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Inside San Quentin Prison: "You Can't Stop the Gangs"

Underworld Uncut

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Robert Ayers spent almost five decades in California Corrections, rising from a rookie correctional officer intimidated by the inmates in 1968 to Warden of San Quentin in 2005.

In this eye-opening interview, he reveals San Quentin's hidden world: violence, homemade weapons, drugs, and the prison gangs that shaped life behind its walls, including the Aryan Brotherhood, Mexican Mafia, and Nuestra Familia.

Ayers explains how San Quentin's unique layout created opportunities for contraband, how prison life and relationships between correctional officers and inmates have changed over the decades, and what it took to run one of America's most notorious prisons. He also reflects on San Quentin's remarkable transformation from a place of punishment to one focused on rehabilitation.

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Originally filmed in 2024 for World's Most Dangerous Prisoners

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20 Comments

@FormerLifer187 11 days ago (edited)

I was a" Lifer" inmate at the Library when Mr Ayres started his second tenure as Warden there and I remember him always treating us with respect, and always talked to us always was accessible, Peace to you Mr Ayers and God bless, I am living the once Impossible Dream here in Budapest my birthplace.

@DM-fs9zg 5 days ago

Robert Ayers, thank you so very much for your lifelong dedication of service to our country and the department of corrections, to me you are one of many real heroes that go unnoticed.

@NorthLongBeachMark90807 1 month ago

I remember Warden Ayers! I served a life sentence in California from 1997 to 2020. I was at San Quentin for 7 1/2 years

@PatriotPrisonNurse 2 months ago

Having worked at San Quentin - this is the best account I've seen. Well done. 💯👍☠️

@MichealShaw-pe4dq 2 months ago

Paroled from there in 09. I'm never going back

@thechi2848 2 months ago

One of the issues with prisons are the staff who helps empower certain prisoners, especially the AB and mexican mafia.

@samtatge8299 2 months ago

Robot guards needed.

@MaryjaneLove 1 month ago

Thank you for sharing 🖤

@bronco1199 1 month ago (edited)

3:24 you can find footage of this riot on YouTube

@peterganse4475 2 weeks ago

I’ll never forget, leaving a weekend in sf with some friends and I was spinning. My buddy pulled over and I was throwing up and when I looked up I saw a guard tower an a sign saying something pertaining to across this line you can potentially be shot. I looked around and said… this is San Quentin, wtf then I hopped in and was like go go go go haha

@jbow1488 1 month ago

WOW. Now that place is Intimidating.
Great interview

@throwball2248 2 months ago

As a teenager they took me to the front gates of SQ and made me touch the gate at the entrance and I looked at that place and knew I would never survive

@wesbennett187 1 month ago

This is a good report. Informative and real. Walking away, don’t commit crime. Prison is hard. Get Your life together and moving forward to learn and respect others. Hope this little message helps. God Bless.

@williammacdonald9271 2 months ago

I knew a gang leader in San Quentin, he was shipped to Pelican Bay for gang activity

@Beblessed-kj2vp 3 weeks ago

This is crazy 🫢🥱

@eyeessee 1 month ago

That was very interesting. Thanks for real content too. Great to see humans and hear human narration.

@WalterLewis-ui8ge 2 months ago

I served two life terms in California's prisons and was once a member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. 58 years. I was the last Aryan Brotherhood member on the general population of San Quentin, that was in 1986.
This is the best interview I've ever come across from someone who really knows what he's talking about.
I wish I could meet this man.