Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th Mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much?
I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash save whenever you're ready. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details.
My name is Ian Bick, and you are locked in with Ian Bick. On today's episode, I interview Jacob Reb, who spent nearly a decade in a Connecticut state prison after violently assaulting his parents. Make sure you guys like, comment, subscribe, and share. And if you're listening to this on our audio streaming platforms, leave us a review. Thank you guys for watching Locked In with Ian Bick.
We all make mistakes, experience failure, and fall down in life. But if you decide to get back up and use it as fuel to your fire, you could choose to not let it define you. You can make it through to the other side and turn it into an opportunity. Join me, Ian Bick, as I interview people from all over the country who have experienced the rock bottom of
of the American justice system and find out what they did to overcome it. These are the stories that will motivate you and inspire you to change your life.
Jacob Reb, welcome to Locked In with Ian Bick. Hello. Thanks for coming out today, man. You first reached out to me and you gave me a brief summary of your story and you were very open and honest and straight to the point, which you don't necessarily get from someone that has as crazy as a story as you. Sure. So that definitely shows the growth aspect and just the change that you've made.
on that part. And so, you know, I jumped into looking into your story and I'm like, wow, we got to get this guy on the podcast. So again, thank you for coming out. And I like to jump in at the beginning of one story. I think that's very interesting to find out where they came from and see how it progresses over time and makes you the person you are today. So what's your childhood like growing up?
How are you raised? What kind of family do you come from? And where are you from? Sure. So I grew up in Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook specifically. I'm sure you've heard of Sandy Hook for all the wrong reasons nowadays. But yeah, that's where I'm from. I come from a pretty conservative Jewish household. My parents brought me to synagogue and I was bar mitzvahed and all that kind of stuff. And
You know, I had a really pretty good upbringing where I was pretty privileged and, you know, I wanted for nothing. I went to Newtown High and, you know, yeah, that's kind of where it all started. Did you have siblings too? Yeah, I have an older sister. Her name's Heather. She's about five years older. Okay.
And how's middle school and high school growing up for you? Are you bullied? What type of environment is it? Oh man, school was hell for me. It really was. The weird thing about where I come from, like in Newtown, I had very few friends in my own school, but like anywhere else that went and I had like all my friends were from like the next town over. So honestly, I got picked on a lot in middle school and high
That probably led to me starting smoking pot early in life and whatnot and getting into that kind of stuff.
But, yeah, it was rough, and it wasn't until I got into high school and kind of stopped caring so much that, you know, like, the bullying kind of stopped, and people kind of left me to be, you know what I mean? Now, when you say picked on, like, what are these kids doing? Because kids can be very cruel, especially at that age. So what are they doing to you? Oh, sure. I mean, you know, call me, you know, a faggot and that kind of stuff, you know.
calling, maybe trying to fight me. But, you know, I got to a point in my life where I really just I would I would just like bang out with you. And people usually don't want to fight somebody that's really going to fight back. So when that started happening, that's kind of when I got left alone. Now, did you feel like you were doing that because you were like giving up on life in a way or you were just do
doing that because like that's the underdog story and like karate kid where you have to fight back to yeah fuck that it's bullshit you're like i'm not gonna let someone you know you know step on my life and like make my life shit i'm not about that and um you know when i started really you know i think it was more so caring about myself and growing up that i realized that you know bullying is kind of like a bullshit so um
At this age, how's your mental health?
Honestly, it probably should have been more monitored at this time. So 14, my freshman year, I failed two classes and my parents kind of chalked it up to like, oh, like he's getting used to high school or get new friends kind of thing. But really, it was because I was getting fucked with so much in school that I just wasn't doing anything. I wasn't going to class. And that's kind of what it was.
So freshman year, I failed two classes. And then my sophomore year, the last day of school, I actually got into a fight with somebody. And then he told on me. He like slipped a note to security in school that I had drugs on me. So like right before I got on the bus, security came and grabbed me.
First time arrested, 15. Last day of school, walked out of the lobby at like 2 o'clock. Everyone's waiting for the buses. And I'm walked out on handcuffs. And that's kind of how my whole school saw me for the rest of my life was like the kid who got arrested for having drugs on him. It wasn't just like pot. Like I had pot. I had Xanax. I had Coke. I had Vicodin. Like I had a whole bunch of stuff.
Um, and I was like 15. That's gotta be extremely traumatic as like a 15 year old kid to have that image stamped on you for the rest of your high school. I mean like, yeah, looking at it now, like it really was, I mean like kids sort of like took pictures of me in the back of the cop car. Um, and that's when like I first got like my first probation and like first court mandated therapy. Um,
and that's kind of like where like my therapy and like mental health stuff started to develop and started to get like diagnosed was, uh, after my first arrest. So what were you, um, were you using those drugs yourself? Yeah. So I was stealing them from my mom. Yeah. Mainly. Um,
And they didn't notice that it was being taken at all? No. My mom was having her own issues at the time. And, you know, when I honestly me getting arrested and her finding out that I was doing that kind of led to the openness between her and my drug use together, which was like a really toxic situation that developed later.
like later in life. But yeah, but I think my, me getting arrested originally is what kind of opened the door for us to be doing drugs together. And when you say together, like you guys are in a room doing like these hardcore drugs together. Yeah. Like I would ask her like, Hey mom, like can I get a couple, like if I get in or Xanax or something and she would give them to me. And then like I got in,
When I was 16, I got in a really bad car accident with one of my friends. And that kind of led to us like lying to a doctor for quite some time to get more pain meds than were necessary. And like that's what directly led to my opiate addiction. And you thought that was just normal?
as a child like that that your mother would just give you drugs i mean it was i mean it was awesome you know what i mean you know you had more of a friend than a parent and you know i had great parents like don't get me wrong i'm not here to like shit on my parents or anything like that because we're gonna get into like why that can't really be the case anymore um but you know
It was definitely like a really rough situation to to be in I mean I was having parties at my house. I was allowed to like have keggers and like have You know like that led to like me having more friends and girls and girls sleeping over and like I was Anywhere it was anywhere outside of my own school I was the man growing up because I always had I was selling drugs. I was selling coke. I was selling weed. Um
I had a car. You know, my parents were busy. My mom would like work from three to midnight running a restaurant. And my dad would be gone in the afternoon and come home at five. And I would be doing my own thing. You know what I mean? What's your dad saying about this? Like, is he seeing what's going on? Is he intervening at all? Or is he enabling? What's going on? Honestly, my mom just kind of shut him down. No.
um, you know, looking back at life and, you know, we've kind of openly talked about this, that, you know, if my mom was, he likes to say, if she wasn't there, I'd be a doctor right now. You know what I mean? Um, so he kind of blames your mom. No, for sure. Absolutely. Um, but they stuck together throughout everything or no, no. So, um, honestly, when I caught my case, uh,
my dad was in the hospital. My mom was in the hospital too for a couple hours and she split. She bailed. She like left while my dad was in the hospital and like hit the road and left him. Now going back to your mom, do you think she was
you know giving you these drugs enabling you because she saw that you were picked on in school and the drugs kind of necessarily made you cool and gave you a You know a popular lifestyle with the parties and letting you do all that stuff Because it's not normal for parents to just actively do that. No, no, she my mom had her own demons you know, she had a her own traumatic childhood bringing up in her own issues at the time and um
you know, her life is great now too. And honestly, um, you know, my case kind of, you know, led to like the destruction of my family, but really from that, everyone is doing so much better than I think they ever would have been beforehand. Uh, but yeah, I mean, my, my mom's demons kind of poured onto me through that. I mean, uh, I'll tell you, um,
My senior year, I graduated high school. My dad had to go to upstate New York for work for the summer. And my mom had actually watched the TV show Weeds. If you're familiar with Weeds, it's like a suburban house mom starts selling pot. And my mom got the good idea to do that. So like...
I graduated high school. I didn't go to college. I grew pot and sold pot with my mom like for like a whole summer after I graduated school. You and your mom have like this little drug empire. Yeah. I mean, that's really what it was. And it was like, you know, we're from Newtown, like the suburban, you know, it really was like a suburban white privilege with zero consequences for any of my actions.
I would get, I got arrested multiple times. I got, so I got a DUI in high school. I got arrested for selling drugs twice in high school. I got arrested like outside of school, like with weight and weed. And, you know, I would literally never get in trouble. Like,
My dad would try and ground me and I'd be in the house for like a day and then I'd be right back out. So you had all the advantages, you know, growing up in life. You had a good family and you guys were financially stable, but you were still, you know, going down this down this bad path.
Yeah, I mean, I thought I was like Mr. Cool drug dealer gangster as a 16-year-old, ripping and running in Fairhaven and Bridgeport. And you were always getting bailed out of any issues that came up. Always. I'd get arrested, and my parents would bail me out, or I'd get a PTA or what have you. Yeah.
Yeah, like I wrapped my car around a tree like a quarter mile from my house and I got a DUI and like got bonded out the next day and like nothing really happened over it. Like I lost my license for a year and like that was it.
So going back to the mental health, what exactly were you diagnosed with and at what age? So when I was a sophomore, they said I had major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. And then later in life, after my first rehab, they said they diagnosed me with bipolar disorder too.
And is that, does that come from, you know, is that inherited through parents or how does that stem from? Was it from traumatic experiences, getting bullied? You know, who knows? My mom's family, they all have mental health issues. But, you know, I think...
I think some people are just born with it. I mean, some people just have mental health problems, and I think I was just one of those people. Were you open about it with your peers, with family, with your therapist? What was the conversation? Never. You know, I come from a place where, you know, you don't talk about your feelings, and, you know, you're not supposed to really do that kind of thing. You know, my parents were, like, open and honest, and I think they sent me to therapy just for...
more so optics because I, you know, if I didn't want to go one day, they wouldn't make me go. And then I just stopped going. And when I would stop going, I would just keep getting the meds, but no treatment. You know what I mean? So that kind of thing gets out of control when you're using, you know,
Mental health medication and opiates, you know like raging at the same time. It's not a good look So you think your parents sent you to mental health treatment just out of like that was what was the requirement to do? Oh, it was literally a requirement. The court said I had to go So I went to somebody and then when I got off probation, I stopped going what drugs are they putting you on? Uh
like at this point in life, I was on a low dose of Xanax when I was in high school, which was like crazy. I was on like a quarter milligram of Xanax, which is another thing to get addicted to. Right. And a 15 year old really shouldn't be getting that. But, um, you know, honestly, my, my school kids have got pills all the time that they weren't supposed to get. So it wasn't that big of a deal. Uh,
But it wasn't until really after high school that I started getting like real psych meds. And then I was on like Seroquel and Buspar and, you know, Respiratol, some like antipsychotics and that kind of stuff. Which is a lot for an average person to be taking. Oh, yeah. I was taking like three 300 milligram Seroquels a day, which would like knock a normal person out. But I'm doing that and I'm doing heroin at the same time. And is that helping you? Like, do you have any...
Mental health, you know thoughts like what's going on? Are you looking for a second opinion? I'm not doing anything I am straight ripping and running in the streets at this point. I'm after high school My parents this is like the crash like 2008 the financial crash. It really affected my parents pretty hard and at this point the doctor that I had been seeing had gotten raided by the feds so I could no longer get my prescription
You know that I mean that just shows you how targeted it was that what we were doing that the doctor I went to and Danbury literally got shut down by the feds so after that I'm now doing heroin and
Are you working at all? Yeah, I'm like working part-time here and there for my dad or I was working at like a nursery, like a farm nursery kind of place. I was a host. I was just doing like shitty 18-year-old kid jobs. You know what I mean? What do your parents do for work? My mom would run restaurants. She was a kitchen manager or managing partner of a number of different restaurants. And my dad was in sales. He worked for...
all sorts of like telecommunication companies and that kind of thing. So let's fast forward to October, 2007. Sure. You're arrested on some very serious assault charges. You're what? 21 years old at the time. So it'd be 2010, 2010. Okay. So you're 21 years old arrested on assault charges. Yeah.
what happens that night? So it is October 25th of October 25th, 2010. I had been dating this girl that I worked with. I used to like sell Kirby vacuums and her and I- Kirby vacuums? Oh yeah. I'm a beast at door-to-door sales. I'm like the man at doing that stuff. So yeah, she and I used to do that and we were living together and
Honestly, things weren't going well. So I went back to my parents' house because the girl I was living with was in Waterbury. My parents' house was also in Waterbury. So I went home and the day before everything was honestly normal. We watched a Steelers game. We cooked out, carved pumpkins. But in my head, my anxiety and stuff is like raging because I'm
I'm on psych meds. I'm getting high. Uh, but now I'm starting to, I think detox. And I think the detox is what really kind of sent me into like a psychosis. So you're trying to get sober at this point? No, I just didn't have, I just didn't have money to cop. I was like at the base of a run, uh, where I'm trying to hide my addiction still. Um, because at this point I had been like in and out of rehabs and like,
put together a couple of clean ones here and there. And, you know, at this point people thought I was clean, but I wasn't. So your parents thought you were on the up and up, but really you're spiraling. Right. Uh, it's spiraling like really bad. Um, and yeah,
Yeah, I had taken a bunch of my meds, and the next thing I know, it's like 5 o'clock in the morning, and I'm covered in blood, and I had just stabbed my parents. That's really what it was. My dad got cut in his throat. My mom had a number of defensive wounds and stuff like that. Luckily, my dad was able to...
honestly knocked me out and that's what stopped everything and he kind of just collapsed on top of me and I was I guess passed out when the cops came they took him out they took me out and like the next thing I knew it was like
probably 12, 20 hours later, I woke up in a psych ward in, uh, St. Mary's hospital in Waterbury. And you don't remember any of the incident itself. So I have like memories of it. Um, I don't know if it's something that my brain has kind of like pieced together over time, just kind of from what I know of the incident, um, or if it's my actual memory of it. Uh,
But yeah, I mean, I figure what went on in the room. You know what I mean? Do you think that there was like resentment towards your parents? Or do you think it could have happened? Like if your sister was at the house or whoever was at the house, it would have happened? I think anyone would have got it. I mean, I think that's really what it was. I think it would have been whoever was there and then me. I mean, that's probably what it was going to be.
Is it like what people talk about having like those out of body, out of mind experiences? Do you think you went through something like that, that you were just like not yourself, not the real you because of the drug use, because of any medication you were on? Yeah, absolutely. It was it definitely turned into something like that. It was a long time for me to get back to who I was as a person.
So I got arrested. I was in the psych ward at the hospital for a couple of days. I got arraigned. They put me in a 72 hour psych hold at, uh, New Haven County. And then I got immediately sent up to high bond high profile at McDougal. Uh, so McDougal is a level four maximum security prison in Connecticut. And, uh,
Yeah. They, at the time had a unit there for people, your bond had to be over $500,000. Um, and it was, if you were on the news or you had, it was like gang leaders, serial killers, cop killers, like the worst of the worst. Um, and then me. Yeah.
And you're this 21-year-old kid. Yeah, this 21-year-old kid from Newtown. Some of the guys that I still talk to to this day said that I went into the block and my cell was the very, very last one. And at McDougal, it's called the Green Mile because it is like a half-mile strip and it looks like airplane hangars. And those are the units and they're like connector sets. They could keep building up on them if they want to. And they look like big green airplane hangars.
So I'm at the very end of it. And they said that I brought my cart down. And when you walk into the block, I'm sure you're familiar. Everyone starts banging on the doors. Well, people are like, oh, that's him. That's him. That's him. Well, really, that was me. People had just seen me on the news because, you know, I, you know, people knew who my father was because he was like,
kind of big in the community did like blood drives and that kind of stuff. Um, so he, my case was all over the news for a little bit and yeah, they said that I like randomized cell and tried to pull the cart in the cell with me. But, uh,
Yeah, I mean, me going from a psych ward immediately to McDougal, I skipped the jail part. I went right to prison. And I think that kind of led me to being, you know, more of like a convict than a prisoner pretty immediately. Because I had to like man up when I got there pretty fast. At what point do you realize after the incident, are you like, holy shit, I tried to kill my parents? It
It was probably like a good four months, I would say, before I realized like I wasn't going anywhere. It took you four months to realize what had actually happened? Well, my parents were like kind of like on the defense for me. Like they understood that it was like a psychotic episode. And at the beginning, everyone thought that I should kind of like go to like a mental health facility and not prison.
And that kind of fell through just because Connecticut doesn't do that. It is really hard to do that. You would have to go to trial and plead insanity. And then it's on the defense. So it's on you to prove your insanity. It's no longer on the prosecution to prove your guilt. So we did not go that route. And, you know, I fought my case for almost three years. I was unsentenced because I was trying to go home.
And my family was fighting for me, but it was really the state that picked it up. And I got sentenced to 18 years suspended after nine to serve with three years probation. So I had nine years at 85 percent and then three years probation after that with nine years hanging. When's the first time you speak to your parents after you tried to kill them?
And my mom had like secretly got me a letter probably like a month or so afterwards. But at the time, like you couldn't get money on your books or anything like that unless somebody was on your visiting list. And you can't have someone who's on your case on your visiting list. So my dad actually had to go to court against DOC to get approved to be able to get on my visiting list so he could send me money and I could call him and that kind of stuff. So it was a good about six months. I was like...
On my own six months. No support. No money. No money on my books. Nothing Is your other family cutting you off too because of what you did nobody I I would call somebody click click click So no friends click everyone gone So what's that first conversation like then with your family or with your dad when you do see him in prison? I just said i'm sorry. I mean, what do you say? I mean, what does he say to you?
He said he loved me and that I was his son and that he would always love me. And, you know, that I had issues that I needed to work on, obviously, you know. And, you know, it was tough. It was tough to see him, you know, because he's got like a—my dad's got a diesel scar. Like, he got like a dander of like $1.50 to his neck. You know what I mean? How close were they to dying from this accident?
Like less than an inch less than an inch. Yeah, it was he got he literally got cut right next to his jugular And he was still able to restrain you while bleeding They said like the whole bedroom was covered in blood. That's insane It was like literally something out of a horror movie. So You get sentenced you take this deal you get sentenced you avoid trial. Yeah, and
What's that like post sentencing feel like for you in prison? When you find out how much because when you're in waiting you like you never know you could be there for a day You could be there for a year. You could be there for ten years, but you're finally sentenced What's going through your mind? It's time to man up, you know, I was still pretty young and you know, I
My drug use started so young that, you know, it was scientifically, you know, I'm sure you know, too, that your brain stays kind of where you are when you start using. And I had a really young mentality and, you know, like some like gang stuff was after me when I was first in there. And so, you know, I had the opportunity to get put down and, you know, luckily I said no. And, you know, I kind of like wrote on my own. You're sober at this point, too.
Yes. When I'm in high bond, I'm sober. But like during my bid, I fucked around. You know what I mean? So because I went right up to McDougal and that's like a prison and the kind of people I was with, I learned how to bid and jail and all that stuff like right away. And you're this 21-year-old white boy moving around. Right. Yeah. So once I finally was able to get like money on my books and stuff, I was, honestly, I was golden. So somebody showed me kind of like,
how to be a bookie and like run tickets and stuff like that. So after I got sentenced and I got moved over, um, it was actually, it was pretty lucky. So I got sentenced and I stayed in the same prison. So all the CEOs kind of already knew me. I had had a job as a tierman, um, in the block I worked on. So I had pretty free movement within the jail. Uh, so I was able to like start making moves. Um, and I had a good job and,
That was, you know, allowed me to have like some real freedom in prison and really be able to like bid while I was in there. Now at your sentencing hearing, do your parents speak against you or they speak on your behalf? So I said that when they offered me the deal and I said I would take it that
I wanted to be sentenced right then and there. I didn't want to come back to court because if you know anything about a court trip, it is a fucking nightmare. You're up at two o'clock. So a court trip in Connecticut, they wake you up at two o'clock in the morning so you can like shower or whatever. And then they put you in the bullpen up to like a,
up in like the waiting area but you don't get picked up till like eight o'clock in the morning and then you ride a bus all day and it's like you don't get back till midnight it is a nightmare so and you're eating ham and cheese sandwiches yeah right so i said i said sentence me right then and there my dad was always at my court dates so like uh he said something real quick i said something real quick and we wrapped it up and let's uh let's move on so i will say this that
We were told that once I did like a third of my time that I'd be able to put in for a sentence modification and everyone was kind of on the same page with, you know, I go in there, I do the right thing and I stay out of trouble that my modification would get approved. The problem was about six months, maybe a year after I got sentenced, my judge was playing golf. I got stung by a bee and died.
So when I put in a sentence modification, it would have to go to a different judge and no judge was willing to give me a sense of modification because it would overrule his ruling and he was no longer there. So I ended up doing almost my entire bid and not being able to get a sense of modification. What about your sister? What's the relationship like with her at that point in time? Oh, I have none. I've never talked to my sister.
She never said... So after the incident, after the stabbing, you never heard from her? I talked to her one time. So my grandpa died a month after this. So... While you were in prison. While I'm in prison, my dad got out of the hospital, went to go see my grandpa. When my dad got home, my grandpa died. So...
Yeah, that's what happened. And you talked to your sister? Yeah, real quick. She said, yeah, dad's okay. Grandpa died. Click. And it's been about 13 years and I've never talked to her. Do you remember what the last conversation was like with her besides that one phone call?
It was pretty cool. I mean, I had a really good relationship with my sister at this point. You know, she was about to get married and, you know, she had, you know, her her fiance, now husband. They have three wonderful kids who I would love to meet and be able to know. And, you know, I've really worked hard to, you know, turn my life around and do really awesome, positive stuff.
And she just still does not want to hear it. What was the general like consensus around town? Like I'm sure you heard of what they were saying on the news, what articles were saying, what type of outreach was out there for your dad and your mother? Sure. So the community really reached out for my dad, especially my synagogue because he wasn't able to work. He wasn't able to do anything. He was in like ICU for some time. They had to do a real serious surgery to rebuild his neck.
Uh, so they did a big blood drive for him and they did, um, like money donations and he got his own apartment, uh, because they had to give up the house. The, I guess the house that we were, that they had rented was like ruined from the bedroom being covered in blood. Um, which I guess my sister had to clean up and I think she holds that against me. Uh, so yeah, my dad was on his own. Cause like I said, my mom bailed, uh, he was in the hospital still and she hit the road.
And that's they got a divorce and they've been apart since. Do you think regardless of that incident happened or not, they were going to get a divorce? They should have. Their their life was not very happy. I mean, honestly, I still take a lot of blame for that. I think my drug use and, you know, kind of tearing apart my family through that.
uh led to a lot of their issues and I think my dad was really resentful to my mom about what she did while I was younger like giving me pills and that kind of thing because it's also not just on you I mean you're a kid getting pills by the mother yeah so it's not it doesn't just fall on you on that aspect and there should have been more you know treatment for you or mental health you know treatment and it's not it's not really like a talked about thing they were kind of just like shoving it out of the way for you well I mean it was a different time back then
I mean, it really was the difference between, you know, 2023 and 2010, you know, drug addiction and treatment. Suboxone was a new drug just coming out. People weren't really sure how to treat it. And like I said, you know, coming from Newtown, being like a suburban wipeaway, just going in and out of rehab, that's just kind of what was happening to a lot of people back then. And it was just...
It was more ignored than it should have been. So let's turn to your prison sentence. Sure. We hear a lot about what happens to inmates that harm children that are in prison.
We don't ever hear about what happens to an inmate that tries, that's a child himself that tries to harm their parents. Sure. What is that like for you? Are you bullied? Are you picked on? Are you having a hard time? Is your, are they idolizing your case? Do they not like you for it? What are the dynamics? Sure. So some people thought my case was pretty crazy. So they looked at me like, um,
like a monster kind of thing. Like I was a real crazy psycho kind of guy. Um, some people tried to like roll up on me and extort me and whatnot. But, um, like I said, I, at a young age or like in high school, I would learn to not be about that. So I'm one that I will, you know, if you're going to try and do something to me, I'm going to, I'll bang out with you right away and I'll just end it right then and there because I'm
you know, unfortunately what you see on TV sometimes and that kind of stuff is true. Like you need to hit the biggest guy sometimes and make a statement because you know, you'll get left alone. Uh, but as more information came out, so, you know, a lot of times people didn't know what my case was and then they would find out and it would kind of like blow their mind a little bit. Uh,
And it still does today. You know, lots of people don't know my cases or the law. I was in trouble and then find out and just, you know, the kind of person I am now, you know, talking to me, you would...
probably never think that I would be capable of doing something like that. Are you still actively on medication too in prison? Is it easy access? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, describe that process of like how you get the medication and whatnot in prison. Sure. So they actually took care of my medication and mental health pretty well while I was in there. I saw somebody at least once a month. Uh, they tried me on a couple of different medications. Uh,
Some of them were really bad. They put me on some medication called Respirodal and it made me gain 100 pounds when I was in there. The first eight months, I went from 170 to 260 in stretch marks, huge fat, nasty. It was bad.
Uh, and all I was doing was eating ramen and depression and all that kind of stuff. Um, so all I did was eat and sit on my bunk all day and just put on crazy weight. Uh, it wasn't really until I got sentenced and realized that like, this is going to be my life. I need to like make this positive, uh,
that, you know, my medication had gotten changed because of my complaints about what it was doing to me, you know, like weight wise. And they put me on something that I still take today. It's a really good medication. It really keeps me pretty mellow. It's a
mood stabilizer. And yeah, it keeps me pretty, pretty level. Now, you're saying that they only had someone like see you or sit down with you once a month. That doesn't seem like a lot for someone that just, you know, went through this like psychotic break episode type of event. It seems like the prison didn't necessarily try to give you more needs in that way.
No, honestly, I still feel like I should have been in a mental health facility. The prison did not provide the kind of mental health services
that, you know, someone who, you know, did what I did would try to, you know, would need, you know, you know what I mean? Uh, it was a lack of care. Uh, they should have seen me more, but can compared to other people, I was seen more than anyone. So it was the best I could get, which is pretty sad. And then, yeah. Yeah. How long did it take you to develop a routine in prison?
and get like acclimated adjusted. Sure. I really wasn't until I started getting like some, my own money, uh, that I was able to do some stuff. So I had a pretty good celly when I first got locked up. It was a Spanish kid from Hartford and he looked out for me. He let me like watch his TV and he would like feed me sometimes. And he,
introduced me to the counselor who got me like a job so I could make my little like $1.50 a day. And then once I kind of got some of my own stuff, then I was able to start making some moves. But really, it wasn't until I got sentenced that I said, you know, it's time to buckle down. You know, I want to be in shape. I want to go to school. I want to do everything that I can because you got to remember at this time at the beginning of my sentence, I thought I was going to be getting a modification. So I was going to be...
how I'd already done almost three years of my time. I figured I'm only doing a couple more years and then I'm going to get out because of my modification. So I was signing up for, you know, um, correspondence courses for school. Uh, and, uh, I ended up getting my personal trainer certification. Uh, I got some credits through courses. I did like all that kind of stuff while I was locked up. Um,
and then towards the end of my sentence, I actually was in the, uh, governor's unit at Cybulski in Connecticut, which is a special unit that you have to apply to be in. Um, they have people that go leave the prison and go to like an actual college every day. Uh, they have computers and sorts of all sorts of different stuff that, uh, normal prisoners can't get, but it's, um,
much more rigid, strict environment, but it's to prepare you to go home. So I try to take any advantage that I could get while I was in there. But while I was doing that, you know, I was still hustling and bidding while I was doing that. What was the food like in a Connecticut state prison? Trash, you know, normal prison food. Some of it's edible, some of it's not. Do you have like a favorite meal?
I like the meatloaf. The meatloaf. Meatloaf sandwiches like that. It's not even real meat. Honestly, the best thing you can ever get is the cold cut sandwiches because you can always rely on a cold cut sandwich. It's not going to be messed with. I learned to appreciate the cold cut sandwich in prison. Yeah, so I'll still eat a bologna sandwich on white bread at home sometimes or make some ramen and wrap when I'm feeling down. I had ramen for the first time since prison in January. I made like a Tik Tok.
video of it. Oh, really? Yeah. It's a good basic ramen. Sure. It brings back a lot of memories. Well, I see the commissary cook-off that you have, and I told my wife, I said, I got to get on it because I will destroy that commissary cook-off. I can make anything out of commissary cook-off. Well, definitely got to have you on the show. Sure. Prison hustle. What do you start getting into while you're in prison to kind of like pass the time? I was a bookie. Okay.
I learned that pretty quick. What are the ins and outs of being a bookie in prison? Sure. So in Connecticut prisons, it's kind of standard knowledge that the way it's ran is football tickets will be all the games. There's no half spreads and it's a pick four. So anything is always a pick four. So it's a pick four, pays 10, a pick five pays 15, a pick six pays 20. So you're trying to hit a parlay. And it's basically parlay tickets that you hand out to everybody, uh,
And they come, drop off soups, food, whatever. And if they hit, then you win 10 times, 15 times, 20 times your money back. But it's really hard to hit a 14 parlay. And honestly, coming home and learning sports betting as a real profession, it's so crazy how it's run in there. But it's really a standard procedure across all Connecticut State prisons. You will not have somebody being like an actual bookie bookie
Um, I did, I would take a bet from anyone. Uh,
Um, but I ended up like starting to talk to COs about gambling and, you know, I was pretty sharp. Um, and the skills I learned in there directly translated to what I do now professionally. Were you making money in there off of this? Oh yeah. How much are you making? I had cells. I was renting cells from people because I had so much food. So what I would do is like, if I had like $300 in food, I would say, send me 150 on my books. I'd give you that. And I keep the cash.
Uh, and then I would use the cash for whatever. Um, you know, there was a point I was, you know, I would get high here and there on Suboxone and, and, you know, that was the main thing in prison. Um, just because it's easy and it's the littlest piece will get you high, but it was never enough to like catch a habit or anything in there. Um,
But yeah, I mean, I partied, you know. And no one's fucking with you that you're this kid running this like business in prison, giving you a hard time. Well, my case kind of protected me a little bit because they knew not to. Because people thought I was like crazy. Like, yeah, if this kid stabbed his fucking parents, what's he going to do to you? You know,
And I've actually said that to somebody. So, you know, I was aware of my situation. And, yeah, I use it to my advantage sometimes. Yeah, it's interesting because me and you went in at the same age but have very different experiences. Like they would try me because I'm just like this white collar, you know, kid in there that probably looked exactly like you did when you first went in. Yeah, absolutely. We look pretty similar. Yeah, so...
that's funny that you had a different experience did you have like a prison nickname at all
They used to call me just the Jew. The Jew. I swear to God. That's how they referred to like all Jewish people in prison. And it'd be, I would honestly, I'd be like walking down the tier with the rabbi and it'd be, someone would be like trying to put in a ticket with me and be like, Hey Jew, Hey Jew. And I'd be walking with my rabbi down the tier. And it just, um, on that note, did you get special privileges for being Jewish in prison? Cause in the feds, you know, being Jewish in prison, it's,
equates to power. Oh, for sure. They have a lot of connections. So what kind of things were you able to get, you know, done or pulled off because you were Jewish and had those rabbi connections? So I was only able to be at certain facilities. So I knew if I got in trouble that if I got shipped out, they would have to bring me right back. So I was always at a good prison. So I would never have to worry about being at like one of the really old ones with no AC or like the, like those kinds of ones. I always was able to be at some of the better prisons and,
But it wasn't until an Orthodox Jewish guy got into the prison system that he used his connections to really revamp the Jewish prison system. And then we got some better treatment, but they really, there isn't much to do as a, like the lonely Jew in Connecticut prison. I was like, there was nobody else fighting for it. So they could really brush me off. How much time do you end up doing? And when do you get out?
I did almost like seven and a half years of something like that. So what I got 2006, 2007, early 2007. And how old are you? Like 27, 28, something like that. 2017. Sorry. What was life like for you when you got out? I mean, you miss like some of the best years of your life, that 21 to 28 age group. How hard was it to adjust? Well, when I got into the halfway house, um,
I'll say this. So right before I got out, I was in the governor's unit in Cebulski. So when you're in that, you're kind of supposed to get special treatment and be able to get placed in halfway houses earlier because you're doing these extra programs and you're showing that you're ready to go home. And they
They were really like shitting on me and not letting me do this. So my dad knew somebody that used to be at central office for DOC who was like a real high up for the commissioner there. And my dad got a meeting with...
the deputy commissioner for DOC who ended up coming down to the prison to see me to talk to me about what was going on because I wasn't able to get in the college program. They weren't letting me get outside clearance. And I knew they were denying me all this stuff because really it was because of my case. They said it was because of like health reasons and like I have a bad back or whatever, but it wasn't. It was because of my case, they didn't let me do anything.
So this deputy commissioner comes down to the prison. They call me to the warden's office. I talked to him two weeks later. I'm out. I'm at a halfway house in Hartford. And I had it sweet there. So everything was set up for me. So when I got home, I went right to the halfway house. And the next day I was already at a job,
I was working for the program that I was at in Cebulski. There's a second chance alliance. It's a college program that comes into prisons and runs classes. The lady that runs that gave me a job as an office administrator for her. So I had the job right away when I came home and I was already signing up for classes at a community college. So the next day I was out. So I went from
Going to prison at 21 and now I'm out in the world. Now there's iPhones and wireless stuff. And I'm kind of freaking out the first couple of days, like straight panic attack. I don't know how to use anything. It was rough coming home originally, like just the tension of being out.
It was a lot. It's a lot to handle. Are you still actively seeing like a therapist or anything at this point? Yeah. So when I was in the halfway house, they said I had to. But like it was weird. So full disclosure, I was so I got put on a marijuana card.
when I was in the halfway house. The halfway house I was originally at was a half federal house and half state house. That's how I was when I was there. Sure. So because I was on a medical marijuana card at a fed house, they had to move me because it's federally legal and they contract issues or whatever. So they moved me and I
I get to the next halfway house and I get a phone call and it is somebody from the other halfway house. Uh, and it was one of the counselors, uh, who I ended up having like, uh, kind of like a long-term affair with one of the counselors from the original halfway house. I was at while I was at the other halfway house.
So because of that, I had a really sweet that I could pretty much do anything I wanted because she had my back. And that's so not like the average person that goes to the halfway house because the halfway house is the worst experience ever for a lot of individuals. It really is. You're definitely very lucky you got a good experience. I didn't get drug tested. I didn't get I got passes to go to the movies with my parents. My dad could come like pick me up and take me out.
But that's a dangerous slope too. That could have been setting you up for failure if you were getting back into drugs and everything like that. I got a marijuana card. Like the week I was out after prison, I found out I could get a card. I got a card and I was on it like that. And no one's, you know, there's red flags aren't being raised. Hey, this kid had a, you know, a psychotic break from drugs. You know, we need to make sure he's not following this path. There really, it was really, it's been on me to make sure I keep my shit together.
That's a lot of pressure to be on someone, to go through what you did and then get out and have that. That's got to be pretty terrifying. I mean, it has been. Honestly, I still deal with some issues now, like memory issues of what happened in the time period I came home. I think it was just so much sensory overload that there's blocks of time I have missing from living in Hartford and stuff that I just don't remember because...
you know, so the thing with the counselor ended because I met my, um, now wife who is much better choice than having an affair with a counselor from halfway house. Uh, and, um,
now I'm getting out of the halfway house and like getting my life together. And, um, now I'm like, I have an apartment in Hartford and I was like in and out of the halfway house because I was going to school. I had a job and I never failed drug tests. So I was out pretty fast. So you never went back to live with your family or anything like that? Nope. What's your relationship like with now your parents? And I know you said your sister's non-existent. So with your parents at this point, after you get out of the halfway house, um, it's great. I see my dad all the time. Uh,
We've really worked on a relationship. And I would say, you know, we're probably closer now than we ever have been before. Honestly, my family was in such a toxic situation.
You know, all around the board. My dad had a really shitty job at the time. So did my mom. My sister was kind of MIA from our family. And I think the incident really just shattered everything and let everyone rebuild their lives how they saw fit.
And my mom actually is now remarried to her first husband. She got married when she was 18, right out of high school. And she's now remarried to this guy. His name's David. He's a really great guy. They've been married for a long time now. And my dad is remarried to a nice lady he met online and
Everyone says life's great. I mean, it's our darkest times that, you know, often bring us to the brightest light like that, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel and bring us to a place that we've never knew existed without experiencing those dark times. Did you ever get to have like a serious one-on-one with your parents or both of them in the room together to like sincerely apologize and just talk about the whole incident? Yeah. And what was that like?
Well, you know, my dad and I kind of had it when I was still in prison. And, you know, what is there to say? I mean, it is just, I'm sorry. I mean, that's all you can say. I mean, I don't think...
The gravity of the situation can really weigh on people sometimes and to understand what it's like to really like almost take the life of your parents is really hard to understand. And it's still really hard for me to deal with sometimes. And it is.
Uh, because I haven't, you know, I wasn't properly maybe managed throughout my prison sentence and maybe I developed things in the wrong way and some, you know, inappropriate, you know, coping mechanisms and things that I should rely on that I, that I don't, that I shouldn't be relying on. Uh,
But yeah, I mean, doing what I did is like a really heavy, dark cloud to carry around. Do you think that the support that your parents have shown you throughout everything is the definition of unconditional love? Yeah, my parents...
We have our issues now as a family, but they're like regular issues. We're more so back to a normal family. But my parents never gave up on me. And because of that, I owe them everything. And that's why I each day get up and try to do the right thing and try to be successful in life and make them proud.
Was it, what about the, like the job aspect of this? Was it hard to find a job given your circumstances? I know you had the job lined up for you, but after that, what kind of challenges have you faced with someone that has serious, you know, felony charges on your record? Are they looking at you differently? Are you being treated differently? Are they not hiring you, uh, based on those charges? Sure. So, uh,
when I was in the halfway house, I worked part time at, uh, the community college is just as like a, like a student worker. Uh, so I worked there three days a week and then I worked at Panera bread a couple of days a week. So they don't really care if you're an ex-con like a sandwich shop, you know what I mean? I was surprised the school would hire you. No problem.
Yeah, they were actually the school was really supportive. I worked in disability services because I use disability services. So they knew my case and my situation. And they knew that before I came home because I was signing up for school while I was still incarcerated. So they kind of knew my situation and they were really great helping me kind of adjust to school life when when I first came home.
So I was doing that and I worked at Panera Bread. And then when I got out of the halfway house, I started working for my father. My dad was the largest subcontractor for Comcast in the nation. And they did the door-to-door Comcast sales.
So I started doing that and I was killing it. I could go to a neighborhood and like flip a whole neighborhood into Xfinity, knock on their door, hit you with the pitch and, you know, turn on you in a second. Problem was I was doing too good. And like their central office saw my name on all these sales and they actually looked me up and saw I had a felony charge.
contacted my dad, told my dad he had to fire me because he didn't disclose that I was a felon and then canceled his entire contract because he did not disclose that I was a felon. So because of me, my dad lost his contract with Comcast. Oh, wow. How'd that make you feel?
uh terrible i mean it took the rug out of out from under my feet because now i have no more income uh you know he'll be stable because he's got other stuff going on but uh did it affect your guy's relationship at all i think he maybe resents me a little bit for it i definitely think his wife resents me for it i don't really have a great relationship with my stepmother right now um but
you know, it is what it is, uh, with that. But he was able to rebuild and now he has a really successful like solar business and whatnot. And he still does that kind of thing. Uh, but it kind of left me in the lurch, uh, of being able to, you know, fend for myself. So now I'm out, I have an apartment, I have no income. What am I going to do? Uh, so at this point I had started like gambling online a little bit and I had started to learn about sports betting on the internet. Uh,
Because that's what you did it for the previous ten years your life. I was a bookie you right So now I'm learning how to really bet I honestly because I had never gambled before I went to prison So now I'm learning how to really like bet on sports in real life And I'm you learning how to like bet on offshore sports books and whatnot And I started working with some people on social media To build what's called like a Twitter book? So it'd be like a paperhead service
and I was playing with a certain paperhead, and the guy that was running it no longer wanted to. And then at the time, I just wanted to be more involved, maybe do some graphics and that kind of thing for him, maybe some affiliate work to make some extra money to bring in players for him. And the kid happened to live in Boston, and I went up and met him, and I ended up taking over his sportsbook, and we were running a social media sportsbook project
out of my house in Hartford for like almost a good year. We took them from like 50 to like 300 players and we were moving like five, 10 K a day through like Venmo and PayPal and stuff like that. Is this illegal or? Oh, it's totally, totally offshore. Yeah. Running crypto, you know, cash app, PayPal kind of sports book for somebody. And we're having a ball. Yeah.
and that's what I started doing. So that's how I got involved with sports betting, um, offshore. So, um, that sports book started to get really successful and the owner ended up being like a real scumbag and didn't want to pay people in the end. Um, so that kind of got shut down, but I had started to make connections with people in the industry, uh, because of our growth. And I met a real sports book that was operated offshore, uh,
and they ended up hiring, uh, myself and my wife to run their social media. So we started doing the same thing for them. Uh, and then they really started to explode and then they ended up getting bought out by a much larger sports book. Um, and that kind of brings me to 2020, a couple of years after being home, uh,
I now have a job offer to move to Costa Rica to run a sports book. All expenses paid, everything, you know,
top dollar like living the life down in Costa Rica or running a sports book all based on something you learned in prison all based off of what I learned in prison uh and the skills that I learned from my wife and social media she's like a beast doing that kind of thing so we are a team and we do social media marketing and management for gambling brands uh all across the industry now um but we originally started doing stuff offshore um
And it's 2020. We get married at the beginning of March and we got married at the courthouse and we had a nice, lovely little wedding. And I got on a plane and left the next day. I was supposed to be gone for like a month to three months to get things started. And then we were supposed to split our time between Costa Rica and the States just then that we were going to be living the life. You know, it was a dream job. I had a whole team under me down there. I had a driver and, you know,
taking you to the fancy restaurants and like it was really, really awesome. And then COVID hit literally the day of our opening was the day they canceled March Madness and then the rest of sports. So I ended up coming back to the country because we were didn't know if I was going to be able to get back into the country or what was going to happen.
Uh, and the sports book ended up dying because the owners didn't believe in COVID. They had massive family loss and like a lot of people in their family died and they shut everything down. Uh,
But luckily, we were able to turn that into a kind of a better job for ourselves, working with some marketing companies in the UK and some other stuff like that to grow our own brand and our social media capabilities within the gambling world. And now you guys have a whole business based off of that. Yep. So we do all sorts of social media, marketing, graphics, creative video for sports bettors, sports books, sports analytics places. And then I write for
a couple of different publications and I host a soccer gambling podcast. What I like about, you know, you and your story is that you like, like me and like a lot of individuals out there, you go through a really, you know, shitty experience. And even if,
you know, you take that aspect out of it. You go through that and you end up in prison and you're able to find something along your journey that you could turn into a positive experience. And you have to look at it like if you had never went to prison, uh,
As awful as what happened to your parents was, had you never had been to prison before, you wouldn't be where you were today having this company and building something. You might not even have met your current wife or have that great relationship that you have with your dad now. So it's always interesting to see
you know, what happens to the individuals that are able to find the negative factors and turn it into something positive? Well, I mean, that's what we have to do. Uh, it,
I know my case is on the far end of the spectrum of craziness, but anyone like yourself who's been incarcerated or you get arrested for any number of things, it is about turning your life into the right thing. Nobody wants to be the guy. I can't tell you how many times I would be in a cell and see somebody come back
that had already went home and it would just make my fucking head want to explode because you see people like get these chances and I knew that I had one chance uh and I had to make the most of it and I think I did you know when I I didn't mention this like when I was in prison like they even had uh Fox News come interview me while I was in prison because I was doing a yoga program and taking yoga classes and they wanted to talk to me about how that turned my life around and uh
you know, honestly, uh, yoga and meditation really did help flip my life around. Why not? When I was in prison, that was like one of the big things I was into, um, and exercise and doing all those things. And I knew I wanted to come home and like peak physical condition, uh, you know, looking the best I ever did. Uh,
you know, ready to hit the ground running and, uh, to be successful. I had a lot of time to make up for. Have you had any, um, relapses now? Drug relax, relapses at all? Um, so I've had some concerns. Uh, I'm, I'm open and honest. I take methadone. Um, I still do. Um, I actually had a really bad incident. I had a really bad burn. Uh,
and I had like third degree burns on my hand. I was, I'll tell you, I was roasting peeps, you know, that, you know, like the, you know, Easter peeps. I was roasting them and I had them on the skewer and it was about to fall off and the plate was coming and I just instinctively stuck my hand out and these molten sugar peeps melted my hand. Uh,
And like my skin was like totally blistered off and I was in a lot of pain and I was starting to have some concerns. And because of that, I decided to go on another program. So yeah. - That's good that you seek the help. - Yeah, it's better safe than sorry. You know, it is what it is. - Not everyone has the mental capacity to do that though. - I have to be aware of what's going on in my life. I have to be aware of how I'm feeling, how I'm thinking,
you know, cause my darkness is a lot darker than most people's.
You got to know what your demons are and then how to fight them. Yeah. What was it like to date with someone that had a violent criminal record? What is that like to have that on you? Like, I know there are instances where like women like that bad boy image, but you know, not when it comes to like, say a sex offender or maybe even someone that like, you know, killed themselves or killed someone, you know, those are like red flags, right?
So what was it like for you? Did you have similarities with that or? So I was actually really pretty open and honest with, with the girls as me. And I listened to them. When I came home, I had a blister on my thumb from swiping so hard. Uh, when I first came home, I went through that tender face. It was bad. Uh,
But like I said, I was really having an inappropriate relationship with somebody that worked at one of the halfway houses. Who knew what your charge was. Right. And then when I left the other halfway house, there was somebody else there that kind of the same thing happened with. I don't know why these things happened to me. They just did. But my wife now, she, you know...
She's a social, very big on social media and like will Google somebody in an instant and like has those services that can look up your phone number and like all that kind of stuff. So she looked me up pretty much right away. But I was open and honest with her and her acceptance of me is really what, you know, led me to originally, you know, really love her is that she accepted me with open arms and gave me a chance. And, you know, really,
Really, honestly, she fought her family for me and kind of destroyed her relationship with her father and sister for quite some time until they realized that I wasn't a monster because that's what happened. Part of her family really thought I was a dangerous individual. Yeah, I mean, I was in a relationship, my first real relationship post-prison, and it was definitely hard to get the parents to trust me or to look at me because when you're labeled...
on the internet when you have a public case, people are automatically thinking you are that person who made those mistakes still of the past. And it's really, really hard to get away from that mentality. I mean, like I'm lucky now that I have a platform and I could put things in that direction. But had I still like stayed with Whole Foods or wherever I was working, had I never did like if I decided not to do an HBO document or whatever, and I just...
had those previous articles that were just controlled by what the news wanted to put out there about me, it would have been very difficult. Like with dating, whatever, because it makes me look like a piece of shit. Sure. But now I'm able to control that narrative because I'm putting out, you know, I want to tell my story and I have a platform now that can't be taken away from by like the news media in that sense. Like if they...
posted an article saying Ian Bick was a scam or whatever. I now have a platform to rebuttal that with and not a lot of people have that ability to do that, which is why I think it's important to have the show, have individuals like you come on and share your story so people can look at you're not the mistakes of your past and there's a redemption aspect to it. It's super important. Yeah.
What's your plan to make peace with your sister? Do you think that can ever be found? I always say I just want to show up at her house one day.
you know, uh, I'm not on probation or anything anymore. So if you want to call the cops on me at this point for showing up your house, they're just going to tell me to leave. So I'm not really worried about that. Uh, but I respect my parents' wishes and they asked me not to. Um, I asked my parents to pass along the messages that, you know, I love her very much. And like, look at all the cool, successful stuff I'm doing. You know, I'm really lucky that right now I work for a company that, uh,
really supports what I do and really supports my success and my growth. I had a really bad experience recently with a company that was really excited about making me their social media manager. And as I was reading my contract, they deleted the contract, the website page, it like disappeared as I was reading it. And then I got an email that said, "Oh, we no longer decided to go with you." 'Cause I'm assuming they Googled me in that time period and canceled my contract.
And really, I mean, that kind of stuff hurts. It does. I put a lot of work and effort into being really good at what I do. And what I did almost 13 years ago now has nothing to do with me running social media for a sports betting entity. And I'm sure every four,
former inmate can relate to you in that sense. Cause it, cause it's there, you know, especially when you have a case that was high profile and, and was in the public eye on that level. And it sucks, man. It really does. And you know, when those things happen, you just gotta, you gotta stay hopeful. You know, you don't want to get off like the beaten bush with that. If I did that every time I'd be, you know, going backwards. Cause
that happens a lot. Bad shit happens every day and people are going to judge you. But you just got to keep doing your thing and keep pushing forward. What would be your message to someone that's in your shoes, someone that was struggling or is struggling with their mental health in high school right now, or someone that goes through a crazy situation that the average person wouldn't be able to find redemption within? What's your message to that person? You got to reach out.
Uh, you gotta find some sort of outlet to let somebody know what is going on with you. Um, you know, cause like I said before, like I said, like my, my darkness is darker than most, you know, um, I have learned, you know, honestly, just recently, um, that it's better to just be open and honest about how you're feeling. Um,
Because it's okay to ask for help and it's taken me a long time to learn that you know being in prison really made me kind of swallow a lot of my emotion and
Because you don't want to show that in there. You want to be solid and, you know, you want to be, you know, you know, tough and, you know, you can't be, you know, you know, sappy and whatnot in prison. You know what I mean? So when you come home and you need to be able to sometimes it's OK to to not feel OK sometimes. But when you feel like that, you need to talk to people.
Absolutely. Jacob, thank you for coming on locked in with Ian Bick today. It's been great talking to you. I think you have a really good message. I'm excited to, you know, share your story with the world and I wish you the best of luck and your future projects and everything you got going on for yourself. Thanks. This has been great. Uh, make sure to follow me on Twitter and Tik TOK at pick management. Uh,
Um, if you guys are looking for sports betting advice and articles, I just did a really great final four article. Um, you know, you could find me all over the place right now. Awesome, man. And I'm sure the audience will see on the commissary cook off real soon. Oh, I'm going to kill it.