I read your paper the night previous, and a part of me that previously was dead or dying suddenly felt alive and connected to others with similar struggles and trauma.

I was determined to strive for something different. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be honest, open-minded and willing today.

In March 2024, I completed a program called Mates for Inmates. It was a program where we had dogs that came in from the Lord Smith’s Dog Home that needed to be retrained so they could be rehomed to those looking to adopt a dog so they can eventually find their forever home.

‘They can lock the locks, but they can’t stop the clock!’

A problem I have come across here at Woodford is that the only reading glasses you can get (if you are poor and not eligible for free prescription glasses) are #16 and are only 2.0 magnification!

Luckily, in the week leading up to sentencing, I made contact with whom I now call the “Gods of Criminal Defence”.

I’m eligible for release mid-July if I can find a suitable address, and I’ve applied for a Crest public boarding house address, but they’ve advised me of a minimum 12-month wait time.

At this point, we struggle to even be released on our parole date while being a model prisoner, which I feel is our right.

Brothers, seriously, when you look at how much worse off other people in the world have it and you truly understand there really is no rock bottom, then you start to see there are no limits to how good our life could be (and out of anyone we deserve it!).

Nobody understood that what I did then is not who I am now.