Lou Charlestin grew up in the streets young and never really had a way out. In high school, he got charged with an armed robbery, was tried as an adult, and spent 2 years in prison before he was even fully grown. When he got out, he slid into life as a male escort while still hustling in the streets, chasing fast money and living a double life. One night everything crossed the line........a violent situation that left someone dead and Lou facing a murder charge. The case later got dropped down to assault and manslaughter, but he still ended up with a 7-year sentence in Connecticut state prison.

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Ameer Williams greets you with a smile and a badge but behind that badge are 13 felonies and 4 years in prison. He went from hustling and selling drugs on the streets to becoming a police sergeant in Connecticut, and in this episode he pulls back the curtain on how the system let him through, what prison really did to him, and what it feels like to wear a uniform in the same world that once locked him up. This is an honest conversation about second chances, broken justice, and the thin line between criminal and cop...... and if you think you know what a police officer looks like, you haven’t heard this story.

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00:00 Ameer: From Felon to Police Officer

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James Famiano grew up with parents battling addiction and knew from a young age that he wanted to become a cop and escape the chaos he was born into. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, James breaks down his more than 20-year career with the NYPD, working across multiple boroughs, from the streets as a Brooklyn narcotics detective to handling some of the darkest cases in the Special Victims Unit. He shares stories from inside New York’s war on drugs, the toll the job took on his mental health and family, and what it’s really like to chase criminals while trying not to become one of the broken people he grew up around.

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Eric King was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after trying to firebomb a government building with Molotov cocktails, but the real story is what happened once the cell door slammed shut. In this episode, he breaks down how a politically motivated arson case turned into nearly 8 years in solitary confinement, brutal clashes with staff, and a fast-track transfer into America’s most notorious federal supermax, ADX. From the mindset it takes to target the government, to the moment he realized he might never see general population again, Eric gives an unfiltered look at control units, isolation, and life in a place built to break you. If you’ve ever wondered what actually happens to “the worst of the worst” once they disappear into the federal system, this conversation is your inside look at the cost of that choice.

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Jason Abreu grew up in a good family, on track to become a lawyer, until the recession blew up his plans and pushed him into the New York City nightlife scene. What started as legit nightclub promoting slowly turned into moving drugs through NYC clubs, big money, fast nights, and a double life he thought he had under control. Then undercover cops took him down, and Jason was sent to New York state prison. He got out, went right back to the game, and got caught again, earning a second trip upstate. In this episode, Jason sits down with me and breaks down exactly how it happened: the first bad decision, how the nightclub world really works, the rush of easy money, the takedown, and what New York state prison is actually like on the inside, from daily politics to survival

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Anna Delvey sits down with Ian Bick and finally tells the part of her story the world hasn’t heard, not the fake heiress headlines, but the arrest, LA County jail, surviving Rikers Island, doing time in New York state prison, and ending up in an ICE detention center, breaking down the everyday survival, politics, fear, and pressure of prison life that no Netflix series ever showed.

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Dr. Joseph Williams was raised in Brooklyn by his mother and grandmother, but the allure of the streets quickly led him into fighting, selling crack, and a 4-year bid in New Jersey. After returning home and falling back into the lifestyle, Joe committed a brazen movie theater robbery that resulted in a stiff 11-year sentence in New York State prison. In this episode, we dive into how Joe survived the New York prison system, earned his college degree behind bars, and turned his life around to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker dedicated to breaking the cycle of recidivism.

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Thank you to LUCY for sponsoring this episode:

Go to HTTP://LUCY.CO/IANBICK and use promo code IANBICK to get 20% off your first order.

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Jesse Smithers was just a teenager when a street fight turned fatal, forcing him to accept a 10-year plea deal in the Minnesota prison system. In this interview, Jesse breaks down how he survived a decade behind bars only to face a new battle upon release: a system that wouldn't hire him. Pushed back into selling drugs to survive, Jesse reveals how a miraculous case dismissal became the final wake-up call he needed to leave the life of crime behind forever.

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David Bell sits down with Ian Bick to break down his unconventional path through the criminal justice system — from going to law school for tax law and working at a major firm to walking away and joining the Missouri Public Defender. In this episode, David explains why he chose public defense, what it’s really like defending society’s “worst of the worst,” and how that experience reshaped his view of justice. He dives deep into sentencing guidelines, the use of “ghost dope” to inflate sentences, systemic changes in criminal law, and the real differences between public defenders and paid attorneys. Now in private criminal defense practice in Kansas City, David offers an honest, inside look at how cases are charged, sentenced, and defended — and what most people don’t understand about how the system actually works.

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Anthony Milbourne traveled all the way from Australia to sit down with Ian Bick and share his journey into becoming a correctional officer inside an Australian youth prison. In this episode, Anthony breaks down how his life experiences led him to the job, what daily life was really like inside the facility, and the key differences between the Australian and American prison systems — from food, routine, and commissary to discipline and inmate culture. He also opens up about the violent attack he suffered at the hands of inmates, an incident that ultimately pushed him to walk away from the career.

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