Having an Impact & Keeping Hope Alive

GREETINGS TO ALL.I HAVE BEEN TOLD I WAS LATE ON SPEAKING TO YOU ALL. I JUST GOT LAZY IN MY FRUSTRATION. SORRY. BUT HERE I AM NOW. I HAVE BEEN LAZY IN WRITING BUT NOT IN DEEDS. I ENJOY ONE ASPECT OF THIS PLACE,AND THAT'S MY MENTORING. 

IF NOTHING ELSE THE LITTLE DUDES ARE STARTING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MR.T HAS SOMETHING TO GIVE. THEY STILL WANT TO GET OUT FOR THEIR DAILY WIGGLE, GET ON THE PHONE TO USE JPAY, JUST BE OUT OF THE CELL, BUT FOR THE MOST PART IN CLASS THEY ARE STARTING TO LISTEN. 

I GOT MY FIRST THANK YOU LETTER AND IT BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES. WISH I COULD SHARE THE ENTIRE LETTER, BUT IT BASICALLY THANKED ME FOR ALL I HAVE GIVEN AND SHOWN HIM, AND THAT HE WISH HE HAD HAD SOMEONE OUT THERE WITH HIM LIKE ME AND MAYBE HE WOULDN'T BE HERE NOW. REALLY TOUCHED MY HEART BECAUSE I KNOW HE WAS FOR REAL AND IT CAME FROM HIS HEART. NOW HE IS OFF TO DO 11 YEARS, WITH AN IDEA HOW TO SURVIVE IT. HIS FIRST TIME IN PRISON. MADE ME FEEL GOOD ABOUT WHAT I HAVE CHOSEN TO DO. 

I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT THERE AND WORK WITH THE KIDS BEFORE THEY GET TOSSED AWAY...THAT'S MY SOLE PURPOSE. TO DO AS MUCH AS I CAN TO STOP THIS CYCLE BEFORE THEY GET TO THE SYSTEM. SHOW THEM THAT THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE AFRAID TO LIVE LIFE, TO DO IT DIFFERENT THAN EXPECTED, TO GO SLOW.

SO WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO? I'VE STARTED A NEW CLASS STRUCTURED AROUND ISSUES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE, RACE AND MODERN AMERICAN HISTORY. A FIFTEEN WEEK COURSE THAT WE ARE DOING WITH 17 STUDENTS FROM CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ABOUT THE IMPACT OF RACE IN DETERMINING WHO IS CAUGHT UP IN OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. THE IMPACT OF RACE,CLASS AND EDUCATION IS WHAT THE CLASS IS CALLED. THE STUDENTS CAME HERE THIS WEEKEND, BUT MAINLY IT WILL BE DONE BY TELECONFERENCE. PRETTY GOOD CLASS. I HAVE ALSO COMPLETED MY SUCCESS COACHING AND MENTORING COURSE. THE BIGGEST THING OF ALL THOUGH IS I HAVE COMPLETED MY PARALEGAL COURSE, AND AM NOW WAITING ON MY GRADE AND MY CERTIFICATE THAT WILL MAKE ME A CERTIFIED PARALEGAL. LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT AS MY PLAN IS TO LEND MY SERVICES TO THE GUYS I LEFT BACK ON DEATH ROW. 

BUT FIRST THINGS FIRST, STILL WAITING TO GET HOME. HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE IN FRONT OF THE PAROLE BOARD THIS MONTH. STILL UP TO OUR GOVERNOR TO GIVE ME MY FREEDOM, BUT WE ARE HOPEFUL, AND I TRUDGE ON. WOULD LOVE TO BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. SO YES I'M STAYING BUSY AND STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE.

ONE GOOD THING HAPPENED, I NOW HAVE MY CELL BY MYSELF. DON'T KNOW HOW LONG IT WILL LAST, BUT FOR NOW I'LL ENJOY IT...I TRUST ALL OF YOU ARE WELL, AND I WON'T TAKE SO LONG WITH MY NEXT TOUCH.

BLESSINGS TO EVERYONE,HUGS...ARTHUR...

Hello Friends! I'm Ready to Make My Case

It seems that I allowed myself to do what I tell others not to do, or, should I say, failed to do what I always tell others to do: I let myself get so busy that I forgot to stop and breathe and I didn't reach out to you this month.  

I've mainly been trying to stay out of the way. This place is still this place. It hasn't gotten any better, but it hasn't gotten any worse. The mentoring I’m doing is going as well as it can. Some of my little dudes actually listen, but everybody wants to be in Mr. Tyler’s class because they know I let them wiggle an extra phone call or jpay session. But the class is going good. I can finally relax as I am basically done with my paralegal course. I just need to put the finishing touches on the brief I must submit—and then I will be a certified paralegal. 

My plan (after I get out) is to try and work with the guys I left on death row and the elderly that are having so many problems legally and can't afford attorneys. 

I have also started a class to help me be a better mentor—Success Coaching and Mentoring. We have a really good teacher in Coach Marty, who played Pro Ball with the Atlanta Hawks back in the day. So I'm flowing. 

The good thing is today ends the RNC going on up in Cleveland--good because it marks the day the Attorneys will start to talk about filing the paper work to the Clemency Board. As we know the two years ended back in April, but we decided to wait and see what the governor would do in the race for President. And short of him announcing he is back in the race, we should be going forward with our plans now. 

I will need your help to get on my feet and get adjusted when I get home. Details will follow, but any thoughts you have about the support I will need with daily life, I would really appreciate it. I'm already thinking about how I want to spend my time.  

One of the things I will be looking forward to is submitting my proposal for helping our youth grow up in a better, healthier way. Would love to see that get off the ground. I am now watching our youth come into this prison bunches. Something has to take place to try and curb this. So once again I will be needing your prayers your thoughts and your support. My attorneys will be filing soon for the clemency hearing. And the governor will make the final determination if I am worthy to get back to a life cut short. 

I remain humbled as always... Love to all...Arthur... 

The Good and The Bad of Mentoring Young Inmates

Greetings everyone! I wanted to share that I have changed prisons again. Good and bad. Good because I am once again in a cell which I thought I hated. Bad because it was a step backward rather than forward. I am now at Lorain Correctional. It’s an intake prison. Most of the residents come here to await a bed at their parent prison, so they are only here for 30 to 90 days. I signed up to be a mentor in the mentor program so I am here to be a mentor. My new address is:

Lorain Correctional Institution 

2075 South Avon-Belden Road 

Grafton, Ohio 44044 

I know I need to be good even in my frustrations, but it is so hard. Even Death Row didn't suck the energy out of me like this place does. For the most part I am fine. I chose to mentor younger prisoners rather than come here and find it easy, The only real benefit for me is to my spirit--maybe getting to change or redirect one of these guys to a better path. And it is working well—somewhat. Some of these guys are so stuck in their need to be hard f—and all for show. They don't see any other way to be. But they are starting to listen now that they have got to hear my whole story. They are in awe  that I’ve been in prison 33 years more because of my demeanor than anything else. To them I should be the most angry man in the world, 

But they don’t see it. What they see in me makes them confused—and because they are confused that they don’t see what they think they should see, they open the door for me to tell them there is another way. 

Most listen but how far they go with the slow of life will be another story. And then the time I get to spend with them—the time we get to spend together is short. The prisoners I mentor come and go everyday. The are out in 60 to 90 days.  

So my class with them now is Money Matters. Its purpose is to show them how to fill out checks and such--a basic survival guide to money management. I teach them the difference between a saving account and a checking account and how to save. Do they care about that? No. 

I’m  dealing with kids who deal drugs, and murder other kids. So I try to put a twist on how they failed with all this so-called money they made dealing drugs, the things it lead to that brought them here. I’m working with guys who claim to have made $50 grand—yet they are around here begging for 22 cent soups so they don’t go hungry. But I hold their attention. And the word is out and now everybody wants to be in Mr. Tyler's class. 

Once they hear my story, they actually listen to me. I tell them how to save money, and I talk about the importance of doing something with their money such as getting a job rather than joining the ranks of other failed drug dealers, It makes sense to them. But what they will do with it, I don’t know. 

I get the feeling that we mentors aren't wanted here. The mentoring program was set up to make money for the prison. It was/is a good idea, but it’s not going as well as it could. I really wouldn't put it past them to shut it down. 

On the other hand, it’s a little hard here, But I didn't come here for me, I came here to give what I can—and this is the place that could give me that chance. This could be their last step on this journey. I would be happy to save one. But I am learning my depths here. I needed this place—as bad as it is—because now I see how bad it is: Our kids are becoming a steady stream into this prison system. 

I see now what my focus will be once I am home. And speaking on the subject of my coming home, I don't yet know when the lawyers will file for me to go before the parole board again. Probably they’ll file after it’s known if Trump will choose our governor as his running mate—so somewhere around the end of July, hopefully. They don't want to rush it, and neither do I. If I can see Christmas at home I will be happy with that...It’s time for this to end. 

So all in all I am fine, my record  is still clean. It’s just a little harder here but I can make the adjustment. And that's what the parole board wants. So I will be fine...Til next time I bid you goodbye...Peace... Arthur