Keith Morrison

So Carol and I spent quite a bit of time with these folks, even the ones in prison.

And, you know, they're all people and they all... Once you meet a person in prison, they have already kind of been torn down to a level that they've never been in before.

And they have to recognize their basic qualities, pro and con, as human beings.

And they're a little more realistic.

And so it's actually very nice to meet people in a situation like that.

Nice is the wrong word, but it's illuminating to meet them in a situation like that because...

while they are defending themselves and probably not telling you the truth about what they did or didn't do, you see them without the layers of protection that they would normally have that we all try to put up.

You want to be on good terms with the sheriff in every county in the country.

And I will say, just as a little add-on about the jail where we conducted the interviews, the sheriff, I think, was just as proud of the facility.

And we were able to find some good places to do it.

But I was struck by the way

It was set up, and a lot of jails are this way, with the sort of, I wake up at night sometimes thinking about the relative lack of thickness in those little mattresses that they put on, the concrete beds that they sleep on.

And the giant rooms where everybody has to share everything.

If you don't want to go to prison, the best thing to do in advance is inoculate yourself by knowing what they're like.

Sure, yeah.

You know, it's a very good question.

I don't know how I'd answer it, except that there is a pecking order in society, and the people at the top of the pecking order rather like other people who do the hard work for them.

But, you know, it's a good question.

It's a good question.

Yeah.