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Meet Jerry Osborn
Age: 53 Age at Time of Crime: 18
Crime Convicted of: First Degree Kidnapping, Attempted Murder & First Degree Robbery Sentence: Life Without Parole + Two 25 years
Years Served: 35 Housed at: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Who I was Then:
I grew up in the foster system. My mother was an alcoholic and drug addict; my father wasn't present. I was taken from my mother at the age of 1yrs old by DHS due to abuse and neglect. I lived in different foster homes throughout my childhood. I had a lot of behavioral problems growing up, and I was actually diagnosed with ADHD and other mental problems. I was also abused by family members. I felt that I was not loved, as I was always alone. I began to do drugs and drink at the age of 11yrs old. I soon began to steal and commit other crimes. I didn't trust anyone, nor did I care whether I lived or died. I did whatever I wanted, no matter who it hurt. I was withdrawn, and often felt
anger, sadness, confusion, and loneliness. Being tired of my circumstance, I chose to commit the crime of Robbery because I believed that having money would change my life.
Who I am Now:
Since being incarcerated I have learned that my childhood was not an excuse to hurt people and do wrong. I have learned compassion towards people. I have learned to be a hard worker and have gained many valuable skills while in prison. Today I have respect for myself as well as for others. I have learned the value of hard work. I am a very caring and open person. I had to learn to overcome my past, and figure out who I want to be. I have chosen to dedicate myself to helping others and making myself an example of change so that others can look at me and say, "if he can change, then so can I".
Conclusion:
I am not the person that committed these crimes in 1988. I have great remorse for the harm that I caused to my victim and his family. I have matured and am now a man that understands the responsibility that I have to society and my community, and I want society to know that I no longer have a criminal mind and would not hurt anyone ever again.
Jerry Osborn
Meet Jerrid Winfrey
Age: 35 Age at Time of Crime: 19
Crime Convicted of: First Degree Murder
Sentence: Life Without Parole + 25 years + 10 years
Years Served: 16 Housed at: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Who I was Then:
I can remember being fifteen and telling myself that "the only thing I'm good at is being a thug". Along with my upbringing and environment, I convinced myself of this thug mindset moving forward. I truly believed that selling dope was ok because fiends wanted it. I believed it was ok to handle my problems with violence because the people I was committing it against would do the same to me. I had no self-worth, no understanding, and no empathy. Without self- worth, understanding, and empathy I was a broken human being. Then you couple that with the cognitive underdevelopment that all youth deal with and I didn't stand a chance of succeeding.
Who I am Now:
Fast-forward sixteen years and the growth I've experienced often brings a smile to my face, because at nineteen I had no clue of the man I'd soon become. My biggest accomplishment has been understanding who I truly am as a person. I'm a lover, a protector, and a provider. I'm a family man. I'm a man of integrity and honesty. I'm selfless and caring. One attribute I'm most proud of possessing is empathy. I can put myself in other's shoes and understand their feelings and thoughts, and because of this I can better understand people and their decisions. I am big on education and now understand the importance of educating one's self. So much so that I am currently working towards an associate's degree in business. I have a love for life itself that I never could have imagined as a teenager. I have a level of appreciation for people and the good in the world. I'm optimistic, hopeful and humble. This all gives me the confidence to be the man I am today and God willing I will get to share this with the world soon enough.
Conclusion:
Redemption would mean the world to me. Knowing I am forgiven by my victim's mother
and God is part of the redemption I seek. I'm not sure if I'll ever receive it or if I deserve it, but my mentality will always be to strive for forgiveness and redemption. Redemption to be the man I should've been, redemption to make a positive impact on my community and the world around me. I am hopeful that the progress I've made as a man will lead to the redemption I seek.
Jerrid Winfrey
Meet Frederick Babino
Age: 51 Age at Time of Crime: 26
Crime Convicted of: First Degree Murder & First Degree Robbery
Sentence: Life Without Parole + 25 years
Years Served: 24 Housed at: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Who I was Then:
I grew up in a religious household, raised by my grandmother. As a teen I had potential to be a star football player in high school, but I began to make poor choices. I ran away from home at the age of 15 with an adult female, and I have been own my own into adulthood. I continued to make poor choices by joining a gang and selling drugs. This is what most young black men did at this time. Not only in the communities where I lived, but all over the nation. To be accepted in your community, this is the lifestyle that you chose. You had to be aggressive to keep from becoming a victim. People respected you and left you alone if you demonstrated that you were capable of violence. I didn't realize the damage that my actions were causing my family and the community until I made the ultimate poor choice. I caused the death of another human being, something I never thought that I would do. Once in prison reflecting on the fact that I had not only destroyed the life of my victim and his family, but that I had also destroyed my life and shattered my family's life.
Who I am Now:
I really began to analyze who I had become and who I wanted to be. However, I didn't immediately change, I still made bad decisions. At some point, I realized that I had to be serious about changing my thoughts and actions. I slowly started to make better decisions, and the more I did the better things went for me. I developed the philosophy, 'when faced with a right and a wrong choice, always do what is right, the rest will work itself out'. Today I do my all to live a right life, and I do my best to let my actions be a positive influence for those around me. Whenever anything happens in my life now, good or bad, I always analyze 'why'. The bad teaches me not to do it again, and the good serves as motivation to continue on that path. Today my good far outweighs my bad.
Conclusion:
Redemption for me is doing what I can to atone for the destruction that I caused to society. I can't undo what I have done, but I can live my life honoring the life that I took by being a mentor and an advocate for changed lives and helping as many as I can. My focus is on educating myself and passing on the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to others.
Frederick Babino
Meet Jon August
Age: 45 Age at Time of Crime: 18
Crime Convicted of: Second Degree Kidnapping, First & Second Degree Robbery
Sentence: 50 years
Years Served: 26 Housed at: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Who I was Then:
I was raised on a farm in the small town of New Liberty, Iowa; with Christian parents in a god home along with five siblings. When I reached my teenage years, my grandpa passed away and I was involved in a bad truck accident in which both events contributed to some severe depression. I started smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and smoking marijuana. It took away temporarily the negative thoughts and depression I struggled with. This openness to using drugs led me to using methamphetamine which totally changed me and sent me into a downward spiral of destroying my life.
My understanding of life back then was through a depressed perspective of feeling without hope. I experienced inward turmoil which clouded my mind from thinking rationally. I was immature, passive, and gave up on all my interests and goals. My bad choices caused me to avoid my friends and family, and using drugs caused paranoia which made me avoid being around people as much as possible. I couldn't think clearly so I couldn't make good decisions and had numerous problems, not knowing how to deal with them.
Who I am Now:
Shortly after coming to prison, I experienced a transformation through reading the Bible and I believe it changed me. I came to a point of total brokenness where I decided to pray and ask God to help me. I trusted in God, believed in Jesus and the profound truth contained in the Bible. Through God's grace, I overcame depression, drug addiction, suicidal thoughts and taking medication. I experienced healing and dealt with past mental problems, mainly focusing on forgiveness.
My understanding of life now is through the whole message that is written in the Bible. We live in a broken world, imperfectly ruled by men/women. Our lives are short and seeking God's purpose for our lives is much better than any decision we could make on our own.
Now I have a strong mind, knowing how to manage stress/emotions and I have developed life skills such as patience and critical thinking. I became a part-time mentor for those with severe mental illnesses because I understand what it is like.
Conclusion:
Today I am a 45-year-old man, having spent the past 26 years in prison. I deserved to be in prison for the pain I caused and actually thankful for this time in prison to change my life. I have come to a point where I have accomplished all the treatment that I needed, including work skills to be successful in here and out there. I believe my time has provided me the rehabilitation I needed and accomplished the punishment I deserved and society will gain much by my release instead of my further incarceration. I will return to my hometown New Liberty and help my dad maintain his farming operation to the next generation. I will be closely involved with my church community. I have a great job opportunity waiting, I will continue investing in real estate and will work towards buying a farm.
I have already experienced redemption in my spirit and my mind has already checked out of this prison, even though my body remains here in prison. Recently I applied for commutation of my prison sentence, was interviewed by the lowa Board of Parole and received a unanimous vote of all 5 board members in recommending my sentence be commuted. This request was then denied by the Governor of lowa. I wait patiently, wanting to experience a complete redemption.
Jon August
Meet Omar Wilkins
Age: 40 Age at Time of Crime: 17
Crime Convicted of: First Degree Murder
Sentence: Life Without Parole
Years Served: 22 Housed at: Iowa State Penitentiary
If you had asked the 13... 14... 15... or even 20-year-old me what I thought about life and people, you would have been appalled at my response! Yet here it is I sit, encased within a maximum security prison; strategically located between a dump and a cornfield! And it is here, within this claustrophobic cell, sitting atop a one-inch foam mattress, with a cellmate right above me, that I have gained some of my greatest life lessons. You see... these past twenty plus years of perpetual incarceration have blessed me with an opportunity of meeting some of the most inspirational Men ever. Yet, just like me, the majority of them will never have the opportunity to be released from this place, regardless of how much 'rehabilitation' we've received.
Who I was Then:
Allow me this opportunity to share with you my teenage experience. The earlier parts of my life were me, a kid battered by circumstances; circumstances that would have inevitably converted any normal kid into a hardened human being. I come from a place (Atlanta, Georgia); where gunshots were normal, drugs were an acceptable way of life, and single parent households were 'just the way it was'. I left home at an early age, because I thought I knew more than my parents. While thrusting myself into the streets the (wilderness), it was there that the 'survival of the fittest' and the 'only the strong survive' mentality penetrated and permeated my being. I could tell you all the salacious stories about drug deals gone wrong, crack houses, robberies, homelessness, group homes filled with abuse, boot camps filled with violence, and desperation moves that I made to survive; and all this before the age of eighteen (the age when I was sentenced for the crime of Murder).
The story of the battered kid living in the streets is all too well known to those of us incarcerated, as well as those of us who were lucky enough to make it out. People often asked me, "How is it you were able to get an AK-47 at the age of eighteen?" or "How do kids get a hold of such large quantities of drugs?". Yet the question that should be asked is, "How does a civilized society allow such deadly weapons and large quantities of drugs to enter into the hands of kids?". Our society doesn't speak truthfully about the root causes of its social and mental illnesses! Yet we punish those who can't afford celebrity lawyers and reward those who have finessed their way into the American Dream.
Who I am Now:
I'm not the Man who doesn't take responsibility for his crime; quite the contrary. I understand that through my ill-advised choices an innocent Human life was lost. Yet... I didn't always think this way. It took a plethora of opportunities, and a myriad of influences to get to the Man you see today; not to mention all the unseen blessings! And all this wasn't overnight. It was over the years of learning and gaining humility.
This is why I say it was a blessing that I came to prison! Because the Man that I am today is a complete 180-degree difference between the kid that I was when I was arrested, as well as leading up to my arrest. The opportunity that allowed me to correct myself in here first came from meeting people (incarcerated Men, as well as outside volunteers), who pounded into my head, "Omar... you matter, you are loved". Its' amazing how simple words of encouragement can change, constantly pounded into one's head, the course and trajectory of a Human life. It's also amazing how, instead of receiving this assistance from the Department of Corrections, I had to lean on Men who had served decades, as well as volunteers from the 'free world'.
The truth though and I want to reiterate this, is that this change didn't come overnight! I was charged with 1st degree Murder at the age of 18; convicted at 19; escaped from prison at 19; eventually turning myself in, and subsequently arriving here at the Fort Madison State Penitentiary. Not to mention the rough patches where I bumped my head for at least the first five to ten years. I will admit though, that bumping my head is what opened my eyes to the simple truth that I can change my life... IF I make the right choices. Small doses of failure inside this prison is what built up my immunity to overcoming failure.
Prisons aren't built to rehabilitate; rehabilitation is a commodity that you have to thirst for and seek out once you arrive here. But if you do, I promise you, it'll change your life. How do I know? I'm living proof. I once considered myself the worse of the worse (Thug, Nigga, Gangsta); however, with the constant Love and direction that I have been given by my love ones, outside prison volunteers and the small circle of Men inside here who have changed their lives, I can look in the mirror and honestly say "Omar, you are not incorrigible! You are not an Untouchable! You do deserve a second chance at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness".
Conclusion:
In closing I'll say this... the majority of Human Beings are being incarcerated not because of their inability to be rehabilitated, but because it has become extremely profitable to warehouse Human Beings. That's the simple truth... no more, no less. I WISH 'We The People' would do a better job of succoring those in need and celebrating and promulgating all acts of redemption... Hence Operation Redeemed!
Omar