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Kids Behind Bars | National Geographic

  • 0:01 - 0:04
    - [Narrator] Ark Valley
    is home to 1,000 inmates,
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    half of whom are violent offenders.
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    A few are juveniles, like
    17 year old Lorenzo Chavez,
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    who has just arrived.
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    - I'd rather be in YOS.
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    From what I heard there's
    more beneficial things
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    at YOS for young offenders.
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    - [Narrator] But because
    of the nature of his crime,
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    Chavez wasn't eligible for YOS.
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    - I never thought I'd be here at 17,
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    in an adult prison.
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    It's just not a good environment to be in.
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    I have 19 more years to go.
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    I kinda try not to think about it,
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    'cause it does get depressing if
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    I think about how much time I got.
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    - [Narrator] Chavez has been in and out of
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    correction since he was 10.
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    As a teen, he was dealing
    coke and heroin in Denver.
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    At 16, he was convicted
    of second degree murder,
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    the result of a drug deal gone bad.
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    (ominous music)
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    But this is the big house.
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    Here, he has to constantly
    look over his shoulder.
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    - You really gotta watch yourself and
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    what you say around people and whatcha do.
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    It just makes me stay on my toes and
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    makes me watch my every move.
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    - [Narrator] To survive in
    prison, Chavez will have
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    to find inmates he can ally
    himself with for protection.
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    But it's hard to know who he can trust.
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    - If you can't feel the
    pressure then get out.
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    If you can't take the pressure get off.
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    - I seen somebody get beat up here.
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    Seen a couple of people
    dragged out in handcuffs
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    and dogs brought through.
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    There's a million ways to
    get in trouble, and more.
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    - [Narrator] If he's lucky,
    one of the lifers will
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    show him how to keep other
    inmates from preying on him.
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    A lifer like Eric Davis.
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    - He's just a kid, lost in a man's world.
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    - [Narrator] Eric Davis
    was given a life sentence
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    for first degree murder and armed robbery
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    when he was just 18.
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    He says predators were waiting
    to take advantage of him.
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    - Whether it's tricking you out of money,
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    or pressuring you for sexual favors,
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    probably was in 25
    fights in the first year
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    that I was in prison.
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    There's no one here to protect you.
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    Staff won't protect you and
    other inmates don't protect you.
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    You have to take care of yourself.
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    - [Narrator] Younger inmates
    who are physically smaller
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    and more easily intimidated
    can have a hard time
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    figuring out how to survive.
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    - And you're a boy,
    taking care of yourself
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    in a pod full of a bunch
    of men is unfathomable.
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    Because none of the rules
    make any sense in here.
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    - [Narrator] Cross the wrong inmate,
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    and the results are fast and violent.
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    - It's full on brutal violence.
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    Guys trying to kill other guys
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    in the purest ways, y'know
    they're face to face and
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    it's ugly and it's mean and
    there's no one to stop them.
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    - [Narrator] Davis says
    he has to stay away from
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    young felons like Chavez, who
    other inmates may victimize.
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    - That's trouble for
    me, all the way around.
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    I can't befriend him, because then I
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    stand between him and the knife.
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    - [Narrator] After having served 22 years,
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    Davis thinks adult prison is the
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    wrong place for Lorenzo Chavez.
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    - Throwing him in prison
    to make him a bigger,
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    stronger, convict or a
    bigger, stronger, predator,
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    or a victim to be taken and
    turned into a monster maybe.
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    Makes no sense.
Title:
Kids Behind Bars | National Geographic
Description:

This young convict was sent to an adult facility, leaving him alone in a sea of predators and violent offenders.
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Lockdown: Kids Behind Bars : http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/lockdown/all/Overview/?source=4003

Kids Behind Bars | National Geographic
https://youtu.be/DII1uVbf83U

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
04:03

English subtitles

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