'd give him a shop between every. It's awesome. So this is what I mean when I say we're going to put me behind bars. It's awesome. I won. I do. I won two, three.

Hey, I'm track. Legislators who like Estelle and McCauley now start a little whisper campaign in the state capital and they say that the lieutenant governor at the prison is living like a Roman emperor. He is beating prisoners, almost to death. There's tons of immortal, immoral acts going on. There's embezzlement all of the shit that McCollough was saying. Right And so an investigative committee is

begun by Estelle's friends and it goes to the prison and it finds the lieutenant governor guilty on all counts. But then a second investigating committee shows up, their friends are the governor and they do an investigation and they say the lieutenant governor is doing an amazing job. He's awesome. So the two investigating committees from the legislature cancel each other out. And so the legislature does nothing. They don't have to be a wild man.

Now the Supreme Court has said the prison needs to be returned to McCulley. And the legislature doesn't do anything before they adjourn. They have like a week before they adjourn and they just don't do anything. So now McCulloch isn't charge of sanguine again. And the prison director gives this account on May 13, 1859. Quote, McCulloch came over from San Francisco on a chartered ferryboat with a full official list, a number of invited guests, and a brass band playing the melody will all get drunk when Johnny comes marching home.

Oh my God. What? This... I cannot believe saying quid. It's nuts. This I cannot believe saying quit Like what by the way, I've heard the song when Johnny come marching home again. I've never heard though. We'll get drunk version Yeah, I haven't either. I've heard like with Johnny come on. I said home Must be a cheat. Yeah, there must be drunk. Yeah, there has to be a drunk version. Wow. Once in that's how you show back up. Yeah, yeah, brass band

is like how it's like how Conor McGregor would warden. So once inside he gets a grog to all the prisoners and we'll get a huge Sunday dinner. All right. Uh, McColley fired all the people hired by the governor. He got the prisoners back to brickworking and started a new venture making shoes. Nice. He also started taking money from incoming prisoners. So he would just steal anybody's money they had on when they churned.

Yeah. A still is still involved. He is taking prison property. He'd run a campaign and bought a bunch of whiskey from a company for his campaign. And he didn't have the money paying back. So he took the prison's best oxen and traded it to pay off his debt. Okay. And then he came back and took three more oxen for other creditors. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So because this is immediately a sh**ho, it's very

clear that no matter how much money a private prison saves the state, it is just not how it's supposed to be run. So, Estelle just finally walks away in January 1859. He sells his interest to a businessman and he's done. Three months later, he dies. Wow, he needed it. He did need it. The state opened negotiations to buy McColley and his new partner out.

And the state ends up paying McColley. Can't wait. $275,000. Just a go away from you. That is so much fucking money. Should I look it up? Yes. I mean, what is, it's got to be like, it's millions, obviously.

I mean, how many? It's got to be millions. Three, four million? No, probably more. Seven million, ten million? It's probably, it's probably, it's probably, it's probably, um, oh my god, it's my- How much?

Eight mil. It's almost nine million dollars. Oh my God. Amazing. Just to go. Just to go. Um, McCulley then went about a huge farm in Sacramento County and then he started lending money to farmers who had fallen on hard times. And then when they couldn't pay him back, he would confiscate their farms. Another one of those what I call halfway through dollar moments. McColley died in 1896, an incredibly rich man.

Yes. The prison was run by Lieutenant Governor for the next 20 years. His salary was $4,450 and that made him the highest paid warden in the country. He was making $2,000 more than the next highest paid warden. Wow. So even the state takes it over, it's still fucking grift. Yeah, right, right. It's still just bullshit.

Yeah. And now prisoners could only work inside the walls of the prison. That meant there soon was a tool. That's an amazing thing to say at this point in the story. It also meant that now they open up a tool factory, a cabinet shop, a clothing factory, a cigar factory, so they just turned it into... Now it's what we all dream it would be. And then inside the prison would just become more violent bloody over the years. But that's the story of how San Quentin started and became a public

public prison. Pretty good, right? It's crazy. It's just I can't believe it's same Quentin too. It's like it's so when you when you hear stories like that, and then you go, how did Silicon Valley happen? Yeah, right. It's the same, it's the same thing. We're doing this thing. Yeah, it's just, nothing's ever changed. Dip shittery.

You just get to do whatever you want, cause you have money. Yeah, cause you have money, yeah, cause you, yeah. Well. The main source was Kenneth Church Lamont, Chronicles of St. Quentin, the biography of a prison, also Kongdon families, General James Madison, Estelle, Dungeons and Druggards,

St. Quentin's Wild Early Days by Gary Camilla, and St. Quentin, the forgotten issue of California's political history in the 1850s by award in McCaffrey in Southern California, quarterly. Yeah, well, I guess what matters is like, yeah, it was crazy, yeah, it was wild, but at the end of the day, they were able to overcome that and make it, you know, the new legal slavery. Right. That's what that's what it is. So it's kind of a story of the American spirit.

That's right. You know, that we, it doesn't matter as long as you live in a system that only can have value based on money, the rational minds that make sure that the quality of life and, you know, respect for people and thinking of how to treat people the best way possible, you know, we will overcome that and make sure that we get free shit. So that we can continue to siphon funds that are meant for the public and the overall good to the upper echelon who's supposed to be in charge,

but are derelict in their duty because they wanna get boats and shit. I just like that you can see the positive and everything. You know what I mean? I just love America. I just love America a lot. And I just recognize that, you know, changes never going to happen from outside of government. And it's never going gonna happen from inside government. It's always gonna remain an impossible nightmare,

but your goal should be how can you screw over those less fortunate than you so that you can afford the things you want, and instead of turning over and attacking the bourgeoisie, make sure to fight your fellow citizen and let these people have mansions. Just hurt someone lower than you because they're hurting you and you're lower than them. That's a great speech, man. We should probably... That should be up. We should put that as a phone ring for people. I think people...

People aren't doing ring tones anymore. I think people would like that. Or a text tone. That could be a good text tone. Text tone, it could be. It's long for a text tone, but I mean people will know they got a text. I don't think it's that long. It was long, like, 17 minutes. It felt really good. Yeah, no, it was smooth. I feel like it. You made your point, Mike.

Thank you, America. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. All right, God bless America. God bless America.