From December 17, 2003, to February 9, 2004, the prison guards and administration at this modern-day plantation changed me, rearranged me, oppressed me, regressed me, repressed me, depressed me, and undressed me in order to murder me. They had me bend [...]
There’s a multitude of reasons why it’s important to be a father in prison. However, to me, the most important thing is to do all that’s humanly possible to help your children avoid the many pitfalls that can cause them to [...]
I came up around people that lived the street life. And in that setting, you learn a set of skills that helps you survive. If you go to a jungle, you learn a set of skills. Likewise with a desert, the [...]
In 1984, I was incarcerated for a homicide robbery and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I was 17 years old. Exactly what made me go out and commit a crime is not the focus here. [...]
AN AMAZING SIDE NOTE about Leonard Scovens: Agnes Fury is the mother and grandmother of author Leonard Scoven's two victims. Years ago, she contacted Scovens in prison to find answers and closure. Amazingly, their relationship turned into a friendship after the [...]
I committed a crime that I’m still paying for and for that I was given the ultimate penalty: a trip to death row. I eventually made it off after 20 years and I felt that that alone was something worth sharing. [...]
In 2000, I was 23 and struggling to find myself in a sea of death row madness. The madness wasn't just from the inmates there, and their stories, but from the situation itself. Basically, you grew or you stagnated. To grow [...]
Some people knew her as Arlene Mohammed, but her name was Mo and she brought people together. Mo was a strong black woman from another era, the one that followed Jim Crow but preceded Civil Rights, the one when black men [...]
The last great book I read made me cry and grind my teeth and pace my cell. It was written by a Harvard Law School graduate. It was Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. With the best education in America, Mr. Stevenson [...]
Dear Prison, I’m writing this letter to thank you, to let you know how much I've come to appreciate you in my life. This might sound bizarre coming from a prisoner like me, but during our twelve-year relationship, I've learned [...]
In 1992, summer in Brooklyn, New York came early. We had “permanent beef” with a West Indian crew, which meant trying to terminate each other on sight. Gunshots sparked so often that Flatbush residents didn’t have to wait for the [...]
I kind of figured I was destined for prison. I'm dead serious. I was born a realist and knew that the life I was born into meant there was little to no hope for a prosperous future. When I was [...]
