louis theroux:behind bars - tonight at 9 on beeb2

[gaijingirl]

Seemed a bit tame to me. Louis was considerably less cocky than usual - I'm thinking back to when he did that show with the born again Christian family...

.. understandable given the surrounding I guess..

 

[zoooo]

I've seen Louis like that before. He's not always cracking jokes and passive-aggressively taking the piss. (Gawd love him. I know I do...)

If a prisoner knows he's in prison for life (500 years plus) what motivation does he have for behaving himself? He might as well attack people left right and centre.

 

[Dillinger4]

I liked how calmly Louis walked out of that prison yard.

That impressed me.

 

[zoooo]

Me too.

God I have a massive crush.

 

[chazegee]

Odd that Louis didn't really talk to any of the Hispanic or Black gangs, maybe they would have refused. I was also sure that one of the most hench of the Aryan Barbarians at the beginning was mixed race.

I think Louis did pretty well with a 1000 violent loons for company.

 

[Part 2]

Wasn't surprised by any of it really. Like aqua it made me sad that there's people with so little else that they rely on being locked up to feel part of anything.

From what we saw, I thought most were institutionalised and lacking education. The 'home invader' said something about the only thing he'd lost being his freedom, (and women) as though freedom wasn't that important. I don't like to think so, but I've come across people who struggle with freedom and having to make choices, I think some people need the structure and guidelines that prison provides. The vast numbers of people mean the system isn't ever going to move people on hence 50% parole violations and the guard who had trouble with working out half of 27 would be back

Home invasion sounds like a combination of offences, probably here it might equate to aggravated burgulary + kidnap + assault or something like that.

I love prison/gang tattoos.

Like chazegee says, it struck me that Louis never talked with the Blacks/Hispanics, also noticed the mixed race Aryan.

 

[mr_eko]

the home invader was making the point that if you are serving 521 years and 11 life sentences then you have to make freedom (and women and anything else that you can't get in jail) unimportant otherwise you are going to drive yourself crazy.

Good program but really depressing all that prison seems to do is keep people of the street but as the playboy guy pointed out the power of the gangs extends outside prison as well

 

[CJohn]

Thought it was a bit poor by Louis standards. I didn't really get an sense of anyone in the prison, usually he seems to form more of a 'bond' with his subjects. I felt he also asked a terrible question when he said "do you ever think there's anything mentally worng with you" to that dude, eejit, he missed a real good chance to engage that guy at a deeper level, as he was saying some very interesting things...something about how he wouldnt have done certain things if he thought they were wrong, and that people wouldn't be ableto empathise with him if as they would have to think that they would be capable of doing similiar things, thought that was quite profound myself...

 

[jcsd]

Didn't think it was particualrly good, there's been multiple documenatries on Channel 4 and Channel 5 about the USA prison system, don't think this one was any more insightful.

 

[Cloo]

I thought it was very sad - a lot of wasted lives, and you just know not many of the guys there will escape a life in prison or an early death. There was a tremendous air of resignation around a lot of the people, I thought.

 

[Termite Man]

Thought it was a bit poor by Louis standards. I didn't really get an sense of anyone in the prison, usually he seems to form more of a 'bond' with his subjects. I felt he also asked a terrible question when he said "do you ever think there's anything mentally worng with you" to that dude, eejit, he missed a real good chance to engage that guy at a deeper level, as he was saying some very interesting things...something about how he wouldnt have done certain things if he thought they were wrong, and that people wouldn't be ableto empathise with him if as they would have to think that they would be capable of doing similiar things, thought that was quite profound myself...

The bloke gets an hour and a half outside everyday . I expect Louis didn't have access for the full amount of time , and there were probably a lot more questions he wanted to ask . Unlike most of his other programs he has had time to return to converstaions with his subjects but in this case he had a short amount of time to talk to them and might not have been able to "engage at a deeper level" due to constraints .

I think your asking for too much

 

[Chairman Meow]

The bloke gets an hour and a half outside everyday . I expect Louis didn't have access for the full amount of time , and there were probably a lot more questions he wanted to ask . Unlike most of his other programs he has had time to return to converstaions with his subjects but in this case he had a short amount of time to talk to them and might not have been able to "engage at a deeper level" due to constraints .

I think your asking for too much

I thought it was an hour and a half a week?

 

[Termite Man]

I thought it was an hour and a half a week?

I didn't think a day was right but I couldn't remember how often it was .

 

[Barking_Mad]

all very sad indeed. The fact people want to go back to jail because they don't like/can't handle the responsibility of being on the outside shos how badly the prison service and society has failed them.

 

[DRINK?]

I liked that torturer, he seemed rather nice.

Seemd intelligent enough....not sure about how nice he was mind...torture involving near enough drowning people and sexual assault with a pistol??...did seem genuinely sorry though f*ck know how you can get you head around that sentence

 

[foo]

Odd that Louis didn't really talk to any of the Hispanic or Black gangs, maybe they would have refused. I was also sure that one of the most hench of the Aryan Barbarians at the beginning was mixed race.

my thoughts too.

on the whole i thought it was below par. nowhere near as good as some of his other stuff. i didn't feel we gained any insight after watching it, it was all a bit lame really.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

My understanding, if gleaned only from a few similar documentaries about the US penal system and Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full is that the white gang in all Southern prisons is called the "Aryan Brotherhood". Was "Barbarian Brotherhood" a euphemism specially coined for little Louis?

It wasn't great, that documentary, but I've never had that much time for his faux-naif schtick. His dad is worth a thousand of him.

 

[Termite Man]

My understanding, if gleaned only from a few similar documentaries about the US penal system and Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full is that the white gang in all Southern prisons is called the "Aryan Brotherhood". Was "Barbarian Brotherhood" a euphemism specially coined for little Louis?

It wasn't great, that documentary, but I've never had that much time for his faux-naif schtick. His dad is worth a thousand of him.

IIRC the Aryan brotherhood was targetted for it's drug activity and attempts to break up the gang were made . It could be that the "barbarian brotherhood" is the same thing but just rebranded after the crackdown

 

[Belushi]

I liked how calmly Louis walked out of that prison yard.

That impressed me.

Yeah, I'd have been shitting myself as soon as the mood turned.

 

[Dillinger4]

Yeah, I'd have been shitting myself as soon as the mood turned.

innit.

I wouldn't have just strolled out of there nonchalantly.

 

[zenie]

Dissapointing for a Theroux

 

[Barking_Mad]

id suggest running would have given him more trouble than walking!

 

[Pieface]

I just think that the obvious restrictions he had to operate under strangled his style. The racial tensions must have limited who would speak to him - I bet that was why he only spoke to white inmates apart from the new guy and that gay man - who were unaffiliated with any gang at that point.

I found it quite hard hitting as far as his exploration of the environment went but the lack of engagement with the subjects was frustrating. Then again, what do you expect? He was not going to get to buddy up with any of them was he?

I wanted much, much more closure on the people he featured though. The transexual and Playboy and that black kid that had just arrived - I really wanted more of their stories...

 

[souljacker]

Good post PieEye.

It was a good documentary when you think of the restrictions he must have been under but I didn't feel I'd heard a complete story from any of the subjects. Louis may have been better off following one of the prsioners for the whole time.

Still, better than most TV these days, so

 

[CJohn]

The bloke gets an hour and a half outside everyday . I expect Louis didn't have access for the full amount of time , and there were probably a lot more questions he wanted to ask . Unlike most of his other programs he has had time to return to converstaions with his subjects but in this case he had a short amount of time to talk to them and might not have been able to "engage at a deeper level" due to constraints .

I think your asking for too much

Nah mate it was a shit question, "do you think theres something wrong with you", thats the sort of question that kills any further exploration, its a simple yes or no. If he says yes its like 'oh well then' if he says no its 'yeah, he really is crazy'. Thats poor interviewing to me, something I don't usually associate Louis with. Actually the dude handled it well by saying, 'well if I didn't think that sometimes I probably would be crazy' - or something to that effect.

How am I asking for too much? It was an ok show, defo nowhere near his best. So yeah, I think it could have been better.

 

[CJohn]

I just think that the obvious restrictions he had to operate under strangled his style.

Yeah I'd say theres no doubt about that.

 

[simpson_eh]

I love prison/gang tattoos.

I like the interesting possibilites of how normal tatoos in everyday life mean something different in prison, Robbie williams tatoo of the card suite of hearts would mean in a russian prison he'd willingly take it up the bum.

 

[October]

Only saw a bit of it.

No-one seemed to take responsibility for their actions. The home-invader came up with excuses (only way to have a certain standard of material wealth), as did the, I presume, nonce ('I was possessed by demons').

 

[soam]

Only saw a bit of it.

No-one seemed to take responsibility for their actions. The home-invader came up with excuses (only way to have a certain standard of material wealth), as did the, I presume, nonce ('I was possessed by demons').

External attributions - something a lot of people do , but i find that with a lot of the offenders i work with it's the default position!

Just watched this and found it pretty depressing really. The Home Invasion guy mentioned how he had been first locked up at 11 until he was 20, then back in prison at 23 and was sentanced to 500 years when 29.

It didnt say what his original offence was when he was 11 but it seems that he was given up on from then on..

 

[dlx1]

just see on iplayer
Uk jail sentences soft touch.

Louis can I shack your hand