Editor, Commonwealth:
I am currently an inmate of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
My reason for writing this letter is to inform the youth of Greenwood of the outcome of life in the streets with guns and violence.
I’ve walked in your shoes and lived your life. The end is death or life in prison. I’m speaking to you all about this before it’s too late and your life becomes like mine.
I’ve been in prison almost 17 years now. I miss seeing my children grow up, leaving behind a son who was 9 years old at the time and is 25 years old today. My daughter was 3 years old, and now she is 19 years old and attending her first year in college. As the years passed, that time can’t be given back.
Life passes so fast, and before you know it, you’ve spent your whole life in prison with nothing accomplished and nothing to fall back on. The only memories of a life just passed you by.
My message to you would be this: It’s never too late to change your way of life.
I’ve had to deal with loved ones’ passing and not being able to be a father, friend or family man.
The same streets that you feel a need to fight and kill for have been there for years and will still be there long after you’re gone. Trust me, after a lifetime in prison, those same people you call your friends will no longer call you a friend.
My life doesn’t have to be your life. You still have time to change.
I came to prison at the age of 25 and now I’m 41. Don’t miss out on your life, the lives of your children and maybe even the love of your life for something with so little meaning — “The Streets.”
Reginald Redd Anderson
Bolivar County Correctional Facility
Cleveland
