Truth About Murder from the Eyes of a Teen

Insiders Walk Through Cummings Unit

What would you say to someone who was capable of killing another person? I really never thought much about it before. Who would think you would even want to talk to a murderer? If you did I am certain the things that one might say, perhaps would not even be "said" but screamed! If that murderer had killed your daughter, took your husband's life, maybe even strangled your sister would you want justice? Well of course you would my friend. We despise, curse, and even execute those who murder for our justice. "It is right," we tell ourselves, "They deserve it." This I have always agreed but on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 my sense of justice was forever changed.

As a part of Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Home I was taken to the Cummings Unit for males in Dumas, AR, "Big Deal," I thought. I was incarcerated in DYS (Division of Youth Services) and was allowed a lower level of security at this group home because I was a non-violent offender and was doing very well. My mother was in prison for a few months when I was a child so I did not think a little tour would be so bad. My mother was not so bad. I slept most of the way there. I awoke when the van we were in hit a bump in the road. I saw long fields of what looked like wheat and other crops. I saw several men in white outfits far out in the distance, and then I saw an officer on a horse riding along side them carrying a large rifle. Ever so quickly my lesson began.