My name is James Venturini, and I am a prisoner finishing my twenty fifth year of incarceration. I was sentenced to sixty years in prison for the killing of my neighbor on February 16th 1998. My neighbor and I had been at odds with one another for over twenty years when I let my emotions overwhelm my mind, body, and spirit and acted in the most reprehensible manner by taking his life.
Upon arriving at the prison gate I knew there was a long road to redemption ahead of me, and I was bound and determined to change my life regardless of how much time I had to spend in prison. I immediately enrolled into Ball State College and was doing well for the first three years, obtaining my associates degree, and even making the dean’s list.
I only needed 19 credits to get my bachelor’s degree when the prison went on lockdown for eight months in 2004. All academics were suspended, and I was confined 24 hours a day in a cell with another person that I had difficulty getting along with. An altercation erupted between me and my cellmate, and I was sent to restrictive housing and lost my eligibility to finish college the following year.
For the next six years I tried on several occasions to finish my senior year but every time it seemed as if some systematic crises would arise and send me in another direction. I was distraught and ended up spending four and a half years of my nine years at Pendleton correctional facility in segregation for not being able to get along with many of the people they would house me with.
Finally, my counselor offered me a chance to transfer to Michigan City prison and I jumped at the opportunity to return to population and try to make a new start. Upon arriving at Michigan City, I went straight to population in the largest cell house in Indiana. I was assigned a job as cell house painter and I immediately tried to finish my senior year at college only to be told that they were doing away with the college curriculum and were only accepting applications from those who were presently enrolled. I was crushed and continued to be a cell house painter up until 2015 when I became the cell house representative for C-cell house.
I knew there was something missing in my life and I was desperately trying to fill that void. So, after much deliberation and tons of procrastinations I decided to enroll into the P.L.U.S. program. P.L.U.S. stands for purposeful living unit serve, and God knows I needed some purpose in my life. So on September 1, 2016, I entered into a program that would change my life forever.
The P.L.U.S. was able to chip away at the hardened edges of my life and helped me to find a wiser way to deal with everyday situations. I began to keep a journal and found myself writing in it every day. I also began to take a rigorous inventory of myself and sought to make real changes in my lifestyle.
Then on March 8th, 2018, my mother suddenly passed away, and I was filled with sorrow at all the things I had not told her while she was alive. She always told me how great my poetry was and wondered why I had stopped sending her poems. This was the catalyst that moved me to become a writer.
I graduated the P.L.U.S. program in August of 2018 and became the dorm painter for the P.L.U.S. dorm. I still felt a calling in my life, and I enrolled in the Divine Hope seminary which was a four-year program. The program had just started when COVID reared its ugly head and changed everybody’s life. The prison went into a constant stream of lockdowns, and I never felt so much uncertainty in my life. Through all the uncertainty I began to write and amassed a footlocker full of poetry and other meaningful writings.
Then on June 3rd, 2021, my security level dropped and I was sent to Branchville correctional center in southern Indiana. I got a job at the pallet shop, and was working all the time, yet felt so empty and unfulfilled in life. It was then that I entered a collaboration with my sister Maria to take the poetry that I had written after mom passed away and during COVID and turn them into a book. On October 20th, 2022, my first book titled “SUPERNATURAL PASSAGES AND POETRY SENT FROM ABOVE” was published.
That same October I went before the parole board for the first time in over twenty years for a clemency hearing and I sent every member as well as the Governor a copy of my book. I was ultimately denied but undeterred. I continued to file motions for modifications of my sentence every year. In October of 2023 my second book titled “HOW TO HAVE ZERO LIKES AND STILL LOVE YOURSELF” was published. I have written three books since then titled “21ST CENTURY SATIRE”, “LEARNING HOW TO RISE ABOVE YOURSELF”, AND “TONY”.
Unfortunately, my sister’s life partner has been struck with A.L.S and she does not have the time or energy to format for me at this time so I am trying to figure out how complete the books without her.
I hope that someday the courts will see that I have a lot to offer society whether I’m incarcerated or a free man. So, I ask once again when is enough enough, and at what point in our journey have we reached redemption for our past?
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