In October 2020, students at Miami Youth Academy and men at San Quentin State Prison in California started a letter exchange facilitated by Prison Journalism Project and Exchange for Change, a Miami-based non-profit group that supports writing programs in youth commitment and adult correctional facilities. The Miami Youth Academy houses up to 28 boys from 14 to 18 years old, who are sent there by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. These letters were first published in Titan Tribune, their school newspaper. The students are identified by their initials to protect their identities.
Dear MYA Students,
As I write to you about this prompt, I am hurt, disappointed and mad at the system for denying me parole again. I have been incarcerated since 1995 and have changed my life.
I have earned college degrees and acknowledged my crime and my past. Gangs were part of my life before. I was looking for love because I felt unloved at home.
I have not broken any rules here, nor have I lied or made excuses. So I became heartbroken and confused about the denial, which will last for five years. I had high expectations that I was going to get out.
I am not a victim. I committed a crime and I should be held accountable for my past actions. But what I’m going through is how a curveball can devastate us all.
So what am I doing now?
Surrounding myself with positive people, going to church, talking to my counselors and friends.
I continue to process my disappointments as I write this to you all. The healing process must be based on accountability and responsibility. I can only do this by making sure that I stay the course in my rehabilitation, regardless what the disappointment may be.
It is OK not to be OK. I have asked for help and they have helped me out during these difficult times.
Eventually, I will be released from prison. I will face curveballs out there in the community and in my life. They are part of life and part of being a person.
MYA Student’s Response
Dear Mr. Chavez,
I’m really sorry to hear about your parole denial.
I can relate to what you are going through right now, putting so much effort into something and not getting the outcome that you wanted. It can drive you to the point where you give up and not want to try any more. But the best thing about being at the bottom is that things can only get better.
I have struggled while I have been here at the program. I have asked for things that I have worked for and I have been turned down. You can call that a curveball, I suppose. The only thing that keeps me going is thoughts of my family and how they need me. That encourages me to keep pushing and to keep trying.
I feel like every day can present a curveball, no matter how big or small it is. The choices we make on them may decide how the next day will go.
I hope your days are improving now. Things will get better.
By D.L.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Here are our ground rules:
- You must credit Prison Journalism Project. In the byline, we prefer “[Author Name], Prison Journalism Project.” At the top of the text of your story, please include a line that says: “This story was originally published by Prison Journalism Project” and include a link to the article.
- No republishing of photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
- No editing the content, including the headline, except to reflect changes in time, location and editorial style. For example, changing, “today” to “last week,” or San Quentin to San Quentin, California. You can also make minor revisions for style or headline size, and you can trim stories for space. You must also retain all original hyperlinks, including links to the Prison Journalism Project newsletters.
- No translation of our stories into another language without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
- No selling ads against our stories, but you can publish it on a page with ads that you’ve already sold.
- No reselling or syndicating our stories, including on platforms or apps like Apple News or Google News. You also can’t republish our work automatically or all at once. Please select them individually.
- No scraping our website or using our stories to populate websites designed to improve search rankings or gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
- Any site our stories appear on must have a prominent and effective way to contact you.
- If we send you a request to remove our story, you must do so immediately.
- If you share republished stories on social media, please tag Prison Journalism Project. We have official accounts on Twitter (@prisonjourn), Facebook (@prisonjournalism), Instagram (@prisonjournalism) and Linked In.
- Let us know when you share the story. Send us a note, so we can keep track.