forgiveeveryoneco-blog

[forgiveeveryoneco-blog]

“Henry”

“What I’d say, with a lot of felons, that though we may be free, we’re still locked up in our minds... and in society we’re still in some kinda chains.”

This is Henry. 

It was the summer of 2011. Henry was 21 years old. He had just been released from the hospital following his suicide attempt.

“I was just using drugs, to kinda, take away from all that. I was up for days.”

During a “cocaine binge” and while not in his right mind, he broke into his friends house to steal drugs and drug money. This later resulted in an altercation between himself and his friend. 

“So we fight, I lose... I still have a fractured vertebrae from that..”

“I wasn’t really in the right state of mind, I threatened him with a knife, backed everyone off from me.”

While the weapon was only brandished, the police were told a different story. He was arrested; accused of walking into the house unprecedented and assaulting people with the knife. 

“I went to jail. I did 2 weeks in intake...no bed or nothin, no blanket. Nothing.”

He was then placed into a regular holding cell for 3 months until he made bail. After waiting 6 months in painfully silent anticipation, he got his court order.

“I started going to court, I was facing twenty years.”

Luckily, Henry ended up getting 2 years probation instead of the two decade sentence. During his probation house searches, almost daily drug tests, meetings with probation officers, etc.were his life.

“They say jump you say how high ya know?”

He completed his 2 years probation with little to no error, but the challenges were far from over.

“I couldn’t go back to school [(Henry attended GVSU in Allendale, MI)]... when I went in there and explained I had a felony they laughed at me.”

with school out of the question, he started researching fields that felons could go into and quickly found how limited the options were.

Henry:

“Mostly I could just work as a cook or a chef, in that industry they don’t really care about your felony....there’s certain places I try to apply to and it’s simply a no-go...[having a felony] definitely makes you less valuable.”

Interviewer:

“Besides employment, how did or does your incarceration affected your relationships with friends? Do you feel like they treat you differently?”

Henry: 

“Most of my friends who know me, they know I’m a good guy. I mean the guy I stole from, I paid him back all of the money that I stole. As a matter of respect. We may not be best friends but I can’t say that we’re enemies. Most friends have kept me. They’ve treated me the same.”

Interviewer:

“Is there anything else you’d like to say that you’d like people to know about life after incarceration?”

Henry:

“What I’d say is that, with a lot of felons, though we may be free, we’re still locked up in our minds... and in society we’re still in some kinda chains. I mean we can overcome that by, just, not seeing it that way, or having a new perspective. But it’s just a lot to get over. Especially being institutionalized for a while, when you come out you won’t even understand society, or new technology. I mean I only did three months but..”

Interviewer:

“For some of these people doing 5, 10 years....”

Henry:

“Yeah my friend who got out after doing 5 years, he..... it was like... talking to someone who doesn’t understand the same social rules as you...for them to adjust to that, they just don’t understand why we do things the way we do.”

“They see these people out here, unhappy with their lives, and they know they should be grateful because they’ve had so little.”

In his free time and for various clients Henry does graphic design. He designs logos, brands, and digital art. Here is some of his work. If you would like to get in contact with him to commission graphic design work, please contact me and I can get you in touch with him. 

It was an absolute pleasure to meet and speak with Henry. Forgive Everyone Co. has plans to collaborate with him in the future on apparel designs and limited edition runs where portions of profits will be paid to him for use of his designs. 

Everyone has a story. Henry’s is one of many. If you or someone you know would like to share their story of life post-incarceration, feel free to reach out to me here or by email ForgiveEveryoneCo@outlook.com

Everyone deserves love. Everyone deserves forgiveness. #forgiveeveryone

[forgiveeveryoneco-blog]

“What I’d say, with a lot of felons, that though we may be free, we’re still locked up in our minds… and in society we’re still in some kinda chains.”

Audio bite from my interview with Henry today. Henry is a previously incarcerated second chance citizen I had the pleasure of speaking with regarding his experiences post-incarceration. The full story will be posted next week. Artwork displayed alongside audio was designed and illustrated by Henry.

[forgiveeveryoneco-blog]

The United States only makes up approximately ~4% of the world’s population, yet it holds 22% of the world’s incarcerated population. In fact, the United States holds the 2nd most prisoners per capita on the earth. Yet we are considered the “Land of the Free”.

Policies instituted specifically during the war on drugs caused thousands of Americans to find themselves behind bars for long amounts of time for only minor drug offenses. When these Americans are finally released, their freedom is not true freedom. With a felony record, ex-convicts cannot vote, cannot buy a gun, are discriminated against for employment and housing, and are viewed as second-class citizens in society. Many ex-convicts, unable to find employment or housing, find themselves homeless and resorting to illegal tactics to survive. As a result, as found in the 2005 study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 76.6 percent of freed inmates were back in jail within 5 years; of those 76.6%, 56.7% of them were back in jail within only one year. The U.S. Incarceration problem is largely maintained by these atrocious recidivism rates. If ex-convicts are able to find employment, housing, and rehabilitation resources on release, they are much less likely to find themselves back behind bars.

I have a passion to help ex-convicts and eventually own my own local business in which I prioritize the hiring of ex-convicts. While I look forward to achieving that dream further down the road, I want to do something now. After researching businesses run by alumni of my college and observing business operations built around similar models (percentage of profit to a cause), I realized I could do the same. The issue of mass incarceration and the societal prejudice that ex-convicts are faced with is still a widely unknown issue. I want to use apparel and social media to push for this awareness and affect change in my nation.

50% of all our sales profits fund efforts assisting previously incarcerated men and women to find employment, housing, training, and rehabilitation. Freedom needs to truly mean freedom.

Everyone deserves forgiveness.

#forgiveeveryone

-Skyler Rich