Behavioral Science – Prisoners are People
August 29, 1981 I was a pretender, a misguided young adult who never learned how to…
by David Sowers
David Sowers 1011036
Augusta Correctional Center
1821 Estaline Valley Road
Craigsville, VA 24430
The transition from society to county jails, to a life plus 45-year sentence behind fifty-foot brick walls left me with only one view of the world I once knew…a blue and nighttime sky. The first year I was overwhelmed, and experienced extreme withdrawals, bitterness, and anger, and blamed those who didn’t stand by me for my failed life. During the subsequent years I connected with people who befriended me from the outside, who taught me to focus on improving my physical, emotional, and spiritual states, while deciding who I wanted to be, and how I wanted to live my life. Thinking men and women are redeemable and want each day to matter, so I reflect on the day at hand and ask myself, “What can I do to make something of this day have meaning?” I finally made the decision that my life would be centered around truth, and not fear opening my doors of a turbulent childhood and young adult who sexually assaulted a woman of eighteen year, in 1981. I will always embrace the true concept of shame, remorse, and regret for the harm that I brought to the doorstep of one family, their daughter, and community. Each day I’m aware that my past doesn’t define who I am, that I am an altruistic human being, like many others around me, who realize that human nature, while deeply flawed, is in some ways a source of profound goodness and compassion. Today, I am caught in a vacuum that’s trying to suck out every thread of my moral fabric that contributes to who I am, however I continue the fight to maintain the creative world within myself and help others around me who have and have not opened their doors.
August 29, 1981 I was a pretender, a misguided young adult who never learned how to…
by David Sowers
