‘60 Days In’ Star Tells All On Life as an Undercover Inmate, Exposes Corruption in Prison System
Former corrections officer Mark Din describes going undercover as an inmate for 60 days on A&E's 60 Days In, including jail food, racial segregation, and the changes he says the show has led to at facilities.
About This Episode
What type of person would willingly allow themselves to be incarcerated for 60 days? As a former Corrections Officer and Military Intelligence Officer, Mark Din is no stranger to high-stakes situations. However, nothing could have prepared him for life on the inside when he agreed to be locked up for A&E’s hit reality TV series, 60 Days In.
This week’s episode of Open Mike explores the gritty realities of the American prison system as seen through the eyes of an inside operative whose experiences were recorded and broadcasted on network television. Din discusses everything from racial segregation, to corrupt staff, to abysmal food quality, casting an authentic light on the sometimes bleak conditions endured by the 2.2 million Americans who are currently incarcerated.
Show Notes
- Place welcome our guest, Mark Din!
- Why would you volunteer to spend 60 days in jail?
- Mark’s background in the military and as a corrections officer
- Overall, was it a good experience? What are you doing now?
- Wasn’t the premise of the show to bring you and others in to ferret out fraud, abuse, bad actors in the prison system?
- What was the crime you allegedly committed to be “incarcerated” for 60 days?
- How nerve-wracking and scary was this experience?
- Even though it’s TV, if somebody wants to hurt you, they could, right?
- What were the actual prisoners told about the cameras around the facility?
- Did they ever get wind that you were a plant in there, spying on the system?
- You lasted the whole 60 days… did you get paid well for this?
- How bad is the food in there?
- Did you lose a lot of weight?
- Did you make any friends while you were in there?
- Check out Mark’s Podcast and YouTube channel, Awkward Fist Bump Productions!
- Do you think this series of shows has done anything to make jails safer or more honest?
- Is this more about finding bad guards and loopholes in management or how inmates are getting contraband or other illegal activities?
- If bad guards are being fired, that’s a good change. As well as for other guards around the country, knowing that this show is out there, and they could lose their jobs for corruption.
- Do people recognize you now and come up to you asking for selfies and autographs?
- What was the scariest thing that happened to you in those 60 days?
- You can see Mark on A&E’s 60 Days In, season five!
- Thanks for tuning in to this week’s Open Mike Podcast!
FAQs
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Why did Mark Din go undercover as an inmate on 60 Days In?
Mark Din said he was always intrigued by the show for two reasons: he had been a corrections officer, and his brother-in-law had received a 10-year sentence for armed robbery, so he wanted to see things from the inmate’s side. A&E contacted him, and after about six months of a rigorous application process, including a psychological evaluation, he decided to do it.
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What was the food like during Mark Din's 60 days undercover?
Din said the jail food was terrible and there wasn’t a lot of it. Breakfast came around 3:30 or 4 in the morning, lunch around 10 and dinner around 3, and he said he probably lost about 30 pounds and was hungry all the time.
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What did Mark Din hate most about his time undercover?
Din said he was never really in danger, but what he hated most was that, in a jail where inmates are divided by race, he rose to second in charge of the white jail gang there, which he called a white supremacy organization. He said he had to play the part, but it bothered him because he came from a family that wasn’t racist and from a military where they didn’t see color.
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Has 60 Days In led to real changes at the jails it films?
Din said he thinks some have. In some seasons officers have been fired because of what they did, and he believes 12 or 13 staff members were fired after the latest season. He said facilities are usually able to get things like body scanner systems because participants can show how contraband is coming in, and that the show helps humanize inmates.
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What is Mark Din's podcast Awkward Fist Bump Productions about?
Din said the podcast and YouTube channel cover the good, the bad and the ugly of law enforcement from both sides, with a co-host who did 10 years in prison. Their goal is to mend bridges: showing that officers are not as bad as a lot of people think while acknowledging that there are bad ones.
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