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Grew up very privileged, with a single father who was an upstanding business exec. In middle school he decided being a street dude was better than the path of his Pop and began on a trajectory which lead him to a State prison--on drug charges. Wound up spending his early 20s locked up. Got out early after boot camp, his Dad opened a Quiznos franchise, basically so he'd be able to keep track of his son and gainfully employed. There was a local tax credit for hiring recently released convicts, so the major part of the sandwich shops labor force was from a women's prison or shelter. God Bro was the night manager, got caught up with one of the women...resulting in some hands off violence with her husband (enacted by his young dudes) which violated his parole so he was sent back to spend the rest of his mid to late 20s behind bars.
We're close, I put cash on his books and sent him books/magazines via that Barnes & Noble monopoly the Pennsylvania state prisons have/had when he was in. I sent letters and photos of willing women, but I refused to visit. He's more like my younger brother than my actual younger brothers. He's been out for prob 10 years. There were some stumbles, in finding employment and with the relationship he has with his 1st kids mother and with his Dad, but he's really doing his thing in a positive way and now has a great life. He named his second daughter after me. I'm amazed by his resilience and more proud of him than anyone else, in how far he's progressed.
My Grandmother died less than a year ago, and I was tasked with finding the problem Uncle my Mother and her Sisters don't really mess with. Day before the funeral I had to drive 4 hours to pick him up from a debtors prison bid at a county jail. Apparently where he lives if you dont pay your municipal fines, they lock you up and make you work in local private company's warehouse for $50 a day, until you satisfy your debt. They gave him a 24 hour furlough. He's supposedly got his life together since, according to Facebook. He is/was Gator, if my grandparents were Ruby Dee and Ozzie Davis.
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