Memphis, Tennessee is ranked as having the second highest crime rate in the United States according to some surveys and number three in others. Regardless of the ranking, life is hard for many.
“How did you get the scar under your right eye,” I asked with curiosity… He looked a little to the side while never letting the grasp of his cigar ease, “When I was in prison in Texas, a man punched me in the eye.” As he continued to tell me the details of the event he said that he did not know it was cut so badly until he went into the bathroom and noticed blood dripping down his face. “The guy then came in the bathroom and apologized saying that he was sorry, he just learned that his mom died,” he explained.
“I went to a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas,” he said with a smile. He told me he was sentenced to 20-years, but only had to serve 8. I asked what for and he said that he was already a convicted felon and was caught driving his mother’s car while armed. He also ran from Memphis Police, wrecking the car he was driving.
He spoke highly of his mother who is now deceased and said, “I told my mom before court to just say that the gun was hers and that I didn’t know it was in the car, but she said she was not going to lie for me.”
As for Beaumont Prison in Beaumont, Texas, he said the federal courts often send convicts there from Tennessee. The prison population totals 2,129 inmates. It is known as a “High Security Penitentiary.”
He told me it is next to impossible to find a job as a felon, but lives in a home with a roommate. He has been out of prison for the past 7 years.
"Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars." - Beck