I Was Sentenced to Life at 17 — How I Survived California’s Most Brutal Prisons| Brian Warth

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 131 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brian Warth was caught in a bitter custody battle and traumatized by his brother's murder before the streets of California sucked him into a life of crime. After committing a murder at just 16 years old, he was sentenced to life in prison, forcing him to survive the brutality of LA County youth facilities and maximum security penitentiaries as a teenager. He reveals the raw reality of growing up behind bars and how Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eventually signed his parole after 16 hard years. _____________________________________________ #ianbick #lockedin #lockedinpodcast #prisonlife #lifesentence #prisonsurvival #californiaprison #truecrime _____________________________________________ Connect with Brian Warth: YouTube: BrianWarthTV Instragram: _brianwarth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brian.warth Book: Young Man Arise! https://www.amazon.com/Young-Man-Arise-Brian-Warth/dp/162952607X _____________________________________________ 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 The Arrest That Changed Everything 04:41 Broken Home: Custody Battles & Family Struggles 08:52 Growing Up Around Gangs 15:09 Trauma, Loss & Joining a Gang 19:49 Running Away and Getting Pulled Into Street Life 25:38 Gang Violence, Early Arrests & Escalation 33:51 The Crime That Put Him Facing Life in Prison 45:06 Juvenile Hall, Jail & Sentencing Day 54:21 The Turning Point: Faith and Change 01:01:13 Youth Prison: Inside the “Gladiator School” 01:13:59 From Youth Prison to Adult Prison 01:18:43 Learning Prison Politics & Survival 01:25:28 How He Survived Prison Mentally & Physically 01:33:36 Parole Hearings, Hope & Crushing Setbacks 01:45:40 Walking Out of Prison After Years Inside 01:52:08 Rebuilding Life After Prison 02:06:00 Forgiveness, Restorative Justice & Healing 02:09:00 Final Lessons, Advice & Book Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There is a live bomb still attached to your car.
0:03.3	I had a wedding to go to, says Nick, Elizabeth Nguards.
0:06.9	And if it should go off sometime today, bombs do, you know.
0:10.7	You'll be fine with it killing one of your neighbours?
0:13.9	You don't know my neighbours.
0:16.6	Richard Osmond's multi-million copy bestselling Thursday Murder Club series
0:19.9	returns with his latest novel, The Impossible Fortune, the gang's most explosive adventure yet.
0:25.7	Listen to the audiobook of The Impossible Fortune Now, read by me, Fiona Shaw.
0:30.3	I got shot when I was 14 years old.
0:32.6	The rival gang members tried to kill me.
0:34.3	They shot at me about five times, less than 10 feet away.
0:37.1	LA County Jail as a teenager. What's that like? They called it Gladiator School because there's a lot of fights, a lot of gang banging. You're talking about the worst juveniles of California. Now the politics of the gangs and in your location that you mainly stayed at, what was that like? They brought a bloodhound to every cell. Bloodhound, what is that?
0:55.0	Well, they were looking for the body.
0:56.3	Did that make you a target? I'm 21 years old at this time in Iron One State Prison. And I caught word that I'm gonna get stabbed. Imagine being 17 years old and told you're going to prison for the rest of your life. Brian Worth didn't just imagine it. he lived it from LA County youth lockups to maximum security yards.
1:12.2	He had to become a man in the most brutal way didn't just imagine it. He lived it from LA County youth lockups to maximum security yards.
1:12.4	He had to become a man in the most brutal way possible.
1:18.6	I grew up in Los Angeles County, yeah, Southern California.
1:22.9	What was your upbringing like? Well, I came from, uh, my mom and dad were never married. So they were in like a
1:33.9	custody battle over me when I was young. My mom and my dad were at odds with one another. It was like
1:41.1	a war going on. And I later learned out it was the law at that time
1:46.6	it was the longest running custody battle in L.A. County history at that time. So as a little kid,
1:52.1	I would go in front of judges. I would be evaluated by psychiatrists. And the main point was,
	...

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