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Freindly Fire

“What I am doing in more that 140 characters”

06/09/2011 Prison pen pals – the reply

Sorry for the delay in posting. I’ve been planning on writing for ages.. but new hobbies and house issues seem to take up a bit of time.

This particular post I am very excited to write. If you usually read my blog you will remember that I wrote to a prisoner in America after hearing about prison pen pals. I wasn’t sure if this guy was genuine or going to reply at all.. well after a couple of weeks a letter came in the mail with my name on it! Excitedly I ripped open the envelope that was addressed with nice cursive handwriting. I flicked through the content of the envelope to find several photocopies of newspaper articles and photos. Eventually I came across a letter that had been typed on a type-writer. It was written without the use of punctuation so is a little difficult to follow. Mr Carter is all too happy to share his story as is evidenced by his letter and newspaper cuttings. He has no issues is sharing this story with you too. I thought about summarising what he wrote but thought it might be better to let him tell it himself. So here is exactly what was written.. ( key sections in blue)

hi how are you doing fine i hope as for i’m doing alright i was happy to here from you and i would love to help you out can i send you a picture of me and something i would like to put together let me know what all you want from me well let share a few things with you i’m a gang prevention counselor at this prison ive been working with these kids sense 2006 when i first came to the group alot of the kids felt i was putting alot on it and they didn’t think i new snoop dog and the rest of the crew so one day this lil kid from oakland was super wild and he had just got out of camp and all these kids at the foster home was scared of him because he had just got out of camp and he was the biggest dude there so i asked my home boy to let me use the calander we did for snoop dog, warren gee and nate dog r.i.p. when i showed it to that kid i let all the air out of him he was like dam seeing the history of my ex gang and snoop dog and all the homies who are dead in a wheel chair or in jail men and women some inmates in the group went behind my back and told the head dude of the group that i was bragging to the kids that i was in a gang so he asked me to show me what i been showing the kids so one of the dudes in the group was sitting with me while i had a blood in my face as i was showing him some of my friends and this old white dude been in the group for along time as i was showing the youngster my materials i slid it to wolf and even him was amazed at what i was showing the kid so when we got to education me and him and the head dude of the group went to a class room by ourself when i showed the head dude all of what ive been showing them kids his mouth dropped open and like i was telling him you cant name 5 people when you where there age died gang related he was tongue tied and added a gang prevention to the group before you new it a grip of people was coming to see my gang presentation so one day the discovery channel came and they had heard about it and asked me would i like to get put it on film and that’s how my name got real none pretty fast another thing made feel good all the gang members that i had a chance to get at they bring in there friends and say watch this and that’s what makes it all worth it to me so i sent on line my.space but i wasn’t sucessfull so i can use your help my video is out there but its the small version enough of that well i’m from long beach calif i’m a ex 21 street insane crip sense 1981 i was 11 when iu got jumped in and now i’m 41 years in these self help groups going to church and these bible study groups going to school and doing whats right and keeping these kids on the right track i also work with parents who lost there kids in the streets called the healing circle their stories will rip you apart i’m a good person and i treat people the way i like to be treated i am dead to the streets so i figure it will be best for me to reach outside this prison to answer your question about what made me change my life style is this i went to prison in 1990 for murder and took a 6 year deal for manslaughter i was in new folsom in 98 and me and this somoan crip from park village compton crip and he told me he didn’t have alot of respect for my ex gang and i was like what do you mean by that so he told me that his girlfriend kid had became retarted some of my home boys had went in a hamburger stand and shot her baby daddy while he was holding there new born baby so i told him that was my crime partner and i ask him would he please let me tell her that i was sorry for what had took place and saying to myself that i need to do something about keeping the newer generation from doing what we did because look at how alot of us turn out for the worst so the first thing i had to do is stop gang banggin and ask god to forgive me for all the foul things i ever done the full time i was in a gang something i feel bad about now that i’m older you don’t need to keep me anonymous i want to help that’s why i went on line and hopefully i can find somebody who like to come see me i’m very lonely and far away from my city so i don’t get visits like i would like to with my mom and sister here is some of my work let me no what all you will like for me to say and i will do it ask me anything you want and i will be truthfull with you god bless

So it seems I am writing to a friend of Snoop Dog! I don’t know about you, but I found that fascinating reading. Here is guy with a heap of regrets but is doing something to make things better. The newspaper cuttings he sent suggest that his talk about gang prevention programs is real and genuine. He is serving a life sentence but still wants to make something of his life. That is certainly commendable. The other thing that is clear is that he is very lonely. As quick as would be possible he wrote this reply and took to great care with his response. No doubt he is hoping for ongoing correspondence. It is also great to hear him speak of his faith in God and need for forgiveness.

So I will write to him again. Here’s the plan.. if you would like me to include your own message to Mr Carter, write in the form below and I’ll forward it on. You can write as much or as little as you would like. I think it would be great to be able to give him a couple of messages.

I hope you enjoyed reading his letter. Stay tuned for more correspondence from my prison pen pal.

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