Even after his wife gave birth to twins, Jay Coleman, now 51, admits he remained enamored with the high he got from committing crime rather than being a family man.
“I hadn’t had the responsibility of having children long enough to develop that sense that, ‘Okay, I may not think about the future for myself but I have to think about the future for my children,” Coleman said in a recent interview. “I wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t there for many years.”
In 1981, less than a year after the birth of his children, Coleman was arrested for robbery and sentenced to prison in upstate New York for 25 years-to-life. It was during this separation from his family that Coleman evolved from petty criminal to a responsible father and husband.
In this series of interview clips, Coleman, who completed his 25 years and rejoined his family on October 28, 2005, talks about his first crime, his eventual incarceration and how he worked to strengthen his family ties from behind bars. This is the first clip of the series.
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growing up in Texas, I know the attitude of what many Amercicans hold: you play the game, you pay the price. Even if he wasn’t guilty of this crime, he’s probably guilty of some other crime. Basically, it’s “get him off the streets”.
Hopefully, we’ll start realizing the nightmare we’ve created by building a prison culture. Instead of trying to heal people, we think black-and-white punishment solves problems. This is not to deny that justice must be done, we must think about the repercussions of what our definition of justice is.
The clearest issue is simply this: once we send someone to prison, we basically write them off. They get little help in prison. When the convicted come out of prison, they are ignored. And of course their families suffer as well.
very helpful to hear and to see that my family is not alone with these struggles. really glad you have this.