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A Man Who Went to Fake Prison Also Went to Real Jail

A crime that became a prank that became a crime.

Banks had been arrested at the end of 2023 in Westport — a wealthy town halfway to New Haven from Brooklyn — for stealing five Israeli lawn flags, which residents had planted to show support for Israel after the October 7 attacks. Lots of other people would be asking the same thing as he began an ill-fated journey that would take him from the courtrooms of Connecticut to a “prison” in Florida to a night sleeping on the floor of a very real jail in New York City. McIndoe, 25, is interested in what he calls “autobiographical reality television.” With the streaming model leading TV and movies to a crisis point, he sees his reality-blending projects as a direct route to get people to pay attention without the nagging influence of a boring suit.

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