Chris’s Prison Stories Vol.1 – Shooting Meth, getting Staph & pushing the Fucking Panic Button
December Dopey Schedule & Retro Replay ConceptDave explains the new 5-day Dopey week:
Monday – replay of the Friday interview
Tuesday – Patreon teaser
Wednesday – new Wednesday Dose (this week: Jason Williamson from Sleaford Mods)
Thursday – Retro Replay / Greatest Hits (this week: Chris’s Prison Stories Part 1)
Friday – new full episode (coming: “Hall of Fame Dopey Fucko” Harry Tongue Will)He reads recent Spotify comments about Caroline “Mountain Girl” Garcia and requests for more comments in exchange for stickers (and socks).
REPLAY Dopey 67-
Alan Calls In – Reviews, Turpitude, and Fake JailDave’s dad Alan calls, pissed that Dave didn’t call the house phone and that the site’s review scroll is too fast. He complains his positive call-in reviews never show, defends using the word “turpitude,” and tells a story about being “arrested” for a film school project at Fort Apache—complete with a cop pulling a gun, handcuffing him to a hot pipe, and throwing him in a destroyed cell for 5–10 minutes. Dave and Chris clown him and promise him his own “Alan’s Corner.”
Segway to Chris’s Real Prison TimeFrom Alan’s staged “arrest,” Dave pushes Chris to tell his real jail stories. Chris sets up his first bid: 6-month sentence in Orange County Jail after robbing a vet for phenobarbital, fighting cops, and picking up multiple charges (robbery, commercial burglary, four assaults on cops, GBI on an officer, possession).
Booking, Beatings & ClassificationAt intake, the guards see “assault on law enforcement” on his file and rough him up during fingerprinting—screaming “stop resisting,” slamming his head into plexiglass, and twisting his fingers. Classification makes him a yellow bander (higher-risk) and sends him into a tougher, all-cell unit with seasoned guys.
First Night: Becoming the “Falcon”In his first 4-man cell, the Woods’ shot-caller Justin Krause (swastika tattoo) takes Chris under his wing. A white inmate named Olson is screaming racist slurs on the tier (“fuck the n******, fuck the spics, fuck the red and white”), which could spark a race riot. Because Olson is white, a white guy has to beat him up. Justin turns to the brand-new Chris and says: “You wanna be my falcon?”Chris spends all night terrified, then at chow time runs with Justin into Olson’s cell. Justin wrecks Olson with one shot while Chris sneaks in one weak “girly” punch. The tier still cheers “new fish, new fish” and he accidentally earns early credibility.
Politics, Old-Timers & Almost Getting Turned OutChris explains the politics between Woods, Sureños, Norteños, and blacks; how alliances change between county and prison, and how guys with level-4 yard time expect violence and “no hands” policies (stabbing instead of fistfights). He realizes later that an older celly Billy was quietly disrespecting him and that, if this had happened a year later, he probably would have had to fight him to maintain respect.
Supermax Glass Cells, Signing, and Staff HustlesChris is later moved to a supermax-style glass cell unit where you can’t mix races in the day room and have to sign through the glass using lightning-fast finger-spelling. He starts writing letters to judges for guys who can’t write, turning literacy into a jailhouse hustle.
Pruno, the “Happy Card,” and Shooting Meth with the BinkyNew celly Eddie from Anaheim teaches him how to make pruno in the toilet with pears and hoarded fruit. Then Eddie arranges a “happy card”—a greeting card sprayed/soaked in meth, worth almost an 8-ball. Chris has his girlfriend send money out during visit via written note on the glass, and weeks later the card arrives.They use a homemade syringe (“binky”) built from a pen shaft, afro pick, elastic, sandwich bag, and rubber from a shower sandal—the only real part is the metal tip, which has been up multiple asses to hide it. Chris shoots meth in jail and quickly learns how dangerous that combination is.
Staph Infection & The Forbidden ButtonWhile tweaking and covered with spreading staph (up his neck and all over his arms), Chris and Eddie get into a fight after Chris says “on my mother’s life” and triggers Eddie’s trauma over his dead mom. Chris realizes how instantly violence can explode.Meanwhile his staph gets so bad it’s life-threatening. There’s an unwritten rule: you NEVER push the emergency button or you get smashed by guards. Even Eddie is like, “I don’t know, man.” Chris finally hits it anyway. Guards scream at him over the speaker, but when one sees his body, he instantly says they’ll get him to a doctor. They shotgun him with antibiotics, antifungals, and steroids. Chris later hooks up with the woman who visited him and gives her a medication-resistant staph, which lingers for her even after his clears. He feels guilty but admits he was in a totally insane headspace.
Jailhouse Dark Comedy: The Button Beating & Steve KotkeChris talks about laughing harder in jail than anywhere else in his life.
One mentally ill guy threatens to push the button because he’s hungry. The white shot-caller tells him “go ahead.” The guards yell over the PA “Do NOT push the button!” as he shuffles toward it. The second he touches it, a side door flies open and the COs beat the shit out of him.
Chris also tells stories about Steve Kotke, a twitchy, Jesus-loving wino who cycles in and out of jail. Chris leaves Steve a brown bag outside his cell; Steve thinks it’s commissary food, tells Chris he has “a heart of gold,” then opens it to find nothing but trash and candy wrappers.
Using “fishing lines” (bedsheet ropes under the cell doors), Chris passes Steve a note that just says “People are talking.” When Steve panics and asks what that means, Chris sends back “Can’t talk, people are watching,” then cuts the line—leaving Steve to spiral alone all night.
Race, Respect, and How He Could’ve Become a MonsterChris gets honest about how the jail environment warped his thinking. He remembers silently thinking “they” about the loud black card players near the bubble in a way that felt racially charged and hateful, and how scary it was to notice that in himself. He explains how, in jail and prison, fear and respect slowly replace love, and how easy it would’ve been to get “turned out” into a full-on white-supremacist prison identity if he’d kept catching time without family support.
Wrap-Up: Dave Reflects on Chris & Early DopeyBack in the present, Dave talks about how painful and beautiful it is to hear these stories, how proud Chris was of his prison experience and storytelling, and how much he contributed to what Dopey became. He shouts out the 142 episodes with Chris, reminds listeners that this was super early-recovery Dave saying cringey shit, and closes with love for Chris, the Dopey Nation, and “fucking toodles for Chris.”
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