Ep.4:The part of incarceration that mattered: the rehabilitation

Imagine walking into a secured prison yard. One so secured with the walls so high that when you look up, all you see is the sky. You go back to your cell. It’s so loud and the potential for violence so ripe, you’re always on high alert. It’s easy to succumb to that culture. How do you cope? How do you pass the time in a place like that?  

Many years ago, I was faced with that question. In regards to doing my time, I had a choice to make: I could continue being angry and feeling helpless, or, I could find a path to improve my situation. To do the latter, I knew it meant removing myself from the negative influences that surrounded me. I’d have to separate myself from the violence that manages to permeate through those prison walls. After all, prison is just a microcosm of the outside world.  

I sought refuge in furthering my education.

In Ep. 4 of The Common Ground podcast, host Anthony Payton discusses the value of investing in education behind bars.

Anthony Payton is a freelance writer and father living in Manchester, NH.  This story is part of his project, The Common Ground Initiative which aims to highlight the diversity of our communities with stories of people the average Granite Stater might not get to see or meet. The goal is to clarify misconceptions and find the threads that bind us all together as one New Hampshire community.

This podcast is produced in partnership with The Granite State News Collaborative and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. For more information visit www.collaborativenh.org/common-ground-initiative