Jailhouse - Straight At The Light (2010)
Kirby Apodaca
QUIET TIME: After the 10 PM count, when the guards turn off the lights in the cells and common areas. TV can still be watched, but if it gets loud, the TV rooms and common areas will be shut down, and you will have to go to your cell before lockdown.
X'D OUT: Prisoners can green-light members of rival gangs or put a hit on them due to some drama or beef. When they do this, they will say the inmate is X'd out. An X'd-out prisoner's days on the yard are numbered.
At least two of the teens in the facility harmed themselves so badly that they required medical attention. Some destroyed beds and shattered light fixtures, using the metal shards to hack holes in the cinder block walls large enough for them to escape.
Every other day for sixty days straight in the winter of 2023, I wrapped my legs in duct tape. Three wraps. Two legs. Twice a day. After fifteen days, I stopped hiking the duct tape from the crag. The pile grew. Each failed attempt on Jailbait (5.13c) added to the mass. A baseball formed, then a football, and then a basketball. As I threw myself at the steep basalt line, the duct tape ball grew.
Take Turnpike to last exit south (to Florida City); turn right at first light (W. Palm Drive), go straight for two miles to 4-way stop (Tower Road). Turn left on Tower Road and drive for 1 miles to the next 4-way stop (SW 376th Street). When you pass that stop sign, you will see the institution on left side of the road. Make a left at 377th Street onto institutional grounds.
Muhammad convinced Eddie Gregory, the WBA number 1 contender for the light heavyweight championship, to fight Scott at Rahway in a match televised by HBO. Despite being an underdog, Scott won the fight, leading to him being ranked by the WBA. He fought several more nationally televised matches and rose as high as number 2, but was later stripped of the ranking because of his criminal record and incarceration. After losing his rank and a brief retirement, Scott defeated another number 1 contender in Yaqui López.
Scott stated that he only pursued boxing seriously after being released in 1968 and subsequently being arrested and convicted of armed robbery. He was sentenced to 13 to 17 years in prison. During this time, Scott became the light heavyweight champion of the New Jersey prison system. According to Pat Putnam of Sports Illustrated, Scott "destroy[ed] opponents until there were no more challengers".[5]
Scott's first professional fight was against John L. Johnson, who was undefeated at the time and weighed 35 pounds more. Although Johnson knocked Scott down in the first round, Scott rebounded and knocked out Johnson in a later round. Scott fought twice against fellow light heavyweights in February, defeating both opponents Hydra Lacy and Willie "The Invader" Johnson. As Scott defeated more and more opponents and subsequently fought in the main event, Gaby recalls that it was becoming more difficult for the promoter to find opponents willing to fight Scott. During this time in his life, Scott found adjusting to life outside of prison to be difficult, oftentimes being confrontational with others. He found it difficult to cope or communicate his feelings, except to his common-law wife.[4]
Having won his first eight fights, Scott was ranked as the number 8 light heavyweight contender according to The Ring. In his next match, he fought to a draw against Dave Lee Royster. In the sixth round of the fight, Royster headbutted Scott, and Scott responded with a low blow, resulting in the referee deducting two points from Scott. Royster headbutted Scott again in the eighth round and cut him open above the right eye with the blow. Neither headbutt by Royster resulted in a points deduction.[4] Scott would later claim that he was not inspired to win the fight because he did not receive a letter before the bout from Dickens, who had written to Scott before every professional fight with a plan to defeat his opponent.[6] After the bout, Scott's promoter Chris Dundee called out Bob Foster and publicly offered him $100,000 for a fight with Scott.[4][7]
Scott fought twice more in Miami, earning two more victories. At this point, he had earned approximately $15,000, was living with a woman in an apartment, and had a vehicle.[4] Scott also had a title bout scheduled against John Conteh, the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight champion, with a $100,000 purse.[5] Despite warnings from Gaby and that it was a parole violation, Scott was driving to Newark for visits home.[4]
At Rahway, the prison warden was Robert Hatrak, who had a reputation considered controversial for sympathy toward inmates and an openness toward rehabilitation.[4] Several programs aimed at rehabilitation were operated by Hatrak, including vocational training such as automotive repair and barbershop skills,[9] as well as a singing group and a "scared straight" program.[2] He then conceived of a boxing program, not simply for recreation but where inmates could train to be fighters, corner men, referees, and cutmen as a profession. Upon hearing that Scott was being transferred to Rahway, Hatrak planned to partner with him to utilize Scott's connections in the sport.[9] Scott was placed in charge of the new Rahway State Boxing Association. Inmates in the program received pay and credit toward a reduction of their sentence or parole.[4]
Muhammad began work on a major fight for Scott against Eddie "The Flame" Gregory, who was then the World Boxing Association (WBA) number 1 light heavyweight contender. As Rahway's prison auditorium would only hold 450 people, Muhammad needed to find a television network willing to host the fight, so he went to HBO. According to HBO's sports department head at the time, Dave Meister, he found the idea of the fight at Rahway "both off-putting and intriguing and enticing".[9] In addition to securing HBO, Muhammad offered $15,000 to Gregory for the fight, while Scott was scheduled to make $2500.[4] Gregory was lined up to make money from this fight in preparation for a bout against WBA light heavyweight champion Mike Rossman.[7]
Scott was still allowed to fight professionally after Hatrak's departure. His next fight against Bunny Johnson, aired nationally on NBC, resulted in Scott winning by knockout in the seventh round. Johnson was the fifth choice for an opponent for Scott.[13] Ranked number 3, Scott knocked out Italian light heavyweight champion Ennio Cometti [it] at the end of the fifth round.[14] In his entire career, at least four of Scott's professional bouts held in prison were broadcast by NBC Sports, two by CBS Sports and one by HBO.[15] ABC Sports declined to provide Scott with national television coverage due to his felony conviction and incarceration.[15] Scott was ranked as high as number 2 in the WBA rankings. However, he started to receive controversy on why he should be allowed to fight and make money while incarcerated. While Scott was paid for his fights, his earnings were sent to the New Jersey Department of Corrections, and he was given strict limitations on how he could use the money. Approved uses included hiring attorneys for his appeals and paying back his public defenders, donations to a crime victims' fund, and training expenses.[9] Scott said of the situation in a 1980 phone interview, "A lot of people resented the idea of my making money while I was in prison. They didn't feel I was being punished enough. What am I going to spend it on, anyway? People on the outside just want the people on the inside to be punished all the time."[7]
Scott's next fight was scheduled for December 1, 1979, against Yaqui López, the WBA number 1 contender for the light heavyweight championship. Shortly before the fight, WBA light heavyweight champion Víctor Galíndez was stripped of the title, so Muhammad asked the WBA if Scott's fight with López could be a 15-round bout for the championship. Then, in September 1979, the WBA decided to reconsider whether Scott should have a ranking at all based on his criminal record.[4] The major concern at the WBA was the championship being held by someone in prison;[4][9] the competing WBC had never ranked Scott due to his incarceration.[16] According to boxing promoter Bob Arum, the WBA had only then found out that Scott's incarceration was scheduled for 30 to 40 years.[11]
The WBA removed Scott from its rankings in October 1979.[17][18] The vote on the issue was 60 to 1 in favor of removal,[4] with the lone vote for retention coming from New Jersey deputy boxing commissioner Bob Lee.[9][18] The WBA cited concerns that as an imprisoned convict, Scott did not set a "good example", and that his opponents were disadvantaged because they had to come to the prison for all of his bouts. Sports Illustrated questioned whether those were the real motives for removing Scott from the rankings, given that the same conditions had applied when the WBA had started to rank him the year before. Scott speculated that the removal of his ranking had to do with the influence of Arum on the WBA, and that Arum offered a contract to Scott in 1979 but Muhammad convinced Scott not to accept it. Scott blamed Muhammad for not looking out for his best interest,[17] while Muhammad claimed that he had exclusive rights to Scott via an agreement with the Department of Corrections.[11] Without being ranked, Scott was not allowed to compete for a championship. Afterward, the WBA reinstated Galíndez as the light heavyweight champion.[4]
The next month, Scott fought López, and defeated him by decision in a fight broadcast on NBC. No knockdowns occurred in the bout, but Scott cut López open as early as the first round. After the match, Scott declared that he should be the number 1 contender and called out new WBA light heavyweight champion Marvin Johnson and WBC heavyweight champion Larry Holmes. López stated that he wanted a rematch.[16]
"He had a great run. He proved he was one of the best light heavyweights in the world, but once that chance of him fighting for a world title was virtually zero, there was no reason for people to pay attention. Then it was much easier to just view him as every other inmate in a maximum security prison, which means forgetting him."
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