Hello, this is Eddie Treadwell, in Michigan prison system of Brooks Correctional Facility. My prison number is 205017. And I would like to speak a little bit about what do it take for a prisoner to rehabilitate himself, or reform, you know, from life of crime. And, you know, I’ve come to understand and realize throughout my 33 years in prison, is that we have to have a desire to change, we have to have a desire to think our conditions could be better, you know, opposed to police–always looking over your shoulder for the police, you know, trying to get a quick buck. You get out of life what you work for. So we have to work and strive towards it, comprehend something that’s worthy of our attention, worthy of our presence, right? You go and create something that’s great, something that’s, you know, something that’s lasting, you don’t want to have no short-lived type of activities going on, you want to do something that make you feel that sense of purpose. You have a sense of purpose to engage in these particular activities you want to engage in. Through transforming yourself from the old you to a new mature you, you know, then you see that the prison system has actually worked for you. Because if I was still in the streets? I would still–I’d be a whole different entire person. I wouldn’t be who I am today. The prison experiences have helped shape and mold me to be the intelligent, thoughtful, caring person that I have come to be today. So prison is not all that bad. When you really look at it. You know, for certain individual sometime, most times, I would say, the individuals leave prison worse off than they did when they came to prison. If they doin’ short term sentences. You know, they say those who gain the highest heights must reach the lowest depths. So once you’ve reached the lowest depths within yourself, by being imprisoned for all these years, with nowhere to go, you know, but up, or down inside of yourself and reflect on who you is, and find treasures that’s hidden beneath the rocky soul of who you are. And then we grab him up and put him up and show him off his pearls. But the thing is with that is that we have to give what we receive to our studies, to our experiences. We have to give it away, right? We have to share with others. And it’s like, gives you a sense of satisfaction of accomplishing something. Because you open the eyes, open those eyes, who was–that was close, right? You have a tendency to uplift spirits and restore hope in others, right? It just bring you a sense of satisfaction just simply for the act of giving, right? Isn’t it better to give then to receive? So I transform myself, from then just a regular individual, to an individual who’s caring, an individual who see life in a different light than I did before I came to be incarcerated. So I understand and recognize the benefits to me of being locked up–I wasn’t out in the in street, uh, drinking all day, partying, listen to all the music, what most people do from the inner city, right? I had time to sit back and reflect and study and read and ponder on life, you know? And what it means to be a man, you know. And then the visual, connected in the community. How do I become to be an asset to the community as opposed to a detriment? So I just want to just share that, you know, with the people that: we as prisoners, you know, we do what we do to help and assist others, not so much for the sake of go get early release or provide us with a story just enough to get good time or an extra meal or whatever the case may be. We do it from the kindness of our hearts. We have study groups and classes that we run in prison, and we don’t get paid a dime. But for the act of giving, the information and knowledge that we received what we done arrived to the certain truth that we done arrived at, we feel a sense of satisfaction by sharing it with others, you know? So we have to just, not just be good, but be good for something. So with that, I’m gon’ leave you as I came, but if anybody like to contact me or communicate, my name is Eddie Treadwell 205017, I’m in Brooks Correctional Facility in Michigan. Have a great day.
These commentaries are recorded by in Prison Radio.
