Posts Categorized: Getting Life

I am sitting here on my bunk staring at the concrete floor of my cell.  I can’t stop.  I can’t move.  It is like I am watching a movie of my life play out in my mind.  All my failures, all my triumphs.  Every moment clearly portrayed to its heartbreaking extreme. My God, I have… Read more »

Even after 22 ½ years of prison it is still incomprehensible to me that my life is doomed to this existence forever.  Why haven’t I killed myself yet?  How do I keep going?  Where do I find the strength to get out of my bunk each morning and face another day of brutal pain. Regardless… Read more »

(The class referenced in this story is part of a program that allows people from Graterford to take a class with students from Temple University)  On the 8th of September 2009, the Temple half of the class visited the “notorious” Graterford penitentiary, to meet for the first time with their new class-mates whom just happen to… Read more »

A man has respect for women. He doesn’t consider the perfect date to include Chinese food and sex. A man still believes in chivalry. That holding the door open and paying for a night on the town isn’t too much to ask for. He is able to compromise and be willing to try new things… Read more »

At times I find it extremely difficult to relate to my family and friends.  No matter how hard I try to explain my situation, I believe they fully understand.  It’s not so much my sentence, but rather the two opposing worlds we now share.  The view of what prison life consist of is way off… Read more »

This is an excerpt from a letter written in response to the comments on previous posts. There are a few things I would like add. I’m not going to lie but it seems to me that the public in general have the notion that if an inmate is doing “LIFE” he must have killed someone…. Read more »

Fear is something I am very familiar with. I have lived with it all my life. I have grown accustomed to it and don’t expect that I will ever live without it. It started when I was very young and my parents began abusing me. My father started raping me when I was still very… Read more »

Numb I wonder why I feel so cold My mind wanders Thoughts seek refuge from the frigidness inside me I must be dead, but others see me So then I’m around the dead, but I see them We are all spirits walking blindly into the shadows of hell. But why am I cold? Surely, I’m… Read more »

I once was a boy who read about wizards, elves, and talking about lions. I once was a boy who wanted to be a knight saving fair damsels. I once was a boy who ran through the woods wild and free. I once was a boy who dreamt of being a space explorer. I once… Read more »

There are 464 juvenile lifers in Pennsylvania. Does not seem like a large number does it? There are two things you should know and consider when looking at that number. The first is, there are only three other countries in the world which have sentenced juveniles to “life without parole” (LWOP). Israel – 7 juvenile… Read more »

What is freedom? To some it is a better tomorrow, to others another day of life. Many believe freedom is the chance to choose on how many possessions someone has accumulated. To a lot of prisoners it is an ideal. To me, it is a way of living. I am in prison, and you would… Read more »

I AM…Spic, Wetback, Beanery, Guala-guala, New Yorican. My name is J. V. G. I am what I am: a brown skinned; strong minded; college educated; multi-lingual; kind hearted; half Puerto Rican, half Dominician; and American born. I have a heart, a soul – dreams, ambitions, fears – joys, accomplishments, and defeats. I am both “son-of-man”… Read more »

In 1975, Tyrone Werts was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison at the age of twenty-five. He has since been involved in the lifer’s organization, the Board of Directors of Reconstruction, Inc., The Victim Offender Reconciliation Program, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the End Violence Project, workshops focusing… Read more »

What is fear? Fear is an emotion that plays the biggest part in my everyday life. There are choices to be made all through life and many of those choices are made through fear. It is what keeps me on the path that I believe is the right one. I have many fears that I… Read more »

As I sat there in my cold lonely room, serving the twentieth year of a life sentence, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Where did it all go wrong”? There were so many obvious answers that came to mind right away, but as I searched into my inner self, there was always something lacking. There seemed… Read more »