🔵 By Kurtis Klingenberg. Photo by lauragrafie.
I am writing you today from Shelton Washington Prison. I want people to understand that lack of a support system can be deadly! I also want people to know the cruelty that happens in the prison system. I am 23 and have been a bad drug addict since I was 14 years old. In the last 9 years I have hurt and lied to everyone I ever knew. Just two years ago I was homeless in Spokane WA with nothing but items in my pockets. I remember talking to my mom on the phone and her begging me to stop using and breaking the law. That night I find this debit card, thinking I’d just use it for a hotel room and some food. That never happened.
The monster inside me wanted drugs, so I fed Him. Now I am on the run, knowing I just broke the law, expecting to get arrested at any moment. Thinking that a hot meal and a bed in a cell doesn’t sound so bad. I got arrested and felt this weight on my shoulders drop. I got clean and sober and starting to be “Kurtis” again. I am mending the relationship with my mom and my kids. Our relationship has never been better. I want people to know there are drugs in prison more than you would believe.
To watch someone use in this controlled environment makes me sick. The gangs in prison control the drugs and there are gangs that will get you hooked. AND act like your best friend to only stab you and take it back once they have the chance. I have now seen such cruelty over drugs. I have seen nice people that even killed over the littlest amount of drugs in there. I an now going on 2 years sober. I work out everyday. I pray and I try to help my fellow inmates. I talk to my kids on a daily basis and look forward to the day I get out and I can be the father I was made to be. Coming to prison turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I have truly found myself AND have seen what others are capable of!
“Positive affirmations I do everyday!”
– I am a good person
– I am NOT my surroundings
– I deserve to love and to be loved
– I choose to be sober today
– I am going to be the best father possible