While Boston, Massachusetts maintains its colonial past, it's ranked as one of the world's leading metropolitan areas for education and innovation. In the heart of downtown, however, is a reminder that not everyone is on the right track. In this hour: an old school bank robber maintains his swagger; an inmate with an imaginary friend proves to be a challenge for the jail, and a shocking act lands his sister behind bars, as well.
Boston, Massachusetts is by any standard a world-class city. But ever since its colonial days, some have called it a fighting town. And located in the heart of the city is a place for anyone who does their fighting outside a ring. More than 12,000 people a year pass through the doors of Boston's Suffolk County Jail. And with an average daily population of 2,700 male and female inmates, someone reaches their boiling point virtually every day of the week. For those inmates all too willing to throw a punch... the jail has a special place: The Box. As one inmate says, "Separated from everything so you learn to deal with it. It's called 'The Box Life'."
Over the past ten years, the structure of local gangs has changed and that's had a serious impact on the Suffolk County jail. In this hour: an inmate takes his fights from the street to the halls of the jail, and his boyhood friend follows his example; two brothers turn to crime to support their habits, and now one faces the prospect of hitting the streets again.