Locked In with Ian Bick - Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison at 15: A Shocking Story of Survival and Redemption | Carlos Rebollo

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Carlos Rebollo was sentenced to 45 years in prison when he was 15 years old in Connecticut. In this interview, Carlos discusses the events leading to his incarceration, his experiences growing up behind bars, and how he found the strength to survive in the prison system. He also shares the lessons he learned and his journey to rebuild his life after serving 24 years. #TeenIncarceration #ConnecticutJustice #JuvenileSentencing #PrisonSurvival #LifeBehindBars #TrueCrimeInterviews #PrisonReform #RedemptionJourney Connect with Carlo Rebollo: https://stan.store/freedombraidsbycarlos IG:https://www.instagram.com/freedombraidsbycarlos/profilecard/?igsh=MWVqOW5yejNoa2NsYg== FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088032930798&mibextid=LQQJ4d TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@carlosrebollo64?_t=8rOhyMciAY7&_r=1 Thank you to LUCY for sponsoring this episode: Go to http://lucy.co/ianbick and use promo code IANBICK to get 20% off your first order. Lucy has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind.  Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://www.ianbick.com/shop Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 Starting a Business After Prison 00:05:03 Early Life Struggles and Dropping Out of School 00:10:27 Navigating Early Life of Crime 00:16:10 Overcoming Childhood Issues 00:21:36 Arrest and Investigation Unfolds 00:28:00 History of the Juvenile Justice System 00:32:25 Changes in Parole Policies in Connecticut 00:38:09 Sentencing Reality: The Immediate Aftermath of 45 Years 00:43:43 Life in Isolation: Early Years in Prison 00:49:16 Navigating a Toxic Work Environment 00:54:48 Transformation Through Education and Mentorship 01:00:00 Juvenile Pardon Considerations in Connecticut 01:05:56 Navigating Parole and the Value of Certificates 01:11:39 From Incarceration to Entrepreneurship: A Salon Success Story 01:16:42 From Renting a Chair to Owning a Suite: A Personal Growth Journey 01:22:05 Rehabilitating Against the Odds 01:27:45 The Power of Storytelling Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Lowe's In Cues, it's the pros preferring to payches to comevien. Ahorrable in madera

compuesta for perils and it's a variety of styles. Also, aorra in a selection

of a personalis for entrances and interiors and contraries and you take us to the

work to the projectos our projectos our next our best selection

is here in Lowe's Bannid VIII to 527 to to go to

REL Dixixixion V VAR So, tell me Why did you move with Mayflower? Because I didn't want the stress or the surprises.

You'd get with a move broker or mama pop. This move was about the destination, not the chaos. That's why we chose Mayflower. They're America's most trusted mover for a good reason. They've been at it for 100 years. That kind of experience matters. What do they do for you? Everything.

Packing and unpacking, custom crating, furniture setup, storage. It was all spelled out in the move quote. Nothing caught us off guard. That alone is worth it. It was. We had a professional move coordinator. keeping us updated the whole way.

And knowing our belongings were protected with their full value protection, that was huge. So no moving day panic? None. Professional crews, careful handling, and the freedom to actually enjoy starting fresh. For more than a century, Mayflower has delivered worldwide capability and full-service care every step of the way. Big move ahead, your entrusted hands with Mayflower. 100 years of moving expertise delivered with care, local, long distance, and global. Get a quote at Mayflower.com.

Carlos, welcome to Lockton, a fellow Connecticut resident, Bridgeport you came from today. And you own a business in Connecticut, too, that I want to have you plug in the top of this episode. Yes, so I am Freedom Braids, located in Shelton, Connecticut, had a suite called My Salon Suite. Awesome. I think it's so cool that people, you know, get out of prison, have a story like yours, and start their own businesses and become successful. And you were just telling me about your friend who were going to try to get on the show that all. also is out of prison, has his own business. I mean, that's what it's all about. And I think it inspires others to go and do that because people are kind of stuck and don't know if they want to start their own business, work for someone else or what to do, especially in the climate where, you know, some employers won't hire people getting out of prison too.

So it's really exciting that you have your own business. And we'll have, do you have like social media and stuff? Yes, so Instagram, Freedom Brates by Carlos mainly. That's where all of my work on is at, posted and TikTok as well, Freedom Brates. mostly Instagram. Cool. I'll have the links in the description of this episode for people to check it out. Awesome.

So you live in Bridgeport now. Did you grow up in Bridgeport? I grew up in Bridgeport. Yes, my parents are from Puerto Rico, and we grew up on the south end of Bridgeport, Marina Village, which was projects and very, very tough in the early 80s and 90s. So got exposed to a lot of violence early on in my life. Were you born in Bridgeport? Yes, in Bridgeport Hospital.

Okay. I was born in Bridgeport Hospital. Did you ever get to go to Puerto Rico to visit at all? I went one. I went once, but I was very young, and I really remember everything. Do you ever, like, think about if you could have had the opportunity to grow up in Puerto Rico rather than here? Maybe life would have turned out differently? I do, but then again, my whole family ended up coming to Bridgeport to live with us because my uncle started selling drugs over there as well.

He ended up getting shot. So there was some retaliation going on with my family didn't want to take the chance, and they all came over here. So there's no telling on whom, you know, what would have happened had I gone over there, too. Because it's everywhere. Wow. It's everywhere. Did you have siblings growing up? Yes.

So it was eight of us. Wow. The second oldest and seven boys and one girl. I feel bad for the girl, a family of boys. It's a lot. And were you guys like all in the same household growing up? In the same house? Four bedroom apartment, two floors in the projects, yeah.

And what did your parents do for work? So they didn't work. They didn't work. We grew up on welfare. mainly, always in the house, really, when everywhere, anywhere at all. So, yeah. Do you guys have a close relationship because they were always home? It was, we were always together, but not close at all.

I mean, there was a lot of violence early on, a lot of abuse, drug addiction. My father was heavy into crack, beat my mother a lot in and out of prison. We were constantly running away from him. I mean, we ended up in New York. We ended up in Puerto Rico anywhere. my mother could find to, you know, have somebody let her stay there so that we don't, we wouldn't have to stay with them a lot. But he would always find us. Your friends in school, did they have similar upbringings too, or were you kind of like

an odd one out? It was tough because it wasn't a lot of information being exposed to school. So I remember having classmates that were friends of mine, but not of a lot of information being shared about home environment and family at all. Did you go to school regularly? Yes. So one of the things that I love about my childhood was school. And the reason why is because at the time, I really understood anything. It was chaotic. I couldn't, you know, you wouldn't know what was expected of you.

And when I went to school and I learned how to read, I felt so empowered because to me it was like I finally could understand something. Like it's not me. I'm competent. Like my mind is capable of working. And when I would go back home, it would be the opposite. I would be met with the, you know, like I'm incompetent. I'm not worth anything. I can't understand it.

Really, there was no structure. There was no consistency. So for me, school was just feeling empowered about who I was as a person. And early on, like I could feel this tension developing within me, whether the person that I love could survive in the environment that I was coming home to. And, you know, early on, I made a decision that it couldn't. And so I gave up on school and stopped going and just ended up, you know, in the streets and selling drugs early on.

Why do you think you came to that decision? Because that's a lot of process at your age. This is, this is in retrospect, but early on, you know, it was kind of like just that feeling. You know, you go to school, you feel empowered. I was always asking the teacher to put more work on the chalkboard. Like, I love learning and I love doing the work. But when you would go, I would go back home, you know, it was just the complete opposite. So it's like, you know, how much more this can I take?

How much more this can I take of me going to school and thinking my life could be something and then going back home and saying, you know, life isn't worth anything. everyone around me is just the mess. And so since the home environment is where I spent most of my time, that's where I wanted to escape from. And as a result of that school had to go too because I was too young to live on my own or to be with anybody that would take me in and say, you have to go to school. So I just ended up in the streets and said, you know what, I'm just going to disregard everything. Stop school, stop going home, ended up in the street. And little by little, the violence and the criminal activity started to increase.

What's one thing you wish was stable in your life at that time to kind of prevent you from going down that path? Is it the household? Would that have fixed everything? It affected a lot. I just think that just being able to have somebody allow me to embrace my childhood, you know, to ask questions. A lot of questions that I asked when I was, you know, a child were met with screams, you know, shouts, slaps sometimes for certain questions. I just wanted to understand. That's all I wanted to do was understand, like, what is going on in the world?

What is life about? You know, why is this this way? Why is it that way? And it wasn't encouraged at all. So I ended up shutting my mind down. And I learned later on, you know, while I was in prison and thinking about my life, that what happens is when you shut your mind down, especially at an early age, the only thing available to me were my emotions.

And so whatever I felt, whatever I felt was real to me. It didn't matter if it was right or wrong, true or false. It just mattered that I felt something. And the way I felt was just as real to me as anything. And that's what I operated off. My emotion, so I became very impulsive early on. Did you feel love at all as a child? There were moments.

There were moments. But then when the mistreatment would happen, it was like, how could somebody that loves me, you know, treat me this way? So it was tough to hold on to that love if it was that at all. So you end up leaving school permanently? Yes, I ended up dropping. school at 5th grade. Fifth grade. I stopped going to school, yeah. And I'm guessing you got your high school education in prison later on?

Yes, GED at the age of 18. I had already spent three years in prison out of a 45-year sentence. Wow. So let's talk about what leads up to that. So you, fifth grade, you drop out. What's everyday life like for a fifth grader that's not going to school? Because when I was in fifth grade, I was in school every day. So it's really trying to find something to do. It says there's not a lot of positivity and I'm letting myself be influenced by all of the people around me which were drug dealers. It was a lot of criminal activity, violence, selling drugs. And so that increased. And I ended up getting locked up for selling drugs.

They read it the block, the police. They took me and five of my friends in. Two of them went to detention. No, yeah, two of us went to detention. The other three went to Bridgeport County. So in detention, I met other, you know, children, kids that were also involved in the same thing, talked about the same things that were going on in the street, making the same plans, ended up being transferred to a program.

In that program, I had to do community service. So me and the guy that I got arrested with, we ended up escaping during community service. So they lock us up the next day because we got caught, sent us back to detention. I went back to the same program. He went to a different one. I ended up escaping that same program again, got caught the next day again, and then got shipped to Long Lane, which was a higher security facility for juveniles. And then after that, I was sent to Mount St. John's, which is in Deep River, Connecticut, like a group home for children, troubled teens. I did six months there.

While I was there, my son was born because I had got my girlfriend pregnant at the age of 14. Wow. And so I was there and I was released March 1998. My son was three months old. I tried to live with her in Massachusetts. We left over there while on parole. And I couldn't take it. It was too much, too much responsibility.

And so I called my parole officer, told them I was ready to come back to Bridgeport. He said under the condition you have to go back to school. And when I left, something broke. Something broke in me. It's like whatever I was holding on to in terms of changing my life was my son. And since I couldn't be there. It reflected on me very badly.

And I started getting back into the streets again. You know, I had this big plan of being a great father and changing my life. And within, I say, three months of my release, you know, all of that crash. And I went back to Bridgeport, started selling drugs again, started assaulting people, you know, selling drugs, robbing them. And that evidently left to me going to school one day. and just hating life, hating life. And the teacher said something to me. I don't remember what it was.

And I turned around and punched her in the face. And now I had violated parole, so I knew I was going back to Long Lane. And I remember somebody telling me about a house full of guns. And I went and picked up a friend and said, let's go to the house and get the guns. And so I went into the house to get the guns. The person was in there.

The guy that I came with never went in the house, and it turned very violent. So I got charged with attempted murderer. Arson, I saw first, burglary first, robbery first, went back to juvenile detention, went back to Long Lane facility, got transferred to adult court, transferred to high court charges an adult and sentenced to 45 years in prison at the age of 15. Looking to step up your nicotine routine, Lucy's 8 milligram mint breakers have you covered. These innovative nicotine pouches come with a building capsule that you can pop to release

an extra burst of flavor and hydration. It's smooth, refreshing, and super convenient. I grabbed a pack of the 8 milligram mint-flavored breakers for the team at the studio, and they couldn't get enough of it. The flavor is spot on, and setting up a subscription to have it delivered right to our door made everything so easy. Want to give it a try? Head over to lucy.com slash Ian Bick and use promo code Ian Bick to get 20% off your first order.

Lucy even has a 30-day refund policy, so there's no risk in giving a shot. Again, that's lucy.com slash Ian Bick, and don't forget to use code Ian Bick for 20% off. Just a reminder, Lucy products are only for adults of legal age, and every order is age verified. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Go check it out and see what all the hype is all about. I can't wait to have some of our guests that are coming on Locked in. Give Lucy a try.

Now let's get back into today's episode. So you're 15 years old breaking into this house. Yes, 15 years old. How does a 15 year old even do that? Well, the thing is like, so it wasn't sudden. You know, there were other break-ins that I was doing. So I was already used to it. I was stealing cars.

So I was engaging in all type of acts that, you know, like, prepared somebody for something like that. I didn't just wake up and decide to do it. So yeah, I knocked on the door. The woman opened the house. I know that she was a retired vet and had guns, had a history of, you know, people trying to break in her house and her shooting. So I broke in and it became very violent immediately. Why do you think you gave up on the fatherhood at that point? Like, why do you only give it a couple months?

So my girlfriend would go get her GED in the morning and then I would just play basketball in the after. afternoon. But I remember the day that I gave up because my son wouldn't stop crying. And this is so tough to think about and to speak about, but, you know, I loved him and I tried to do everything that I could to, you know, be the father that I wanted to be. But he wouldn't stop crying. And I fed him. I bathed him. You know, I changed like everything, everything. And he wouldn't stop crying. And I just I remember shaking him really hard. And when his mother came in that night, I was on the porch and I was smoking. And she was like, please don't hit our child again.

And the fact that she wasn't there, but she could sense that, like, really, really crushed me. And then it weighed heavily on me. And I was like, I don't want to be my father. I don't want to turn into that. So I think that that was what ultimately led me to leave my son. And I think he was maybe five months old. Were your parents active in your child's birth at all? I tried to keep them away as much as I could.

I mean, immediately, when I would give them a chance, I would see the same patterns of behavior. And I didn't want my son anywhere around that. So I would try my heart as not to. There was a moment where my mom asked my girlfriend and I, his mother, if she could keep him for a while. And I was like, absolutely not. Like, it's not happening.

Where were you learning how to become a father? Because you didn't necessarily have the best upbringing. So where does a 14, 15-year-old even, you know, learn that? And back then there's no, you know, TV at the Internet maybe is just beginning at the different time. Yeah, there was no learning. I mean, it was just, I remember the supervisor of the group home that I was in Mount St. Johnson, Deep River, Connecticut, Mr. Richard. I still remember his name.

He asked me, he said, did you cry when you held your son? And I was like, no. He was like, you didn't cry. He was like, I cried. my first born was born. And even that weighed heavily on me because I was like, you know, am I not like a good father? But I didn't know. I didn't know what a father. I had no training. I never had the example, the model type. So it was mostly like, you know, I wake up. I know that I have to feed him. I know that I have to be there. And that was basically it. Like I didn't

even think about working on myself for being, you know, the best version of me. I just knew that. Where I started is where I am. And I didn't even know how to get to where I wanted to get. I just knew that I had to be there. That's it. It's almost like a part of you wanted to not be in the streets and not be like your family or the people around you and you really wanted to do good and it just you couldn't. Yeah, so it was, like I said, in a very early age, it was, it was school. It had a big impression on me and that sense of self-empowerment. But, you know, when it comes to a child, it's like, you're told, for example, and it's very artificial, like superficial, like superficial.

you're told, get a girlfriend, she'll keep you off the streets. Or you have people say, you know, once I got my son and my family, that was it for me. You know, I had to change my life. So I think it was more leaning towards that. But there was no conscious effort, you know, in terms of like planning this thing out and saying, you know, like if I want to get out of the streets, this is what I have to do. It was more like I do one out, but I don't know how. Like I don't know how everything. I generalized at a very early age.

And that was part of the problem, Ian. I think that what was going on inside of me when I did give up was if this is what the whole world is like, then I'm going to give them hell. If this is what they want, like if this is what they're giving me as violence, then this is what I'm going to give them back. But my parents were only two people. They weren't everybody else around, but I generalized. And that's when my world started to crash because I said, this is how everybody is. So now I'm going to be as irrational. I'm going to beat them at their own game.

I'm going to be as irrational, as impulsive, as a logical, everything that my parents were I was. And, you know, as an aside of that, what ended up happening when they would bring me to psychologists or to counselors to speak to me, you know, they would be shocked by my behavior and my responses. And they didn't understand the reinforcement that was going on inside me because in my mind, I'm like, oh, you don't understand what's going on? Well, welcome to my world because I don't understand anything at all.

So, you know, it was like I had the upper hand now. I was the one that was shocking the world. And so for me, that was the empowerment now rather than going to school and feeling that, you know, I was capable of becoming something great. Where do you think the anger and the violence comes from? It came from not being able to express it. It came from fear of what would happen if I was able to express it. And it came from the fear of knowing that I couldn't escape, like, what was surrounding me. I wrote a letter to my childhood self.

It was a part of a program that I did in prison. And they asked, you know, for me to do it as homework. And so I wrote it out like it was nothing. There's a letter to my childhood self. And when I went to the group, my mentor was next to me. And it was my turn to read the letter. I was reading right through it like it was nothing. And when I got to the part where it said, watch your anger because it's killing you.

And if you can't, like, deal with it, just, run, run far away. I couldn't finish that I broke down completely. And so it was an indication of how much that affected me, like not being able to express it. Do you wish that you had something to channel it into, like maybe sports or an activity or a friend group? I did. I did. And it was tough because, like, I didn't have anybody to rely on. I didn't. And I couldn't trust. I couldn't confide in anywhere. Not my mother, not my father. There was no bridge there that was developed where I can even take a step or think about taking a step because everything was just like this dark, like whole abyss, like abyss, it was just bad.

Yeah. So you end up getting arrested after that. Were you on the run at all or they got you right then and there at that person's house? So, no. What ended up happening was I saw my little brother because I went home and every, my mother was in there because she had bombed the house because it approaches. So she had these like roach bombs everywhere. So everything was closed.

And I saw my little brothers, so I asked them to change clothes with me. Now, in the projects, we used to always burn the dumpster. We set it fire all the time. So it wouldn't be nothing for that to happen that night. So I told him, you know, when Mommy gets home, you know, take the clothes, I'll put on your clothes and just burn it in the trash. And I went out that night, came back home, fell asleep. I didn't even check on my brother to ask them questions or anything. It was like three in the morning when I got there.

Because I was thinking about just driving. I had a stolen car and I was thinking about just drive, just driving. Wherever you end up, you end up. But when I got on a highway, I was like, I have no license, I'm in a stolen car. You know, I'm 15. This is crazy. Let me just go back. So I fell asleep and I didn't know that my mother called my parole officer and the cops

and told them that I was home and I woke up handcuff to my parole officer telling me that, you know, I told you that this is exactly how I would bring you back if you violated parole. So that's how I woke up being cuffed. Now, did your mom know that you already had done this assault on the house? No, she's just calling because of the teacher? She's calling because of the teacher, yes, absolutely. Okay. Because of the teacher.

Do you think your mom would have called if she knew about the house? Yes, 100%. My mother was one that she hated the idea of her children engaging in criminal acts. She sent my brother to prison one time when she found drugs in the house. The police officers gave her the options. And she turned in the drugs of just, you know, having them this, like, just get rid of the drugs and just leaving him there because he was like 13 or 14. She was like, no, get him out of here. And they arrested him and took him to detention.

So when they arrested you, did they know you did the house? They did not know. So I was in Long Lane. And they had me in a place called Unit 4, which is like segregation in adult prison, the box, in other words. And I was there. I remember a staff member within a week of my stay there saying something like, you know, you're not going anywhere anytime soon. And then it started to, you know, throwing on me that I might, they might suspect that I committed

that crime. And when the detectives came to see me, the first thing they asked me was what happened. And I told them I didn't know anything. And they were with my mother. And so my mother told me, you know, they have your little brother. And so what ended up happening was because I told my little brother what I did when I changed. clothes. He was so stressed out that they brought him to the principal's office. They asked him what happened. And he said my brother got arrested for murdering a lady. And, you know, they were like,

what are you talking about? I got arrested for, you know, punching the teacher in the face. And that brought the detectives on for more questioning, investigation, found the clothes, and then came to me to question me about the crime. So he never ended up burning the clothes, nothing. No, nothing. He folded them and put them back into the drawer. How's your relationship with him now? Do you guys talk? It's difficult because he suffers from schizophrenia. So it's really bad. I decided to go see him about two weeks ago after building up the courage because I've heard so many stories, so many stories that were difficult.

And immediately when I walk into the apartment, I ask him how he's doing and he greets me as if it was yesterday, 1998, over 24 years ago. and he said, I'm doing great. KK. He calls me KK. He's like, I'm doing great. I was like, why? I was going on. You seem happy. And he was like, yeah, me and Cardi B are getting married. He was like, I've been trying to get her my whole entire life. And finally, we had this conversation. He was like, we sat down and we agreed, like, we're going to make it official.

So, you know, it's interesting because we were all there. And the happiest one was him. Like, he was the happiest out of everybody that was surrounding me that day. So, you know, I took him to the mall. We talked the whole entire time. And they told me, like, he's very, like, you know, just overall, just happy person. But his mind is deteriorating. Did you feel bad at the time for putting that pressure onto him?

I did. And I kind of blame myself. I wonder how much that affected him. So how long did it take for the detectives to end up charging you after you're waiting in there? It took about a week, just a week. So they closed the case pretty quickly. Pretty quickly, yeah, because they asked me for a statement. and I told them I did not know.

So when they threatened me, we're charging my younger brother, my little brother. I just told them everything. So it was basically a confession. I gave them completely. And did they charge you formally or anything? Or was it just a plea deal? How did the legal process play out? So the legal process was long.

It was 18 months long. I wavered between pleading guilty and going to trial mainly because I didn't trust my lawyer. I didn't know anything about the criminal justice system. And, you know, I don't. I didn't even know that initially you had to plead guilty just so that the process could, you know, the investigation and everything could play itself out. And I remember my first attorney standing next to me in court when we went before high court. And the judge asked for the plea and my lawyer was like, not guilty. And I was like, not guilty.

Like we're going to start lying to the judge early on. You know that because I didn't know. And in the juvenile justice system, you don't render those kind of pleadings. You just go through the system. You know, it's not as appraisal. And so I didn't trust my lawyer. I didn't know if I was pleading to the right time. So I decided to go to trial.

And I picked my jury. And at the last moment, I was like, you know, my mother was pleading with me. Everybody else was telling me not to go to trial that I was going to lose. Meanwhile, I'm in an adult facility in South Hill, Connecticut and Walker. And the adults, they are telling me, you know, jump off the stairs, take medication. They'll give you less time if you act crazy. I'm like, this is just bananas to me. Like, I have no idea what to do.

So I decided not to go to trial, take the plea agreement, and I pled guilty to 45 years. No, there was no alternative for a lesser sentence or no prison time. There was no programs, nothing. There was nothing. The offer was always on 45 years. And what was told to me was that since I had six different charges, if I lost trial, would be facing 120 years. So essentially life in prison?

in prison, yes. And, you know, I thought that, like, I was completely convinced that I did wrong. Like, there was nobody telling me different. But my first impression that there was something wrong with the system, with the criminal justice system, was when I was picking my jury and this young lady, um, as a juror went up and she was being asked questions and told about the case and the sentence that could be rendered, the possible sentence that could be rendered. And she was like, how old is he? They told her, I'm 15. It was like, you want me to sit here on a jury

and be impartial to a 15-year-old that's facing 45 years? She was like, absolutely not. I can't possibly be impartial to that. And then they wait on me, like, wait a minute. Like, this is a jury of my peers. And she's a citizen. If she thinks that's something wrong,

that there's something wrong here, then there's something that I should be, you know, investigating. So that led me to start doing research about, you know, my case and what kind of information I needed to understand what was going on. And that opened the door to a lot of things that I have been shocked by completely. What were some of those things you were shocked by? So, for example, the idea that a juvenile could be charged as an adult, giving the history of, you know, how the child has been treated in the United States with respect to the criminal justice system. So initially you had houses of refuge, which went around collecting kids that were

vagrant, that were mistreated, that had, you know, no home. And then that became very, very dangerous for them because the staff used to abuse them. But since they were in a system and in closed system, they thought, okay, let's find something that's better. But these were other systems as well. And then you have the first juvenile court that was created in Cook County and the Illinois, in 1966. Or out there, no. It was 1899, I believe.

Sorry, 1899. And so it was supposed to be the judge on the side. And if you watch pictures of this, like the judge is standing right next to the children so that he could provide some kind of advice and friendship to them

rather than punishment. And, you know, the system was created to stay apart from the adult system. Those two weren't supposed to be mixed. If that was the case, why have the juvenile detention centers in the first place? And so then you have this case where they're being mistreated again in these centers, but they don't want to give them the same rights as adults because they're like,

we don't want to play that game because then it's going to look exactly like the adult system. So let's not give them a right to question their, you know, the evidence against them. Let's not get them an attorney. Let's not get them the right to trial. Let's not just deny them due process. because if we give them due process, then it's a problem. But then there were instances where, again, the mistreatment would go on. I mean, kids were being left and near for time that was indefinite,

and they had no recourse to the courts. So they started giving them due process at an early on time. And then the question was, well, again, will we make this just like the adult system? And it seems to me that the question was, if they want to act like adults, and let's treat them like adults. And so let's start sentencing them like adults.

Let's start putting them in prison that are adults. Let's start giving them life in prison. Let's start sentencing them to death. All these things that have happened to children in the criminal justice system. And so, like, I'm like, what is at the base of this, though? And I kept searching and searching. And then there's no escaping it to me. A child is a child.

When you say I'm charging a child as an adult, it's ridiculous. And people miss it. But if you switch that around and you said, I'm charging an adult as a child, it would become more clear to you. But to me it's just disgusting. So I found a case, 1984, Thompson v. Oklahoma, and the 15-year-old was sentenced to death.

So the court went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1988, I believe it was. And I lie to you not, Ian, this is just stamped in my head what this judge said. And it, like, it poses the question even today to the way sentences are handed out to juvenile us and hardly treat it. The judge said facing the court today is the issue of consistency.

The issue of consistency. He said, for it would be ironic that the laws we use to serve our kids will fail them in a punishment that takes us this predicate the functioning of a fully realized adult. That's what that punishment is saying. When you give it out to a door and then you pass it on to a child, you're saying that this is a fully realized adult. And they said that Children are not miniature adults. They're in a whole different category. And they look through all 50 states and found the laws as consistent as anywhere else. They said they can't agree to sex.

They can't into marriage, into contracts. They can't emancipate themselves. They can't buy cigarettes. All of these things that they use. And they said all 50 states reveal the same thing except maybe for two. So it's consistent that children are considered, you know, not just miniature, they're completely different. So I'm finding all of indiscid information. I'm pulling it together and I was like, this is a mess.

This is a mess. And then what makes it worse is that when you have a system that has victims and they tell the victims, this is the appropriate punishment for a person like this, not a child, but for a person like this. Let's put him away for the rest of his life so that we can make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else. What ends up happening? That in a country of laws where you have people that, Thankfully, don't think the same and are always challenging systems, laws, policies, whatever you may have. Things are bound to change, and they tend to change towards the better, right?

So the Supreme Court hears this case, Grand v. Florida, 15-year-old, sentenced to life in prison, didn't kill anybody, committed a set of robberies, right? Life in prison, mandatory life in prison. they overturned the case and they said for a non-homacidal case, it's unconstitutional sentence, any child to mandatory life sentence. And then they took a murder case, which was Miller, right? Miller v. Alabama, I think it was. And then they extended it.

It's unconscionated sentence, juveniles to mandatory life in prison for homicidal cases, right? And now here comes the game. Many of the states that, okay, our hands are tied now. We're going to bring all of the juveniles back that we sentenced the mandatory life sentences. And now the judge is going to have the discretion to sentence them to life prison terms

and disregard the mandatory life term, right? So now Connecticut draws off the implications of the United States Supreme Court and says, okay, we see what's going on here. And in my case, what end up happening is that they changed the 85% because that's where I was seeing parole at in the state of Connecticut if you commit a violent crime,

you see parole at 85%, which is mostly your whole sentence. and they switched it to 60%. But they had it at 50% first. So they started like playing with these percentages in terms of release. So I'm looking at this and I put myself in the victim's, you know, shoes. And I'm like, wait a minute. They convinced her that I should spend the rest of my life in prison.

And now it seems like they're scrambling to take my side and say, okay, we did wrong. Now how can we give him an early release? So it puts this situation where now the victim is victimized twice over by the very people who told her that we have your back and we have your side. And now they're trying to get it right. So it's important to get it right from the beginning so you don't have this mess that's going on now. And ultimately, those policies, those laws, those rulings led to my early release at 24 years in 2022. Did the victim speak at your sentencing?

The victim passed away. I think she had passed away 15 years later, 16 years later. So was she at your initial sentencing? her? She wasn't. No. She wasn't either. Did you ever get a chance to kind of make amends with her? I tried and I wanted to, but in the state of Connecticut, it's actually against the law to have any communication with your victims. But there are so many examples. You know, and I found there's this, I think his name is Ian as well. There was this child who committed a robbery shot of a woman in the face and he was 14 years old and they sentenced them to life in prison. And a great lawyer,

I forget his name was represented him and had gotten him out. But he reached out to her and she had a conversation with him. And then she actually started, you know, pleading with the courts that his sentence was, you know, excessive and, you know, not right. And that she didn't want him to face that much time. But he reached out to her. They had a great conversation. She went to visit him. And this is in Florida.

This was in Florida. So, and there are many instances. I mean, there's this book called Just. I can't remember the name of it, but there's this woman who was raped by her husband. And she speaks about, you know, how she doesn't want the same kind of punishment that's rendered to other victims. She just wants accountability for him to take it because he denies it to this day. But for me, it started to create this idea about how danger it is for the state to claim a monopoly, how victims fear or want for the, you know, perpetrators of their, you know.

And it's like they don't have the monopoly. There are so many victims that want different things for crimes that are committed against them in heinous acts most of the time and don't want the same kind of punishments. So I think there's a conversation that needs to be had with victims leading the conversation about, you know, the state claiming that it's in the best interest of justice to punish, you know, defendants the way that they do. Yeah, I think a lot of prosecutors are pro-prison and less about actually making. making amends with the victim and looking at the full circle, I think a lot of the times because there's these laws of you can't talk to your victims or anything during the criminal proceedings that it's very one-sided prosecutors, agents are saying, hey, this person did XYZ and the only way to get back at this person is to do this. And the victims are then following the pattern of the

prosecutor and following that path and, you know, they, they go that route. And it's not always the best route to take. And I'm not saying every prosecutor is like that in every case. But I know, like, in my example, in my case, the prosecutors told the victims that, you know, hey, if you don't testify, you'll never get your money back. Well, they would have got their money back regardless. They didn't need to testify. They didn't need to turn them against me. I was a kid. Well, you were a kids that had too much money and lost the money and lied about it. You know, it could have turned out so much differently, but they kind of weaponized them in that regard.

No, they do, and they do it a lot. I mean, and their instances where, you know, the victims lose out a lot, believe in what the state tells them and what the, you know, prosecutor tells them. And most of the time, you know, it's not true at all. It's not true. I mean, you have cases where prosecutors are looking. like looking, looking for evidence to try to take the defendant down and presented it to victims. And, you know, it doesn't work out that way at all. It doesn't work out.

What was it like to sign, you know, that document saying you're going to take a 45-year sentence? You know, I read those transcripts still to this day, and I don't remember half of what was said. I mean, you're telling me at the age, because I was 17, I went on for 18 months, You know, you understand you're giving up the right to trial. You're giving up the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, you know, and you're agreeing to 45 years, 20 for the attempted murder, and 25 for the arson first, because I try to set the house on fire, but it didn't really work. And you're going to be released in the year, 2000, I don't know, 60 it was, yeah,

2016, somewhere around there. No, no. I was going to be 60 years old when I was released. I just signed the document. That's it. I just signed the paper. I mean, I could show you the transcripts and every single question that was asked was yes. Yes, yes, and a no. Because I just knew that that's what I was supposed to say. I didn't understand. I didn't process. I didn't comprehend. nothing, like nothing that was going on. I left out of there just knowing that I was sentenced to 45 years. And I told myself, I'm going to be okay. This is nothing.

This is what I was telling myself. I'm going to be okay. It's nothing. So I go into the bullpen. I fall asleep waiting for the bus that's going to take me back to the, you know, to the correctional facility, which is in Southfield. I'm in Bridgeport now. And the officer wakes me up and he says,

You know, it was going through the list, and then he goes, what's your name? And I'm like, and for the first time in my life, I couldn't remember my name. Like, and it was at least 30 seconds of me trying. And then it came back to me, and then I knew that I wasn't going to be okay. So, you know, signing that document initially to me was just a whole blink. But the after effect, it was real. Like, I knew that this was bad. Like, I couldn't remember my name at all.

How are guys treating someone that young in prison, but someone that was also there for violent crimes? How are they looking at you? So there's a hierarchy in prison. It's bad, it's disgusting, and shameful, but nonetheless, it exists. So you have some groups that look at drug dealers would discuss because they think that's the worst thing you can do. You have murderers who look at, you know, people who haven't committed. murder as bottom of the toe and pull like you know you don't really know what it's like to you know be a badass um you have sex offenders who everybody you know shuns upon and doesn't want anything to do with um you have

guys who went there like myself who are in there for you know committing crimes against women and you know it's just everybody has an opinion on you know what kind of crime you committed so on and so forth but i remember i was in the ice cream truck. That's what we call it, you know, the paddy wagon or whatever, all my way to manston youth institution. And in my mind, I'm processing, okay, I'm starting my 45-year sentence, what is this prison going to be like for me? And you hear stuff, you know, but I've already been in detention, so I know, I have an idea what it's like, but you're told stories about the real prison system. So I'm thinking, you know, these correctional officers that, you know,

run the place, so on and so forth. And so it's going to be a very structured and strict environment. Like no games, no bullshit in. Listen, walk the line. That's it. Shut it and walk the line. And immediately, like, when I walk in, you know, the officers have the information of your crime or whatever. So he looks at my case and he's like, he's like, oh, you like breaking into houses of women?

He's like, they're going to have fun with you here. And so the 17-year-old badass in me initially went into action. Everything else that I thought about the system was thrown out the window in terms of correcting myself. You have this guy in a superior position, in a superior position who's supposed to model the kind of behavior that's supposed to prepare you for your release. And he already threw that out of the window. So in my mind, like I'm looking and I'm thinking, okay, we'll see, motherfucker. Like, we'll see. And that started me off really bad in prison.

I mean, I was constantly getting into fights or assault. I was in chronic discipline within three months, whereas if you catch three disciplinary reports, you go to a complete, like, high security, isolated environment, 23-hour lockdown, no food in the cell, no electronics, nothing. And it's a six-month program in phase one. And then it's a six-month program in phase two. if you do not comply, if you're not compliant because they give you four compliance every week, you have to start the program over.

So I remember them bringing me one. Now, let me explain this. So you walk into the unit, you walk into the cell, your handcuffed. In order to get out of that cell, they open up a trap. You put your hands through and you're handcuffed. You cannot leave that cell unless you handcuffed. I'm 15 years old. I'm taking showers handcuffed.

Now, mind you, if you have problems with your cellmate, both. of you are like who's going to put their hands through the trap first because you're going to get jumped on. So, you know, there's this concern or whatever. One time I did have a fight with my cellmate. And the officer is standing there like, who's going to do? And we're looking at each other. Like, it's not going to be me. So he knows something that's up. Pops his cell takes me to the captain's office, the captain's office, he's spike marks all over my back because my cellie was biting on me while I was fighting him. So now they think this is a sexual assault. So it's this whole investigation, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, this is the situation that I found

myself in. So I remember them bringing me to the captain's office where they do your evaluation for compliance. And they're like, we're going to give you a noncompliance this time. So I'm like, but I have to start the program over. What's the noncompliance for? And they tell me you don't smile enough. You have to smile. 45-year sentence, locked 23 hours a day in a cell, three meals a day. And I have to walk around smiling as a part of the program. So it became a complete joke to me. And those were my first eight years in prison. It was just going in and out of segregation, fighting most of my cellmates.

And it was me. I was initiating like the vibe because in my mind, I was thinking, this is just a crazy place. And I'm going to be as crazy as I was out in the streets because I can't trust anybody in here to be different. And it was when I met my mentors that I was presented with the opposite idea. of what it was like to be in prison and that the system was failing and that it was my responsibility to correct myself because if I depended on them, I would end up the same way that, you know, I came in. Do you feel like that you had to act that certain way to survive around these individuals when you first got there those first eight years? Not really, not really. I remember reading a book by George Jackson. He was one of the Amistad brothers who, you know, was very powerful in the 70s in the prison system.

and he said that when he went to prison, I'm not quite sure what the word he used, but it was kind of like I was prepped for it already. So my home environment, the violence, the detention centers, you know, the programming, just surrounded by it. I was already prepped for it, so I don't think I was, I was carrying the sense that I had to act that way. It was more like I was already there

and they just gave me a reason to just continue to push that image. and that character because it was who I was. I was 15, but I was very violent. I was impulsive. And I remember, you know, I would get along with my cellmates. And then three months would pass. And I'm like, you know, I'm getting fidgety. I'm getting like irritated. And I end up starting problems. Like I remember I was really cool with this 18 year old. I was 16 at the time. And they're not supposed to have you in a cell with 18 year olds. That's the rule. Like you're under 18. You're only supposed to be in a cell with anybody under 18. But in Manson Youth Institution, sometimes you can be there to the age of 22, 21, before you go to, you know, Cheshire Correction or adult, the complete adult system, full adult system. And we were getting along fine.

And then one day, my Walkman broke. And I was like, I'm not buying a new Walkman. So he was at school. I saw his Walkman. I changed the insides so that the Walkman will look the same. And if he came back, it's just his Walkman broke. We don't know why. And then as I'm doing that, I'm like, he might come back and want to fight.

So why would I just take the walk, man? So I took all of his cassette tapes. I moved his bottom brung to the top buck, move mine to the bottom. And when he came in, he was like, whoa, where's my stuff? And I'm like, it's here. Like, if you want to come get it. Like, this was me at 16. And he was like, I'd never forget it.

He looked at me and said, bro, do you know your life is not over? Like, you don't have to be this way. And I wasn't listened to none of it. So he spoke to the counselor and just move cells. That's it. Just moves out. So that was me for the first eight years. What was some of the, just like the regular general population violence that was happening in these prisons?

What would it start over? Is it gang related? Is it, you know, someone stealing? Is it sitting at the wrong table? So I can only speak for Connecticut. And it's not what people think. It's not really violent. At least not the two decades that I was there.

If you look for it, it's there. And it can get very ugly. like, you know, guys have like slights, slice, pulls of blood, helicopter flying into, you know, take them to the hospital. So there are those instances, but, you know, they're looked for. Like, I'm not saying they deserve that at all or that, you know, it's something like an instant reaction where it's like if this happened, this is bound to happen. But there are those pockets where if you go into them, this is what you can expect. But for the most part, it is not violent at all. It is not.

You have people who wake up every day who try to mind their business, engage in the meaningless, you know, crap or behavior that they do every day. But you're not waking up every single day, you know, worried about who's going to steal from you, who's going to attack you. But again, this is Connecticut prisons that I've been into. I mean, for me, the juvenile system was way more violent than the adult system from what I've seen. And in detention, you're always worried about. about who may say something wrong, how you may be perceived, so on and so forth.

But for me, it wasn't like I didn't experience that at all. Yeah, what were the biggest differences between the youth facilities you were in versus when you eventually got moved to the adult facilities? You just have kids who are very impulsive and are just like all like packed into these units and you have this authority figure over them that they're bound to, you know, disobey or go against. Whereas in the adult system, you know, everybody knows what's expected of them. And like I said, they mind their business. They either stay in their cell all day. They come out. They play cars. They play basketball. They speak about sports. They're on their phone. So on and so

forth. But, you know, nothing. The only thing with me is that I was more aware of the behavior of the staff. Because for me, it was like, you're supposed to be setting the example. Why do I have to hold you? hold you to your own policy, to your own directives, to your own professionalism. So for me, it was more that. Like, you're the one who's creating the violent environment, if anything. You're the one who's creating the toxic environment, the hostile one, because your unprofessionalism is creating a situation where inmates are not going against themselves. So, for example, when I used to work in industries, I was working under a master carpenter, which was my mentor, one of my great mentors and friends, Brett McCall. And so the supervisors,

did not know what he knew in terms of carpentry. And then his work ethic was incredible. And the supervisors resented it. And you had this situation now where they would go out their way to try to make it more difficult for him to work and do a good job. Now, mind you, we worked off contracts. We would get blueprints, jobs, and people were paying. So it's important that you put out a good product, so on and so forth.

But you asked supervisors who didn't know what the heck was going on. didn't understand materials. They didn't understand order forms. None of that stuff. They were just there to give orders. So they were basically in the way. So when my mentor would tell them, you know, like, just do it this way, do it that way. They're like, no, no, no, this is.

You would have all of the workers building stuff, stuff being messed up, being sent back to be refixed, and just backing everything up. And now everybody's blaming each other. So that was basically the system in work, out of work, in the units, anywhere you went. It was just staff members creating the hostile environment for the most part. Did you get into a lot of altercations with individuals because you had a crime against a woman? So not really, not really a lot. And that exists in India, though. But for me, it was never that.

I never experienced that. And I think mainly it's because of the gun aspect of it that I broke into the house and get guns. And so you would hear things like at least he's in here for drugs. or at least he's in here for shooting somebody or at least he's in here for this and that but for the most part is the sex offenders that get that for the most part. Now are there like clicks in groups?

Like I know in some states there are like that. What is it like in Connecticut? So that's a good point because that led to a lot of my fights. So the issue that I was Puerto Rican, you're supposed to stick with the Puerto Ricans. Don't hang out with the blacks. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like I have a problem with more Bridgeboard guys.

than anybody outside of Bridgeport and more with the Spanish people than people are other races or nationality so I was like no like no I'm not doing that and they would get upset at me so but you do have that you do have these crowds that choose to just be all blacks all Puerto Ricans all whites and you have like these hardcore like hardcore like no this is our group this is our gang we don't go over there we don't talk to them but but it's not like it's just crazy because, you know, I read and I see how violent it could get in other states and prison systems. But in Connecticut, like, the gangbangers, most of it now, the violence is, like, passive-aggressive. Like, they'll look at you wrong. They won't talk to you. You stay over there.

You know, you don't get fed, the same portion of my homies or whatever. But that's all petty. Like, it's ridiculous. So it was none of that. Like, none of that at all. Yeah, I think it's so silly. Like, the clicks and the crews. The races. It's ridiculous because even within those groups, like you see, like, the pettiness between them. Like, they'll get mad, start hanging out with somebody from the other gang and they're like, ah, I don't really mess with that. Like, it's just, it's a joke now.

It's a joke. It's not really even that serious. What was your relationship like with your family while you were serving your sentence? So that's a good question. It was very difficult when I started to change. And I decided, you know, like, I really want to change in my life. and I started asking myself serious questions, what is it going to take for me to change?

Like, what would mean a full effort on my part that I've never put forward before? And that's important also because I stopped asking myself questions when I decided to just, you know, start going crazy out there. I sat down and asked myself one question while I was in segregation and it was, if the world is the problem like I think it is, why am I the one that's always in trouble? It was my very first honest question.

in a long time. And that led me to reflect on myself and take more responsibility. So I told myself, what do responsible people do? I always was told that they're independent. So I was like, what can I do to be independent? So I was like, where I get money orders all the time. I was like, I have to stop that, normal financial support. Like, I want to see what I'm capable of creating within myself if I have no financial support at all. And that led me to think, what am I good at? I'm good at braiding here. So I started braiding here and there. So that led me to become more and more dependent as I got better and better. And what allowed me to stop so much communication with my family was when I stopped the financial support because now I was like I can't depend on you for

emotional support. I can't depend on you for anything else. And it's a mess out there. I'm a mess in here. and I need structure in my life. Like I need to better myself. So I can't have that around me. So whether in me, family member, potential, you know, pen pal, girlfriend, whatever, I want nothing to do with you if you're not doing what I'm trying to do now. And I cut them off very early. Like I stopped writing letters.

I stopped reaching out because I just wanted to focus on me. And so around 2003, 2004, I just stopped. like I stopped. So I would, you know, make a phone call here and there, but I started developing new relationships in my life. I started going to school. I got my GED. When I met my mentors, they encouraged me to go into, you know, university. So I ended up doing that. I got an associate's degree in psychology and I started like, you know, gaining my self-esteem and having all of these accomplishments and thinking that life could be optimistic. And then when I decided, you know, like I looked myself in the mirror and I said,

you know what? You're going to possibly do 45 years in prison. How do you want to do that? And I was sick. Like, I was sick of being like, you know, just feeling depressed, stagnant, I'm upset, disappointed with myself. And I was just like, I'm going to be the best version of myself I can be. And interestingly, when I decided that is where everything started,

like lying enough for me. Like I started accomplishing a lot of things. I mean, I worked with this guy in carpentry for seven years, and that was through Braden here. He said, your symmetry and your spatial reasoning are incredible. He said, if you want to work with me in carpentry, I'll teach you everything you knew. I know.

And what I use today in my designs is because of what he taught me about geometry. Tires matter. They're the only part of your vehicle that touches the road. Tread confidently with new tires from tire rack. Whether you're looking for expert recommendations or know exactly what you want, Tyraq makes it easy. Fast free shipping, free road hazard protection, convenient installation options,

and the best selection of Yokohama tires. Go to Tyraq.com to see their Yokohama test results, tire ratings, and reviews, and be sure to check out all the special offers. Tyraq.com, the way tire buying should be. And everything else in that wood shop, it's amazing. When you started to get these mentors, did it ever make you real? like, wow, if I just had these figures in my life when I was a kid, I never would have been here? I think so. And that's not to minimize my responsibility because I always like to emphasize that, you know, I was a child and I decided who my role models would be early on. And they were mainly criminals.

But that doesn't mean that I should have been punished. And I thought that's an aside. But I do think, and I, like, I strongly believe it because in school I had them. had they been more them and more closer to me, absolutely my life I think would have been different because I love to learn. I mean, my strongest, strongest subjects are reading and writing. Reading and writing are my love. Like I love them so much. So had I had those mentors, my life would have been different, I think.

Now, so do you think it's possible for someone to go to prison and actually be rehabilitated and work on themselves and stay away from the violent aspect of it? 100%. And come out a better person? 100%. And I say that because I realize that there's always this saying that, you know, it takes a lot of people to make the changes. But in my experiences, there were two people. And then when they passed on what they knew on to me and I carried it with me, it took one.

Like I would walk into a unit in, a lot of you not. And I would look around the same bullshit going on. I would grab my book. I would grab my notebook. I sit at a table by myself. I'd write and I'd read. every single day eventually one person comes over and goes what are you doing and i share it with them that person goes and tells somebody else and now you have three people sitting down around me like what are you learning about philosophy i'm learning about politics i'm trying to understand you know what my moral code is what principles are you know what my character why it's important to do good why it's not good to do wrong i mean pooh-bub and you know it would generate like this image and this conversation around people that when they saw me this is what i represent

presented and this was like a symbol so no matter what was going on in their life they had the example look you can do something different you don't have to play cards you don't have to talk about sports you don't have to talk about the girls that you were fucking every time or who you're going to do it to once you get out what's going on with this guy or that guy what gang blah blah blah blah blah this is your example I'm one person and I'm doing it while everybody else is doing the same thing and that went a long way because no matter what they said people dislike you in there when you're trying to live responsible. Because what ends up happening is that when the system is not doing what it's supposed to do

in terms of professionalism and responsibility, whoever is trying to take that role in there, it puts the blue uniform on on death. And so now you look like the cop to them. When you tell them, no, I'm not doing that because everyone. What are you talking about? We're in prison. And that can only happen when people in positions of power on the top

are not doing what they're supposed to do. Because they would set the standard and everybody would understand why it's important. to do certain things or to do them. But, you know, they could say whatever they wanted to say, but then when they had problems and they knew that they needed someone that they could, like, get good advice from, that's when I would be reached out to. And that meant a lot to me, and it gave me the indication that I was doing the right thing. How did you find out you were going to get out of prison early?

And how far in advance did you know? So, yes, remember the Supreme Court decisions that I told you trickled down throughout the States, Connecticut adopted it. So they had me, Nelson and Provo, at 60%, which had me up at 2025, 2006, and this was around 2016. So they passed that law 2015. Then the Board of Partons in parole decided to develop their own policy in Connecticut because they have that power. And they decided to start giving consideration to those who were charged as juveniles for potential pardons. So I get the news. I immediately file my application. I go before the board and mind you, I'm seeing guys who were 18, 19 go up, murder, murder crimes, so on and so forth. And being

released, being released. And so when they're considering my case, you know, mind you, I have an associate's degree. I'm a student of the Yale program. I'm at the University of New Haven. You know, I'm doing interviews on the radio complaining about the unprofessional practice of Department of Corrections. You know, HBO gets a hold of the interviews and they reach out to me, come into the prison system. They do a documentary on me. So they go, just take five years off his sentence and, you know, leaving with a 40-year-s. sentence and will release some next year. And I'm like, wait a minute. Like, what? Like, what? And, you know, I start thinking to myself and I'm talking to my lawyer about it. I'm like, how is this possible?

Like, how? This is never to minimize, you know, but I did not commit murder. That's the worst crime you could possibly commit according, according to law, according to me, like anybody. And you have so many of these men being released immediately. And I was like, this is just crazy to me. It's problematic. But that's how exactly I was let out. I went to before the board of parties, they reduced my census by five years. That put me up for parole in 2022. So I went up to the parole board, mind you, with breakthrough films in, you know, collaboration with HBO. And there was a camera team at the hearing at the commissioner of corrections office at my son's home at the parole board by filming this whole thing and it was a very very intense scene intense scene so they decided to grant me my parole

and i was released on october 31st of 2022 so do you get out that same day when they granted no it was about they grinned it and i was released i want to say a week later a week later yes Do you think that extra year that they, you know, said you were eligible for parole a year later? Do you think that you needed that extra year to kind of prepare, get ready? Absolutely not. But what it did, what it did for me is like it got me thinking, and this is just how I think I used to think within the, you know, rehabilitation process with my mentors. Because I give no credit to the Department of Corrections.

I always say it. The first thing I've learned about rehabilitation in the prison system is that you go. against everything the prison system tells you in order to be rehabilitated. So, you know, the standard that they set in terms of programming, the certificates that they give you all of that is just a setup so that when you get released, you know, you're facing reality and you're like, what the hell's going on? You're like, none of that prepares you. What you need is people actually understand what criminal behavior consists of, how to change it, and what to do in order to improve yourself as a human being. They provided none of that. But definitely not what it does.

it, it just made me go harder. And I started reaching out to, you know, I have this house representative who I was writing to and I was telling them about the prison phone calls and how, because, you know, there was this idea, we have to give inmates free phone calls. It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do. And I tell you, I've never seen so much uproar and violence than when they gave us two free phone calls again. We only have freaking an hour of wreck, right? hour and 15 minutes tops. You have eight phones and 48 inmates, six phones and 48 inmates,

two free phone calls each, 30 minutes each. Who is going to get their free phone call? So I'm like, who have came up with this idea? So I find out who it is. I write the House Representative. And I tell him, you know, shout out to Josh Elliott. And I tell him, Josh, like, I read that you're behind this thing.

and, you know, what's going on? And he's like, well, according to our data, you know, it's not that bad. You know, guys are getting their phone calls. And I was like, just please come to the prison. Just come to my unit and see what's going on. That's a result of this free phone calls. I said, it's crazy. I said, and you're planning on passing six free phone calls.

I said, nobody's going to be able to use the phone. It's going to create more problems. So he was like, what's your solution, Carlos? So I said, we have tablets. Just open up the phone app. It'll take care of all of the problems. We can use the phone right from the tablet. And each of us will be, it's like we're carrying our own phone.

That way, and now nobody uses those cellophones anymore. We actually have the tablets. So he thanked me for that, and he actually wrote a letter for me for the parole board. Then I reached out to this lady all the way in Arizona and published the, she published one of my pieces of writing. And she wrote a letter for me on behalf of parole. And then I had, I don't know who. It was like 10 different people that were very, very important figures that just wrote letters for me and my lawyer was like, how did you find these people?

And that's all it made me do that year. It just made me go harder to just like show them. Like this year was not necessary. I couldn't possibly be in this position if I just woke up one day and said, you know, I'm going to change my life. This is a history of track record that I developed and these people know who I am, so on and so forth. I can show them proof.

and they vouched for me, so this whole thing was a waste. And, you know, it's just the system itself. They just don't understand at all. And what makes it worse is that, and you're going to see this in the film when it's released, my lawyer wanted to include a certificate that was just false. Like, they gave me the certificate for completing the program. I didn't even complete.

And what's worse about it is that in the review section, it said, Mr. Robolo was the most. extraordinary, you know, peer in the group. He went above and beyond to complete the tax. I did the freaking program in five minutes in front of myself, and I told them, I said, listen, because they had him as a mentor. And as a, what do they call him? Oh, my God, there's this term in prison about immates, model inmates.

They had them as a model inmate. So I called him to the side. He's a young guy. And I was like, I want to show you how these people are deceiving you. He was like, how? He said, they got you thinking you're up and ready to leave prison. I said, you do the program, you come back to the prison, you're drinking pruno, getting drunk, talking about bitches, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you go back and present this image.

I said, you don't know how that's affecting you, but I'm going to teach you all these certificates that you got me in absolutely nothing. I said, I'm going to do this one program in front of you. I'm going to fill out any answer, and I guarantee you they're going to give me a certificate for. He said, not possible. They said you're the most extraordinary peer in the group. And so when my lawyer wanted to include that in the package for parole, I said, absolutely not. I said, I'm just showing you this to show like, you know, the team and the world that this whole system is messed up and it doesn't work. And I removed that from there.

But all of these certificates go before the parole board. Since they have, as a standard, all of these programs in the prison system, and you're just required to take the programs, this is their only gauge. This is what determines your character or not. So whether you change or not, it doesn't matter. that this is the character on paper. I presented like 50, 50 certificates. And then when I saw another guy that came back and he got his pardon, Redouz,

and he was like, I'm about to go up to the own board. I said, well, how many certificates he got? He had just as much as me, and this guy's drinking Puno every night and got pardoned. So I was like, this is fucking crazy to me. So, you know, it doesn't reflect truly on who you are as a person based on how many certificates you are because the standard to pass them is very low.

The programs are great. Don't get me wrong. It's just the people that are executing the programings that don't do their due diligence in order to make sure that you walk out of there with the kind of influence that's required for you to continue building yourself up. What were some of the biggest challenges

and differences you faced when you got out after that many years? So I want to say this and it's important. In prison is against the rules to braid hair. I wasn't allowed to braid hair in there. By the staff or the inmates? By the directive. According to the directive, for hygienic purposes, the only thing that's required is for you to be groomed, which is only haircuts.

That's it. So I was doing extra by braiding hair. So I always get into it with the staff. And even then, they will undermine, you know, their superiors or whatever. They'll be like, you know, do it far away from the camera or do it in the TV room or do it when I go off a wreck or don't do it on my shift. and there would be others like, no, you can't do it here. So it was always like a riff between us. So mind you, it paid for everything in.

I would have sometimes as much as 20 clients. My son's mother would be like, there's $200 on the phone. I would just tell them all the time, put it on the phone. I wouldn't accept any commissary. I would be good with my three meals a day. Put the money on the phone. That's it. So I had a commissary guy, though, just for shirts, cosmetics, sneakers, and stuff like that.

Everything else was on the phone. So I get out now, and I tell the parole board, I'm going to braid here. Like I talk to a woman, she's going to give me a job. They're like braiding here. Come on, man. Five years off your sentence, that's it. You're not realistic. Figure it out.

So I get out. I go to a halfway house, right? This is a transitional home that's supposed to provide you with the same programming, cookie cutter shit that goes on in prison, the same thing, you know, just so you can find your way and, you know, prepare yourself before, you know, you know, you go all out into society. I immediately go in and it's the same mess. Like it's the same mess.

You have kids that are like 20 years old, 21 years old, trying to run men that have been in prison, you know, like myself over two decades. Some of them are arbitrary and impulsive. Don't know how to speak to people properly. So, you know, and they have to give you permission to go out. For everything you do, they give you a pass. You write it as the time that you live.

leave in the time that you're expected to come back. You can't leave without that. So looking for a job, giving me programs. I don't want to take none of the programs. I already know what it's about. Went to a few. Find out they just wanted my name, receive support and financial services from the state so they could continue doing the nonsense that they're doing. Wanted no parts of it, right? A friend of mine, locked up for 18 years. Now runs all of the advanced auto stores in the East Haven area, right, treasure area. He says, you want a job? Your interview process will consist of get to work.

Went to work. Nothing about sales. Nothing about cars knew nothing. How to take a train, two buses. It was exhausting. One day I tell myself, you know what? Work at the salon. That's what I got to lose.

I'm going to a salon and just pass out my work. So I took pictures that weren't mine from Instagram because I had none and showed to myself. All my work was in prison. So I take all the pictures of Instagram, I walk into every shop, show them, like, you can do this, you can do this. I walk into a Dominican Salon on East Main Street. Shout out to DeMaziel, Dominican Salon and Spa.

And they're like, oh, my God, what? Call me back within five minutes. Want to interview you now the own boss. So I came in, the owner sits down with me. She was like, I don't understand something. How are you this good and you're looking forward? Dude, I just came home after serving 24 years. She said, you're going to be okay here.

You want to start under commission or rent? I said under commission because I have no idea how it's going to go for me. So the halfway house finds out that I'm working at the salon. This is back to your question. And they say you can't work at a salon. You can only work at advanced auto. They don't provide W2 forms or pay stubs. You need to be able to report your income.

I said, are you fucking kidding me? I said, okay, don't worry about it. So I will put in hours that were false so that I could be at the salon and then go directly to my job afterwards. at Advanced Auto and then do the opposite. When it was early in the morning, I would go to the salon late at night, slowly developing my clientele. I lie to you not.

I was working about 50 hours a week at Advanced Auto. I got it down to four hours on a Sunday with the clients that I was developing. On a Sunday, on my way to work for those four hours, $60, $15 an hour. I pass out a card at a red light because I would always do that. There's this woman that's saying,

oh my God, nobody will take me. will you take me now? I was like, I'm on my way to work. She was like, I'll pay you double. I called my boss. I said, I'm not coming. He said, I'm proud of you. He said, don't even worry about it.

I'll take care of everything. So now I'm fully working at the salon. They think I'm still at Advanced Auto. There's a huge platform on Facebook from Bridgeport. It's called Bridgeport Strong, right? Very influential. And one of the person that's a part of the page sees me. And it's like, can we do a story on you?

And I'm like, absolutely. I'm not thinking about the consequences. I'm not thinking anything. So I asked the owner, she's like, yeah, come in. So she goes live. It gets like 15,000 views, keeping it local, which is a news profile in Bridgeport, picks it up as well. Now it's all over the news.

So when I get back to the halfway, I was like, you're still working at this and not. I'm like, it's all over the news. And I was like, I'm going to keep working there, make the most of it. So my caseworker, amazing woman, sees what I'm going through. And she's like, I got to get you out. this is ridiculous. I'm like,

they don't have the vision that I have. They're way behind the curve. They're trying to teach me like, they're trying to teach me like I'm just some, you know, regular guy who comes home, has no plans, has no vision.

And they're like, no, this is the only way to success when they absolutely know nothing. And to add, the director got fired for having sex, supposed sex with one of the returning guys there.

And then one of the staff members, they fired everybody. It was rat infested, shut the whole place down. And now they're trying to, you know, bring it back. But these were the people that were trying to keep me from my, you know, from my vision. So she reaches out to family reentry, a guy named Fred Hodges, served a lot of time in prison.

And, you know, he became a part of this house because they want to give people the opportunity to slowly work their way into society. This is how it's done. Not like Maple House, you know, was doing it. Renaissance House. That's what it's called Renaissance House on Maple Street. Family reentry, $125 a week of rent. The lease is from week to week so you can leave whenever you're ready, right? They have incredible resources. The team is excellent. And all you have to do is write down when you leave and write down when you come back and call the guy to let him know. And you get two nights out of the week outside the house. That's it. The house is beautiful. Three floors, just completely furnished.

Work at the salon. What are you talking about? Figure it out. We don't deal with parole. We don't deal with anybody. We're here to help you. And it's because of them, I've been able to take so many risks.

I mean, I was at that salon, right? I was making $800 a month. It went to $800 a week. I told the owner, I said, I want to rent my chair. She said, are you sure there's no turning back from this? I said, my numbers don't lie. I'm looking at all my tickets. I'm giving you 40%.

of my money. Like, I'm seeing the growth here. I said, how much you're going to charge me for the chair? She's at $200 a week. I said, I keep 600. That's more than I'm... I said, absolutely keep it. Within five months after that. Looking to start 2026 with an unforgettable getaway. Fiji Airway sale is on now. Fly nonstop round trip to Fiji from just 748. Or enjoy a sunny Fiji stopover on your way to Australia with round trip fair starting from 839. As a one world alliance member and American Airlines Advantage program partner, your miles go further across the South Pacific. Book now at Viji Airways.com or contact your local travel agent. Conditions apply.

Close your eyes and imagine a room that feels soft, warm, and beautifully inviting. That's life with Serena and Lily. Every piece is designed in-house, crafted by expert hands and made to pair effortlessly with the things you love. Choose from over 150 fabrics and finishes to create a space that feels personal and lived in with complementary design experts to guide you. Let your home feel like a sanctuary at serena and lily.com. Explore the possibilities at serena and lily.com. I told her I'm leaving, got my own sweet non-shelton and it's over $2,000 a week now. That's so awesome. It's crazy. It's

crazy and it keeps growing. So, you know, it goes back to the idea about, you know, these people that are put in these positions and the system that has been developed under the idea of we know what's best for success. And they don't. They don't at all. They require people who are going to be involved in the guys that are returning and the women that are returning to say there's, it's really broad your path to success. And you can tap into so many different things.

And we want to provide you with the kind of opportunities that would allow you to explore them, right? Without so much of if you don't do, this is what, this is what you're going to face. Because it's all punishment. It's all punishment. You don't do this. you know, I don't want to work out of fear of returning back to prison. I don't want to refrain from addiction out of fear that I might violate somebody else's right,

that I might commit a crime. There's more of life than that. Like, I tell guys that all the time. Like, I'm not doing this to stay out of prison. Like, I understand what life is about. You're successful because responsibility allows you to be empowered. It opens up the world for you. Everyday citizens are not waking up and staying to themselves.

I have to provide for my family. I have to invest in my financial future. I have to get a college degree all because I don't want to kill somebody and go to prison. Like that's not the real world. But that's their model to success, even their mission statement. You know, the Department of Corrections shall provide inmates with the necessary program to prepare them or resources to prepare them, you know, to be model citizens or whatever. No, you don't do that.

Not to return back to prison. You prepare them so that they can enjoy and understand what life is really about. not out of the fear that they're going to be punished, because then that that saps you, because you understand that you're doing everything just because you don't want to go back to where you came from. Listen, there are many options for me other than committing a crime if things don't go well for me.

Like many, I see guys on the street I drive by every day. They have a sign, you know, $5, $6, whatever. I need something. There's shelter homes. There's all kinds of things that are available, but I don't have to commit a crime again. but they sell it and people buy it. I don't buy it at all.

There's nothing, nothing that can happen in my life that's going to convince me that I'm one step away from returning back to prison. It's not my philosophy. Yeah, and those probation levels and halfway house levels, they're in the Stone Age. And I feel like they hold back.

Like, you could have, if you weren't as driven and as focused, you could have been held back from pursuing what ultimately would lead to your success. All because they have the Stone Age, you know, guidebook of you got to. do this, this, and that. It's outdated. Yeah, and it's not fair, you know.

It's not. And the worst part is, to your point, it disregards the individual and the qualities that each individual has because it's so, like, broad and general, like, this is everybody. This is every single inmate that comes into our system. And if you try to break a wave, oh, my God, my mentors wrote a book called Down the Rabbit hole. You have to read this book.

You even have to have this guy. His name is Michael Leibowitz. and he has a podcast called The Rational Egoist, right? Trying to push it hard. But they wrote a book together called Down the Rabbit Hole, how the culture of correction encourages crime. They wrote that book, right? They're calling out all the unprofessional practices you can think of.

They're naming names, inmates and staff included in the book. When they published the book, they send it out to new. stations, politicians, politicians went in there to speak about it, so on and so forth. The retaliation because they stepped outside of the box of what rehabilitation consists of was ridiculous. They transferred them from, they were in the cell for 12 years together, I believe, just developing. They developed programs in there called Imprison Program.

They were running it. They lost that program. When the book was published, they lost that, you know, that closeness. they worked together on so many things, man, they just made an honest commitment to change. And before them, I had no idea that men like that could exist. I mean, at first when I met them, I'm like, these are just two stuck up assholes who think they know everything.

And being with them more and more, it made me realize I knew so little. I knew so little when I had to learn. And, I mean, just watching these men try their hardest in a system that tells society the men and women that they're responsible to, that they should answer to in terms of sending people back out there so that they don't do the same thing so far that they claim failing them,

failing them on so many levels and seeing these men being attacked when they're like trying their hardest, it was very disheartening for me. I mean, it upset me so much that my thinking started to turn into, I don't want them taking credit for me. Because if you had any opportunity to show

how great you are at rehabilitating, you had a fucking 15 year old to do it. You had a child, 24 years in your hands to actually make a difference in an impact. And if he's saying, I did it by opposing you and by listening to two men who are to this day considered to be the worst of the worst, and one is still in prison, right, serving 45-year sentence. He's been in there for 27 years now. Like, this guy was highly responsible for my moral compass and the success that I'm

having today. And you attacked them. It made me think like you're not taking every, I want to give them. And I moved into a cell with a guy who was smuggling cell phones in here. And I ended up getting a cell phone and saying, I disregard your rules. I do not respect them. I'm not going to do anything with this cell phone. It's that reach out to my son and his mother and you can make the road of it.

And so I took that cell phone, got caught with it. And then when I went before parole, one of the parole boys, member said in her own words, you had a hiccup. You had a hiccup. That's what she said. You were doing good and you had a hiccup. So I don't want to say that flaunting and disregarding the rules is the best thing. But in my experience, going against their rule of braiding here and having a stronger communication with my son, you know, for me, was well worth it. Yeah, I think as entrepreneurs, you have to break rules. It's not breaking the law. you're breaking rules, like that no hairbraiding is not a law.

That was a rule, you know? And you have to break down these barriers and rules in society, wherever you are, you know, to get to that next level. That's how all the greats think. And that's how you stand out among a bunch of people that are doing the same thing every day. 100%. And you've got to be willing to take that risk and, you know, break that rule. And you never know where it could lead you. It doesn't.

And the worst thing about rules. is that it only tells you what not to do. And for men who have led criminal lives, which, and this is the thing, like I had to disregard so much information in order to go down the path that I did. I had to shut my mind out. The last thing you want to do

is implement any policies or rules or a culture that tells you, shut your mind, just obey the rule. That's it. No. Help me understand. expand my mind. Let me comprehend what the rule is about, why it's necessary, because rules don't guide life, principles do, and principles require a lot of information to integrate them,

understand them, and live by them. This is our human beings should operate in order to be successful. Like you understand the principle, go past the rule. And yes, like they're necessary, you have to break them to let them know. No, no, there are other alternatives. There are many other alternatives. What's the biggest life lesson you want people to take away from your story? I think that, in my experience, as a 15-year-old being sentenced to 45 years and serving 24, and having a system failed, the idea that you can create any institution and put people in positions of power and think that they got it and just turn the blind eye to them, especially when it's considered to be the worst of the worst that they're overseeing, it's a big mistake.

So I would tell anybody our institutions in general, you have to keep like eye to, like you have to stay in touch with it. You have to be involved. You have to find some kind of way to find out if they're doing what they say they're doing and what they're supposed to be doing. Because once you turn the blind eye to them and you assume that this institution is running, running accordingly is the biggest mistake that any society or country can make because that's when they start failing tremendously and they start feeling a kind of entitlement that tells you the person that they're supposed to be responsive to is that you have no right in the conversation because you're not in there when you're the one who actually pays their salary you know and like

sends whatever is being sent there to be improving upon Like make sure that your institutions, your policymakers, the president, the governor, the mayor, anybody, staff, captain, anybody is doing what they're doing by getting involved and paying attention to what's going on. Don't ever assume and take it for granted that what's going on in there is exactly what they're saying. Absolutely. Well, Carlos, thank you so much, man, for taking the time to take a break from the shop today to come out and sit with me. I think your story is going to resonate with a lot of people and you're going to help. a lot of people and it's great to meet you. Make sure you get your friend out here. And, you know, keep doing you, keep building the business and hopefully this leads to even more clients for you.

No, thank you so much, yeah, man. Listen, I'm glad I met you. My client told me about you. So once I started going over the podcast, I really thank you as well for what you're doing and getting the message out there. Yeah, it's all about word and a mouth. Like you never, like people always ask, how can they support the show, just sharing it with a friend because you don't know who it could help or what it could lead to. And there's a place for, people like you and I that have went to prison and have built something after to share our stories. And it's pretty powerful to be able to do that and get it out there. It is. It is. Thank you so much.

Thank you.