Editor's note: All inmates' letters are being published as they were written. They have not been edited for content or grammar. In the following letter, the inmate writes that there are 47 inmates serving life without parole for crimes they committed as juveniles. The actual number is 46.

Dear Governor Owens,

I hope this letter reaches you in the best of health and circumstances.

Before I go any further I would like to introduce myself. My name is KEVIN BLANKENSHIP and I'm one of the many juvenile's that have been cast into the pits of the Department of Corrections (D.O.C.)

This letter isn't just for me, but for the rest of the juvenile's that may be unlettered and haven't acquired the ability to articulate themselves via the art of writing.

In life there is what we call cause and effect. Cause is defined as anything producing an effort or result. Effect is defined as anything brought about by a cause; result. The best example's I can give of cause and effect are:

If you study enough, the result is that you'll become smarter. If you deprive a ignorant mind of education, then the end result is an ignorant person.

Every child is born into this world ignorant, and since it takes a village to raise a child, then it's on the community to make sure this ignorance is dissipated by way of knowledge.

A man can only do what he knows; now we understand that we are born ignorant, so if you're not taught anything, then you'll remain ignorant. In this condition, If you ever decide that you want to do something; whatever it may be, it can only be done out of ignorance.

How do we expect a Malnourished mind to display intelligence when it has been depraved or miseducated; via games, T.V., and its environment?

If someone gives a monkey a loaded gun, and the monkey kills everybody in the room. You don't blame the monkey, but the one that gave the monkey the gun is blamable. Why dont you blame the monkey?, because the monkey doesn't understand the extent of his actions. The effect is everybody in the room being killed, the cause is, someone gave him a gun.

There are two groups of people that would blame the monkey or the effect for this event. The first group is those who don't understand what cause and effect is, which would make them ignorant to it. The second one is those who are responsible for the condition that exist, and are reaping a benefit from that specific condition. Usually this second class of people will blame the monkey or effect, just to sway the minds of the ignorant, so they can continue to benefit. THE EFFECT CAN NEVER OVERCOME THE CAUSE.

we are being programmed everyday through T.V., school, and our environment to handle our problems with violence. We see the police shoot, beat, and kill someone everyday and they get a pay raise. We've seen President Bush promote a lie about Weapons of Mass Destruction that claimed the lives of many innocent Iraqi people; as well as American Soldiers lives, and the County re-elects him which shows they are in support of his agenda.

Right now there are only 47 juveniles in the state serving Life without the possibility of parole; but if we don't stop this cycle of miseducation, then I guarantee you that there are hundreds more waiting to walk down the path of ignorance.

Maybe we don't care about our youth; which would mean we don't care about our future. Maybe we have invested in private prison's (since they are on the stock market), and we want to send the youth there until they get older; so we can collect that $50,000 to $100,00 a year per inmate, for all of those years they spent, from the government.

We have to decide ourselves whether we're concerned with lining our pockets with money, or are we willing to go to the effect of this epidemic that America is faced with; which is locking juvenile's up and throwing away the key.

You may be saying that what I'm talking about is a moral issue; but incest is a moral issue, yet there are laws against it. Why are there laws against incest?, because the legislature understood that if they didn't make a law against it; it would taint the moral fabric of America. Such is the miseducation or deprivation of a human. The only thing that separates man from the beast of the field is knowledge.

I said all of this to ask you as humbly as I can, "What have you done personally to eradicate this problem"?

All 47 of us juvenile's that are serving Life without the Possibility of Parole has had the POLICE POINT A FINGER AT US, THE VICTIMS FAMILY, THE PUBLIC, THE JUDGE, THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY, OUR LAWYERS, THE CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS, OUR FELLOW INMATES, AND SOMETIMES OUR FAMILY, ETC.

When you point a finger at someone you have three more pointing back at you. It was and still is the responsibility of everybody to make sure the children are educated. We shouldn't have to come to the penitentiary and teach ourselves, this is the adult's or a responsible person duty.

We (all 47 juvenile's) were treated as if what we were demonstrating wasn't a learned behavior, like we came out of the womb as problem children.

Everyone that pointed a finger at us should ask themselves "What have I done to help or hinder this situation"? Until we ask ourselves this question, the condition will remain.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME OUT OF YOUR BUSY DAY TO READ MY HUMBLE WORDS. PEACE!

SINCERELY

K. BLANKENSHIP

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