Beyond Prison: Part Three

That tattooed strutting inmate was a story unto himself.

His name was Mike Guglielmo.

He was well into his 22-45 year sentence.

One December night in the mid-80's, he began firing shots at police from an apartment window.

G.1 T.3
1:23 ... My coup de grâce was a five hour standoff with the police while armed with a machine gun and a silencer. And over 100 rounds were fired. To me that was the ideal way to go, in a blaze of fire, you are a soldier, charging a machine gun nest. That is what was cultivated in my young mind. That's what I believed, and that's what I tried to fulfill. So I tried to get killed. I tried to realize my ideal death. Didn't work that way.

Instead Mike was hauled off to prison.

Deemed a danger to others, he was placed in solitary confinement.

But even sitting alone in a cell didn't make Mike reassess his life.

That moment came when he took a basic education test.

T.15
:33 they do adult education in there right? And I had a 7.4 level of education. I was 23 years old. I was humiliated, I said I can't have that, so I started taking classes, to get my GED. And that's what motivated me to change that. But I was so shamed, that I had done that, I had to rectify the situation to make my family proud.

With his parents footing the bill, Mike went on to earn his bachelor's and master's degrees.

This impressed James Gilbert, who was now about 2 years into his sentence.

J.C. T.40
4:03 after meeting Michael that's one of the things, talking with him about how he came in with an 8th grade education and how he has his master's degree, and how he had mastered in philosophy and paralegal, I was just amazed someone would take the tiem they had in prison and gain an education like that, and still have an edge about it, but have that spirit.

Mike was equally impressed with the 20 year old James.

G.2 T.2
5:54 he carried himself well. And I felt that he was a good kid. I wouldn't mind knowing him. he was tall. He was in decent shape, he wasn't overshaped. He wasn't disheveled, so obviously he had some pride in his appearance...he wasn't a loud mouth...wasn't trying to represent something that he wasn't...he was just being him, and that in itself is credible.

J.C. T.45
1:05 ... He would invite me to eat with him every once in a while....at first, it's no, thanks. After a while, it became a daily thing... you would take welfare food out of the cupboard and throw it all together in a hot pot and plastic bag and that would be your full course meal. And we would have dinner together and we would chat. And started talking. Telling stories some of the battles he's been in. the places he's gone. And how that's fared for him. what his expectations are, his goals, where he watns to go. And an honor code he's lived by.

G.2 T.3
3:44 most of the guys in prison are just their bad machines, their whole existence revolves around chasing drugs, watching tv, drinking coffee, playing cards, playing games, it's like their whole life is going by them and they don't even realize it. and they are just, they have no desire to change or to accomplish anything. They are just losers...then there are the few that are trying to change themselves, trying to redeem themselves, and they are trying to decriminalize themselves. That's the exception, not the rule.

J.3 T.2
2:21 M was on a path that to kind of make a difference. And that's something he saw in me, the potential to not be like the filth he was around for so many years. Something he was trying to grow out of. Something he was trying to get away for being. It was kind of a light at the end of the tunnel, it was potential. Something he would have, the opportunity to make a difference somewhere.

After a while, the guys decided to become cellmates.

G.2 T.7
1:05 ...When I got him in the cell it was you need to do this, and you need to do that. You need to get an education. And I have a pretty abrasive personality, it's abrasive but likeable...you know,

J.3 T.5
:42 I laughed, I would come home from school, learning statistics, or whatever I was taking at the time, and there would be magazines on my bed. (voice gets husky) 'You got to check that article. I saw it when I was down over at the school.' And he would give materials supporting my desires. And I thought that was kind of cool. Like a teacher.

G.2 T.7
3:18 He saw he could accomplish something through his intellect by completeing classes and reading magazines. And reading articles on computer sciences and he understood it. Even more important. Holy Shit! What an insight. An Epiphany. I can understand this. So what do you do then, you progress further into this and you start to develop goals. And you start to pursue them.

J.3 T.9
:00 ... probably 60-70% of life, is timing. And I was at that point where I was sick of the world around me. And I was smart, and I was trying to do what I had to do, but the environemtn wasn't nurturing that. It was going against it. so I was constantly swimming upstream. When I ended up moving in with M., he was swimming downstream with me.

Their cell was a classroom, a refuge.

It boasted a healthy supply of books and magazines.

And James and Mike pasted slogans like 'A Man's Character is His Destiny,' on the walls.

J.C. T.45
4:40 ... That's how I spent the rest of my time. I would work out, b/c that was a way to vent my anger. I would go to school b/c that was a way to occupy my mind and better myself. And I would go to work in the kitchen for my $1.75 a day.

Mike and James had their little world.

But it was impossible to avoid the larger one around them.

The world that valued brawn over brains.

PRISON FIGHT

J.C. T.38
3:36 there was a pretty large gentleman I had worked with in the kitchen, and my day pretty much consisted of working out, going to school and working in the kitchen...he wanted one of his friends ot work where I was working and told me I needed to get out of the kitchen.

J.3 T.22
18:53 ... I remember his exact words. He said you either leave, I'm not leaving. You want to bang, you want to bang?...that was the situation that was instigated. It's not something I had wanted.

G.2 T.12
3:23 he was upset. He was furious. He didn't know what to do. He told me this guy disrespected me. The guy was furious. This that the other thing. What am I going to do? I said take him out...you don't have a choice, you have to take him out. Otherwise he's going to be running around the prison and they all are going to be talking shit about you. And other people are going to start disrespecting you and you can't have that. Either you win or lose, you have to hurt him. You can hurt him.