Louis Ziskin

So I move in with a little Joe and, uh, you know, over the next few weeks, I'm kind of, you know, little Joe really schooled me about how shit works in the penitentiary.

And, uh,

So I'm minding, you know, doing all that.

I'm working out and doing my burpees and pull-ups and enjoying the yard because after you've been in MDC for three years to get out where there's actually a big yard and softball and shit, that feels like your home almost, right?

Crazy as it sounds because the amount of freedom is so much higher.

And I understood, I saw the economics of prison right away.

And you see guys who need Western Union.

You see guys who need stamps.

You see guys who need dope.

You see guys who steal out of the kitchen.

You see guys who do haircuts, guys who have stores, guys who do gambling books, this, that.

And they all have different money transfer requirements.

And the tribute that's paid up by, you know, let's say a regular Serrano Mexican when he brings in three balloons of heroin, he's got to kick one upstairs to the old men.

Right.

And so they end up with thousands and thousands of books of stamps.

Stamps are the currency in prison.

Right.

So at that time, it was five dollars for a book of stamps.

That means it's worth four dollars on the yard and goods and services, gambling, stolen tomatoes out of the kitchen, onions, whatever.

Commissaries that are in the unit that charge 150% of what the commissary charges.