Shaka Senghor on Getting 40 Years at Age 19, Being in Solitary for 7 Years

So the police pick you up and say that we have the proof to say that you, you killed this guy. Did you have money for a big lawyer at this point? Or you had the court, the court appointed attorney or like, who was, who was speaking on your behalf at this point?

So. Which is typical. Fast. I made the money, I spent the money. A lot of the money got caught up in me getting arrested and people still on, et cetera, et cetera. And so I ended up with a court appointed attorney, which is common. Actually the reality for most guys get caught up in the streets, which is.

The worst type of attorney for you to have.

It's the worst, absolutely. And not because they're bad people, but because the reality is they're overburdened with 90 cases that they're basically doing for free. And, you know, when you look at our system, how it's currently set up, 90% of people take plea deals, you know, and when you go look at the reason why, you understand, it's like, do I run the risk of going to court with this guy and get sentenced to life in prison or do I take these numbers and get an opportunity to get out again? And so I ended up with this lawyer who wasn't advocating on my behalf in a real way. And not to say that I would have been found not guilty. I mean, like I'm, you know, I'm honest, like I shot this person, you know. But there were mitigating circumstances that had I had a skilled lawyer, would have been able to identify and recognize. Okay, here's the things actually playing out. And it's not like it was just this guy out to shoot and kill somebody that night. And so, you know, I ended up, I ended up pleading. So I got charged with open murder, but I ended up pleading to second degree murder and got sentenced to 15 to 40 years for the murder and two years for the gun. So a total of 17 to 40 years.

So you're 19 years old.

19.

And they're telling you that you could do 40 years.

Yeah.

You're gonna come out when you're almost a senior citizen.

Yeah.

And you took this plea deal, you didn't even try to fight it. Cause you felt like this was because you were otherwise facing death. I mean, I mean, was there a death penalty?

It was life. Life.

Life in prison.

Yeah, life in prison. Okay. And so I took the plea up under the advice of my attorney who told me that I wasn't likely that I would get any more than 10 years, you know, and so. And that's what happens also when it comes to.

Well, how do you not get any more than 10 if you just got sent. If you're taking a plea deal for 17 or 40?

Well, the thing is, it was no numbers. It was basically pleading with the expectation that I wouldn't get. You know what I'm saying?

You're pleading to second degree murder, and then the judge decides what that amounts.

Right. And it's based on, you know, they give you the guidelines, okay, here's the maximum, he can census, here's the minimum. And then somewhere in between, just the lower end of the guidelines, higher end. And you know, my lawyer, he was like, yeah, get the lower end guidelines. Probably be out in about 10 years with good time, you know, and that's what happens to young kids when they're caught up in this culture trying to be an adult, but then can't really understand adult consequences and adult realities and know how to advocate on their own behalf. So you're trusting a person who's a, you know, paid professional. I mean, now I understand what a court appointed attorney is at 19. I don't understand that this guy got a caseload with 90 different people, you know what I'm saying? Because that's the other part of we don't really think about, right, is that you're going in. So you've been living this experience in the streets growing up and thinking you were grown, but not really understanding how the adult world really works and not really understanding how the, how the adult system really works. And so now you're dealing with this lawyer who's this is supposed to be the guy fighting for you. So you're trusting him in ways that obviously I wouldn't trust. Not because I know enough about the system, but back then, you know, I'm like, it's my lawyer, so he knows what's right. And so I took that plea. And you know, when I, when I looked at it, I'm like, the only thing that's guaranteed is the 40 years, which means I'm basically gonna die in prison. And so I went in with that attitude like, life is over, so I'm thugging it out up in here, you know, and that's how in the prison, I enter prison with the attitude, with the, you know, life is over. And this is how, you know, I'm rolling, right?

So when you heard that 40 years, that's the number that you clung on, you cling onto, you basically said, I'm gonna do this 40, fuck this. 17. I'm looking the worst case Scenario.

Yeah. I looked at the worst case scenario.

Pretty much abandoned all hope at that point.

Yeah. Yep. So when I walk through them prison doors, I'm like, you know, I'm a dying here, so I'm a living here how I want to. And that's how I started off my, you know, my. My time and this, you know, it's interesting now because, you know, obviously I've done a, you know, done a lot of stuff where people, you know, understand me on a whole different level now. But that first eight years of my incarceration, like, I wasn't. I wasn't like a model guy. Like, people sometimes assume that I was a model. Got in there, but the warden labeled me as, like, one of the worst of the worst. Like, when I walked through prison doors from day one, like, I was just like, it's. You have a choice in there. You know, either you're gonna be a lion or you're gonna be a lamb. You know what I'm saying? I was like, I'm not being nobody's lamb. So whatever, come my way, this is how it's going down.

Well, you try to escape.

At one point, I tried to escape in the county jail. Like, I wasn't trying to, like, go through. It's funny as shit now. And I laugh. Not in a, you know, as in it's funny, but just to think at that age, like, the level of desperation to like, I'm not doing this time. Right. And so we tried to escape from the county jail, and we came up with what I thought was an ingenious plot to get out, which was to break the windows on the tier, take everybody's seats, tie them up, and rappel our way down. And we got the window partially broke. We was in the process of, like, bending the beam to get it open. What we didn't even realize is that they do perimeter checks, you know, at the county jail. Like, the officer drives around and makes sure everything is good. And so officer happened to be coming around and the glass falling down, you know, brought her attention. And she looked up and saw that one of the windows had been, like, broken. This is like that big tempered glass. But we had smuggled a pole off the. Out of the gym. And so she called the officer, you know, basically alarmed them that we. That is escape in progress. And they came, you know, eventually they had to figure out. They couldn't even, like, initially figure out what cell block it was. So it took them a long time to finally get to our cell block. And. And the. One of the Reasons that I end up not getting hit with another case on that is because in their haste to just get up there and kick some ass, they pulled everybody out of the cell. So once they pulled everybody out of the cells, had us all out and strip search and throwing our stuff out, they had contaminated the crime scene. So everybody had glass in their slippers. And so they couldn't just go to one person and be like, oh, you got glass in your cell. But somebody. Somebody snitched on us then. But he wasn't willing to testify about the escape attempt. So what they did is they found us guilty of attempting to escape from the county jail, but they didn't charge us with a new case. And shortly after that, I went upstate.

Okay, now, you said that when you got there, you. You saw some of the worst things that you'd ever experienced. You talked about watching, you know, you actually saw people get raped.

Yeah, I mean, it's prison. It's a very brutal, volatile environment. And, you know, that's the other part about this whole culture and why I do some of the things that I do in terms of, like, highlighting what happens in there, is that when guys come home, you know, they're celebrated. You know, guys come home, they're in good shape, and they got the wife beaters on, they got the prison swag on. They don't tell guys about, you know, what it's like to be in the shower, taking a shower, and another man is next to you getting raped. They don't tell you what that looks like and what you have to question about yourself, about your own humanity, to stand there and not do anything in that situation and where it's kind of like an everyman for himself type situation. And so, you know, the level of barbarity I saw in that environment was unbelievable. And it wasn't just what the guys did to each other. It was what I saw officers do. You know, men being starved in solitary confinement to death. There was a guy who, to this day, we all believe that he was murdered. They said he suffocated himself by swaddling his socks. We don't believe that, because we know what happens in solitary confinement when they come in and beat you and chain you down to a bed and, you know, you and your own vomiting, you and your own blood basically drowning, or you being starved to death, or you being stuck in the cell where it's so hot that you die from heat exhaust because nobody give you water. And they cut the water off to your cell. And so, you know, there's Things that I saw, I wish I could unsee at times. But it's also those things that, you know, inspire my work. Because I believe we have a responsibility as a society to be transparent about what's happening in our system. Because you can't expect people to go through that and then come out here and play nice with everybody else. Like, it's not a logical outcome. I'm one of the fortunate ones, you know.

Well, during the time that you were in prison, you had 36 disciplinary citations.

Yeah.

So you were getting into a lot of trouble.

Yeah. I mean, and they range from everything from assault. I've had several assault on staff, several assault on inmates, dangerous contraband, substance abuse.

You threw, I guess, hot food in someone's face.

Yeah. So I don't. Yeah, yeah. Guy was burning his face, basically. Yeah. So this guy was. I was working. I was the foreman on the child line. And this guy was, you know, he's coming through complaining about the food. He was slowing the line up. And, you know, I'm asking the guys on the line, I'm like, yo, what's the hold up with the line? They like, yo, dude standing at the window, he just tripping, right? So I tried to. Initially, I'm just trying to accommodate him. Like, you know, yo, what's the problem, bro? Because, you know, we know how it is when you're hungry, everybody don't got commissary. You know, we want to make sure we take care of guys within reason without, you know, getting fired or whatever. And so I'm trying to accommodate the guy, you know, and he just go off on this, you know, tirade, you know, you ass work in the kitchen. Y' all think this, y', all, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, bro, I'm just trying to move the line along, trying to make sure you good. Fuck you, ho ass nigga. I'm like, all right. I was like, I'm like, bro, let me hook you up. I got you. You know what I'm saying? So basically what I did is I took a whole bunch of hot ass gravy and mashed potatoes, put it on the plate, and caught him up to the window and slapped him with it. And then he ran and he towed. I'm like, how are you gonna run the tail after you was just talking all this tough talk, you know? So I got charged with assault for Adams, took the solitary confinement. But that was, you know, that was life in the prison. And that's the mindset I was in. Like, I was in that angry Like, I'm looking for a reason anyway. Like, you just gave me a good enough reason to stop you. So, you know, that was the mind state I was in. And that's what happens when you're trapped in this ball of anger. It was the lack of wanting to take responsibility. Like, I wanted to blame everybody else for while I was in prison. I didn't want to look at myself. And so the easiest thing was just to be angry and get in more trouble. And like I said, that ranged from. I mean, I robbed the guy in the cell, and that turned from a robbery to assault to assault on him, to me assaulting a staff member. And, you know, I was like, 19. I got sent up to maximum security. I started off in close security, which is like, one step beneath maximum. I was in maximum security my first year in prison. And, you know, when I got there, they was just like. They wouldn't even allow me to work. They was like, you out of control? You know, because I wouldn't listen to the officer. I'm like, you can't tell me what to do. And so a lot of the misconducts is just rebelliousness is hurt. And, you know, the older guys, they would just always come to me and be like, man, like. Like, little bro, just chill, man. You gonna get out one day. You know? And I didn't believe him. I'd be like, man, I'm gonna die in here. And they was like, no, we gonna die in here. Cause we've been in here since we've been kids. We got natural life. You got numbers, you know? Like, them guys was my saving grace. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, now a lot of them dying in prison never get. Never got a second chance. They've been in there since they've been kids, and without them, there's no me, you know, there's no. There's no. And not just me. When I say me, I'm talking about the guys that you see come out here that's actually doing something positive, that's doing something meaningful. It's because of those guys. Like, them guys stood up and was like, we see something in you redeemable. Like, even though the world not gonna give us a chance, we gonna make sure you have whatever you need to get a chance to make sure other guys don't come in here, you know? And so they just saw something in me, man, that was. You know, I didn't even see him myself. You know, they was like, bro, you're a leader. You know, you smart. You know, like, you can read like, it's like a lot of these cats can't even read. But. Right.

Because the average reading level in prison is what, like third grade or fifth grade?

Third grade.

Third grade.

I was a tutor in there. It was mind blowing, like to see the test scores. And it wasn't that these guys, these are grown men.

Grown men, middle aged men that's been.

In prison for years that read at.

A third grade level, at a third.

Grade level and that's been in GED.

And that's the average, which means that half of them probably can't read at all.

Can't read at all? Yeah, can't read Law. So I mean like, it's like how.

Do you function in society when you can't read?

Right.

You know, I mean, it's like, even if you get out, what do you do? What do you do?

Yeah, yeah.

So let's talk about the solitary. Yeah, so you're, you're getting a lot of write ups and you're getting into a lot of, you're having a lot of problems in prison. You end up doing seven years in solitary confinement. Total, four and a half years. Consecutive.

Yeah. So in 1999, I got into a conflict with an officer and I ended up beating this officer like almost to death. Like, he almost died in front. They had to save his life in front of the unit. Now that wasn't my intention, but when I punched him, what happened was I punched him in his neck and broke his tracheal. So they had to perform emergency track healing in front of the unit. So they take me to solitary confinement, sentenced me to an additional two years in prison and indeterminate amount of time and indefinite amount of time in solitary confinement. And so I go in October 1999 and you know, I'm thinking I'll probably be out in a year, two years. That was the most I did in the solitary at that point. And then I realized, like, excuse me. And then I realized that this was a lot more serious, you know, and like I had a neighbor who had been in there, I went in in 99. He had been in at that time since like 86. He's actually still in solitary confinement now. Like, literally, you know, I had another neighbor who was like on his like eighth year, what turned out to be 10 years. You know, he's one, he's actually one of the dopest dudes I know. He's out of prison now doing a lot of stuff on illegal, you know, like in law. He's a really smart dude. So I'm in this environment and it is the most insane world you can imagine.

Describe how bad it is being in solitary.

So first of all, you in this little cell, you know, six by nine, maybe, whatever their the standards is for it to not be considered torture.

And.

It'S complete chaos, literally all day. Because the level of mental illness is mind blowing.

Like, are you there by yourself? Because I know sometimes in solitary they put someone there with you, right?

See, they only do that when guys. Like I was in maximum security. So that's like, we call that like y' all playing. That ain't. You know, that's like the minor leagues, you know.

Okay.

Because it's a different level. You know, they're not putting. If they know that you really. If they consider you like a really violent person, they're not putting you in the cell with nobody. I'm not even. I mean, honestly, I wouldn't even let nobody stand to sell me in solitary confinement, even if they would have tried to. So that was a whole nother thing. It's like, you can't sell with me, man. I'm in solitary confinement already. Like, I'm locked up. And we're gonna be locked up in here 23 hours a day. No, that ain't gonna work. But I was in maximum security where it's one man sale. It ain't no, you know. No, you're gonna have a sale, buddy, to lean on. No, you gotta do this yourself, you know. And so I was in. I was in maximum security at Oaks Correctional Facility. I think it's now close custody. It used to be maximum security. And it's 23 hour lockdown five days a week, 24 hour lockdown. Other two days a week, we got three showers a week and three showers.

So that's. Wow. So you're not showering every day, you're showering every other day?

Basically every. Every other day. And a lot of times you might not even go because it depends on where you at when they run the showers, if you at the end, by the time you get to the end showers, ice cold and they super filthy because they don't clean the showers out in between guys taking showers. So you literally in there with guys who shaving and just slapping, you know, they. They beard and blood and all that on the wall, gas blowing, snot on the wall, whatever they doing, you know. And then that's where guys ways were at. So they throwing shit on each other. And you know, if they throw shit on each other, they'll come in and clean that up. But they have, you know, half do it because there's other guys that got to come clean it up, right? So a lot of times you're not even going to the shower. So you may do one shower a week. If they start at the end of the tier, you get recreation in this little dog cage. Like, literally, it's like a dog kennel. They walk you out. Handcuff with your handcuffs are attached to a dog leash. And so when you come out for yard, you know, you get shirts, they put the handcuffs on. You walk y' all with this dog leash to a dog kennel, and where it's like, literally eight guys on one side, eight guys on the other side. And a lot of times, you don't even want to go out there. Cause that's when, like, the feces war. The shit wards, like, really go down, right? So they throwing and piss. But in addition to that, like, the officers don't like taking people out, because they don't, you know, they got to deal with, you know, the biohazard reality of being out there. So they really don't want to take you out. So what they'll do is, like, in the wintertime, like, I'm from Michigan. I'm from Detroit, and I was in, you know, the western part of Michigan up, like, off Lake Michigan. So super cold. But, like, one time. Like, one time, they took us out the yard. Now, we're only supposed to be out there for, like, an hour. And if you grew up in the cold, you know, you can endure an hour of cold because that's what you used to. They left us out there for hours, like, literally with nothing but thin skate jacket on and the thinnest shoes. Like, my feet were so froze that I literally thought that I was going hypothermia or whatever, you know? And I think that was one of the moments where I almost felt like I might break, because I felt so powerless that I can't even get these people to come out and do their job and get me out of this cold. And, like, I'm literally, like. We all standing there, like, froze, just like. And they looking out the door, they laughing and joking like, y' all ready to come in yet? And then they slam the door back, you know? And so, you know, you see that. You see the guys who. And it's for, like, minor stuff where a guy may leave, forget to turn in the spoon. And now they're feeding them what's called food loaf, which is supposed to be the meal of the day, you know, baked down into a little cake and, you know, served. But in reality, it's all the leftovers from the prior week mixed with some jello, because that's what holds it together. And oatmeal. And they bake this big old batch. And then when somebody get on food loaf or food restriction, they send that over. And I mean, it's for minor stuff. You know, guys get into a conflict with the officers, and the officers come with the newer cell extraction where they bring six officers with pepper spray. When they. When they spray the pepper spray, that hits everybody. So now you and your cell choking, you know, and I mean, it's guys who had asthma attacks because they've been in there when they, you know, do the cell extraction with the pepper spray. And I think the thing that. The craziest thing, I won't even say crazy, I would say the most desperate thing I've witnessed being in there is when a guy like two sails over set himself on fire.

Set himself on fire?

Yeah.

Well, he just managed to smuggle in, like, some matches or a lighter.

I don't know how. I mean, I guess you don't need matches to start a fire in prison. As long as you got electricity, you got a lighter, you can. Oh, yeah, okay. You can always make a light. Everything that. Anything that's electric, you can make a light out of.

Okay.

So I'm not sure how he got what he needed to set himself on fire, but what happened was the officers was just harassing him because he's, you know, he was a homosexual. He was already homosexual. And they would just come through and just harass him, harass him, harass him. And literally one night, it was like, after the regular, you know, they had cut the power off, and he started off just saying what sounded like a prayer in Spanish, like, really, really loud. And then all. All we smell is like smoke and, you know, burning, whatever he was all burning, you know, And I don't know the severity of how much he burnt himself up. So he does that. They take him out of the cell, and literally within like a couple days, he's back in the cell. And so he set himself on fire again. And a female officer, a woman officer. So he set himself on again, and a woman officer happened to be coming down the tier and she got the fire extinguisher, and it literally, like, put him out, and then they took him out and we never saw him again. But I mean, the level of desperation, you know, we got the guys, what we call cutters, which are guys who literally just cut their flesh up with whatever they can get their hands on just so they can get taken to the hospital and have human contact with a nurse. And so that's. That's solitary confinement. And that's every day, though. It's not like it's one day where it's, you know, where it's chill like this is. Every day. It's an incident. Every day is chaos. Every day is something that makes you question your own humanity, your own sanity. And you know that happens. And you're stuck in there 23 hours a day with no way to escape or get out.