The following program
discusses sensitive issues.
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Parents are
cautioned that some material
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may be too candid
for younger children.
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Welcome to The New Journey,
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a program about real life people
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with real life testimonies
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doing real life
ministry for Jesus Christ.
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I'm your host,
Pastor Marquis Johns.
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Join us on The New Journey.
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Oft times when we
think about prison,
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we always hear
the male perspective.
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We hear about
what men go through
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and we perpetuate
the stereotype mythology
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of men behind bars.
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Well, on today's show,
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we have someone
who's going to tell us
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the other side of the story.
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The story about what happened
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when woman do
hard time in prison.
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Wilhemina, I want to thank
you for being on New Journey.
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So you're upbringing,
tell us a little bit about you?
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Okay.
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Mother, father,
three brothers, two sisters
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and nice big
house, 19 room house,
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big backyard,
family unions, cookouts.
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My mother used to
can her own fruits
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and vegetables,
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still have some
left and she passed away.
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Now I'm all growed
up. You all growed up.
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All growed up. All growed up.
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Yeah.
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So life was
relatively normal for you.
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I mean there
wasn't a broken home.
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Dad was there, big
backyard, nice big family.
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Everything was normal. Yes.
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We have fun, you know,
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back there
everything is electronic,
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back then you had to make
up your games and everything,
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you know, like drops switches,
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large ball,
kick ball, soft ball.
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Right, right. Yeah,
those little things.
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And boy gangs, we have,
few boy gangs, you know.
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The church that I was attending,
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we were always going
trips like to the beach,
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Ocean City, Atlantic City,
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Sandy Beach and just
little trips like that,
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you know, keep the children
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in the
neighborhood out of trouble.
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That was good days too.
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So well,
Wilhemina, just real quick,
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if someone who comes
from what people desire
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or what seems to be normal,
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how do you end up on a show
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where we're talking
about a new journey,
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people who have had,
on this show you had,
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you know, people who
have died from drug overdoses,
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people who
receive the death penalty,
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life prison jail,
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how do you go from such
a normal life, mom, dad,
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19 bedroom home,
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plenty of brothers and
sisters and friends to play
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with, how do you go from there
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which seems like you're on track
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or just the textbook,
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good life if you
will to a show like this?
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In my family boys
could do anything they want
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and they did.
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And we had to ask my mother
if we go over somebody's house,
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you know, she said,
"Don't come in here,
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telling me where you're going?
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You ask and you go."
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And a lot of times
she will say, "No, no.
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No need.
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You sit there with
your lip up bogged down."
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When as years go by,
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you know, you start
in the spiritual wing,
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you know, from
junior high to high school.
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So I wanted more
freedom, you know.
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I asked my father.
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I'm a daddy's
girl and asked him,
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you know, "Is that all
right if I go so and so?"
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And he says, "It's all
right with your mother."
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So I went back to
my mother, I said,
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"Well, dad said it's all
right if you say it's all right,
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you know, if I go."
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And my friends,
they had a lot of freedom
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and I wanted to hang with them.
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Then came the weed,
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the pills, snorting cocaine,
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and then smoking cocaine.
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I did that for long
time before crack came.
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So wait, wait,
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there was a phase
in the cocaine industry
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that people were smoking
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even when some
were doing powder,
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was it in its rocked
up form or you put...
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Free base. Yeah, okay.
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That's free base.
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Yeah, that stayed
around for a long time
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until this crack thing came on,
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you know, and that
was right all by itself.
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So tell us just real quick,
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tell us about your
first introduction to cocaine,
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like, I mean 'cause you
said there was a transition
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from junior high
school to the high school,
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when were you first
introduced to cocaine?
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In '70...
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'75, yeah.
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It's on bus on
way to school. Mercy.
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"You want to try this?"
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And, of course,
yeah, 'cause I was already,
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you know, smoking weed, drugs...
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And the other stuff.
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So by that, it was a try,
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you know, 'cause now
I'm out there having fun.
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I got a lot more freedom.
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How did you get this freedom?
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I'm in high school now. Okay.
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You know and we
have more parties,
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house parties,
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and ballad of the bands.
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Well, that's
right if you do it...
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
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you grew up in D.C.
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go, go, wherever.
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Oh, Yes.
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Oh yeah.
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And you don't have to ask,
you just stay after school.
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You know, that
was just a normal,
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when you had a
ballad of the bands
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and dances and that's
when I was introduced.
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So, you started using cocaine
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and you
progressed up the ladder,
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free base
eventually to crack, cocaine.
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Now coming from such
a large normal family,
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how did that affect
your family relationships?
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Mother, father did not know.
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Really? Did not know.
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After smoke we're in the
house and they did not know.
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How was that?
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Were they turning the blind eye,
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deaf ear or was it
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they just didn't
recognize what you were doing?
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They didn't know
what I was doing.
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They didn't recognized it,
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you know, they were
from the real old school.
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Okay. Yeah. Both in buggy day.
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You're not that old now.
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No, I'm not.
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You know, when coming up,
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you know, I
would say "Well, mom,
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what about so and so,
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you did that in the olden days?"
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And then one of my
nieces hit me with that.
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Oh, mercy.
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I revealed
that's the common pill.
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I revealed, you know,
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that were back
in the olden days,
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I said, "No, you didn't."
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I said, "No, you
didn't. Pull that one on me."
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And so what that mean
is you get out of cocaine,
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you know, my mother,
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you guys are
probably from the same parent,
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my mother just became a
completely different person,
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meaning
completely different person.
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I remember
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just a number of incidents
that took place in my life
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and my mother was
just someone else.
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I mean, I remember when
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she first
started experimenting her
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and her husband
at time and you know,
00:08:03.45\00:08:07.42
she begins to steal from
me, I remember one Christmas,
00:08:07.45\00:08:11.95
the local thrifts where I
would volunteer at sometimes,
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they gave me a black
and white television.
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And you know, I was
just the toast of the town,
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see I had this black and
white television in my room.
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And I remember
coming home one day,
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my mother had
stolen my television
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and then pawned
it for some crack.
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It strains the relationship
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and so, tell us
about the person,
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maybe
unfortunately that you became
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as result of using crack.
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I was way there on the road.
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I was 30 then, you know,
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when got messed with that crack.
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I went to Fairland, you know,
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but I stole from
everybody's except
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from my house.
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That was when the
crack came out new.
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If it is just
about anything for,
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but I was always a party girl
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and I would just wanted to
party, party, party, party.
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So that's what I did.
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That's why I have no children
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because I didn't want to bring
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any in this, in my world,
you know, just slow me down.
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Grandma say, "Have
while you are young
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and you can party later."
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And everybody else was having
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while they were
young and they were stuck.
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And I said, "Not me. Not me."
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So probably about
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in the '90s after
my father passed away,
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I got real down dirty,
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you know, I was
taking everything
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that could be
lifted in the house.
00:09:41.34\00:09:44.51
You know, diamond
rings, gold chains, money.
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I got to the point
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where I was through,
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I was through, I
was on the streets,
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not homeless but I was
just out there in the street,
00:09:59.29\00:10:01.80
in the world and
I got tired of it.
00:10:01.83\00:10:06.27
I was 42, I was tired off.
00:10:06.30\00:10:09.37
So I prayed all the time,
you know, for Jesus to help me,
00:10:09.40\00:10:13.91
come and get me up.
00:10:13.94\00:10:15.68
But He wasn't ready to get
me until I was ready to be got.
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And I was ready.
00:10:21.82\00:10:24.85
It was a 4th of July
00:10:24.89\00:10:27.22
in '94, '96
00:10:27.26\00:10:34.16
when I called Lord,
Him, I said, "I'm tired.
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I don't want to do this no more.
00:10:37.50\00:10:39.47
Give me some
help. Please help me."
00:10:39.50\00:10:43.07
Because death
was the next thing,
00:10:43.10\00:10:46.11
you know, and I wasn't
ready to die, scared up.
00:10:46.14\00:10:50.51
And I heard Jesus
telling me, "Go home."
00:10:50.55\00:10:56.92
He said in three days
00:10:56.95\00:10:59.32
everything going
to be taken care of.
00:10:59.35\00:11:01.46
But before that I was a mule,
00:11:01.49\00:11:04.93
I went to New York...
00:11:04.96\00:11:07.03
Now we're gonna
explain what a mule is.
00:11:07.06\00:11:08.53
Mule is someone
who carries drugs.
00:11:08.56\00:11:10.10
Carries the drugs. Yeah, right.
00:11:10.13\00:11:11.47
Yeah.
00:11:11.50\00:11:12.83
So I was back and
forth in New York.
00:11:12.87\00:11:15.17
Sometimes I went to Vegas,
00:11:15.20\00:11:16.71
you know and
one day coming back,
00:11:16.74\00:11:20.88
it was my final day
'cause they caught me
00:11:20.91\00:11:24.01
with a kilo crack cocaine.
00:11:24.05\00:11:26.01
Mercy, mercy.
00:11:26.05\00:11:28.18
And so when you get caught
00:11:28.22\00:11:33.19
with this key...
00:11:33.22\00:11:35.32
I'm caught.
00:11:35.36\00:11:36.69
Yeah, what was the
first negotiation, I'm caught?
00:11:36.73\00:11:39.06
Yeah, I'm caught.
00:11:39.09\00:11:40.46
I'm caught, you know,
'cause I was feeling like good,
00:11:40.50\00:11:42.70
I had missed some rummy,
00:11:42.73\00:11:45.83
and all my
little ginks on the bus.
00:11:45.87\00:11:48.70
I feel it good.
00:11:48.74\00:11:50.07
So when they have it
all, that was so, well, okay.
00:11:50.11\00:11:52.87
And see that's
interesting because,
00:11:52.91\00:11:55.08
but for our viewers who
may not have any inclination
00:11:55.11\00:11:57.55
as to what it means to be a mule
00:11:57.58\00:11:58.98
or even the more,
00:11:59.01\00:12:02.02
the routes that are
easiest to get drugs through,
00:12:02.05\00:12:06.79
I remember back in the day,
00:12:06.82\00:12:08.22
that was a sure fire way to get
00:12:08.26\00:12:09.96
your stuff from
one place to another,
00:12:09.99\00:12:11.33
don't get on a plane,
00:12:11.36\00:12:12.79
don't get on even a
train, get on the greyhound.
00:12:12.83\00:12:15.83
Yes.
00:12:15.86\00:12:17.20
Yeah, but well, back in the '70s
00:12:17.23\00:12:19.70
is pretty easy to do on planes,
00:12:19.73\00:12:23.81
you know, and trains,
00:12:23.84\00:12:25.17
you know, 'cause
they didn't have the dogs.
00:12:25.21\00:12:27.41
And big drug buses,
00:12:27.44\00:12:30.45
you know, so yeah,
we had that time, now,
00:12:30.48\00:12:35.18
yeah, the bus was the easiest...
00:12:35.22\00:12:36.55
Right?
00:12:36.58\00:12:37.92
And see I didn't
catch my regular bus,
00:12:37.95\00:12:40.16
you know, I caught a later bus
00:12:40.19\00:12:42.09
'cause I usually
get that bus at 12,
00:12:42.12\00:12:46.29
I'm in DC by 4,
nonstop, but this one stop.
00:12:46.33\00:12:51.53
Stop right there in Baltimore.
00:12:51.57\00:12:53.57
And so was it a situation
where they had dogs out...
00:12:53.60\00:12:56.71
They had the dogs, yeah.
00:12:56.74\00:12:58.07
So walk us
through that situation,
00:12:58.11\00:12:59.44
walk us through,
00:12:59.47\00:13:00.81
you're on the bus,
you see you, you know,
00:13:00.84\00:13:02.41
I'm stopping somewhere,
00:13:02.44\00:13:03.78
I shouldn't
normally stop and I see dogs,
00:13:03.81\00:13:05.15
what was going...
00:13:05.18\00:13:06.51
No, I didn't see the dog. Okay.
00:13:06.55\00:13:07.88
I see nobody,
I'm already get off
00:13:07.92\00:13:09.25
and smoke me a cigarette,
00:13:09.28\00:13:10.62
you know, out there and truly
the drink that I just took,
00:13:10.65\00:13:14.26
and so then the police just, oh,
00:13:14.29\00:13:17.16
they're just nicest
they can be, they're like,
00:13:17.19\00:13:19.43
"Are you doing, Girl,
where you are headed to?"
00:13:19.46\00:13:23.47
And then one gets
on the bus I hear,
00:13:23.50\00:13:25.53
another one said
"Bring that dog."
00:13:25.57\00:13:27.67
I was like, "Oh, oh..."
00:13:27.70\00:13:30.67
I just stood there
and finished my cigarette.
00:13:30.71\00:13:33.74
When I got on the bus,
00:13:33.78\00:13:35.64
the officer was all the
way in the back of the bus,
00:13:35.68\00:13:39.91
three seats from where I was.
00:13:39.95\00:13:42.58
So I just sat there and
I headed, over here, thing
00:13:42.62\00:13:47.09
and then I was
talking to the guy
00:13:47.12\00:13:48.46
who was sitting behind,
00:13:48.49\00:13:49.82
I said come on up here and sit
00:13:49.86\00:13:51.19
and that's when he
came and checked that one.
00:13:51.23\00:13:53.40
Looked at up.
00:13:53.43\00:13:55.10
"Whose bag is this?"
00:13:55.13\00:13:57.83
I was looking
around, the guy is saying,
00:13:57.87\00:14:00.64
"Not my bag."
00:14:00.67\00:14:02.00
And he just came out
and said, "Is this your bag?
00:14:02.04\00:14:03.37
Is this your bag?"
00:14:03.41\00:14:04.74
I said, "I told
you, it's not my bag."
00:14:04.77\00:14:07.64
So he took it out side,
00:14:07.68\00:14:09.21
let the dog
sniff and that was all
00:14:09.24\00:14:11.08
and he said, "Come on, you two."
00:14:11.11\00:14:14.38
So what happened?
00:14:14.42\00:14:16.25
They wanted me to
put it all on the guy,
00:14:16.28\00:14:21.26
you know, and I
couldn't do that,
00:14:21.29\00:14:23.49
you know,
'cause I just asked him
00:14:23.53\00:14:25.26
come sit with me, he
had nothing to do with me.
00:14:25.29\00:14:28.06
I told him, no, no.
00:14:28.10\00:14:29.43
He said, you're
going take in for this
00:14:29.46\00:14:30.80
and they're saying
whole lot of yang yang,
00:14:30.83\00:14:33.17
it was all, which makes
a whole lot of sense now
00:14:33.20\00:14:36.64
that I'm clean in
the cell for 14 years.
00:14:36.67\00:14:39.41
Praise the
Lord. Praise the Lord.
00:14:39.44\00:14:43.58
So got locked up,
I called to people,
00:14:43.61\00:14:46.95
I said, "Look, they got
me down here in Baltimore."
00:14:46.98\00:14:52.35
Next day they
came through to see me,
00:14:52.39\00:14:54.42
they said, "So what did you say?
00:14:54.46\00:14:55.79
What did you say?"
That's what they ask.
00:14:55.82\00:14:57.16
Looking around, I said,
00:14:57.19\00:14:58.53
"You had
nothing to worry about."
00:14:58.56\00:15:00.30
I said, 'cause I did this
00:15:00.33\00:15:01.83
and I knew what was involved in,
00:15:01.86\00:15:04.37
you know, and then
eventually that it would happen.
00:15:04.40\00:15:06.60
Right.
00:15:06.63\00:15:07.97
So...
00:15:08.00\00:15:09.34
So let's kind of move forward.
00:15:09.37\00:15:11.74
You go to court,
you're found guilty.
00:15:11.77\00:15:17.35
Oh, no, let's
talk about my lawyer
00:15:17.38\00:15:20.05
kept me out of
jail '96, '97, '98, '99.
00:15:20.08\00:15:25.52
She said, well,
you really did it,
00:15:25.55\00:15:27.16
you know, just get this over
00:15:27.19\00:15:28.92
with 'cause then it
was only three years
00:15:28.96\00:15:32.13
and I only had
to do a year on it.
00:15:32.16\00:15:33.66
You've already been convicted
00:15:33.70\00:15:35.03
or that was the deal
that was been offered.
00:15:35.06\00:15:36.40
That's the deal
that was offered.
00:15:36.43\00:15:37.77
Okay, okay.
00:15:37.80\00:15:39.13
Okay, so but I
didn't show up to church,
00:15:39.17\00:15:40.50
I mean, sorry.
00:15:40.54\00:15:41.87
To court.
00:15:41.90\00:15:43.24
I didn't show up to court
00:15:43.27\00:15:44.61
because I was too busy
out on the streets again,
00:15:44.64\00:15:46.31
you know, this right.
00:15:46.34\00:15:47.68
So now we're back to
when I get sick and tired,
00:15:47.71\00:15:51.01
really sick and tired
of being sick and tired
00:15:51.05\00:15:53.95
and called on Jesus.
00:15:53.98\00:15:55.95
He said, "Go to
home in three days,
00:15:55.98\00:15:58.12
everything will be taken care."
00:15:58.15\00:15:59.82
US marshals came and got me.
00:15:59.85\00:16:03.89
I didn't go into the court room,
00:16:03.93\00:16:05.53
they just, oh, they
told me, "You got 20 year."
00:16:05.56\00:16:09.00
I said, "What?"
00:16:09.03\00:16:10.87
They said, "You got 20 year."
00:16:10.90\00:16:12.93
Wait, wait, you didn't
hear it from the judge,
00:16:12.97\00:16:14.97
you heard this from...
00:16:15.00\00:16:16.34
The US marshals.
00:16:16.37\00:16:17.71
You've been
sentenced to 20 years.
00:16:17.74\00:16:19.07
They didn't made it,
00:16:19.11\00:16:20.44
they hooked me up and
take me down to Chester,
00:16:20.48\00:16:23.85
you know, I
said, "Twenty years."
00:16:23.88\00:16:29.78
I was like that, I couldn't
say nothing but 20 years.
00:16:29.82\00:16:33.56
You know, so I get
down on and just look around
00:16:33.59\00:16:36.49
and there is just
like club fear, you know,
00:16:36.52\00:16:39.59
'cause I was in the
fed a couple of times.
00:16:39.63\00:16:41.86
People don't know when you fed,
00:16:41.90\00:16:43.43
you're talking about
federal penitentiary.
00:16:43.47\00:16:44.80
Federal penitentiary.
00:16:44.83\00:16:46.17
And federal penitentiary
differs from like state
00:16:46.20\00:16:48.50
or county and you guys,
00:16:48.54\00:16:50.54
some of the amenities
00:16:50.57\00:16:51.91
that you would have
if you went to hotel.
00:16:51.94\00:16:55.48
Isn't that like that
now in a cracked down there,
00:16:55.51\00:16:57.98
I'm like, my time,
00:16:58.01\00:17:00.45
it was nothing but a playground.
00:17:00.48\00:17:03.95
The first one I
went to was co-ed
00:17:03.99\00:17:08.12
and then while I
did my probation,
00:17:08.16\00:17:13.50
the second one was
co-ed and a playground too.
00:17:13.53\00:17:17.43
You know, but
guess I wasn't playing,
00:17:17.47\00:17:21.27
you know, it was
state not federal
00:17:21.30\00:17:24.37
and that was 20, yeah,
00:17:24.41\00:17:25.74
I just kept
thinking I'm doing 20.
00:17:25.77\00:17:27.58
I said, "Oh, well,
you can even do this
00:17:27.61\00:17:29.08
standing on
your heel, you know."
00:17:29.11\00:17:30.91
How much time had you
done before this before
00:17:30.95\00:17:32.45
you was
sentenced to the 20 years,
00:17:32.48\00:17:33.82
have you done, been
in and out of prison,
00:17:33.85\00:17:35.22
how much time
collective you had,
00:17:35.25\00:17:36.89
would you say you have done?
00:17:36.92\00:17:38.25
A year. A year, okay.
00:17:38.29\00:17:39.69
So a year, yeah, but then
we're looking at 20 years...
00:17:39.72\00:17:43.29
Twenty years.
00:17:43.32\00:17:46.09
My mother just, she just,
00:17:46.13\00:17:50.07
she didn't understand her baby,
00:17:50.10\00:17:52.93
and I'm the baby,
didn't understand 20 years.
00:17:52.97\00:17:57.11
And how old were you
when you were going through?
00:17:57.14\00:17:59.27
Forty two. Forty two.
00:17:59.31\00:18:00.78
I said, well, I
wrote to everybody
00:18:03.95\00:18:06.15
and apologized
for all the things
00:18:06.18\00:18:07.92
that I did, for
stealing, for the arguing and,
00:18:07.95\00:18:12.55
you know, just
being me at that time.
00:18:12.59\00:18:16.19
And Jesus came up
to me and He said,
00:18:16.22\00:18:21.73
"Now is the time for you
to get your life together,
00:18:21.76\00:18:25.27
you say that you were sick
and tired, sick and tired."
00:18:25.30\00:18:29.90
Okay, so I'm on
my way to starting,
00:18:29.94\00:18:32.34
I'm getting up, going to church.
00:18:32.37\00:18:35.08
I was like, 'cause I
can't sleep 20 years away
00:18:35.11\00:18:37.18
and nothing to do.
00:18:37.21\00:18:40.45
So I'm thinking,
I'm going to church,
00:18:40.48\00:18:42.05
they have eight
different churches, yeah.
00:18:42.08\00:18:47.09
Now I'm going to the big church
00:18:47.12\00:18:49.06
and it still didn't kick
in and still didn't kick in.
00:18:49.09\00:18:54.10
It was, it was in,
00:18:54.13\00:19:00.27
January of 2000 when I said,
00:19:00.30\00:19:05.27
"Okay, it's got to
be something better,
00:19:05.31\00:19:08.21
something better."
00:19:08.24\00:19:09.58
And it was going on
'cause all the girls
00:19:09.61\00:19:11.75
that I've seen
around play cards,
00:19:11.78\00:19:14.22
you had to work,
you had to go to school,
00:19:14.25\00:19:16.99
you know, I did that,
00:19:17.02\00:19:19.42
I got my high school diploma
00:19:19.45\00:19:21.92
and then I got a job in the...
00:19:21.96\00:19:26.53
What do they call this,
00:19:26.56\00:19:27.90
something I just
don't care or remember...
00:19:27.93\00:19:29.26
Yeah, but I want
to highlight the fact
00:19:29.30\00:19:31.00
that while you were in
jail serving 20 years at 42,
00:19:31.03\00:19:34.97
you were sentenced at 42,
00:19:35.00\00:19:36.34
you got a high school
diploma, you're going to church.
00:19:36.37\00:19:39.07
I want you to tell us,
what was the week you said,
00:19:39.11\00:19:42.14
all the girls wanted
to do was just play cards,
00:19:42.18\00:19:44.41
what did the week looked like,
00:19:44.45\00:19:45.78
well, I mean in
federal penitentiary,
00:19:45.81\00:19:47.15
I mean the state penitentiary,
00:19:47.18\00:19:48.52
what did that look
like on a day to day basis
00:19:48.55\00:19:49.88
as a woman because,
00:19:49.92\00:19:51.25
you know, that we typically hear
00:19:51.29\00:19:52.62
the stories of the men
and what they go through?
00:19:52.65\00:19:54.56
What does prison look like
00:19:54.59\00:19:56.86
from a female
perspective on a day to day,
00:19:56.89\00:19:59.46
maybe just give us a week
00:19:59.49\00:20:00.83
at a glance of
what you experience
00:20:00.86\00:20:03.20
that's about,
what it's about seven,
00:20:03.23\00:20:04.57
eight years ago...
00:20:04.60\00:20:05.93
Been eight years and
eight years in January.
00:20:05.97\00:20:08.70
About eight years ago on a
day to day basis, five years,
00:20:08.74\00:20:11.47
what does a week look like,
00:20:11.51\00:20:12.84
well, I mean in a state
penitentiary for a woman?
00:20:12.87\00:20:15.64
Okay, first it was getting
up every morning going to school
00:20:15.68\00:20:20.08
and coming back to,
you know, room or cell.
00:20:20.12\00:20:25.85
And doing what you have to
do, breakfast, lunch, dinner,
00:20:25.89\00:20:31.33
all the racket
outside of your room,
00:20:31.36\00:20:33.83
you get to have your own TV
00:20:33.86\00:20:36.03
and all of the hair
products that you want.
00:20:36.06\00:20:42.84
I go out to watch
TV in the big room,
00:20:42.87\00:20:45.57
but it's too noisy,
00:20:45.61\00:20:46.94
you can't hear,
there are a lot of cussing,
00:20:46.98\00:20:48.64
fussing, arguing, fighting,
00:20:48.68\00:20:51.11
you know, you're in
jail and some girls,
00:20:51.15\00:20:55.88
they just don't get it.
00:20:55.92\00:20:57.45
They just don't get it.
00:20:57.49\00:20:58.95
So I said, "Well, I got 20 years
00:20:58.99\00:21:00.69
I have to do something."
00:21:00.72\00:21:03.12
God told me
00:21:03.16\00:21:04.49
that if I got
foundation in His Son
00:21:04.53\00:21:10.47
that He will let me
go home with five years.
00:21:10.50\00:21:14.57
I worked hard, I worked hard.
00:21:14.60\00:21:18.91
I worked under Pastor CD Brooks.
00:21:18.94\00:21:21.21
Come on now. Yes
I did, yes I did.
00:21:21.24\00:21:25.28
He will come every
Thursday for Bible study with me
00:21:25.31\00:21:30.15
and another girl friend
00:21:30.19\00:21:32.55
who was a Seventh-day Adventist,
00:21:32.59\00:21:33.99
I wasn't an Adventist then.
00:21:34.02\00:21:36.06
You know and we
study and we study.
00:21:36.09\00:21:39.19
So about, in about
four to six months,
00:21:39.23\00:21:42.96
I said, well, I
want to get baptized
00:21:43.00\00:21:44.80
and pay some tithes
and all of that good stuff.
00:21:44.83\00:21:47.40
Are you still in
jail? Still in jail.
00:21:47.44\00:21:49.67
He said, "No, no."
00:21:49.70\00:21:51.04
He said, "We got
to study for a year."
00:21:51.07\00:21:53.58
He said, "I think
you can get baptized.
00:21:53.61\00:21:55.61
You went by so quick." I
said, "I'm ready. I'm ready."
00:21:55.64\00:21:59.78
But then you got
a lot of politics
00:21:59.81\00:22:01.82
inside the prison,
00:22:01.85\00:22:03.22
you know, they want you
to do with their people,
00:22:03.25\00:22:06.25
they don't want
nobody from outside coming in
00:22:06.29\00:22:09.12
because they want to keep
00:22:09.16\00:22:12.09
that spiritual
thing that they have.
00:22:12.13\00:22:16.60
I was up sitting there,
00:22:16.63\00:22:18.57
I was trying to get baptized
as the Seventh-day Adventist
00:22:18.60\00:22:21.57
because then the
truth would have been known
00:22:21.60\00:22:23.81
that the real
Sabbath is on Saturday,
00:22:23.84\00:22:25.94
not been on the Sunday.
00:22:25.97\00:22:27.48
Oh, wow, we went through a
whole lot but God put it on,
00:22:27.51\00:22:31.81
I went to scholar first night,
00:22:31.85\00:22:33.21
Karen and told her to
start a church and you know,
00:22:33.25\00:22:37.15
where two or
three gathered there
00:22:37.19\00:22:39.22
He is in a
midst, for four months,
00:22:39.25\00:22:42.72
just me and
her, just me and her,
00:22:42.76\00:22:44.53
me and her going
up there, studying,
00:22:44.56\00:22:47.10
you know, officers' just
like, "Just the two of you,
00:22:47.13\00:22:50.13
why do all bother
to come up there."
00:22:50.17\00:22:52.53
And Karen of course will say,
00:22:52.57\00:22:53.90
"Well, where two
or three are gathered,
00:22:53.94\00:22:55.64
there He is in the midst."
00:22:55.67\00:22:57.97
You know, and so they
back down off of that,
00:22:58.01\00:23:00.81
you know, teasing us,
00:23:00.84\00:23:02.18
you know, about
being the only two.
00:23:02.21\00:23:04.01
Word got around, we found out
00:23:04.05\00:23:05.95
that it was seven or eight of us
00:23:05.98\00:23:08.42
Seventh-day Adventists in there.
00:23:08.45\00:23:10.39
And so you start
feeling up, okay,
00:23:10.42\00:23:13.19
now we can have
anything that we need,
00:23:13.22\00:23:15.99
you know, like
Psalm books and radios,
00:23:16.02\00:23:19.69
cassette player,
00:23:19.73\00:23:21.40
oh, no, the
chaplain would tell them, no,
00:23:21.43\00:23:24.50
just don't send
them nothing new,
00:23:24.53\00:23:26.57
we don't give them
nothing new, everything we had,
00:23:26.60\00:23:29.10
had to be used, abused and ugly.
00:23:29.14\00:23:32.27
But something came
over me and I told myself,
00:23:35.38\00:23:40.12
"God is getting ready
to come through here."
00:23:40.15\00:23:43.05
I said, "He's
getting ready to come
00:23:43.08\00:23:44.59
through here and
clean up this place."
00:23:44.62\00:23:47.72
I said, so yeah,
better get ourselves together.
00:23:47.76\00:23:50.96
Now I'm talking to the officers,
00:23:50.99\00:23:52.76
I'm telling a warden,
00:23:52.79\00:23:54.23
the assistant warden
to allow these people,
00:23:54.26\00:23:57.40
He's coming through.
00:23:57.43\00:23:58.77
He's coming through.
00:23:58.80\00:24:00.27
So I'm just do what
I do is I got baptized.
00:24:00.30\00:24:03.27
Come on now.
00:24:03.30\00:24:04.64
Yeah, I have...
00:24:04.67\00:24:06.01
What year was that? 2001.
00:24:06.04\00:24:08.54
This was, and you had
been in prison how long?
00:24:08.58\00:24:10.31
Two years.
00:24:10.35\00:24:11.68
Two years, you're baptized...
00:24:11.71\00:24:13.05
Going on three.
00:24:13.08\00:24:14.42
And you guys now
are running a church...
00:24:14.45\00:24:15.82
Oh, yes and...
00:24:15.85\00:24:17.19
So the God come through. Yes.
00:24:17.22\00:24:18.89
Oh, wow, He came through,
showed up and showed all,
00:24:18.92\00:24:25.23
they arrested the warden...
00:24:25.26\00:24:28.13
Mercy. The assistant warden.
00:24:28.16\00:24:29.66
Mercy.
00:24:29.70\00:24:31.03
And chief over all the officers,
00:24:31.07\00:24:34.64
all three of
them for embarrassing.
00:24:34.67\00:24:37.57
Mercy.
00:24:37.61\00:24:38.94
They were taking
all of the money,
00:24:38.97\00:24:40.71
we wasn't
getting totally paid for,
00:24:40.74\00:24:43.14
you know checks
pull up to the gate,
00:24:43.18\00:24:45.78
nobody have a check to give them
00:24:45.81\00:24:47.58
because they've
now stolen the money.
00:24:47.62\00:24:49.45
They stole from
the indigent fund,
00:24:49.48\00:24:52.35
they stole from
the children's fund,
00:24:52.39\00:24:54.59
you know, where
the children come down
00:24:54.62\00:24:56.39
and be with their mothers and...
00:24:56.42\00:24:58.29
So God comes
through, He cleans up.
00:24:58.33\00:25:01.00
Two years and you
get baptized? Yes.
00:25:01.03\00:25:03.63
But God had made you a promise
00:25:03.67\00:25:05.03
that if you got a
foundation in Him,
00:25:05.07\00:25:06.87
even though you're
looking at 20 years,
00:25:06.90\00:25:09.20
you'd be out in five?
00:25:09.24\00:25:10.57
Yes.
00:25:10.61\00:25:11.94
So tell us about year four,
00:25:11.97\00:25:16.14
day number 364,
00:25:16.18\00:25:18.55
just before this
five year time period
00:25:18.58\00:25:20.72
would have terminated.
00:25:20.75\00:25:22.08
Went up for probation.
00:25:22.12\00:25:25.09
So no parole,
so I talked to God,
00:25:25.12\00:25:27.42
I said, "So what
am I supposed to do?"
00:25:27.46\00:25:29.29
You know, he took me to,
00:25:29.32\00:25:32.86
when they hang you
up to be persecuted,
00:25:32.89\00:25:36.23
in that hour I'll give
you what you need to say.
00:25:36.26\00:25:39.13
Yes, yes, yes.
00:25:39.17\00:25:42.14
So everybody is
sitting waiting to go see
00:25:42.17\00:25:44.84
the parole
people, parole warden.
00:25:44.87\00:25:47.54
And when I get in there,
00:25:47.58\00:25:48.91
there was this two
nice white guys, you know.
00:25:48.94\00:25:51.41
First one would say,
"What do you want to do?"
00:25:51.45\00:25:52.95
I said, "I want to go home."
00:25:52.98\00:25:54.45
They said, "Well,
what do you want to do
00:25:54.48\00:25:55.82
other than that?"
00:25:55.85\00:25:57.19
I said, "I just
want to go home."
00:25:57.22\00:25:59.09
Here come the tears.
00:25:59.12\00:26:00.46
And he said, "Oh, just
calm, please, don't cry."
00:26:00.49\00:26:03.73
But he said, "But this girl has,
00:26:03.76\00:26:06.39
you have 84 months on you girl.
00:26:06.43\00:26:10.30
And I cried, I said,
"I just want to go home."
00:26:10.33\00:26:12.70
He's like, "Okay,
don't worry about this."
00:26:12.73\00:26:15.00
He said, "I'm gonna take
this home over the weekend."
00:26:15.04\00:26:17.97
And he said, "And I'm good."
00:26:18.01\00:26:20.14
He said, "I'm gonna fix
this paper up, you'll be going.
00:26:20.18\00:26:23.61
Not straight home
but you'll be going."
00:26:23.65\00:26:26.21
So four weeks later,
00:26:26.25\00:26:30.79
they called me up to give me my,
00:26:30.82\00:26:34.16
tell me whether I got it or not.
00:26:34.19\00:26:36.99
And I was
sitting there so nervous
00:26:37.03\00:26:39.39
and then they
called me into the room,
00:26:39.43\00:26:41.76
they said, "Have a seat miss...
00:26:41.80\00:26:44.60
Yeah. How you doing?"
00:26:44.63\00:26:47.00
I said, "I'm good, I'm
good." I said, "What's up?"
00:26:47.04\00:26:50.11
They said, "Oh, you know..."
00:26:50.14\00:26:51.74
Tears start.
00:27:00.12\00:27:01.45
He said, "Miss, you may parole."
00:27:01.48\00:27:03.15
Mercy.
00:27:03.18\00:27:06.02
I thank you Jesus, from
the time I left that room,
00:27:06.05\00:27:09.59
all the way out on the ground
and I'm crying and blowing
00:27:09.62\00:27:13.90
as there's somebody
going to shut my door,
00:27:13.93\00:27:16.56
they said, "Miss
Wilhemina, what's wrong,
00:27:16.60\00:27:19.43
what's wrong?"
00:27:19.47\00:27:20.80
I said, "I'm ready, I
got parole, I got parole,
00:27:20.84\00:27:24.11
thank you
Jesus, thank you Jesus,
00:27:24.14\00:27:25.47
thank you Jesus."
00:27:25.51\00:27:26.84
I went to my house and unit,
00:27:26.88\00:27:28.28
sitting up near the
window just thanking Jesus,
00:27:28.31\00:27:31.38
telling
everybody, you get there too,
00:27:31.41\00:27:33.75
I said, all you
got to do is ask Jesus.
00:27:33.78\00:27:37.02
I said, when you
walk out of this gate,
00:27:37.05\00:27:40.16
take Him with you.
00:27:40.19\00:27:41.82
'Cause if you leave Him
here, you are coming right back.
00:27:41.86\00:27:44.66
Mercy.
00:27:44.69\00:27:46.29
And so you get out. I left.
00:27:46.33\00:27:49.70
I left.
00:27:49.73\00:27:51.07
No shackle, no handcuff...
00:27:51.10\00:27:53.40
And I went to
halfway house like,
00:27:53.44\00:27:57.31
you know, my counselor there,
00:27:57.34\00:28:02.98
"Oh, Miss Cobb, you are going?"
00:28:03.01\00:28:05.85
I said, "Yeah."
00:28:05.88\00:28:07.22
but they tell me,
00:28:07.25\00:28:08.58
you know, I had to stay
here at least a couple of years,
00:28:08.62\00:28:10.42
she said, "Miss
Cobb, no, no, no, no."
00:28:10.45\00:28:12.95
She said, "You are leaving
at the end of this month."
00:28:12.99\00:28:16.26
I said "What?"
00:28:16.29\00:28:17.83
I said, "But you know I
have to get a permission
00:28:17.86\00:28:22.43
to leave Maryland
and go back to DC."
00:28:22.46\00:28:26.37
She said, "Oh, oh."
00:28:26.40\00:28:27.80
She said, "They didn't
do that down in Chester."
00:28:27.84\00:28:29.50
I said, "No."
00:28:29.54\00:28:30.87
I said, "And I told you
that when I first got here,
00:28:30.91\00:28:33.68
you know."
00:28:33.71\00:28:35.04
She was like, "Just stay there."
00:28:35.08\00:28:39.88
And she said, "Oh, no."
00:28:39.91\00:28:41.28
She said, if I have
to do that, she said,
00:28:41.32\00:28:43.82
"You're gonna be
here another five month."
00:28:43.85\00:28:46.19
She said, "Find
the way to get there."
00:28:46.22\00:28:49.29
You know, just tell them
00:28:49.32\00:28:51.16
give my Maryland
address and go home.
00:28:51.19\00:28:53.93
So I got my
sister-in-law's address,
00:28:53.96\00:28:56.67
I got out of there.
00:28:56.70\00:28:58.03
So that was years ago. Yes.
00:28:58.07\00:29:00.84
And you were able to testify
and give people the admonition
00:29:00.87\00:29:07.21
that they needed to take
Christ with them when they left,
00:29:07.24\00:29:10.98
what does God
have, just real quick,
00:29:11.01\00:29:13.85
have you gone
back to the prison?
00:29:13.88\00:29:15.58
No, not yet. Are you
planning on going back?
00:29:15.62\00:29:17.19
Yes, I do. Why
haven't you gone back yet?
00:29:17.22\00:29:19.12
I'm still on parole.
00:29:19.15\00:29:20.49
And so when
you're off the parole,
00:29:20.52\00:29:21.86
what you're gonna do?
00:29:21.89\00:29:23.22
I'm gonna get
into prison ministries.
00:29:23.26\00:29:25.19
Wilhemina, we thank
you for being with us
00:29:25.23\00:29:27.63
and yours has truly
been not just a good journey
00:29:27.66\00:29:31.63
but we see how God led you.
00:29:31.67\00:29:34.24
Thank you so much
for being with us.
00:29:34.27\00:29:36.17