Q&A with Samuel
We are just popping in with a hello from Samuel! It’s his birthday today, and we decided to open up the platform for a Q&A, and we had quite a fun time connecting with our community.
Here are some highlights from the Q&A:
Phil has been following us from day one. Previously incarcerated, he picked up an interest in Prison Chronicles early on, and had a message for me to send to Samuel that brought him to tears.
"What’s up…. it’s been a while. I know all the BS and struggles you face in the daily. I did a 7-year SHU term for being a program failure back in the day. Life gets better. I no longer think about count time at 4pm or any of the other stuff we get programmed to think of. Keep up the good work and stay on top of the education.
I’ve been out for almost 3 years now. 17 years and 11 months on a 19 to Life Sentence. Some of my good friends have recently been paroled too. It’s working if you put in the work to rehabilitate yourself. My cellie just got out last year. Went in at 19 years old and got out at 55 years old. He now has a lead position at a hardware store. There are opportunities for you out here. I just got engaged. I travel for fun. My lady laughs at me because I still watch the news religiously and listen to NPR. It feels nice to pay my taxes, drive around, visit family and be a good citizen. Stay up.”
Q: Favorite Prison Snack?
Samuel: Strawberry Swiss Rolls
Q: The Gnarliest thing you’ve seen? Who’s the scariest guy you’ve seen? Have you seen any ghosts?
Samuel: The gnarliest thing I’ve seen many times over the years is where violence happens and cops murder an inmate. Scariest guy? There’s always someone who’s badder than the next. It’s hard to choose one because there are a lot of crazy guys out here. In regard to ghosts, I haven’t seen a ghost, but I’ve experienced some things that occurred in a cell where a prisoner once lived in, who had committed suicide that I can't quite explain.
Q: What would you say to your younger self before you got locked up, if you had the chance?
Samuel: There is more to life than the way you are living, and life is very short. This here, is not the way you should be living.
Follow up Q: How do you think your younger self would have taken that?
Samuel: I probably would have laughed at it. I didn’t value life whatsoever.
Q: Favorite activity as a youth, certain smells you miss, advice you received prior to incarceration that if you listened to, could have changed the outcome of your situation?
Samuel: Working on old school muscle cars, the smell of a woman and my Grandma’s homemade tortillas. Advice that I should have listened to was- “Stay in school.” But due to my circumstances and the environment I grew up in, I don’t think it would have made a difference. I don’t think anything would have deterred me from drugs and gangs. Stay in school kids.
Q: What changes in the prison system have you seen over the years? What things have gotten better? What changes would you make to it if you could?
Samuel: I’ve seen so many changes within prisoners and the growth in them. More conscientious and realizing that there are more things to life than criminality. Prison used to be more crime-driven and now there’s a desire for change in life and choices. I am seeing people in society realize that more education needs to be put into prisons, and I’m getting to see that take place. I would take away lazy excessive sentences, take away the three strikes law and focus more on rehabilitation.