JamesG
04-18-2011, 05:12 PM
VIDEO: "Prison Break's" Lane Garrison Says Jail Was His "Worst Nightmare"
Apr 18, 2011
by Rich Juzwiak
On Monday's episode of "Today", "Prison Break's" Lane Garrison discussed his 22-month jail stay with Matt Lauer. It was billed as Garrison's "first sit-down" interview since getting out of jail in April 2009, which differentiates it from the stand-up interview he did with TMZ earlier this month.
He said he "absolutely, 100 percent" deserved to be in jail, and that he's using himself as an example of what not to do.
We're here now with the story of Lane Garrison, an up-and-coming Hollywood star who made one tragic mistake. It resulted in the death of a 17-year-old boy and a real-life stay behind bars for one of the stars of the hit series "Prison Break".
He's here for his first sit-down interview since his release from prison.
Lane Garrison, Good Morning.
Now I want people to understand that you were actually released from prison back in 2009. You've tried to remain quiet and stayed under the radar for a while, so why did you decide to speak out now and do this interview?
I think that part of it was once you do an amount of time it takes a while to adjust back into society and I wasn't really ready to speak to anyone. Out of respect for the family I didn't want to say anything, but I knew as people were asking me more questions that eventually I was going to have to talk.
I felt like there were just blurbs mentioned about me, like I would say something about prison and people are like 'oooo, Lane complains about jail and says it was hell' and it was but that was only a piece of the message.
The message was 'Hey, if you don't want to go what I just went through, if you don't want to have a family feeling that pain that they just went through, then don't drink and drive'.
When you look back on that night of the accident there were so many bad decisions made then... is it fair or unfair to say that as a young and rising star that you felt invincible?
Well I think for me since I've been through so much, I have lost both of my parents already, I felt that nothing else as bad could possibly happen to me. I'm on a course that it's going to be great.. life is going to be great from here on out.
I think the message is simple here regarding drinking and driving that most people don't have the intent to hurt somebody, but it happens and it can happen to anybody. For me, I mean look at the decisions that I made that night.. they were poor and my judgment was poor.
And you know it was just 26 minutes from the time I met them at the party up to the accident.
I think that when you went to court that a lot of people thought that you were going to have this excuse and that excuse.. it wasn't my fault...
But you stood up in court and said 'I am guilty' and I think that that possibly started a transformation in your own life.
Absolutely. I think that it was the first time that I actually became a man when I accepted responsibilty.
I grew up by my father who said that when you make a mistake or bad decision that you man up and take responsibility. The minute that I decided to do that, I mean most people speculated that I would fight it, the minute I decided to plead guilty is when I changed my life as a man.
You've talked about your time in prison and said that it was not easy. You were sent to a number of different facilities in a 20 month span.
You said that the 77 days that you spent in L.A. County waiting to be processed was the worst part. Give me a sense of what it was like behind the wall.
Behind the wall in the L.A. County Jail, and if you speak to anybody who's ever done time will say that the fact that you made it out of there alive is a miracle.
First off it looks like a bomb went off inside, it is your worst nightmare. There are hardcore gang members in there and the guards are pretty hard as well.
Have you witnessed violence behind bars?
I probably witnessed around 300 fights. I had a bunky who was killed, I saw people stabbed and I don't know if they made it or not.
As a high-profile inmate at all of these different facilities why do you think that you were never harmed?
I think that I had a guardian angel watching over me. I truly believe that.
I really don't know why nothing happened to me. I would literally be sitting in the yard and the guy next to me would just get clocked and I was never touched. So it's by the grace of God that I'm sitting here with you today.
I know that you've said that you've prayed for the victim, the 17-year-old every night. The reality is that he's not coming back and you are going to live with this forever.
You're a convicted felon. How do you deal with that?
You don't deal with it. I mean it's always going to be there. I think about it every day for almost every hour.
I try to go on with my life by teaching other people, and helping other people, and reaching out to other people by letting them know that this can happen to you and I don't want it to happen to you.
You've been given a second chance. You're currently on NBC.
What does this mean for you in terms of getting back to some sense of normalcy?
It's a miracle. Going through 8 prisons I never thought that I would make it out, never would have thought I'd see another set.
I'm fortunate enough to get a second chance when a young man doesn't have one and I want to make the most of it. I feel really blessed to be on set and working again.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Lane-Garrison-Jail-Interview-1032004.aspx
Apr 18, 2011
by Rich Juzwiak
On Monday's episode of "Today", "Prison Break's" Lane Garrison discussed his 22-month jail stay with Matt Lauer. It was billed as Garrison's "first sit-down" interview since getting out of jail in April 2009, which differentiates it from the stand-up interview he did with TMZ earlier this month.
He said he "absolutely, 100 percent" deserved to be in jail, and that he's using himself as an example of what not to do.
We're here now with the story of Lane Garrison, an up-and-coming Hollywood star who made one tragic mistake. It resulted in the death of a 17-year-old boy and a real-life stay behind bars for one of the stars of the hit series "Prison Break".
He's here for his first sit-down interview since his release from prison.
Lane Garrison, Good Morning.
Now I want people to understand that you were actually released from prison back in 2009. You've tried to remain quiet and stayed under the radar for a while, so why did you decide to speak out now and do this interview?
I think that part of it was once you do an amount of time it takes a while to adjust back into society and I wasn't really ready to speak to anyone. Out of respect for the family I didn't want to say anything, but I knew as people were asking me more questions that eventually I was going to have to talk.
I felt like there were just blurbs mentioned about me, like I would say something about prison and people are like 'oooo, Lane complains about jail and says it was hell' and it was but that was only a piece of the message.
The message was 'Hey, if you don't want to go what I just went through, if you don't want to have a family feeling that pain that they just went through, then don't drink and drive'.
When you look back on that night of the accident there were so many bad decisions made then... is it fair or unfair to say that as a young and rising star that you felt invincible?
Well I think for me since I've been through so much, I have lost both of my parents already, I felt that nothing else as bad could possibly happen to me. I'm on a course that it's going to be great.. life is going to be great from here on out.
I think the message is simple here regarding drinking and driving that most people don't have the intent to hurt somebody, but it happens and it can happen to anybody. For me, I mean look at the decisions that I made that night.. they were poor and my judgment was poor.
And you know it was just 26 minutes from the time I met them at the party up to the accident.
I think that when you went to court that a lot of people thought that you were going to have this excuse and that excuse.. it wasn't my fault...
But you stood up in court and said 'I am guilty' and I think that that possibly started a transformation in your own life.
Absolutely. I think that it was the first time that I actually became a man when I accepted responsibilty.
I grew up by my father who said that when you make a mistake or bad decision that you man up and take responsibility. The minute that I decided to do that, I mean most people speculated that I would fight it, the minute I decided to plead guilty is when I changed my life as a man.
You've talked about your time in prison and said that it was not easy. You were sent to a number of different facilities in a 20 month span.
You said that the 77 days that you spent in L.A. County waiting to be processed was the worst part. Give me a sense of what it was like behind the wall.
Behind the wall in the L.A. County Jail, and if you speak to anybody who's ever done time will say that the fact that you made it out of there alive is a miracle.
First off it looks like a bomb went off inside, it is your worst nightmare. There are hardcore gang members in there and the guards are pretty hard as well.
Have you witnessed violence behind bars?
I probably witnessed around 300 fights. I had a bunky who was killed, I saw people stabbed and I don't know if they made it or not.
As a high-profile inmate at all of these different facilities why do you think that you were never harmed?
I think that I had a guardian angel watching over me. I truly believe that.
I really don't know why nothing happened to me. I would literally be sitting in the yard and the guy next to me would just get clocked and I was never touched. So it's by the grace of God that I'm sitting here with you today.
I know that you've said that you've prayed for the victim, the 17-year-old every night. The reality is that he's not coming back and you are going to live with this forever.
You're a convicted felon. How do you deal with that?
You don't deal with it. I mean it's always going to be there. I think about it every day for almost every hour.
I try to go on with my life by teaching other people, and helping other people, and reaching out to other people by letting them know that this can happen to you and I don't want it to happen to you.
You've been given a second chance. You're currently on NBC.
What does this mean for you in terms of getting back to some sense of normalcy?
It's a miracle. Going through 8 prisons I never thought that I would make it out, never would have thought I'd see another set.
I'm fortunate enough to get a second chance when a young man doesn't have one and I want to make the most of it. I feel really blessed to be on set and working again.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Lane-Garrison-Jail-Interview-1032004.aspx