How Wayne ‘Smiley’ Robertson Became California’s Prison System Top Predator
Some predators are created by trauma, others by opportunity, and a rare few are sculpted into weapons by the very institutions that are supposed to contain them. Wayne “Smiley” Robertson sits in that third category, an already dangerous man who evolved into something larger than himself once the California prison system learned exactly how useful his brutality could be. Long before his name became shorthand for sexual terror inside certain cellblocks, Robertson was just another convicted murderer swallowed by the concrete and steel of California’s carceral empire. Over time he developed a reputation so extreme that his mere presence in a cell could function as punishment, discipline and deterrent, all wrapped in one hulking human body. In this world, paperwork, rumors and fear blend together until a single inmate becomes a kind of unofficial policy tool. This story is not only about one man’s violence but also about a system that do...
