I Spent 25 Years In Prison — It Turned Me Into An Animal | Benjamin McChesney

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 213 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ben McChesney spent 25 years behind bars, serving time in more than a dozen state and federal prisons across the country — from low-level facilities to some of the toughest penitentiaries in America. His story is one of chaos, survival, and defiance. After being accused of stealing several pallets of firearms in what became one of the largest gun heists in his state, Ben went on the run to Mexico for two years before being captured. Acting as his own attorney, he fought multiple cases, beat a federal kidnapping charge, and survived years of violence and transfers across 14 federal prisons. Inside, he ran underground poker tables, fought predators, and lived by his own code. Raw, unfiltered, and brutally honest, Ben’s story exposes the reality of long-term prison life, corruption, and what it truly takes to survive 25 years in the system. #LockedInWithIanBick #PrisonStories #TrueCrime #LifeInPrison #RedemptionStory #RealStories #PrisonLife #SurvivingPrison Thank you to BLUECHEW for sponsoring this episode: Visit https://bluechew.com/ and use promo code LOCKEDIN at checkout to get your first month of BlueChew & pay five bucks for shipping. Connect with Ben McChesney: Youtube: https://youtube.com/@allamericanconvict?si=DLcG3y85Yk9hbX3g Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allamericanconvictofficial?igsh=MTc3bDNhb21qajdnag== Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@allamericanconvic?_r=1&_t=ZT-91HyOZ4qsWr Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5DoYIuib0HYU65WDZpoyLc Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro: From Wyoming State Prison to Federal Time 02:40 – Growing Up in Montana & Florida: Early Chaos Begins 06:00 – Family Life, Childhood Trauma & First Trouble 12:00 – Institutionalized Young: Juvenile Facilities & Reform Schools 19:00 – Early Criminal Mindset: Manipulation, Hustling & Survival 25:00 – Wild Behavior, Theft & the Road That Led to Prison 32:00 – First Adult Sentence: Inside Wyoming State Prison 39:00 – Maximum Security Life: Violence, Chaos & Prison Reality 46:00 – Solitary Confinement, Instigating & Survival Tactics 55:00 – Negotiating with the Warden & Gaining Prison Status 01:00:00 – Released from Wyoming: Back to the Streets 01:08:00 – Federal Case: Conspiracy Charges & Facing the Feds 01:15:00 – Federal Prison Journey: Medium Security to Camp 01:19:00 – Smuggling, Schemes & Controversy in Camp Life 01:25:00 – Fights, Transfers & Federal Prison Politics 01:32:00 – Sex Offenders, Prison Justice & Yard Rules 01:41:00 – Books, Mindset & Turning Life Around 01:46:00 – Beating a Case & Marriage Problems After Prison 01:54:00 – Financial Trouble & Planning a Major Gun Heist 02:03:00 – Gun Heist Fallout, Relationship Chaos & On the Run 02:13:00 – Life on the Run: Hiding in Mexico 02:27:00 – Captured in Mexico & Extradited Back to the U.S. 02:55:00 – Legal Battles: Kidnapping Charges & Polygraph Test 03:03:00 – Federal Trial, Sentencing & Wild Prison Stories 03:17:00 – Reentry, Parole & Learning to Live Free Again 03:24:00 – Staying Out for Good: Lessons, Redemption & Moving Forward Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	And so I went to Wyoming State Prison. My first day there, I threw up one of those big coffee irons of boiling water on a guy. Do you think getting that taste of prison at such a young age helped you later on in life when you were in prison? So I threw a whole bunch of rolls of toilet paper under the door. It was a real tall door there. I threw them all under there and I let them on fire. Do you feel mentally sane in the moment? Like what's going through your mind? Man, Ian, I'll be honest with you, bro.
0:22.2	I just, it's like you become kind of like an animal in there.
0:25.6	Ben McChesney spent 25 years locked up, serving time in 14 different federal prisons
0:30.7	after pulling off one of the biggest gun heist in his state. He went on the run to Mexico,
0:36.0	fought his own federal cases, and survived years
0:38.7	inside one of the most dangerous prisons in America. This is one of the wildest prison stories
0:43.4	you'll ever hear. Ben, welcome to Lockton, man. Thanks so much for coming out here today.
0:50.5	Do you actually fly in from Montana? Is that where you still live now? Yeah. Wow. I don't think I've ever met anyone from Montana. No. Yeah, Matt was, you're, Matt was like wondering,
0:58.7	like, where is Montana? He's like, I'm a little geographically challenged. Oh, I am too. People who wrote me in the comments for it. Yeah. But I've heard of Billings, Montana. Okay. That's, uh, that's, is it cold out there right now?
1:09.3	It's getting chilly. It's starting to get chilly.
1:11.1	Is it ever warm in Montana?
1:12.5	Oh, yeah. It's warm. It getting chilly. It's starting to get chilly.
1:11.1	Is it ever warm in Montana?
1:12.5	Oh, yeah.
1:12.9	It's warm.
1:13.4	It's hot. Montana has pretty much all four seasons. Okay. So you actually get a pretty good mix. It gets cold in the wintertime and snowy, but it's hot in the summertime. I mean, you can't go without AC. You're going to be dying. Is that where you grew up?
1:25.8	Yeah, I grew up in Montana.
1:27.1	I mean, I grew up until I was about 10 years old in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And then we moved back to
1:33.2	Montana. So why did you guys switch? My dad worked for, uh, uh, Texas instruments. And so he
1:40.4	fixed computer systems at the time. And so they just needed someone in the Northwestern sector to fix computer systems.
1:46.8	So you had the hookup to those like $500 calculators.
1:50.1	They made you buy in high school.
	...

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