3-Strike Stories: Robert Leon

2/14/98

ROBERT LEON J-63375
P.O. BOX 290066
B-7219
REPRESA CA. 95671

From a child I wanted to be a firefighter, not knowing what was up ahead. From a young age I can remember having been painfully whipped with any thing of which my step father could get hold. Being locked up in the basement for many of hours, and that was not what I had expected it would be. As I became a teenager, I learned to hate the world. The anger that had grown within me was strong. I paid no mind to whom I hurt.

I lived in and out of a juvenile hall till I was eighteen. At 18 I was on my way to prison, by 19 I was placed in the deepest of the hole that prison had to offer, not knowing what was normal, yet society expects for one to get out of prison and become normal. Prison does not teach inmates what it is to pay bills, rent, and so forth.

After what I went through, family members never thought that I would change, till one day I decided to do something for myself. So I made a move and started from scratch. I moved and went on to make a life for myself. I went on to get a job, not knowing what work was all about, I started as a labor. From a labor I learned to frame roofs and so forth. Also I learned what it is to pay bills. For seven years it was a dream come true. Living the American dream, no arrests, no drugs, no homies, only myself and family.

Today I sit in prison for receiving stolen property ($1.99) all what I worked for went down the drain. I am serving seven years, with 80% to do. Three Strikes, Thanks. I thought it was for the most violent crimes. Now I sit in a Level 4 prison Folsom, for receiving stolen property, a $1.99 necklace

A short story about myself, not that I would want for anyone to feel sorry, because I do not. All I ask is for all voters to know what the three strike law is about.

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Date last modified: 3/18/98.