Damon West

Now Muhammad is what you would call a career criminal.

In and out of prison his entire life.

But he was the most positive guy I've ever met in my life.

Had a smile on his face everywhere he went, Mick.

Wow.

So one morning, Muhammad comes up to my bunk.

He's got a cup of coffee in his hands.

He had a smile on his face.

He said, West, man, I've been watching you.

I've been watching how you're dealing with these knuckleheads and these dummies talking about you got to get into a gang.

He said, do not listen to these fools.

He said, do you want to keep that promise you made to your mom and your dad?

I was like, yeah.

He said, then let me tell you what prison is really going to be like.

And that's when he laced me up, Mick.

He said, the first thing you need to understand about prison, prison's all about race.

Race runs the whole institution side of a prison.

And he said, that's the way all the races want it to.

Everybody divides up by their own race in there.

He said, when you walk in the door, the white gangs are going to get the first dibs on you because you're white.