My Thoughts On Juvenile Life sentencing

HELLO

My name is DarRen Morris. I am a self-taught artist. I am also an inmate. I entered the adult prison system in 1995 as a 17 year old juvenile accused of acting as a party to the crime of homicide. I am now a 45 year old man who is still serving a life-sentence at Greenbay Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. 

I learned some very harsh adult lessons upon entering prison as a juvenile. Within the first 12 hours I was brutally beaten by two different sets of adult prison gangs. When I was moved to another pod I was jumped again. I was moved yet again, forced to defend myself against various types of attempted assaults. Like when my 18 year old cellmate was raped by a much older and larger prisoner. 

While I was still a juvenile, two adults, ages 28 and 33, asked to see my legal papers and said they could provide legal advice on how to beat my charge. Instead they used the information from my paperwork to lie to the court and make deals for themselves by claiming I confessed my crime to them. Both of these men took advantage of my naivety and my youth.

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June 2012 that it is cruel and unusual punishment to give a juvenile offender a mandatory life sentence without a meaningful opportunity of parole. When I was charged in 1994 by the state of Wisconsin, state law mandated that a person convicted of being a party to a First Degree Homicide would receive a mandatory life sentence. The judge assigned to  my case interpreted my youthfulness as a threat to society. 

This judge did not know that I had been in special education classes for a significant bilateral hearing impairment, behavioral issues, and scholastic deficiency since the 3rd grade. And if I refused to take my prescribed medications I was sent home. My physical impediment also made me a target in prison. I was young, hearing impaired, and suffered from mental-health issues.  These conditions created conflicts between myself and the prison guards who felt I slighted them whenever I did not obey an order I never actually heard. Or with prisoners who witnessed my frequent contact with staff who assisted me in navigating my surroundings perceived me as a threat to whatever schemes they might be scheming. Some prisoners believed I was easy prey because I was young and medicated. In truth I was simply a 17 year old kid who went from high-school one day to a maximum security prison the next; surrounded by the state's most dangerous and manipulative adults, both prison employees and inmates

Hopefully this letter will convey to its reader a sense of the physical torment I have endured. What may be difficult for you to imagine, however, is what happened to my mind and spirit when the Judge sentenced me to die in prison. His wicked intent and indifference to my life was made clear during my sentencing when he said: "One day you will die in a cold dark prison cell."  The judge set my parole eligibility date at 2095, one-hundred years from February 7, 1995. 

Please know, dear reader, that I am a 45 year old man that is stubbornly clinging to his life and his sanity. I dedicated my life to art and books after being imprisoned, and I use my art to uplift others, hoping that I might save someone’s child from meeting a fate similar to my own. Since I heard about the bills LRB-4927 & LRB-5422 proposed by WI State Representatives Todd Novak, David Bowen, LaTonya Johnson, and John Spiros, I have been clinging to a dream of helping my community grow and prosper so that my 30 years in a maximum security prison will not have been wasted. I believe the hardships of my life can be used to benefit another. 

I was so young and unaware when I first entered the system.  I told my mother that she had nothing to worry about since “they can't send me to prison for murder when I ain't killed nobody.” I learned many lessons the hard way. Lessons that made me into a man that is loved and adored by his son, his wife, and his grandchildren. I have done my time, I was a party to a crime as a juvenile and I deserve a second chance with life. I have turned my life around and I hope I can inspire others to do the same, no matter what station in life they are in. 

Thank you.

DarRen Morris [#236425] 

GBCI — Green Bay, Wisconsin