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 

Feeling Low...

Hi everyone! I know I’ve been missing in action for awhile. My spirit is a little low right now. I've changed prisons. I made Level Two, which is a drop from where I was—at Level Three. Yes, I should be grateful because this new place is full of good things to do: there are all sorts of programs to get me ready for reentry—out of prison and into society. The staff doesn't seem bad either after being here three weeks . They seem really helpful in wanting to help us prisoners make the adjustment to the outside.

However, most of the Reentry Programs offered, I can't get into because on my record I am down for “life without parole.” We have to have an “out date” to get into the programs that would really help.

I don't really have much more good to say about this place. I was reminded that if you can't say something nice don't say anything. On another positive note this place has vending machines we can use daily. But they are money greedy here. Where I was, they offered one food sale a month while here they have six different food sales going on. They have a thousand groups here all grinding for your money. Aramark sells a $6.50 double cheese burgers, tater tots and the like. The State contracts with the same company for our meals—which are really lousy unlike the double cheeseburgers we have to pay for. Funny! Their food is horrible but their sales food is decent—what’s that about? The Vets have sales as do the Red Cross, Kind Way, NAACP. So you get my point, From pizza to KFC, from jewelry to clothes and such—it is busy. Between the Vending machines and the sales I can often bypass the crappy food.

As you know some of my friends refer to me as a clean freak, I own up to that. In moving to Level Two at a new prison, I went from a cell setting to a dormitory. This is a BIG change—a BIG difference. One hundred and four guys all live in one room, There is no privacy whatsoever. This is the most degrading situation I have ever been in in my 33 years in the prison system. I actually wrote a different blog to share with you, but the details were pretty graphic so I was encouraged to give more of an overview than a full blown description. Think of the worst situation you could ever find yourself in and times it by 100. The bathroom setting is the worst.

No thought you can bring to mind would even begin to help you imagine this grossness. I have been here three weeks and I still don't feel clean. The guy in the bed right across from me just did his second treatment for scabies. We live packed like sardines with about as much space. My—and everyone else too—is on one side of the bunk bed only. The other side of the bunk bed belongs to the bed on the other side. If you step into that space that belongs to the guy in the other bed, you get a “ticket.” That is the one thing I fear—they write you up for everything—no matter how petty including if my badge is on backwards, if I am late for a pass. I am really wondering if I can keep my record here spotless.

I won't be here much longer. The day after I got here I put in for a transfer to a different Level Two prison. The lady laughed and said “Mr. Tyler, I know of no one else ever who put in for a transfer quicker than you.” I didn't wait 24 hours--II knew I didn't want to be here.
The good news is I was accepted for the transfer and all the paperwork is done. I should be leaving any day now. Don't know if this place I think for Lorain, Ohio. I don’t know if it is any better, but at least it will get me closer to Cleveland where my family and friends can visit more easily. And anything has to be better than this.

The other part of the good news/bad news is that I just found out we won't be going to the parole/clemency in April as we hoped. The governor is running for president and it seems our guy feels he can win. And we don’t want a repeat of what happened last time when I got in the way of his political agenda. So the new idea is to wait and see if he drops out of the presidential race between now and the last primary in August.

So that's where the spirit is and has been—I’m a little down. Rather than five weeks before we file it’s more likely going to be four more months.

Other than that, I’m fine after all, I am blessed to be able to sit and chat. Two years ago I was facing execution? What's four more months? As I said, I will be leaving soon from this place. The change will be huge no matter what that place is like. I will not survive this if I stay here...So I will just sit still and hope for the best. 

Much love to all of you...Hugs...Arthur.