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Dale, 68

Stories

Meet Dale…

If you had told me ten years earlier I would be a nurse maid to critters and birds, I would have laughed. I never thought I would get attached to a bird and I’ve loved every minute.

Incarcerated: 33 years
Housed: Marion Correctional Facility, Ohio

Since the age of 19, I’ve only been free a couple years. I turned 68 this year. I’ve been locked up due to drugs and alcohol. A classic case of stupid. I will start by telling you about my turn around from screw-up to avoiding trouble. I haven’t had an infraction in prison since 1997, no fights, no dope. Now here’s how I turned around. In ‘97 I hit rock bottom and was out of weed. There was a thunderstorm, lightning and wind on the compound. I was eight years in and feeling lost, unloved and full of anger. I crawled out a window and yelled at God. I dared Him to put a bolt of lightning in my chest. I cried, shook and snot ran like a river out my nose. I made up my mind to end my life. I started to sort my property, one pile to send home, one to throw out. I came across the bible I earned in summer bible school at the church. It was like a voice came to me to write the preacher back home. It took two weeks before I got an answer. He said, “Dale Jesus forgave you, you need to forgive yourself.” I gave my life to Jesus and with his help I have changed my attitude and ways. My craving for drugs and alcohol went away. I’ve done dozens of bible studies by mail over the past 25 years and took on the attitude of learning and bettering myself. I was transferred to Mansfield Correctional and was accepted into the dog training program. My friend, Tony, was in the wild life bird program and he wrote and told me about it. I put in for a transfer and went to Marion where Tony got me into the wild life bird program. He was a good teacher and mentor. Sadly, he died of cancer after just five months of us working together. If you had told me ten years earlier I would be a nurse maid to critters and birds, I would have laughed. I never thought I would get attached to a bird and I’ve loved every minute. I’ve learned to care and love again and start my adventure into learning instead of losing. In my mind, I rock the baby birds and think of my daughter and my grandkids, whom I never got to hold or rock.

Jim “Fuzzy”, 65

Jim “Fuzzy”, 65

Stories

Meet Jim “Fuzzy”…

We know anything coming from a prisoner is unheard of, society only ever hears of negatives, never positive, but some behind bars are capable of empathy, remorse and lifting up others from despair.

Incarcerated: 45 years

Housed: Marion Correctional Institution, Ohio

Over the past several decades I have painted and gifted 11,000 landscapes to needy causes, individuals, and created educational projects. In recent months our team orchestrated an event at a private school in Baja, Mexico. Seventy four paintings were gifted to the senior students, who performed remarkable deeds. 

Giving back to strangers is a wonderful message to share. We know anything coming from a prisoner is unheard of, society only ever hears of negatives, never positive, but some behind bars are capable of empathy, remorse and lifting up others from despair.

Shawn, 53

Shawn, 53

Stories

Meet Shawn…

If I’m in this world and making a difference in a positive way, then I am honoring my gift.

Incarcerated: 34 years

Housed: Marion Correctional Institution, Ohio

My art story started as a kid, I always loved to draw. I would always find myself drawing, doodling, sketching, whatever. I had two friends back then who were incredibly good, and I would always wish to have their gift of drawing. I would bug my mom about painting on my bedroom walls. I would try sending my sketches in to see if I could win a contest for drawing from the back of magazines. As I grew older I drew less and developed other interests. Eventually I stopped drawing altogether until I made an attempt at college. I took an art class that barely lasted a semester.

It wasn’t until I was incarcerated for 15 years that I started drawing again. One of my Mexican friends who was on death row with me was extremely talented with drawing, painting, and inking. One day he was throwing out an old watercolor set, and I grabbed it. He gave me a couple of brushes and some paper. My very first painting was of Jamie Fox sitting in some old school car with a hat on, leaning out the window. Surprisingly enough, it turned out pretty good. That painting caused me to keep going. Shortly thereafter my friend, Loza, from California gave me some old oil paints. Once I got a taste of that medium I fell in love. I have tried every medium since then, but oil is the one I fell in love with. I still paint acrylic and watercolor occasionally, but I could never part ways with the oil medium.

I’ve been painting for quite awhile now, and have learned something new about it over the years. In the beginning it was mostly just about fun, but the more I discovered about painting, about art, about myself, the more it became something meaningful, purposeful, spiritual, even. I started developing a gift I never even knew I had. I have become so passionate about my art and being an artist of sorts. Now knowing the power of art, my approach to it is very intentional and purposeful. Sometimes it literally takes on a spiritual aspect, particularly and especially when I do memorial portraits for people who have lost a loved one. At first the spiritual nature of it was a bit strange for me,  I had never experienced it before then, but the more I connected with the respective pieces, the more attuned I became to that side of it. I could be at some stage of the painting (and it’s different for each painting) and there would be times when it literally feels as if the piece (the face of the person) is having life breathed into it; it feels alive to me. It’s not something I speak on all the time, because most wouldn’t understand the process, but in instances such as this, I can speak on the matter freely. For me, there’s a great deal of reward that comes with painting and being an artist. Being commissioned for your work is awesome, and I can remember those initial days when I realized I could make good enough art for people to want to buy. Of course, that was an incentive in itself. And the better I got as an artist, the more I could charge, and the more commissions would come my way. Beyond the money, though, I came to realize through artistic maturity that there is an even greater reward to be had. And that’s the one you receive from those you positively impact. The complimentary words, the facial expressions, and stories people share of how the work has affected them. For me, that’s a beautiful experience each time it happens. I just received a Jpay from a stranger expressing how amazing they think my work is after seeing it on Tik Tok. And from there, wanting to commission a portrait of their dog. This is the stuff I love, and what moves me as an artist. If I’m in this world and making a difference in a positive way, then I am honoring my gift. This makes me happy. I hope to continue doing my part making people smile and feeling good through my art. This to me is the power of art.

As for the art itself, I enjoy painting portraits and people’s pets the most, because of what they mean to them. It’s the most challenging, of course, having to capture likeness and essence. I love it, though. My goal is to start doing more loose & abstract work where I feel I have more freedom to create. Doing all art is fun and offers its rewards, but I look forward to continue developing my style and making corrections through my art with people around the world. Art for me has been a bridge to many opportunities along the way, and I look forward to the continuation of this bridge building experience.

Jeff, 53

Jeff, 53

Stories

Meet Jeff…

Over the past few years I’ve learned that my past is just that, but my future is what will define me. I may be in prison, but I live my life as an eagle soaring in the clouds – free. I refuse to let my incarceration define my reality.

Incarcerated: 34 years

Housed: Marion Correctional Institution, Ohio

I’m a two time loser, but I found that to lose with grace helps me win righteously. Over the past few years I’ve learned that my past is just that, but my future is what will define me. I may be in prison, but I live my life as an eagle soaring in the clouds – free. I refuse to let my incarceration define my reality. Over my 34 years of incarceration I’ve seen people, as well as myself, come to prison, go home to family and friends and I see the things that were missed while doing time. They come back to the same hell that they tried to get out of. In here, I was introduced to a young man, in our talks he was angry over being locked up. I asked who he was mad at? He said his mom and his child’s mother. I asked if either of them were responsible for him being locked up. He said no. I asked him why he was mad at them and not himself. He then took inventory of his actions and walked into his third parole hearing last week and got paroled. Life is good when we accept our own shortcomings.

📸Jeff’s

Wayne, 44

Stories

Is There JAVA on that Banana?  

INMATE HANDBOOK: 

General Rule #78:  Inmates may carry one piece of fruit out of the chow hall to consume at a later time. They may only have one piece of fruit in their possession at any time. 

Guys here often go right from lunch to their afternoon classes, so it was not unusual to see apples or bananas on the tables. On this one particular day, I entered a classroom and passed two students sitting at a table and something strange caught my eye. 

“Is there JAVA on that banana?” I know just enough about computer languages to know what I saw. 

Byte bites = 5;  

For (bites>0, bites – – ){ 

Mouth.chomp(banana); 

I’d like to give you a little history first: Marion Correctional in Ohio has a nonprofit called Broken Circles Healing, which offers a staggering amount of programming in almost every conceivable area. One class, I help facilitate, called the Agile Factory, taught JAVA. There was a security incident unrelated to our programs and all computers for inmate use were removed from the prison. The Agile Factory continued, but on whiteboards. Now you’re all caught up.

After I asked if there was code written on the outside of his fruit, the banana’s owner and author, Louis spun the banana revealing many lines of code. We teach programming, so it is not that odd to see lines of code strewn about. If you knew Louis, maybe it wasn’t all that strange to see some written on that yellow skin. All I needed to get out of my mouth were two words and the questioning look on my face did the rest. I asked “What the…” He replied, “I coded a process for peeling my banana and how to upload it, then wait for output. I was bored waiting for everyone to show up.” Nerds may find this next line funny, Louis smirked like a Cheshire cat when he delivered it. I don’t get it. He added “They already code on Raspberry pies, why not a banana?” 

I simply had to have this code. As he was writing it out, I shared with him that if some day, years from now, an android is taught to be more human, and do things like eat a banana, his code will be what did it. As much as a super-brainy, JAVA nerd is able to express emotion, I think he might have beamed with a little pride. 

Fast forward to Covid. The state had better things to worry about, and the Healing Broken Circles contract was not renewed. There is now a void in here for that type of intellectual pursuit. However, you can still find guys walking the rec yard, learning code. 

Oh, and if you can’t read the code from the picture, here it is: 

//code only runs on 5 byte edible processors 

//code is reusable and redistributable via creative commons 

//license Louis T. (cc) 2016 (the year I ate a banana) 

Public class Banana extends Fruit implements Eatable { 

//all values are represented in banananary 

Public static void main () { 

 banana  banana = new banana; 

remove peel (banana) { 

//inherited from Fruit class 

banana = banana – banana peel; 

return banana; 

{ 

eat (banana) { 

byte bites = 5; 

for (bites >0, bites – -) { 

mouth.chomp (banana) { 

If (banana) <0) { 

Continue; 

Else { 

system.output.print (“eat operation complete, 

wait 24 hours for output”); 

break; 

     { 

    { 

   { 

 { 

 

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