Carl Dukes’ First Day Out
Celebrating 10 years of DJC⏳️
"I went to the board three times, and on a third appearance I made parole after 31 years.”
Carl Dukes - “Plastic Bag” singer and ⅕ of Lifers Groove, shares his hectic first day of freedom and the inspo behind his song “Plastic Bag” off the Die Jim Crow EP. Listen below. Interview originally published in the Die Jim Crow EP Book.
I went to the board three times, and on a third appearance I made a parole after 31 years. At that point, my institutional parole officer made contact with the parole officer that will be handling my case once I'm released, and she set up a three quarter house. I didn't know what three quarter houses were, so I said, yeah okay, we'll try it, you know, because I mean I gotta get out of here one way or the other.
In the meantime I was waiting for an operation of cervical surgery on my neck. I made parole in October [2007]. And I had an out date on the 24th of December… I had this cervical surgery on my neck on December the 5th and December the 11th; the front and back [of my neck.] This was the second operation I had because the first one the surgeon didn't put any prosthesis in to stabilize my neck. So my neck was collapsing.
So I come out of the hospital and they want to put me right into the street. So when the doctor found out that they were ready to release me, he stopped my release. So that's why I went from December to January 22nd, 2008. I was released. When I got out I had this address that I was going to, a three quarter house. When I got there, I had this brace on my neck, and the guy was looking at me and really beating around the bush. In other words, giving me the ride. I asked him, " What's your name?” He told me his name. So I pulled out my parole papers because his name was on my parole papers. I said, “That's your name there?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “So why are you bullshitting me?” He said, “Well, let me call my boss.” At that point I got up, picked up my bag and asked another guy,” How far is the subway from here?”
The reason I walked out is that I don't know who he’s calling, and the thing that came present to my mind is that they don't want to be liable for me with that brace on my neck… So I ended up going to Bedford and Atlantic [shelter]. So I got there maybe…12:30[pm], something like that, and the window that everybody is going to have to go through didn't open until four o'clock. So I'm standing in line, and while I'm standing in line it just reminded me that I've been up since about 4:30 that morning… So I'm standing in line, and I had bought a bag, sort of like a duffel bag that had my property in it, and I saw one of the straps had come loose. So I bend over to put the strap on and almost fainted! I said “Lord, don't let me go out here– I go out here, I won't have no shoes, no money, no bag, no nothing!
That was the neighborhood it was in. And as I know now, the smell of crack on these guys was like… crazy. So I waited, I got up to the line, and the lady says, “What bed you in?” I said, “I'm here to get a bed.” She said, “You from Bellevue shelter?” I said, “No, I'm here to get a bed.” She said, “You gotta go to Bellevue.” So she gave me a paper and she said, “Here show this to the man at the token booth, and they'll let you right in for free.” So I come out, and I'm walking across the street, and a guy sees me coming across the street. He raises his hands to give me like a high five and he slides two dollars in my hand. He said, “Good luck brother!” I guess he must’ve seen me. It's that look– he recognized it right away: This guy just got out of jail!
So I take the train, get off somewhere near 30th street and 2nd Avenue, to get on over to Bellevue shelter. I get there and it was another long wait. I didn't get into bed that night until maybe the next morning, ‘til maybe about 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning. They said in the morning you got to get out– you gotta get out of here… So I goes on out to Ward’s Island. I go out there and they start lookin’ and lookin’ and lookin’ and they come back and say, “You're not in the system.” “What do you mean I'm not in the system?” They say, “Wait a minute.” So I sit, and the shift changed, and I'm still waiting… a man comes down again, “Okay, you got 266.”
I stayed out on Ward’s Island from about the 23rd of January till about March 10th. A friend of mine, his wife would call me on Ward’s Island every night to find out how I was doing! There was a lot of young rowdy guys, they was taking advantage of people that they could…so I said, the first thing I gotta do is hire me some bodyguards – BUT… they're not to know that they're my bodyguards!