During Flingas youth he joined the streetgang “Prowlers” and lived the “rebel without a cause” lifestyle of so many in the early 60s. Music, alcohol and drugs in Lemon Grove Park. It was the time of war in Vietnam and of raising protests. So far it could be a story about any youth in the United States, but life would take a different path for Flinga.
In his book: “Iskallt Och Stenhårt” , Flinga tells his story. A story of life in a streetgang, his service in the Airforce and how he became addicted to drugs, heroin in particular. A story about finding and losing love. Being convicted and sentenced to time in a Texas State Penitentiary after which he lost his wife and children. He recalls the horrors of prison life ending up in a world where humans stoped being treated like humans. A story of prison gangs, murder and riots and a story of the brotherhood he found in isolation for 13 years.
After reading Flingas book I was curious to know what had happened after his release, how prison had influenced his life, and how he felt about being deported to a country he had no affiliation with except on paper.
BakomGaller: Hi Rickard. I would like to start by thanking you for sharing your story in your book and for letting people know how awful the reality of prison life really is. I would also like to thank you for taking the time for this interview.
I found your book while looking for information about the US Prison System. I decided to buy it and give it a chance. I was hooked from page one and not being able to put it down, read it in one day. It reminded me of those stories Hollywood production are based on. You really have to pinch yourself on the arm and tell yourself, ”hey this is real life, not fiction”.
If we can start by discussing something that is somewhat of a weak red line through the book, the gangs. You started ganglife in “Prowlers” and ended up in “Aryan Brotherhood”, a prison gang for whites only. I am interested in hearing your opinion on how gangs are started, what makes people join these different gangs and what life in a gang gives to the individual?. Also I would like to know what “Aryan Brotherhood” stood for and what are your reflections on the time you spent in these gangs.
Rickard Flinga:I joined a gang when I was in high school simply because I wanted to get ‘seen’..to get noticed more for who I hung around with (dangerous guys) then who I, as an individual, really was.
Gangs simply coalesce, usually around a charismatic/dangerous/strong individual whom can put a group of ‘like-thinking’ people together. Not necessarily an alpha male but sort of. All gangs have a strong allegiance to and co-dependency on one another. One for all and all for one. Gangs in prison generally build up around racial lines although some gangs are integrated.
Usually gangs start because a group of like-thinking people dislike a situation or other group of individuals and can deal with the situation more aggressively when in a group. The gang carries with it power: that’s the pay-off.
The Aryan Brotherhood is a racist gang..white power. No real ideology but simply out to make money and manipulate the system the best they can.
I don’t reflect on my gang involvement at all. It was a stupid thing to do and I try and discourage young people from getting involved in gangs in prison or on the street.
Gangs don’t do nice things.
BakomGaller:You describe an enviroment in prison of hard work and punishments beyond what people can imagine. In the book you say that the first time you were in prison you were forced to work in the cotton fields and of the punishment for not filling the minimum limit of picked cotton. You tell of the sadistic and cruel nature of the guards towards inmates.
This is very far from what you would experience in a swedish prison. What was the worst punishment you received, besides the isolation? And has that punishment effected you now?. Do you have anger or hate towards the system or do you accept what they did to you and the other prisoners?
Rickard Flinga:During all the years that I was in prison no one put their hands on me..neither guards or other inmates. I was never beaten or punished in a physical way. I understood enough about the system to know how far you could go before something like that happened. I didn’t put myself in a position to fight the system. You go with the flow if you get my meaning. What the system/guards do to another inmate is the system’s way of illustrating how ‘wrong behavior’ is dealt with. You can hate what they do to people but you have to keep it to yourself.
It was that dangerous.
I’m a fast learner. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t get in trouble but the trouble that I got into was with other inmates..not anything against the guards.
You simply cannot survive in one piece if you start messing with them verbally or physically. They come to work and do their job and I stay as far away from them as I can. If they tell me to do something I do it but they seldom singled me out for attention. Go with the flow. You can’t even begin to change the system without getting hurt.
BakomGaller: From reading your book I get the impression that prison deeply changed you. In the book you describe in great detail tragic events with an almost hard nosed cold approach, it seems without remorse for your actions. One example is how you stab Willie Jones during a riot.
Yet as well as the cold recap of this event is a softer almost sympathetic description of how you “save” a homosexual boy that you were ordered to kill. You save him by cutting his wrist so it would look like he had tried to commit suicide. This seems to indicate two sides of yourself, one loyal to the “Aryan Brotherhood” willing to kill for them yet a stronger sence for this young boys life, enough for you go agianst them.
What was the difference between these two incidents and how has it affected you in life? Do you have remorse or do you look at it as a necessary action to have stayed alive?
Rickard Flinga:No one comes out of the prison experience unaffected. I grew up a lot when I went to prison. I tackled the life problem of who I was, who I REALLY was and that is very difficult for the average person to do or even understand.
I am not a writer. I simply explained the situations as they happened. That was the simplest way to write the book, eller hur (you know)? I don’t have the writing skills of Dickens of Victor Hugo. I don’t know how to romanticize a situation. The reason that I saved thr homosexual was entirely altruistic. I did it for myself..to save myself having to try and kill someone else. The gang leader at that unit simply didn’t understand/ care that I was still awaiting trial on a felony charge and how it would look if I went to my rättegång with a new murder or attempted murder charge. I was sick of the gang and their stupidity. The kid made a mistake, that’s all. Should I take away his hopes and dreams…his memories for that ? No.
The only thing that I am remorseful about was that I wasn’t clever enough to avoid getting arrested in the first place.
BakomGaller:You also describe life in isolation. You spent 13 years under these conditions. Could you tell me how it affected your point of view after you was released? Do you use the experience when feeling isolated today, when trying to focus on life or a problem you face? Can this experience be used for other purpose in life?
Rickard Flinga:I didn’t really have a problem with being in isolation. I enjoyed it. If you understand the kind of idiots that you have to live with in prison you’d see that being by yourself has its advantages. I don’t understand how loneliness feels which is a great advantage. I could easily stay in my apartment that I live in now for months without having contact with people.
BakomGaller:You lost your family and after a long period of time (20 years) you where deported to Sweden. The homeland of your parents who passed away before you could meet them again. What were your first experiences of Swedish society, the problems you faced? What were your expectations and how did they compare with reality?
Rickard Flinga:I had no expectations other than hoping I had someplace to sleep and something to eat. The rest I would fix in short time.
I think that I would have had the same reactions if I had been released in America. Lots of things change in 20 years and if I would have been released in the states I would have NOTICED those changes but when I came here I had nothing to compare with and that made it easier.
BakomGaller: I read on your homepage that you are thinking of leaving Sweden to live in England because life is a bit problematic for you there. The culture is not easy to live in.
What is the biggest problem for you in Sweden? What is it that makes you want to leave? How do people respond to the fact you have spent such long time in a cruel and violent world as prison?
Rickard Flinga:The main reason that I’m thinking about leaving is that I can’t get ‘fast anställning’ doing what I want to do..helping young people. I have recently started my’ eget företag’ (own company) as consult / föreläsare and I’ll see how it goes. The biggest problem that I see with Swedes is that they spoil their children and they can’t confront situations quickly. They have a meeting about deciding a time for a meeting. Swedes are so non- aggressive that the best they can do is ‘gnella’ (complaining) instead of standing up for themselves and making a change. It simply takes Swedes too long to make up their minds.
BakomGaller:How do you use what you have gone through and experienced? Is there anything you could tell an 18 year old who is involved in gangs and doing drugs that will make him change his ways of life?
Rickard Flinga: I use my prison experience whenever I speak with young people. I illustrate what prison can be like but they understand that this is Sweden and not texas. If something that I say to a group of people in a school or a företag during a föreläsning changes their outlook on life then I know I’ve succeeded. What they do with the insight that I give them is out of my control. I only hope that it becomes positive.
//Rickard Flinga
Also visit Rickard Flingas Website Here:
www.rickflinga.se
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