Can't lockup my mind!

Part One

Death by Imprisonment

"I was sentenced to die by suffocating imprisonment."

- Reflections of Al Reed

Al Reed on the day he won his freedom & was released from a life sentence

I was released from the United States Federal Penitentiary Pollock on Thursday May 16, 2019. I walked into prison a 24-year-old young man. I walked out of prison a 49-year-old man. I wasn’t supposed to be walking out that day. I was sentenced to die by suffocating imprisonment. The law calls it a statutory mandatory life term of imprisonment without the possibility of parole. But it is really death by suffocation.

For the past 25 years I was warehoused in seven of the most notorious maximum security federal penitentiaries inside of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, serving out that life sentence. People may expect me to comment upon just how unfair this sentence was, but all I feel right now is the happiness and joy that comes from knowing I am blessed. I feel happiness because, internally, I am at peace with myself.

First strike

SECOND
strike

THIRD
strike

Age 19 - Albert sold $20 worth of crack.

Sentence:

Probation

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Part Two

an average middle-class family

"When I was seven years old my father suddenly died of cancer, in May of 1976. That is when things changed."

- Reflections of Al Reed

Al Reed and his sister Janine

I grew up in a two-parent household with loving parents and two beautiful sisters, one older and one younger. We were an average middle-class family, comfortable with what we had. My parents created a loving home, one where that sense of "family" was firmly established.

When I was seven years old my father suddenly died of cancer, in May of 1976, and things changed. Life became harder for a single mother. We soon moved into the Winbrook housing projects in White Plains, New York, on Lexington Avenue. There I was confronted with images that to a young and impressionable mind was made to appear normal, and over the course of time, even positive. During that first couple of years living in the projects, material things became important to me. Material things and having the money to purchase things began to take form in those first few years because we struggled as a family.

I became fascinated and soon began to desire the lifestyle that I witnessed daily. My mother died of cancer in October of 1986; she died two days before my 17th birthday. Her death left me responsible for taking care of the household, my little sister, and myself. Selling drugs was the life that I chose to overcome that situation. In a span of five years, I allowed my freedom to be exchanged for a statutory mandatory life term of imprisonment.

First
strike

SECOND strike

THIRD
strike

Age 22 - Albert possessed 81 grams of cocaine.

Sentence:

24 months in prison

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Part Three

It is easy to get a life sentence in America

"Most people have committed three strikes. If you've smoked a joint of weed, that's a drug strike. If you've taken a hit of cocaine at a party, that's a drug strike. It's scary how easy it is to get a life sentence in America."

- Reflections of Al Reed

Al Reed in federal prison

My first strike occurred in 1989. I sold $20 worth of crack cocaine to an undercover informant. I received a sentence of probation for the charge of criminal sale of controlled substance fourth degree.

My second strike occurred in 1991. I was stopped in an airport in Charlotte, North Carolina by Narcotics Interdiction Task Force where officers found a package of cocaine. Strike two.

My third strike occurred in 1994. I was 24 years old. I was stopped in a vehicle and searched by agents in South Carolina based upon an informant's tip. Officers found 193 grams of crack and two zip-lock bags of marijuana. Strike Three.

First
strike

SECOND
strike

THIRD strike

Age 24 - Albert sold 193 grams of crack.

Sentence:

LIFE

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Part Four

Lock my body, can't lock my mind!

"My days in prison were spent as a G.E.D. tutor. I wrote poems and read plenty of books."

- Reflections of Al Reed

Al Reed attending his daughter's baby shower

My purpose is to speak for those brothers and sisters (and family and friends) who are serving time that do not fit the crime. I wish that I could paint a picture to give you a clearer understanding of what prison was like for me. No amount of words can get you to experience just how hard prison life is. It was a living hell, all the hard times I been through, constantly surrounded by chaos, ignorance, and nonsense. My days were spent as a G.E.D. tutor. I wrote poems and read plenty of books, preferably African history, yet history of all kinds would suffice as well as anything pertaining to building financial wealth. I read to maintain my peace of mind and prepare myself for the future that I knew would come one day.

Over the past 25 years, I have come a long way in realizing who I am, as a MAN. I feel joy because my two sisters and daughter, friends and family have sacrificed so much time and energy, shed so many tears, prayed so many prayers, paid so many lawyers, put up with all the pain and hurt of my absence and it was not in vain. I feel joy because we made it through this and our family is whole again, and I will be present when my first granddaughter is born a month after my release from prison. I wake up every morning knowing that my freedom is a gift and an opportunity to help others avoid the pitfalls that robbed me of my youth.

I'm here now after 25 years and my spirit and mental are omnipotent. Lock my body can't lock my mind! Lock my body can't lock my mind! Lock my body can't lock my mind! It feels so good to be back again.

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Albert Reed Jr.

Death by Imprisonment

an average middle-class family

It is easy to get a life sentence in America

Lock my body, can't lock my mind!

Steve Liscano