How I spent 32 years in prison | George Martorano | TEDxPenn

who do you think you are who do you think you are to me you are dream you are suffering who have tears and prayers for you our hope and I humble myself before you in 1983 they put the chains on me basically this is what I knew for over three decades thirty-two plus years I was the first offender I received a life no parole sentence life no parole means that you died in jail when you died who was ever left where we achieve you in a body bag it went on to tell it all I would be here very long time there's a word called solitary and I knew it well I knew it well I was put in solitary confinement for five years of those 32 plus years so much so that I didn't count the weeks two months I can't let the Christmases one such time in the wee hours of the morning it's chained up I was taken to an obscure prison in the heartland of America I was taken to a condemned part Prison in the sub-basement there I was put in an illegal cell the cell is called a boxcar cell which means four steel walls two steel doors solid the only opening his tus all food slots at the bottom where they get a stick a long stick and your food is shoved into you so in this steel tomb my only salvation was late the light went out I was in golf and darkness the days passed the only light is when the food was shoved into me down on my hands and knees I retrieved it I asked for light I argued for light I cursed for life I screamed for life I received not down on my hands and knees days later something somebody angel came and brought a small piece of hope it was a pencil so I took this piece of Hope and I'm a game writing on that steel I wrote IV things at first then something inside me broke created things short stories how it jeez the names of loved ones and I wrote and I wrote and I wrote I sharpened it with my teeth and every time I tasted the lead I knew I can go on time passed they opened the doors the light flooded in I heard one of the guards say the son of a gun wrote all over the walls solitaire went on time passed again the wee hours of night I was taken to another obscure prison long ride away and placed in a criminally insane unit remember what I said I was a non-violent first offender criminally insane unit surrounded by guards I was taken to this place that you write about seeing movies I was shipped but what little I had on and given paper goggles t-shirt shorts and slip on paper shoes and the betting the reason why when you're in the criminally insane unit they don't want you to hang yourself paper will not sustain the weight so oh and incidentally the chain they put a chain on my right ankle chat's it to the steel bed just enough room so I could reach the toilet the sink and the food slab and that's I remain oh there was powers that be they decided to do all this what can you do you find something from in here it's there it's in all of you you find it I found it in the criminally insane unit in that cell by getting on top of the toilet an event about big as a shoe box and I started communicating with the other criminally insane naturally I wasn't and I started mentoring them so by me speaking to them that was sort of like the pencil that vent so the solitary years went away and I was actually put in a normal prison setting imagine that I felt like I was free in a normal prison setting there I went on to educate myself through the programs finally when I got to the stage that I can go to college and get a grant I was denied Congress denied me because I said they said I was never getting out Nathan wasting my own on someone who's going to die in prison that I withdraw no I found that a little bit of hope I took it out and I self educated myself many many feels so much so that I graduated over 8,000 students in those 32 plus years a design moment quickly loom I was approved from Washington own gown they had these classes were these individuals these intervals that are trying to change their lives be frank said they won't come out and harm you or others I did my job but the reason my classrooms were so full because the students and the prison grapevine you know things travel they know they there's a guy he's teaching and he's he's never getting out but he's teaching year after year if the year and that's why the class he was so full because there was me with no hope delivering hope to so many I graduated 400 students every season of the year 7 classes I desire it was the hope to keep going some of my students went on to do productive lives while in publishing and paralegals one of my students was was homeless but he came to prison and he was he was a little unbalanced but there was something in him he smiled and he talked and he liked to tell stories so I brought him in to the creative writing class and today he's a prolific writer again there's something in all of us one such institution very vital institution you know you only get maybe one or two chances and then you're chained up and you're sent to the solitary situation which I knew I knew very well so if I had a chance not to have a human being exposed to that I did my best and I went to the ward and I said listen can you give me a chance with these guys that you already have put the thumbs down so I created the class called the pip-pip and these were the encouraged Eagles these brother nobody wanted a wren a department in any educational department so my cell was a little larger because I needed a larger cell to create the pit and I went around and I procured folding chairs so I would have the folding chairs lined up in the cell and I would get these men and then teach them and I didn't have a blackboard I had a wall there's four walls in the cell so I went and bought blue soap and went blue soap from the commissary with the blue soap I could write on the wall and you know teach my lessons so I created the pit and I had a lot of success with that where these men wouldn't be chained up taking off to solitary and the pit were basically majority' were never getting out but I was never getting out remember I was never getting out but I had hope I had hope and I made my metamorphosis and basically basically a I if you some people have researched my attic do heroic deeds I had to do a road these I saved the Connery or hijacking in 2010 took me five years to get the credit five years you know bureaucracies in place they had always been placed in this country and you cannot hate it you must be patient with it and from that intelligence will come and you can meet that Barack we're seeing the best way you can and another heroic deed prison riot I saved 3040 lives but you know that was considered first there two things I said to her these the last that the last thing was the graduation of 8,000 students that should have been the first that should have been the first and now I'm out here I'm out here and I'm trying to deliver the message the best but hope hope is there every time I turn a corner everybody if I see a Robin on grass that is hope to me those little things those little things mean so much to me now again I've been speaking to blogs audience in prison but this is my first in the free world and I so enjoy it and I hope to and continue it thank you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 789,560

Rating: 4.8308597 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Life, Criminal justice, Development, Education, Family, Life Development, Life Hack, Literature, Prison, Self improvement, Writing

Id: lnuoHywbaR8

Length: 12min 6sec (726 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 06 2016