‘This Place Is Crazy’: Inside the Walls of Attica

Our mental-health-care system is broken. Ten of every eleven psychiatric patients housed by the government are incarcerated. Here's what this crisis looks like from the inside—a series of lost lives and a few rare victories—as reported by a prisoner-journalist. [ view in browser.   add esquire@newsletter.esquire.com to your address book ]             FOLLOW US       'This Place Is Crazy'   Editor's note: This story was nominated this week for one of the magazine industry's most prestigious awards: an Ellie in the Feature Writing category. Joe Cardo was out hunting for half-smoked cigarettes. From my perch at the white-boys' table of the A Block yard, I watched his eyes scan the patched grass and cracked pavement. Shuffle, stoop, shuffle, stoop. It was evening rec period, May 2015. A warm front had settled over Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York, and prisoners were taking advantage. Days earlier, on the ground where Joe now stood, a Crip had been shanked in the heart and dropped dead like someone hit his off button. I called out to Joe. He snapped up his head and lumbered over. I introduced myself and asked if he'd answer a few questions. "John thinks he's a reporter," said Dave (not his real name), pointing at me. I placed a pouch of tobacco on the concrete table. (Wood, corrections officers learned the hard way, too easily concealed weapons.) Joe's eyes went wide. He was thirty-four, white and slight—five seven, 165 pounds—with a scraggly beard and a two-car-garage hairline. "Oh, man," he said. "Is that for me?" "Yeah," I said. "Then I'll answer whatever you want." READ MORE       Let's Try to Predict Whatever Fresh Hell the Grammys Have in Store for Us This Year   Esquire critic Matt Miller has some bad news for Grammy viewers: There's no telling what the hell the award show is going to do. The only thing consistent about the Grammys, he writes, is that the winners are just as baffling as the artists the Recording Academy chooses to nominate. Nevertheless, here are his best guesses. Read On         For the First Time in His Life, Michael Ian Black Isn't Sure What to Say   Last year, Michael Ian Black drew swift backlash for defending Louis C.K. "I immediately regretted it," he told journalist John McDermott, who spent a day and night in Connecticut with Black for Esquire. The outspoken comedian, actor, author, and podcast host has steered his work toward the topic of men and masculinity—except now, he's not sure what to say. And that's making him nervous. Read On         The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)   We know your to-read list is still growing thanks to all of the great books that came out in 2018, but it's never too early to find new titles to add to the queue. Here are five books out now that have already made our best-of list. Read On         The Tough-as-Nails Diver's Watch That Won't Destroy Your Bank Account   Italian brand Unimatic has bored a hole into my consciousness. The company makes some seriously stylish watches, sells them for a whole lot less than you'd expect, and should certainly be on your radar. And the brand's blacked-out U1-EN BGW-09 diver deserves a place in your collection. Read On         Ted Bundy, Billy McFarland, and the Weaponization of White Male Charm   The charm offensive is a tactic that reinforces power, and many of us are taking the bait, writes Morgan Jerkins, who explains for Esquire how men like Ted Bundy, Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland, and best-selling author Dan Mallory, have morphed the word "charming" from a compliment into a loaded, racialized term. Read On       Unsubscribe •  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2019 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019