RyanPettigrew

I just did 8 years in solitary confinement because I was allegedly one of the "worst of the worst" so I would fit in your "lost cause" category. I was involved in prison gangs and my good friend was Evan Ebel who got out and killed the Executive Director of CDOC. http://amadmanspathtoreason.com/2013/07/15/my-interview-with-news/

That's actually me in that interview right there.

Except, I've been out a year and own a real estate investment company while also working with troubled teens and act as a life coach, teaching people the lessons I learned without having to go down my path. I was on the Huffington Post Live bringing attention to the solitary confinement issue http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/mental-illness-and-solitary-confinement-/5212624b78c90a63740006a9

I was tortured physically and psychologically at the hands of prison guards and punished for educating myself BUT not even I say that all guards are bad so I wonder why you speak in absolutes.

Find your true self and embrace it fully. Learn to meditate, go to acupuncture and exercise. Never chase acceptance and know that you can't be anything other than who you are.

The system is so ineffective that it puts society in danger. Most people in prison began a life of crime at an early age. They spend the rest of their youth in prison but have never really been productive citizens nor worked a legit job. The prison system is set up to punish so harshly that people never want to come back, thinking that they'll choose to be legit. They aren't educated, they're put into a violent world and harassed by the guards then released angry and ignorant with $100. Once that money dries up and no one will hire them due to their crimina record, even those with the best intentions return to crime.

Here's my solution http://amadmanspathtoreason.com/2013/07/30/prison-recidivism-solution/

I've pretty much gotten over thinking life should be fair on any level; it's really just part of it. They think we're sub-human and poke us with a stick until we snap then they use that as justification to keep us in there and to get public support. We hate them with a passion but the best revenge comes with success and helping others because then I'm not the monster they label me as. They tried to break me but now I'm helping others.

I did a total of 12 years in prison for crimes related to drug dealing. This last time I received a 10 year sentence for intimidating witnesses in my brother's case trying to keep him out of prison. I went to solitary confinement for assaulting a rapist and being part of a prison gang.