I didn’t turn things around until I had already been in for nine years. I wasted most of those years messing up. I’m finally in medium custody. I have a prison job, and I just got my GED, finally!
I’m the oldest in my family of eight. I was an okay kid, I didn’t really get into trouble. I was placed in foster homes from the age of five until I was nine. Then I was adopted by my mom’s aunty, and that wasn’t so great. It was rough for me and my biological baby sister. I was a very rebellious adolescent, and so was my sister. We were too punk rock for the bullshit. I ran a few times and eventually ran away to Las Vegas to live with my parents and my mom’s parents. I was sixteen when I went back to Las Vegas, and I stayed there until I was eighteen. I even came back to Hawai‘i for my little sister, who had returned a year before. We ended up living on the streets, and by then, I was already a full-blown meth addict, something that had started back in Las Vegas. We were on the streets for a while before I picked up my first felony charge: unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle. That was the first time I went to jail, I believe it was for ten months. I was put on Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE), but I was still heavily using meth, so I kept running. What was supposed to be a five-year sentence turned into more. Eventually, I was placed on drug court, but I messed that up too and ended up with an open five-year term. When I first got to prison, I didn’t take it seriously. I was good for a little while, but then started getting in trouble for tattoos. Eventually, I got into a physical altercation with a male correctional officer, so I asked to be transferred. I was sent to the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.
I did well there until I got into an argument with a correctional officer and was sent to the Special Holding Unit. I assaulted a federal inmate and sent her to the hospital. I was sent back to state prison. It was fight after fight, with both inmates and officers, over disrespect, harassment, and antagonization. I was always in lockdown and segregation, and eventually spent most of my time in maximum custody. I didn’t turn things around until I had already been in for nine years. I wasted most of those years messing up. I’m finally in medium custody. I have a prison job, and I just got my GED, finally!
I’m up for the parole board soon. If granted, I’ll request parole to my federal detainer. That means I’ll go from state prison to federal prison, where I’ll serve a minimum of 14 months and a maximum of 18 months. Then, I’ll finally be free, to be part of the free world. Please pray that I get to go to FDC Honolulu. Thank you. Here’s a scripture I want to share: James 3:3-6
“When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”
Just remember, what we speak can give life or destroy it. So think before you speak, always, and choose to breathe life.
