Words From Inside 40 Strong 2024

Dear Forty Strong,

I desire to be an advocate for Forty Strong and the ministry we have in the VADOC thru inmates. I have been an advocate for the Kairos program during my 31 years incarcerated. In February the DOC contacted me stating they were taking over LVCC for the intention of bringing veterans and those of us who are parole eligible should apply to become occupants of their facility. I have sought thru and thru whether a 65-year-old should leave Keen Mountain dorm for where the parole board interview's us face to face. All signs tend to point in this direction.

I have heard about your advocacy helping people bring to light information which placed in the right hands will make a difference in the lives of prisoners and community. Please share with idea's how to assist you in your endeavor...

Blessings in Christ,
Brother Daniel

40 Strong Member

Dear Forty Strong,

Again, thanks for "all" your hard work and dedication on our behalf. My prayer is God continues to bless you with all the tools to carry on and to be happy. I have another person who wishes to be a part of the family. His name is Willie Ricks # 1034312. I know that as long as we have you, we have hope. I will continue to do what's right and strive on a daily basis.... Work, Program, School, etc. Thanks again and may God bless you in a mighty way.

40 Strong Member

Dear Forty Strong,

On behalf of Convict Care, I wanted to say thank you again for your love and support. I also wanted to let you know that they still intend to keep their word. As of late they have been dealing with some family issues and have been unable to contribute to the struggle in a financial way, but I will see that Convict Care does indeed keep its word.

David 

40 Strong Member

My name is Carver Hyman I am a 78-year-old inmate at a Virginia correctional center my inmate # 1129984. I was arrested January 11, 2018, for robberies I committed. I was confronted with a large hospital bill after a heart attack and possible foreclosure of my home. I took full responsibility for my action and pleaded guilty to my charges. After court proceeding, I was sentence to ten years and four months. With my good time I have to serve eight years and four months provided I have no infractions or charges. My schedule release date is December 29, 2026. Starting day one of my incarceration I have no charges or infraction, I have taken all required classes. I have maintained a job my entire time of incarceration. Because of my age and time served I'm eligible for geriatric parole, my last denial stated I have not done enough time for my offense. With the earned sentence credit there is a possible reduction of a year off of my sentence. For the last three years I've been an inmate advisor and pod rep. I have my home plan in order, I will be going back to my home in Suffolk, Va. My behavior and my age as an inmate should pave the way for an early release. This has been six years plus of remorse. My chances of been involved in a criminal act is extremely low. Unfortunately, I am in a state where modern day slavery continues to exist. Iam ready to go home help support and be with my family. My actions as an inmate prove it." 

40 Strong Member

Greetings Forty (40) Strong Staff/Members,
I trust that this email/message will find all you guys in the best of health and spirits:
Just a few lines to once again thank you for [all] the hard work and being dedicated to the cause of making things "Right" for us/offenders and our family/loved ones.
Additionally, I wanted to send you a reminder concerning the "FAIR PAROLE HEARING INITIATIVE" questionnaire etc. if you check your email account etc., you'll see that I sent that info. in on (July 11,2024) ...and my friend/family followed up with a picture of me that was request sent in on "July 13,2024" with my Name/State ID# and reason(s) attached.
So, I would really appreciate if you could check to make sure everything is there/available that was required to participate in the (Fair Parole Hearing Initiative) ...
...Thank you, guys, again for your love/support: May God continue to Bless us all always. Amen!!

Respectfully, sincerely:
James E. Bender

40 Strong Member

First and foremost, thank you for taking this opportunity to acknowledge my concerns, my name is Donald C. Jackson, and my state number is 1059285. I am 64 year old. I am incarcerated for robberies (3 counts) and use of a firearm (4 counts). I was sentenced to 80 years with 42 years suspended, leaving me with 38 years to serve.

I was informed that Forty Strong sent out an email concerning a "FAIR PAROLE INITIATIVE." I was informed to send them (Forty Strong) the following information:

1. A]: Date of incarceration: July 19, 1999
B]: Date of Parole Eligibility: I am ineligible for parole, but eligible for Geriatric Release, Virginia Code Section 53.1-40.01
C]: Date of last infraction: My last infraction was 02/10/2019, 218 - Fighting with any person
D]: Number of 3-year Deferrals: I've never received a 3-years deferral, but I have been denied Geriatric release
E]: Number of times you have been denied paroled: Geriatric release on 5 different occasions
F]: Health issues: I am a type II diabetic with high blood pressure
2. Most common reason for denial: "Serious nature and circumstances of offense," and/or "The Board concludes that you should serve more of your sentence prior to release on parole"
3. Home plan and why: Yes, I have provided a home plan every time I went up for Geriatric release, but I also informed the Virginia Parole Board that I have a pending detainer from Pennsylvania Parole Board
4. List the plans you have once you are free: I'm not being afforded the same opportunity to make any plans as others who have been given release on parole or provided the same rights to rehabilitate themselves with being afforded to go to a road camp, work release and work details because I have a detainer
5. Are you Old-law, Geriatric, Juvenile or Fishback? I am Geriatric eligible
6. We need your permission to share your information or our Facebook page, website, etc. I don't have any problem with given you my permission. I have filed a writ of habeas corpus in the Henrico County Circuit Court back in June 2022 (Donald C. Jackson v. Harold W. Clarke, et al. Case No. CL22-4779). This petition was filed after my third time being denied Geriatric release. I ended up filing a complaint against the Henrico Circuit court for holding onto my petition for over 18 months without providing me with any decision. As soon as my petition was denied in the Circuit court, I filed my Notice of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Virginia. (Donald C. Jackson v. Harold W. Clarke, et al. case No. 240158

On April 2, 2024, I received a letter from the Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court of Virginia, Ms. Lesley K. Smith, and she contacted me in regards to the appellee's that I indicated as the Respondents who are either persons 1-5 in section A, or persons 1-5 in section B

If you need any further information concerning me or my case, you can send me an email for any questions you may have about parole.

Respectfully submitted,
Donald C. Jackson"

40 Strong Member

 Good evening! I pray that all of our members are safe and well! I am great and just counting down these last few days until my release. Finally! Anyway, I have a question about the email situation. Do you know the exact date when they began deleting our emails from our organization because there have been some questions about it that I am trying to get answered. If you could please send me this info., it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much and please let me know if there is anything additional you need me to do. I am eager to get home and begin doing more to support our cause. I look forward to hearing from you soon! Have a great rest of the evening. 

40 Strong Member

 Good morning.. Hopefully this message finds you all being blessed and excited about all of the great things that are transpiring and will furthermore transpire in the future for those incarcerated. I briefly wanted to share some of the reentry information in my hometown of Martinsville Va. We currently have numerous transitional homes in my town. They are The Dream Center located on Starling Ave. Piedmont Community Services is another helpful base. We have the Hope Center located in Axton Va. minutes from Martinsville. And there is a list of numerous other reentry helpfuls in my town.. Prayerfully I will be in that number of early releases coming in July. I will certainly go home and continue the work of ministry in helping those returning home.

 Be blessed.  

 Hey Kirsten! Peace, hope things went well at the youth event. I have written a paper, entitled: PRECOIUS LIVES OUTREACH INITIATIVE, this is taken from my recent poem in which I currently have posted online. I wanted to do this as a contributor for the newsletter Forty Strong is proposing. It clearly focusing on the at-risk youth, noting that the violent crime rate amongst juveniles is rising at an alarming rate. It has three parts, I introduce myself in explaining the crimes I committed that I am currently serving time for, and, noting that I used a firearm in the commission of these felonies. The second part is the Mission Statement, and this is obvious. Our city leaders, law enforcement, teachers, and, most importantly, the parents must take full control in coming up with solutions to this dangerous trend involving our youth today. The third part is Solutions, I've made a list of those solutions we must use to solve this issue. Parents today must be more diligent in checking into the activities of their kids to make sure that they are on the right path. I close with my own personal message; this is available for Forty Strong's use in building this newsletter. Please reply if you're interested. Yours in the struggle, Michael Owens. 

40 Strong Member 

 Greetings with much Love and respect, I'm writing this to say I've been reading about this movement from another brother shot out to Joesph Jackson for getting me involved with this movement, Anyway I look forward in doing what I can to support the movement and Thank You for all the support thus far "Peace"" 

Peace and blessings

First, I would like to thank you all for the hard work and dedication on behalf of myself and other in my situation. 40strong is like the modern day "underground railroad". I am currently at Keen mountain and I would love the chance to do my part in assisting with the liberation and education of the men and women in the overly oppressive D.O.C system, and I am on stand by at anytime 40strong needs, in providing inside information and action in the pursuit of MASS FREEDOM. I have been incarcerated/captured for 15yrs on a 20yr sentence, and though my time is close, I have developed a thirst to free the ones who are not as fortunate as myself. So in closing I ask that you not hesitate in requesting from me anything the movement may need in this pursuit of freedom and equality. 

May the provider of all things great and small be the power behind the movement.
-GodLike 

 Thank you all for everything that you do and enlighten us on. This info helps us more than you know. 

Thank you for the newsletter and I pray for blessings in your health. We are all on board with Chris though because we are a 40 strong family. I signed up for the Active Dad and Fathers Initiative training. We are just coming off of lockdown so I apologies if this is late, but I ask that you please accept it. Below is the information requested for the course.

Yusef Hasan Sykes 1199406
Thalyana Sykes 19
Yusef Sykes 18
Heaven Warden 22
Melvionne Sykes 17
Keseana Stanford 17

Why I want to be a better Dad?

When I was home I thought that as long as I provided with money I was a great Dad. I spent time with my kids, but everything was more about materialistic things. Honestly by my Dad spending a lot of time incarcerated I didn't have the chance to experience from him what a Dad looked like or the responsibilities of one. I learned from my mother and grandmother in many ways of how to be the Dad that I am today. Still there's work to do.
I've taken a Father program before and the information was beneficial, but I needed more afterwards to give me more tools to add to what I feel I know about being a Dad.
Even incarcerated I'm a active Dad and my kids love me, but again its still more work to do and so much more I want to learn. I strive to be a better Dad and I look forward to the opportunity to take the course.
Thank you in advance. 

 Hello Kirsten,
I like that idea and will bring it up in our meeting Wednesday. I mentioned months back about doing something for mental health awareness because most of us have dealt with our depression or other mental health problems in the wrong way, essentially committing suicide by way of cutting ourselves off from society with huge sentences for crimes we wouldn't normally have committed but we allowed our not caring about ourselves to manifest into anger or bad choices and boom we are behind bars and it is time we speak about the problem that brings most of us to drugs and doing crimes and it all starts with mental health for most of us. We just don't know it at the time and sometimes never realize it or come to understanding with it because we are too proud to admit that we have a depression or mental health problem, especially as military vets. So that is one of the things I have been trying to get them to do, to speak about it and write about it, so we can send it out and have someone speak on our behalf to help with mental health awareness for communities, hoping it will change and effect lives positively and they don't end up making the same mistakes we have made in our lives.
I bounced the holiday cards off the vets in here but they are all muslim, so they didn't receive it well but I told them they can do other poems and drawings that aren't dealing with the holidays but can positively change the lives of others out there, so they kind of got on board with that. Thanks a lot for your help and I am looking forward to the packet.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving day!

Sam  

Good afternoon, I'm really happy to hear all the good news and i would like to also thank you for taking your time out to correspond and help 'US' you are greatly appreciated on my end.
we need more people with understanding of the struggle and be like minded as us,
so again thank you very much..... oh yeah also i would like to join the dads class whenever there's an opening ok?
may god bless all of you for your commitment
and dedication to the cause.

 Keith Saleem Fitzgerald

  Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. And Free is part of that small remnant that's making a difference in this place. I have so much respect for him. We will change the perception about prison. My expected release date is Sept 2025. My old date was May 2052. Look at how awesome our God is, and how he turns things around. He turned the 52 into 25!!! I actually received a new update sheet yesterday. There's a few more details that I'm going to share a little later about this whole process.
I work in the law library and me and my co-worker are going to put together a small pamphlet I will keep you posted. To see the new date was awesome. Yes its great seeing who's really in charge. I would love to send you a copy of my actual pardon. Through the years I've collected 3 copies of brothers pardons who went home. I held on to these copies because it was like a monument and evidence that if God can do it for one, he can do it for other's. He's no respecter of person. And on those days when I was having a moment or just needed encouragement I would read these pardons. Thanks again for everything and I look forward to bringing the much needed attention to the criminal justice system.
Peace
Sam 

 Good morning, Mrs. Angela Davis. Blessings. I just want to thank you so much for everything you are doing, for all the effort you put in your work. I know that it requires a lot of dedication and a lot of your time. May God continue to bless you and give you the strength and desire to continue to do what you are doing for others. It's a blessing to know that there are people out there that still believe in us inmates, which brings hope to us and encourages us to seek for the way out. So thank you so much for everything you do, for all the information that you sent me. I will ask my people to sign up and vote. I will pass the news around and encourage others to call their families to sign up, too. I have a friend who would like to receive letters from you. His name is Uncommon Reality Allah and state number is 1043719. Once again, thank you, and God bless you!