In 2010, I was kicked out of a prison in Muskegon, Michigan and shipped to one in Coldwater, Michigan. It was there that my life would change forever.
I have been incarcerated since 1999 for the charge of homicide. I have dedicated my incarceration to correcting the flawed thinking utilized by me as a result of childhood trauma, an unknown wounded inner child, and an unfortunate upbringing inundated with child protective services and neglect. Not a positive introduction, I agree, but my truth nonetheless, which brings me to something that I would love to share with you.
Succinctly, up until that point, I served my incarceration drinking, gambling, and perpetuating the crimes that led me to prison. One day, I realized that I wanted something different, but I did not know how to acquire such a thing. There was a posting of applications being taken for the dog program offered at the facility. Dogs in prison were a new thing at that period, and I had zero confidence that I would be selected to participate. But there were powers in play greater than me.
Those powers blessed me with the opportunity to participate in the dog program, “The Greyhound Inmate Experience,” in 2012. The current dog trainers shared their experiences of the job with me and informed me that a new shipment of dogs would be arriving in one week. I was excited and anticipatory of the chance to receive a new dog and learn to train and create my own experience. Then it happened. The day arrived, and I headed to the room where the new dogs were held until taken to their living space. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
To my surprise, the trainers failed to mention the condition the dogs arrived in. Coming straight from the racetrack in Mobile, AL, the dogs were emaciated, riddled with fleas and ticks, open wounds, filthy, and terrified. I could not help myself. I cried as I helped the babies, and it was in that moment that my actions finally resonated within me. This was the pain my actions were inflicting on families via my poor decision making. The dogs were my catalyst to ameliorating me and becoming the man writing this letter.
Today, I am a proud owner of a Bachelor’s Degree from Calvin University, and I currently train dogs for the blind through a program called “Leader Dog for the Blind.” The dogs provided a mirror for me that forced change and created a human. I am forever thankful to the greyhounds and the almost 10 years I had training them. And I would never have an opportunity to speak about a moment in my life without it being about them. Thank you for reading. Hopefully, my picture can represent a human being that made a terrible decision, owns the bad choice, has used the time incarcerated to correct my thinking, and now lives as a man filled with love, compassion, empathy, and critical thinking, all thanks to some abused retired greyhounds that saved me.
