Prison Radio
Larry Stromberg

Hi, my name is Larry Stromberg, and I’m going to perform my short play called “The Struggle”. 

Speaker:
I struggle every day with mood swings, emotional, mental health, depression. I’ve been diagnosed bipolar.  Rejection could set me off into oblivion. You see, losing any more loved ones could push me over the edge. When my siblings passed away, I, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I cut my wrists deep. 

It’s a miracle I’m still here on this earth. I lost so much blood. I should be dead and six feet deep. The guards, nurses and doctors saved my life just in the nick of time. And now I’m on proper medication to help me have some kind of control of my mood swings and heavy depression. 

I’m in weekly therapy, institutional programs, and leaning heavy on my faith helped me overcome the struggles I face day by day behind the razor wire. The struggles everyone faces being in the penitentiary. 

You see being incarcerated for years makes everything so much worse–dealing with my mental health condition. And I can’t be with my family–I miss them so damn much. It’s hard for me to forgive myself for all the pain and agony and extreme heartache I caused my victim, my victim’s family members, my family and to myself.

Having trouble forgiving myself. That’s my struggle, I guess; struggle for many others in prison as well, forgiving ourselves. But my focus now has been my recovery, my recovery tools that I’ve learned to help me survive and overcome the hardships I face on a daily basis in this place, in this joint. I’m getting a college education now. I’m working hard to earn my college degree and that gives me a purpose. And we all need to have a purpose. It gives our lives value and worth. And I’m grateful. I’m grateful to God that I can still achieve great things, even behind bars, and it’s good to know I can still have a great future.

This is a call from SCI Phoenix State Correctional Institution. This call is subject to recording and monitoring. 

It’s good to know that I can still have a great future and I can still help my family. I can still help my family and others by doing good and positive things. I still, I can still have goals, and I can still have dreams, and, you know, dreams to leave a good legacy. And hopefully, I can still have a second chance in prison and hopefully out in society someday. Even in the struggle, the struggle being in prison this purpose–it gives me hope. To me, I tell you, that’s genuine.   

Thank you so much. The play was called “The Struggle”, written by me Larry Stromberg. Thank you so much. 

These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.