Most of the stories that I've produced for Uncuffed have been of a serious nature, often dealing with personal issues of national interest. But this time I wanted to do a lighter, more entertaining story, about gangster arborist Jeffrey Mercado livin' that tree life.
"Being here in prison now, I see a lot of people trying to be gangsters. My mindset is, 'man, I could take you to this spot where I know you won't be gangster, and it's at the top of a 90-foot palm tree.'"
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KALW’s radio training program in California prisons is supported by the California Arts Council, with funding from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The producers fact-check content to the best of their ability. All content is approved by a prison information officer.
Uncuffed is a project in which KALW editors train incarcerated people to report stories from inside prison. A CDCR official listened to and approved the audio for this story prior to broadcast.
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UncuffedLevel 3 Education / Media LabP.O. Box 4000Vacaville, CA95696-4000