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Judas Cooter sentenced to boot camp
at Mississippi State Penitentairy
(originally posted: January, 1999)
The rumors have been flying, and The Cooters have decided to bring a little order to the chaos surrounding us. Yes, it is true. Our drummer, Judas Cooter (Mikey Namorato), was tossed back into the bucket on January 8, 1999. However, he wasn't busted again for any recent crimes.
Judas is back in jail for a January 1996 arrest (note that is three years ago) for possession of one ounce of marijuana. Judas pleaded guilty to the crime, and you would think that he would have paid his fine, maybe done some community service or something, and it would have been over with soon after the initial arrest. However, the DEA decided to pursue an "Intent to Distribute" case against Judas and it took THREE YEARS for the City of Oxford, Mississippi to prosecute Judas in Circuit Court. Although Judas beat the "Intent to Distribute" charge and won the trial, the judge nevertheless prosecuted Judas stiffly for his guilty admission. Judas received six months in Parchman's Boot Camp, Regimented Inmate Discipline (R.I.D.). For those who don't know what Parchman is, it is the Mississippi state prison.
Obviously, the band was seriously shaken at first, as we were playing together two to three times a week at the time. Sometimes we played more more! But Judas is a strong person and should have no trouble completing the incarceration. The break from playing live gigs, may actually be beneficial to us by creating time to concentrate more on finishing our new album, our web page, and writing new songs. Raw, Kin and Neuter are continuing playing together several nights a week.
Judas wrote us a six page letter from inside the pen, and we'd like to share some of it with our friends who care:
Raw, Neuter, and Kin...
What's going on? It took me a while to get a hold of some stamps here. About ten days. Stamps are as valuable as gold in here!
The place I'm at is called the Central Mississippi Cerrectional Facility. It's in Pearl. It's a huge complex, but small than Parchman. It's sort of a small scale Parchman. I'm in a zone. Zone - C, bunk 171 to be precise. The zones hold up to 75 inmates. There's a wall in the middle, sectioning the zone into 2 halves. You can go to either side, though. The guard tower is located about twenty feet from the wall. They can see everything on either side of the zone.
There's a TV in each zone section, but they're kinda fucked up, and we only get a few channels. There's almost an even mixture of black and white inmates as well. I don't hang with many of the whites. Most of them are rednecks, I hang mainly with the brothers. I've gotten close to a few of them. There's all different kinds of gang members here but nobody fucks around in the zone. Most of them just join up together and help one another out. They call that gangsta protection (or G.P.) I've been put under their wing. They look out for me and watch my back as well as hook me up with things I need. They're pretty rightous and we get along good.
When I first got here, I was pretty scared. It's a fortified encampment here with dogs, guard towers, and no chance of escape. Only a fool would try. Hell, only a fool would think about it. The first day here was really tough. I was in receiving all day. It was pretty hardcore. The guards are tough mother fuckers and you best do what they say or they'll seriously violate your ass. They'll fuck with you pretty bas so you've got to be alert. It's pretty much "yes, sir" or "no, sir." Anything else and your ass will get whooped. I've seen it happen just a few feet away from me! I've been here a while now so I'm in the swing of things. They mainly fuck with new guys and try to violate them. We pretty much just sit in the zone and waste away.
There's no shit to do here. There are no games and the only books are bibles. I've almost read the whole thing. Wake up call is at 5:00 am. Then you make your bunk military style and clean up your bunk area. You better be sure and do it right, before inspection. At about 6 we eat. The food here is way better than the food in the Oxford jail. You have approximately three or four minutes to eat and even that amount of time is at officer discretion. Then we go back to the zone. You can go back to sleep, but not under the covers. You don't really ever truly go to sleep though. You have to be alert in case the officers come in. The moment they're in the zone, you have to be on your feet at attention or else your ass is whooped!
Lunch is around 11:00. Usually around 2:00 or 3:00 we get yard call. They have two full size basketball courts and a volleyball court surrounded by 20 foot fences with coiled razor wire across it. There's also guard towers in the distance with officers carrying M-16's. Yard call is allright. That's the only place we're allowed to exercise. If you're caught exercising in the zone, you could get an RVR. For me, that means I'd lose my RID (boot camp) and would spend three years in Parchman. Due to that I exercise at yard call. We'll lose yard call sometimes due to inspections or shakedowns. It depends on how we behave. One fucker can ruin it for everybody. That punks got to watch his back after that. We eat dinner around 4:30 and after that, the guards usually leave us alone. Bunkdown is at 10:00 and lights out is at 11 or 11:30.
Life here is pretty tough. I don't think anybody we know could make it. You've got to be tough - especially mentally. That's cause there's not shit to do here. Everybody's waiting to get classified and moved off. I can't wait to leave. It's kind of ironic that I want to get to the RID. It'll be better than this shit. I'll be doing shit all day as well as exercise. They have basketball courts there as well as a good weight room. I'm going to spend all my free time lifting iron and playing ball.
I play alright here. The brothers are surprised! They said at first that I was just a white punk, but I've gotten respect on the court. Jail ball is fucking tough! The shoes we have constantly blister your feet. The concrete takes no prisoners and without blood, there's no foul. I tough it out and don't call fouls unless I get thrown to the cement. It's happened more than once. It's still a little brightness in the lightless reality. So be prepared to play hard ball when I return! I bet I can give Raw a run for his money by then!
Hopefully, I'll be out of here within the next two weeks. If I do well at RID, then I could graduate from there in 95-115 days. I plan on doing that! I'm not gonna fuck around there. I'm gonna do my time, play ball, and lift iron as well as following all orders. I can only have a limited amount of visitors at the RID.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't dream of us jamming again. It'll happen soon enough. It's only time. I figure it'll take me a solid week of hardcore playing to get the rust off. Then we'll be back on our way. I've had several dreams that involve us playing or driving to shows. Sometimes I just close my eyes, and drift into a new reality where we're together playing the music we love. Everday, I go through our songs in my head. That way I won't be rusty.
There's nothing more I want to do in my life than play with ya'll and have a lifetime of good times. Be strong and don't think abou the long haul - take it day by day. That's how I'm doing it. We'll be together soon, and The Cooters will be rocking the fucking house down to its foundations, at least at Raw's house until we get some gigs!
I'll write again, soon.
Love, Judas
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