Jamali Maddix: Follow the Leader

You see them guys that you saw in the block?Yeah.

Are they your boys, or are you..? Yeah. Those are all my shorties.

Yeah.But I don't trust nobody as far as I can throw them.

You don't trust your own gang?

Hell, no.

They'll kill me first.

I got to look at my MUM sideways, sometimes.

Your mum?Yeah.

Why are you gonna look at your mum sideways?

You never know.

THEY LAUGH

You never fucking know.

What drives someone to join extreme groups and subcultures?

THEY RAP

And what do their leaders promise?

I'm immersing myself in fringe groups to understand

the real motivations behind their beliefs.

Cobras, Maniacs, SDs... we all hang out.

It's on who WE want to rock with.

I'm in Chicago to explore a dramatic new era

for its infamous gang underworld.

We shooting this gangland shit.

The gang leaders of old have been put in prison...

Hands behind your back!

..and it's thrown the streets into chaos of warring cliques.

Stop, stop! Do not move! COMMOTION

With violence and incarceration at all time highs...

Hs the lack of leadership made the streets more violent?

Of course. Now they kill you and your kid.

..in a city without gang leaders,

where gang law is no longer offered protection...

It ain't like that, how the old gangs used to be back in the day.

Everybody just run... just run around, chaos.

..can new role models offer a different path?

I'm not gonna lie, cos I need structure.

I've chosen to give up the lot,

to walk in my truth.

Or are Chicago's disenfranchised men destined for death on the streets

or a life behind bars?

Do you feel like there is an alternative?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Jamali.Sergeant Cutts. Sergeant Cutts.

"Has the prisoner been searched?"

What have you found?

Oh, I've found drugs,

um, heroin in their mouths.

I found, one time, one person had a marijuana packet in his shoe.

Wow.Officer never caught it.

He was trying to enjoy his evening. Not on your watch.

So it happens.Yeah.

Now go ahead and step up there.

Looks pricey.Yep.

I'm entering DuPage County Correctional Facility,

which houses inmates awaiting trial and sentencing.

For whatever you see.

Some of its 700-odd detainees

have been here for as long as six years.

The majority of them are gang members.

My guides are Sergeant Cutts and the Gang Classification Unit...

..which identifies gang members on arrival,

and prevents violence on the inside.

I gonna bring him in if it's OK,

if y'all are willing to talk.

This is Jamali.

Can I ask you about your tattoos?

Yeah... I'm from the Surenos.

Is there a lot of that gang in the jail?

No, I'm the only one.

Because you're a different gang to him?Yeah, I'm different.

I'm a Latin Count. See, I got it right here.

You're an AB? Yeah, I'm from Florida, though...

So is there a lot of Aryan Brotherhoods here?

No.

No, not really.

It's more spiritual now.

We follow Norse mythology.

What do you guys think of people leaving the gangs?

This is for life.

We mark for life.

Yeah.

So there's no way to...

..to get away.

Everywhere you go, they're gonna follow you.

The jail clearly has committed gang members

who don't see any alternative.

SPEECH UNCLEAR

The Gang Classification Unit has to work around the clock.

So they need to investigate the situation.

Investigate the situation?

Yes.What's happened?

Somebody got word that somebody in the pod was trying to stab him.

Is it over gang stuff, do you think, or..?

Well, that's what he's saying. That's what's on his report.

Mr Sutton, how are you?

I'm all right.Good.

Sutton is a gangster disciple, or a GD,

and he's allegedly under threat from a member of his own gang.

The unit will now review the incident for safety and security.

Um, you want to talk about what happened yesterday?

Two individuals had moved over there from...

..the neighbourhood I'm from.

I don't know his real name, but Meech,

word got back to me that he supposed to be going to shank me.

So you're both GDs, but you don't like each other?Yep.

Put it like that.

I could be a GD, but I could be an insane GD,

or MGD...

It ain't like that, how the old gangs used to be back in the day.

Like, we can be cool, but that don't mean you won't do something

behind my back to have somebody else try to do something to me.

Yeah. That sounds like it'd be quite...

..it's quite paranoid-inducing.Yeah.

You can't really trust no-one in here.

Can't trust nobody in the world, neither.

So...you can't trust nobody, nowhere you go.

We're gonna move you in a little bit.

Sergeant Weiner will find you a new home.

It must be hard to police.

Yeah.You know what I'm saying?

Because I guess, before, it used to be just,

"The Latin Kings have beef with these guys. All right. Cool."

But now, it's just like you got to...

Yeah.You got GDs fighting GDs. It's hard to...

And it could change, you know, at the drop of a hat.

Yeah.

Is it normal that all the knives are attached to metal here?

Locked to the table.

Does it feel weird being an adult but not being trusted with a knife?

Yeah.

The Gang Classification Unit now needs to meet the man

who's accused of threatening Sutton.

Mr Grant.

But I'm surprised to find out that Grant is just 20 years old...

I'm Jamali, brother. How you doing, buddy?

Are you good, yeah?Good to meet you.

..and has been in jail for a month.

All right, Mr Grant.

So what happened, uh, was it Friday,

that you, uh, you're on this report?

What?Mm-hm.

You don't know nothing about it? Nah.Come on, man.

I don't know nothing. You got put on report, man.

Some people were causing issues over there,

or what's the deal?

Nah, nothing be going on. Everybody just be chilling.

Everybody be having fun with each other.

Nobody messing with individuals?

No, nothing be going on.

You know, when you came in, we spoke about your tattoos and stuff.

Yeah, um...

What tattoos do you have?

I got BDK on one side...

What does BDK mean?

Uh, stands for Black Disciple Killer.

Grant has enemies both within his own gang

and with long-established rival gangs, like the Black Disciples.

Do Black Disciples not see your tattoo

and have a problem with it in here?

They see it and nobody said nothing so far about it.

Is this your first time in jail?

Yeah, this is my first time.

What's the charge?I got gun charges.

OK.I've been through a lot of stuff.

I've been shot at before.

I've been stabbed right here.

Oh, right in the centre of the chest?

Yeah, they stabbed me with a knife.

How long do you think you could be here for?

Probably a year or three.

Three years?Yeah. That's a long time.

Yeah. That's what comes with it, with being a gang member

and trying to make sure that you're protected at all times.

But you're already on separation from somebody, I can tell.

And you ain't been here that long.

Well, I ain't even know... So something happened.

I ain't even know who I'm on separation from.

Ooh... They ain't even telling me who.

I'm still trying to find out who I'm on separation from.

Well, you already know, man. I already told you.

Don't get in no problems no more, man.

It's only been a month you've been in jail.

I ain't even know what I got the yellow wristband for.

You got a yellow wristband.

Is that what you thought would happen?

Yeah. He wasn't gonna say much.

He knows what it is.

Yeah, he knows who you talking about?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. He has to know.

Grant doesn't feel like a killer to me,

but he's definitely an active GD in a pod filled with other gangsters.

I like that everyone... Everyone did gang signs,

and then one guy just went like this...

One guy just went, "You all right?" HE LAUGHS

As a young first timer, I wonder whether he has to make wild threats

as a defence mechanism,

especially in the presence of people from his set.

If their peoples are in here and it's like,

follow the... Follow the leader.

This guy's been here longer than I have,

so I'm just gonna...go and do exactly what he's doing,