, PROGRESS
REPORT

(OVERCOMING
INCARCERATION)

By Kunta Kenyatta
PROGRESS
REPORT

(OVERCOMING INCARCERATION)
By Kunta Renyatta

Driving home after another one of those long, late night
runs, I think to myself, “sure glad that's over with" Winter
has come early this year and the roads are treacherous. I
use to hate the snow and the cold that came with it, but now,
in the business I'm in, it like money falling from the sky.
Whenever you can make $100.00 in a day that's a good day,
but when you make $500.00 in a day well... let's just say I'm
not going to complain about it. So as I put the wraps on
another year with over $100,000.00 of personal income on
the books, and all the luxuries that come along with being
“hood rich,” I can not help but reflect on how I come to be in
this position. It's kind of hard o believe, in this economy,
especially when you consider that I was buried deep off in
Ohios prison system less then nine years ago.

Like most people in prison, who had a chance of ever
getting out, | had dreams of doing big things. But unlike most,
Ibelieved that the key to realizing those dreams was coming
o terms with my reality. | had been in prison since the age
©f 18, and it would be sixteen years latter before I saw the
streets again. Therefore I had a felony record, virtually no
job experience, plus my educational credentials was lacking.
This meant starting from the bottom, which I didn't have a
problem with. { just needed the chance for some upward

mobility. But there was one other thing that worried me that
I could not quite figure out, that is until I actually got out. 5

In a lot of ways prison is just like society, but in other
waysit's a totally different universe, with a very unique social
order. And for prisoners serving long prison terms, there is
a need to find their place within that order; it can be the
difference between life and death. If you don't adapt, you
don't survived, adapt too well, you are considered
institutionalized. It was real easy for me, somebody who had
never been released from prison before, to write off as being
institutionalized those who I seen leave prison only to return
looking a lot happier then they did when they left. Seemed.
strange to me, I didn't get it and it used to upset me very
much.

When I left prison I was real eager to get out here and do
some new things, especially meet some new people, but it
didn't take long for that to change. After a while if it wasn't
family, or very close friends, I just didn't want to be bothered
with nobody. Never mind disrespect, it had been so long
since I had been treated with disregard that I had forgotten
what it felt like. The only thing that prevented me from falling
into the deep depression that normally accompanies such a
dramatic loss of social status was the fact that I was a
psychology major in college while in prison, so I was able
to recognize it for what it was. And let there be no doubt
about it, for a lot of prisoners, who have served decades in
the penitentiary, leaving prison is an instant and complete
loss of hard earned social status. And for most, there is no
way possible for them to regain the status they once held in

the penitentiary while out here in society, and that's real talk.

Now I understand why somebody, after serving twenty
years in prison, working in a dead end job, being talked to
crazy by a supervisor half their age, would say “the hell with
this” Armed with this understanding, 1 was able o start a
new job prepared for these types of issues, still I had those
moments when I couldn't stop the thought from running
through my mind; “don't you know I will kill you.” Prisoners
gain social status through various means; sports, hustling,
and knowledge of the law. But in maximum security, it's
mainly through violence. And I had my share of incidents,
which 1 used to try and be discrete about, in order to get
away with it. Then I learned the value o the public display
of violence, and I realized that I had not been getting the
maximum return on my efforts. Putting on a public display
of violence within a prison environment, along with all the
man down alarms going off and the noise of the “life flight”
helicopter landing on the prison grounds, sends an
instantaneous message throughout the entire prison
population. ]

Sure you will have to spend a litle time in the hole, but by
the time you get there everybody already in the hole will
know what happen, “yeah Kenyatta then got him another
ome.” And by the time you get out you will have eliminated
most of the problems that other prisoners have to worry
about. It doesn't take many of these types of actions to put
you right at the top of the food chain, with all the proper
dues and respect that comes with it. Needless to say, out in
society it just doesn't work quite the same way, and you have
to constantly remind yourself of this. However, 1 was able to
maintain my job for five years, which is something I'm proud
of, and gain some much needed on the job skills while I was
there, but I knew that it was not something I was trying to
make a career out of. It bad enough being stuck in a dead
end job, but the economy started taking a turn for the worst,
andat my job they were laying off plus cutting back on hours.
Tknew I would have to find something else.

After being out of prison for a few years, I was so involved
with the prison reform effort going on here in Ohio that it
had actually become to be the dominant part of my life, but
this is something I had done for years as a prisoner out of
mecessity 5o it wasn't that difficult for me to volunteer my
expertise out here in society. This included writing, which is
a skill I picked up during my many years spent in solitary
confinement. had gotten away from doing this, quite frankdy,
because [ did not have the time or the solitude Ifelt I needed
to do a good job. But it needed to be done, so I knuckled
down and cranked out my third book “Life After Life," which
chronicled the beginning of my involvement with the prison
Teform effort on the outside as well as my extensive travels
throughout Ohio and the world since I've beenout. &
Before going to prison the only time I spent outside of
the country was in Canada. Now I have been to England,
Jamaica, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Japan and China. I am a
bonafide world traveler, now I can go just about anywhere
and feel right at home, no matter what the language. One of
the tricks I learned about getting around in those countries
where I don't speak the language, is to always collect
busiriess cards everywhere you can, soif  get lost I just jump
ina cab and show the driver a series of business cards from
the area I'm trying to get to until he indicates his familiarity.
Traveling abroad is something I do strictly for pleasurs, but
it does broaden your horizons and give useful perspective.
highly recommend it to anybody that gets the chance.
The coming out of my book “Life After Life" made me an
instant celebrity within the prison reform circles in this state
and beyond, but this was my third book so I was familiar
with celebrity, and just like anything else it has its ups and
downs. Of course the carte blanche treatment you get
‘wherever you go within your realm of celebrity is a plus, but
the unrealistic expectation that comes with celebrity has
always been something that tends to weigh heavily on me.1
was traveling all over Ohio giving speeches at prisons,
churches and on college campuses. A lot of times I would
do this for free, but sometimes I would have to charge a fee.
Fame without fortune is a very frustrating predicament to
be in, and I had not yet made my fortune out here in society.
Meanwhile, I was traveling regularly to Columbus for
meetings with CURE-Ohio, an organization that I was on the
board of. Also, to Toledo for meetings with a local chapter
of the National Campaign To End The Death Penalty, and to
‘Youngstown for play rehearsals about“Lucasville:The Untold
Story of a Prison Uprising.” My involvement with CURE-Ohio
was largely a waste of time, even though this organization
had the most potential of all the prison reform organizations
in Ohio it was doing the least, because every bit of its
Potential was being stifled by its leadership. The immediate
goals of Toledo's local branch of the National Campaign To
End The Death Penalty was quite simple, organize an event
that would bring a national spokesperson against the death
penalty to the city, but after the tremendous success of that
we decided to try and build it in to something more. And I
just happened to be in Youngstown visiting at the super max
prison when I stopped in on the try outs for the “Lucasville
Play,” because acting is not my forte, but I went along with it
anyway.

Somewhere in the midst of all this I had managed to
accumulate $20,000.00 to work with, and I needed a new
vehicle. I had put over three hundred thousand miles on my
old Bronco. And I was tempted to get me an Avalanche, which
is a truck that | always liked, but I remembered the words of
anold friend of mine I grew up with in Cleveland, “out of the
vehicles I then had the only one that's been worthwhile is
my tow truck.” So instead I bought my first tow truck, and
the plan was to just have something on the side, if I could
get two or three tows a day in between speaking gigs, that
‘would pay anywhere from $250.00 to $1,000.00.1 could leave
my job, which had become more of a burden than anything
else with all that I was doing. I never thought that this
business would get to be anywhere near what it is.

It's a three hours drive from Canton, where I was now
living, to the CURE-Ohio meetings in Columbus. The
arguments would last about four hours, then another three
hours drive back home that is ten hours of valuable time
down the drain. Not to mention a $300.00 loss, with travel
expense and oss revenue, now that my business was up and
running. As you can imagine I was ready to leave this
dystunctional group. But luckily, for the time being, the
National-Cure stepped in. First, they scheduled an election
of board members, which was years overdue. Then, they
oversaw the election that ushered in a new board with me
as the chair. Our new board was filled with professional
organizers and activists, with proven track iit the
field, for a minute, things looked promising. But as soon as
the mational organization was out of the picture, the old
leadership went on the attack, suing me and everything else.
The same way the republican party do president Obama, if
1 propose something that they were previously for, they all
of a sudden was against it. But unlike Obama, this was not
‘my job, I was not getting paid to put up with this, and I wasn't
going to continue to ask anybody else to either. 7
Walking away from that foolishness was easy; abandoning
the plan of action that grew out of Toledo's branch of the
National Campaign To End The Death Penalty was a little
‘more difficult. It was only four of us who used to meet in a
small café on Bankroff next to the Toledo University. I was
the only one that wasn't living in Toledo to attend these
‘meetings, but they had received word of my coming from an
Ohio prisoner serving time on death row. Our task was to
bring in a speaker who was use to speaking in much larger
cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. These
speeches would normally draw a crowd of about fifty people
in each place, 50 she didn't really want to come to a small
town like Toledo, didn't think it would be worthwhile. But if
we were able to raise the money to pay her fee she was
willing to come. Well not only did we raise the money to
cover the cost to get her there, but when she got there she
spoke in front of a larger crowd then all the other crowds
she had spoken in front of before, combined. Our job was
done, we could have leftit at that, but we had all these people
fired up about getting rid of the death penalty in Ohio now.
Conming off that success we had a little momentum that
we did not want to waste. People wanted to come to our
meetings now. My thought was, “we cannot have people
coming to meetings unless we give them something to do,”
and the big dance was over with in Toledo as far as I was

concerned. Toledo was another three hour drive from
Canton, and again1 had my business back home to consider.
Atthe time, I didn't have any employees to pick up the slack.
First, the suggestion was made that we could have them
passing around petitions. As a professional agitator,
organizer and activist there's nothing I hate more than these
meaningless petitions. Except for maybe the meaningless
letter writing campaigns to the politicians, which was CURE-
Ohios answer to everything. Then it was suggested that we
make the petition binding, as in a ballot initiative or
referendum at least as an organizational tool, now they were
talldng. With our contacts around the state we could most
certainly put an issue on the ballot, even one as controversial
as ending the death penalty. Getting the issue past on
Election Day, however, was an entirely different matter. §

We would have to consult with the lawyers, and Ohioans
to Stop Executions (OTSE), which is the premier anti-death
penalty organization in the state. The lawyers for OTSE's
concern was that if we put the issue on the ballot and the
‘voters shot it down, which they almost certainly would do, it
‘would make it much more difficult to get a moratorium, which
they were trying to do. It was also mentioned that the state
has alaw that denies people who have been convicted of a
felony from putting forth a ballot initiative. To me this was
not an obstacle but rather an oppertunity, being that it's was
unlikely we could get the votes to see the referendum
through. We could have went forth with the ballot initiative
‘with me as one of the sponsors, forcing the state to challenge
it, then in turn challenge the state for denying me this
constitutional right. The United States Supreme Court would
essentially have to amend the constitution to vote against
us, but this would have been years down the road, in a case
that would have national ramifications effecting everybody
from Martha Steward to Mike Tyson. In the meantime, the
national spotlight would have been on the death row situation
here in Ohio, a state that has more botched executions than
any other one in the country.

Having the ability to put an ssue on the ballot would have
raised the profile of every group involved, subsequently
giving them more political power to push any other issue
that concerned them, and with the pefition being caught up
in the courts on a separate issue we could have withdrawn it
after winning the case. All of this was just too much for OTSE.
1didn't bother telling them that I would like to challenge the
constitutionality of denying a person convicted of a felony

* the right to bear arms, I just don't like letting the United
. States Supreme Court off the hook on these issues. There
. answer was more non binding petitions, rallies in front of
the governor office and more silent vigils. “Hell I don't have

* time for this,” this is not what I have undergone years of
Starting off in Portsmouth and ending up back in
Youngstown, “The Lucasville Play” would be a seven city tour
around Ohio that lasted about a month. This is not something
that T usually do, butit was for the cause and I enjoyed it. The
ACLU of Ohio put up $10,000.00 to kick the play off, and the
ticket sales would keep it going throughout the tour. With
the recent release of “Life After Life;" these trips double as a
book signing tour for me. Ohio's ACLU had also arranged
for volunteers to give us a place to stay in each of the cities
we went to. I know people in all of Ohio's eighty eight
counties so everywhere we went I stayed with somebody I
already knew. To me that part of it was like visiting old
friends. There were two of us in the play that had served
time in Ohio's prison system, and I was in Lucasville during
the time that the riot took place, so I knew all of the people
our characters would portray in this play. In anticipation of
our arrival, all of the local newspapers played up these facts
with the play in general, so we had a concert type of
atmosphere following us from city to city. It surprised me
that so many people had turned out to see this play; I just
‘wishwe could have been making headsway on a referendum
to end the death penalty while the play was bringing
attention to “The Lucasville Five,” all of who were on death
row behind “The Lucasville Riot”

With all this behind me, and the prison reform
establishment in Ohio not willing to make an all out assault
on any of these issues, it was time for me to focus on my
business which was quickly out growing me. However, 1 did
accept a position on the board of Ohio's Justice & Policy
Center, which has a paid staff of attorneys to do most of the
hands on work because my business keeps my hands pretty
much tied. I also co-founded Entrepreneurial Re-Entry here
Canton, which encouraged people coming out of prison to
go into business for themselves, because finding a job with
afelony record is becoming unrealistic in this economy. /o

In my eyes, my little towing business was not all that big
of a deal, and it is sort of strange to me when I hear people
say “you're the only black guy I ever seen with a towing
business.” Because I'm trom Cleveland, where all the towing
companies are black, unless you go out to the suburbs
somewhere. But Canton is not unique in this regard. I've
visited every county in this state, and based on what I know
about the state, I would be willing to speculate that there
were as many if not more black owned businesses in
Cuyahoga County then there were in all the other eighty
seven counties in Ohio combined, and to me that's a damn
shame.

My plans were to keep the business a one man operation,
but it got to be far too much for me to handle on my own.
Eventually I was forced to buy more trucks and hire some
help. Tow trucks can be very expensive, and I got lucky
finding my first one for twenty grand on e-bay out in New
Jersey, but it wasn't in the best of shape.To get a tow truck in
good shape you are looking at kicking out $30,000.00 or
more, unless you have it built yourself. One day while
searching the internet for tow trucks for sale, I spotted one.
that had caught on fire and burnt up, so the guy wanted to
sell the tow bed off the truck, which was still intact. This auto
loading tow beds go for around $25,000.00 brand new, and
there was another used one just like it outside of Chicago
for $18,000.00. This guy down in Whitesville, Kentucky
‘wanted $6,000.00 for his. So I hurried up and rented a pickup
truck, got a trailer and went down there and snatched that
up with the quickness. Now all I would have to do is find a
truck, cab & chassis to put the bed on. This shouldn't be too
difficult, I normally see these trucks sitting on the side of
the road for sale all the time. Now that I'm looking for one I
cannot find anything locally or even in the area. /]

Back on the internet I kept looking at this 99 Ford F-350
cab & chassis that was for sale in Miami, that would be
perfect; low miles, diesel engine, five feet from cab to rear

" axle and for a good price. I just didn't want to have to go that
 far to get it. But after I got tired of looking, I went on and
contacted the dealer, made the arrangements and booked
a flight out of the Akron- Canton Airport to Miami, Florida. I
arrived at the airport with an overnight bag and ten grand
cash in the pockets of my sweat suit jacket, as I approached
the metal detector the officer asked me to remove my jacket,
but didn't have on a shirt under my jacket o I was going to
have to be searched. During this search the officer
discovered the money I had on me, and to them a Black Man
plus large amounts of cash on the way to Miami equals drug
dealer. So she asked, “What is the purpose of your trip...
vacation?” I took my money out of her hand and gave a one
. word answer, “business!” and kept it moving, ignoring her
obvious desire for along drawn out explanation. My thoughts
were, “you can believe whatever you want to believe, it's
quite alright with me”

1 it were not for the long flight delays in Atlanta due to
fog, 1 could have been in Miami a lot sooner then what I did,
but getting there and making the purchase was the easy part.
Now for the dreaded 14 hour drive back, what a way to test
drive a vehicle. I made it back only stopping for a couple
hours in Savannah where my sister was staying at the time. I
ran alittle over budget getting the tow bed put on the truck,
and 1 blame that on a lack of experience. After it was
completed though, I could have sold it for a $10,000.00 profit
over what I put into it. It was tempting to just sell it, go get
another one and do it all over again. But after selling so many
I'would have to get a dealers license and probably move
cash at a time in this town just ain't happening. Plus, I would
lose big time trying to sell my house in this housing market.
But I'had the clientele in the towing business here 5o, with a
lit le work, in ninety days I'll make my money back, and in
six months I was off to Springtield, Missouri to buy another
truck that I would make into a tow truck. Iz

With a little more experience this time around, I kept
‘within my budget putting this next truck together, and I could
have resold the truck for a profit of $18,000.00 over what |
put into it. Adding a rollback (flatbed) to the business
changed the scope of the company. I now was able to tow a

lfl-whaddfinlndwha!xmyvuhn-nnlhtmmmd.y.
The beautiful thing is I didn't have to drive cross country to
get it. I purchased the bed and had it installed right out in
Dalton, Ohio for a lttle over ten grand. In this business you
cannot be shy about spending money. spend over a hundred
dollars a day in gas alone, the average repair job to one of
the trucks is a thousand dollars, and anywhere from four to
eight thousand dollars in insurance. It always something
going wrong so I have to keep cash on me, causing my
partner Yahya to say; “you be having more cash then what
the dope boys do-" And 1 have had a few Canton Police say,
not knowing I'm a convicted felon, “make sure you got your
gun on you when you are out here at night”

But I only keep day to day operational funds on me, I got
to this point by living off of half of whatever I make, all the
bank tellers know me. When I want or need something, I got
it,and I don't have to be bothered with no credit.WhenYahya
and I were in the motorcycle shop and I caught a good deal
ona07YamahaV Star for $6,000.00,1 bought it.Then I started
looking at boats, only to realize that I didn't have a vehicle
o even pull it off the lot with, let alone transport a boating
party. So I got on the internet and spotted a H2 Hummer
they were trying to sell at a dealership right over in
Massillon. I went and dropped $20,000.00 on the table and
just like that they gave it to me. Having been on both sides
of the spectrum I can say with certainty that having money
is a lot better than not having it, but it does come with its
share of problems. /3

When I was heavily involved in activism in other cities
‘around Ohio, people used to always want me to hold
something political here in Canton. I always stayed away
from that, this was my refuge, where I go to get away from
the celebrity. The only thing they know about me here in
Canton is [ tow cars, that's it. But it got worse here than in
other places. I cannot go to the grocery store, out to eat or
anywhere in public here without several people approaching
me about towing cars. I be like “darmn,it' not like I'm selling
crack.” I have to put signs on the doors of my home
explaining to people, “don't come to my house about towing
no cars!” And because some of these people are super stupid,
they will call my phone ten or fifteen times in five minutes. I
have to end my voice message with, “do not repeatedly call
this number, if you have an emergency, hang up immediately
and dial 911, thank you.”

Whether its being an Entrepreneurialist or a
Philanthropist, a lot of prisoners and ex-prisoners express
the desire to achieve some of the successes that I have since
being released from prison. While speaking in prisons I
would often say; “the resume that you create for yourself
while in prison is the same one that follows you back to
society.” Therefore, I expect for my prison affiliates to fare
better then the average person getting out of prison. Because
we did not waste time while doing time, we underwent
extensive guerrilla style political training, with required
studies in history, economics and sociology. Even with that
under ones belt you still need hard work and sacrifice to
make it out here in this society. Without that, it's just not going.
to happen for you.

| remember watching the debate over legalizing
gambling in Ohio and those opposed to it were running an
ad with a law enforcement officer claiming that the measure
did not go far enough to ensure that felons would ot be
working in the industry. I was thinking, “this is the one
industry where those who have served time would have an
advantage in experience and they don't even want them to
do that."So you know if voters can be swayed by not letting
felons work n the gaming industry, or any other one for that
matter, then the odds are against you. But you do what you
have to, and with the right breaks here and there, hopefully
it works out for you. G

Kunta Kenyatta

——Kunta Kenyara (1995)——

CRIMINALS
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CONFINEMENT

CORRUPTION

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