In jail awaiting trial, Randy has a fistfight with a correctional officer. It ends when a second officer, “The Undertaker”, intervenes. After being convicted of murder and armed robbery, Randy faces either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury announces its decision on his 20th birthday.
Unemployed, hopeless and adrift, Randall embarks on another crime spree. This time burglary and car theft end in armed robbery and murder.
Randy describes truanting from high school, his drift into crime, and a first encounter with the Virginia Department of Corrections at the Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center. He reflects on how the juvenile justice system only reinforced his criminal behaviours, culminating in a crime spree that ended with him committing capital murder.
Randy describes his dirt poor childhood in Earlysville, Virginia, living in a trailer with his mother, two brothers and an abusive father who subjected him to frequent, violent beatings. After his parents separated, Randy found himself in foster care, embittered and angry, with a hair-trigger temper. Soon he started committing petty crimes.
In this episode, Randy introduces his buddy Frank and describes the importance of friendship in facing the soul-crushing loneliness of prison.
Documentary mentioned by Randy in the podcast- Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison
https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/solitary-inside-red-onion-state-prison/