Prison Reform

“This is my fifth time in prison. Every crime I’ve committed has come from my addiction. Best case scenario is I get out of here, rebuild my life, and join the one percent of people who have beaten a meth addiction. Worst case scenario is I become no more than what I am today. And honestly, if I mess up again, I hope it kills me. Because I don’t want to keep hurting people. I’ve cheated my kids out of normal lives. My seventeen-year-old daughter is in a home for teen moms. My twenty-one-year-old son is in jail. My eighteen-year-old daughter is doing OK. She’s got a job at FedEx and goes to college. She hates drugs and thinks the world is a good place and that nobody is out to hurt her. She wants to help me. She wants me to come live with her when I get out. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
More from this series
“I’ve been teaching the GED course for 21 years. I’ve helped over 300 students get their certificates.”
“I knew a person who worked for an insurance company. I’d give her some money and then she’d give me all the information I needed to open fake credit lines.”
“I’ve organized a lot of programs in prison. One of the classes I started is called Creative Parenting.”
“I thought it was a bomb at first. It pushed the building, so I was thrown against the wall.”
“I was working at a nightclub in Honduras, making $4 a night, and some guy tells me that I can make $6,000 in twelve days just by working on a boat.”
“My childhood ended early. I was sexually abused by two family members until the age of eleven.”
“He’s a beautiful person. He always tells me: ‘We’ve got to find a way to win by losing.’”
“My mom was a single mom and there were nine of us. All of the kids worked in the fields.”
“This is my fifth time in prison. Every crime I’ve committed has come from my addiction.”