Hello, this is Mr. Eddie Treadwell at Kinross Correctional Facility here in Michigan, and I would like to express my need to be free. I’ve been incarcerated now for 32 years for a crime, trying to defend myself by individuals trying to kill me—the same individuals who killed my brother in the city of Detroit. I ended up with a lot of time in prison.
After all these years in prison, I have had a lot of ups and downs and a lot of losses in my family and everything and started having more of a sense of the value and importance of life and how one should appreciate his life, his existence on earth—and not just merely existing but being able to live a life which is satisfying where that you can provide assistance and information and guidance and support to others. Your life is not only worthy as it is that you just living and existed at all. It have value when you are able to do for others.
They say God gave us a life as a blessing and he shortened it to make it more so of a blessing, and we must live every day of our life like it’s our last, because one day it will be—and he who neglect this present moment lose all that he has. So I’ve neglected a lot of moments in prison, but I have went deep down until myself and found a reason to live, that I have something to offer, that I have a lot of things that I want do, that I wanna see in the world. I want to be of assistance and value to others. I want to be able to love and others and receive love and return and make my life worth living, make my life have a sense of value—not being confined in the Michigan Department of Corrections around a whole bunch of individuals who, for the most part, are aimless wandering through life without a sense of direction.
We just adapting to our environments and learning to live within that environment, not to overcome and transcend that environment, which I think is real important for a person who finds itself in the conditions that is not so suited for his growth and development. We must try to transcend the environment and don’t become to be a victim of your environment. And once I become able to obtain my release from prison and I break the chain, I break the chain with this holding me back to the point where I cannot shine my brightest in the world and be the best that I can be. It’s limit on the things that I can do, inside of prison, and this is the limit of the physical imprisonment that hinders me. That’s why I need to be able to move and connect with other individuals, the same type of minded individuals who are striving to make the best of their existence and be a benefit and value to themselves and the world, cause it’s a lot of strong men in prison who’s waiting on opportunity to be released, and I’m looking forward to an opportunity to be released so I can give back to the world.
I end up taking the life which wasn’t my intentions, but it ended up happening based upon of circumstances surrounding my case there in Detroit. Right, so now I come to be a victim of my environment, but I don’t live as a victim. I live as someone who have overcame the conditions in which the card in which I was dealt by being a black individual, man of color in the ghetto.
These are things we must fight and overcome, so my mind has overcame, but my physical is still trapped. My mind is free, but my body is still trapped. I have to get my mind, my body, and soul on the same path, on the same level, then I can be all I can be. People have the tendency that their heart is pure, but their minds is distorted, distorted by the things in which they accept to be they truth. My mind have come to be free, and I come to analyze and evaluate things in which I believe and accept as being my truth, but my body is still incarcerated. My heart is still incarcerated. I’m still confined. I’m still restricted, so I need to be free.
I need to be the bird to let loose from the cage so I can soar and be the best that I can be and let my life shine, help further the race and the people at home I come in contact with. I would like to be that blessing that make everyone’s day pleasant, ave time, words, encouraging words, to express to those who are in need of some type of inspiration, motivation.
So with that, I would leave you as I came, in peace, and if like to contact me, you can contact me on JPay here at Michigan Department of Corrections, Mr. Eddie Treadwell, or on email at mreddietreadwell@gmail.com.
Thank you and have a wonderful day.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
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