So I'm taking a class that focuses on helping inmates with lifetime sentences. The inmates in this transition program have all been incarcerated for at least 25 years, some up to 42 years. There are 90 men in the program, all of who fall under a legal clause that allows for their release. See, prior to 1983, the law stated that individuals sentenced to life had the possibility of parole. In 1983, that law changed and the government no longer allows for individuals with life sentences to ever be eligible for parole.. ever. These men all happened to commit their crimes prior to this change. Most of the men were convicted of murder, as that's the most common crime that carries a sentence of this severity.
I must admit that I was a bit skeptical of this program when the directors first explained all this. I could not make sense of the aid and sympathy these men were receiving. What I've learned since is that it's not about sympathy-- it's about forgiveness and realizing that people can change. I don't think anyone has the right to judge another or assert whether or not that person has "learned their lesson," or what they are deserving of, and though I don't feel that all 90 men in the program have changed, I acknowledge the sincerity of a select group. Because we cannot indefinitely decide who has changed and who has not, and who consequently deserves a chance at a better life, it is best to treat all the men as if they have changed and do deserve a chance.
The suffering that goes on behind bars is commonly underestimated by the public who just brushes off all inmates as being monstrous beings that do not deserve to see the light of day. The truth of the matter is, there are worse people roaming the streets who have done worse and have just been better at not getting caught. As cliche as this may sound: don't judge a book by its cover. I began to understand this once I was able to put a face to the inmates I was told about. Getting to know them and the appreciation for life that they have gained behind bars has been a remarkable experience that I credit with actually making me a better person and more understanding of others. One of the inmates has always stood out to me for his aura of kindness and sincerity. I actually interviewed him for another class and wrote a paper on his life. Here it isssss...
By far one of the most intriguing individuals I’ve met, Kenneth Wells tells a thought-provoking story of events that have culminated to his being today. Born in 1956 to blue-collar parents, Kenneth describes his family as devoted and caring despite financial burdens. While his mother took on household responsibilities as a homemaker, his father, a retired military sergeant, worked as a construction worker throughout Kenneth’s childhood. His mother and father constantly stressed education through the course of raising their 7 children—a path ultimately chosen by 6 of the 7 siblings, Kenneth not included. Kenneth gained an interest in making money at a very young age. In witnessing his parents’ everyday struggle to make ends meet, Kenneth took to the streets as an alternative source for his upbringing. Kenneth experimented with marijuana and alcohol at the early age of 13—a trial that, unknowing to Kenneth, would lead to the many downfalls in his life. He began spending his free time at a nearby bar, 2 blocks away from his home. There, Kenneth tells me, was where he began to learn of the streets through men he described as being “hustlers.” These enterprising individuals to some extent took Kenneth under their wing and began to instruct him on the ways of the streets. This bar became Kenneth’s first glimpse into the criminal and drug world. The men taught Kenneth how to “roll dice” and gamble in front of the bar. After a while, Kenneth found himself working for the men. He would be in charge of exchanging packages between the hustlers and the bar. The men would send him to the back of the bar with a package of unknown contents which Kenneth would then exchange for a bag containing alcohol bottles. Kenneth was compensated approximately $20 to $30 for each exchange. At 13 years old, Kenneth was in awe at the amount of money he was making, as this was his first presentation of the “work field.” His admiration for these men heightened as he began noticing the cars and other expensive belongings they owned. In accordance with the teachings of the men, Kenneth began to get deeper into this newly presented life of crime. He started “snatching purses” from unsuspecting women. He tells a story of a woman whom he approached upon her arrival to her home. He requested a glass of water from the woman and as she turned to serve it, Kenneth snatched her purse. The unwary 13 year old was captured by officials and taken to a juvenile detention center, where the charges were later dropped. Kenneth’s parents, somewhat suspicious of his behavior because of the unaccounted money he would constantly bring home, sent Kenneth to an all boy school for further discipline. Kenneth described this all boy school as being similar to a prison, where discipline was strongly enforced. Later at around age 15, Kenneth was sent to live with his older brother in Cincinnati, Ohio, in hopes that this would help provide Kenneth with a straighter path in life by removing him from his current troublesome environment. Contrary to his parents’ hopes, it was in Ohio where Kenneth became deeply involved with drugs, and even started pandering. Kenneth describes Cincinnati as the place where “street-life opened up” to him, an effect completely contradictory to his parents’ expectations of the move. The world of prostitution provided for surroundings more deeply engulfed in the drug world, and it was in Cincinnati where Kenneth began snorting cocaine. Cocaine, because of its high street value, was perceived as a sign of wealth and glamour; Kenneth describes that it provided a sense of high status achievement. Kenneth started making major profit from pandering. He kept boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal filled with hundred dollar bills in the trunk of his Cadillac. Kenneth carried himself with extreme swagger. He finally felt he had attained the status of the men he once admired in front of that bar. Kenneth left Cincinnati at age 17, leaving his first-born daughter behind. Back in Florida at the age of 17, Kenneth found himself with more money than his father. He would be in possession of $3,000 to $4,000 in cash at any given moment. One of his older sisters was away at Florida State University at the time, and Kenneth took pride in being financially capable of sending her money for her books. He would often offer his money for the weekly groceries at home, an offer his mother continuously refused, stating that she wanted nothing to do with that “dirty money.” Kenneth fathered 2 more children at around age 17, from 2 different women who birthed the children months apart. At one point, he lived with the women in one house with both of his children. Kenneth says this is exemplary of the “dysfunction” in his life at the time. During this time, Kenneth found himself traveling around the United States to increase his profits through pandering. He went to states including Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware, where there was an abundance of males at migrant working camps. He found that these camps provided for quicker and more efficient “sales” of his women. As part of his pandering business, Kenneth paid the women for their services, and was also involved in business with bails bonds workers, who would ensure the release of the women should they be arrested, for a fee of $500-$600 weekly, regardless of arrests or not. In making more money, he became more and more addicted to drugs, particularly cocaine at the time. During his later adolescent years, his pandering business profits declined. Kenneth attributes this decline to his further dependence on cocaine that caused him to become irritable with the women who worked for him and consequently resulted in them quitting. He eventually only had 2 women working for him. At this point, Kenneth turned to heroin to achieve the high he got from snorting cocaine, as heroin was cheaper. He also became romantically involved with a young white, wealthy woman whose father despised Kenneth. The woman’s father knew of Kenneth’s life of crime and did not approve of his involvement with his daughter. The man became determined to get Kenneth caught for his crimes, and even went as far as hiring private investigators. Low on funds and drug addicted, Kenneth sought alternatives to making money. He resorted back to larceny and became known as “Dirty Red” on the streets for his threatening nature. In 1979, at the age of 23, Kenneth was convicted and consequently incarcerated for the robbery of 3 men at gunpoint. Kenneth says the men were drug dealers. Kenneth received 3 offense accounts, a life sentence along with two 30-year sentences. Kenneth’s mother always felt that his wealthy girlfriend’s father was somehow involved in the severity of his sentencing. Kenneth’s girlfriend was pregnant at the time of his arrest and her disapproving father forced her into abortion. While incarcerated, Kenneth still had women bringing him drugs to the prison for means of personal use and sales. Kenneth says he did not take being in prison seriously; he was still in the same street-mentality. After 3 years of being imprisoned, Kenneth was released to a work release center and was released at the completion of the following 2 years in 1984. Back on the streets in his late twenties, Kenneth continued his life of crime and drug dealing. A mere 2 years following his release in 1986, Kenneth violated his parole on technicalities of failing to report to his parole officer and was once again incarcerated. A year later, he was once again released into a work release program, where he served for 3 years before being released in 1990. During his one year out of prison, Kenneth had made no changes in his life or way of thinking. He continued to be heavily involved with drugs and criminal activity, and in 1991, was back in prison on charges of cocaine possession, grand theft, and robbery. At the age of 54, Kenneth remains incarcerated to this day. Kenneth recalls his father’s last visit and credits it with his new outlook on life. His father was always a strong and stern man throughout Kenneth’s upbringing. On the day of his last visit, Kenneth describes his father as appearing old, weak, and “not all there” cognitively, a sight foreign and saddening to Kenneth. On this day, his father expressed his disappointment in Kenneth’s life. He told him he was getting old and could not be constantly making trips to prison to talk to him and encourage him to straighten out his life. Kenneth’s father passed 3 months later. When Kenneth received the news of his father’s passing in 1996, he found himself in his cell high on cocaine. He grabbed his cocaine stash he had stored for selling and handed it to another inmate, expressing that he was done with that life. The inmate laughed at what he thought to be Kenneth overreacting and behaving in a dramatic fashion, and stated he would hold on to the cocaine until Kenneth “came back to his senses.” Kenneth responded sternly that if he did not take the cocaine he would personally flush it down the toilet. He then proceeded to go to the drug rehabilitation center of the prison, where he confessed his high state and pleaded for help. He pled for the woman to not report him and requested desperately to join the program. The woman graciously accepted Kenneth and he has been clean ever since. After joining this program, Kenneth separated himself from old friends and made new, positively influencing companions. He also began working in the facility. He received the news of his mother’s death 6 years later in 2002. Kenneth felt the urge to turn to drugs during this distressing, emotionally straining time, but instead describes this as the point in which he learned about support groups as a positive alternative. “Instead of looking so much into getting out of prison, I focused on bettering myself,” Kenneth explains of this life-altering era.
Today, Kenneth remains incarcerated at the Everglades Corrections Institution and seems to be at the peak of his edification. He says he became spiritual during his time behind bars. Throughout the past couple of decades of his incarceration, Kenneth has become actively involved throughout the facility. Kenneth took college courses toward his GED while in prison until the government funding for the program was cut. He remains an active student and worker around the facility. He now teaches classes on drug addiction to fellow inmates, in hopes of straying others from a life he once led. He is also actively involved in a Corrections Transition Program, run by Florida International University, which focuses on helping men who have been incarcerated for 25 or more years prepare for and better adjust to an unfamiliar society upon their release.
I’ve met several men at the institution and Kenneth stood out to me from day one. Anne Frank describes my view on Kenneth best in her infamous quote in which she states: “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” I have gotten to know Kenneth gradually throughout the weeks during my visits to the institution, and I find his story insightful and thought altering. Kenneth hopes to take part in a vocational program for culinary arts and eventually become a restaurant chef. He plans to stay fit by remaining active, as he does at the institution, and to become part of a community church. It is possible for individuals to better themselves even after continuously making wrong decisions; it takes more for some than for others to make the choice to change. I felt an overwhelming vibe of sincerity and appreciation for life and all things positive when speaking to Kenneth— a trait rarely found even in the free world. He is strongly focused on maintaining his positivity, and even keeps a journal in which he writes daily “affirmations” about himself. Examples of his affirmations include positive personality traits that serve as confidence boosters such as “I am a good listener.” Though most may be quick to classify Kenneth as nothing more than a convict, it is clear to me that he now views life in a completely different light. |
