Looking Down the Barrel of a Brand New Day - COMPLETED

Twenty-Nine

A boyfriend, Geno, beat their Mom. He was a drunk. He beat her for using drugs. She hid her needles in the kids' clothes. The children remember when Geno found Mom's syringes. He stabbed them into her legs, and broke off the needles in her flesh.

It was "Mortal Combat" when Geno put Jason (2-3 years old) in a truck and tried to leave. Mom threw an ax through the windshield, Geno got out and chased her around the truck until she jumped into the cab, put it in drive, and broke both of Geno's legs when she drove over him. After Geno, and losers, a Blue Steel Kings biker kidnapped Jason and his sister and took them far into the mountains.

When they were kidnapped, Jason was 5. He said it was hard living in a dirt floor shack. The biker and his kids were rough and beat Jason, but it seemed peaceful compared to his mother's house. He and his sister were too young to understand the business deal that lead to their kidnap, but after a year, their mother was allowed to see them. That night, there was heavy drinking. Mom had to play a game of Russian roulette with the bikers to get her kids back. In the morning, they let her and the kids go.

Social Services investigated. Mom and her boyfriends told the kids to shut up or be beaten. Even so, they were seized and placed in separate foster homes. The sister never really returned, was emancipated, and went out on her own. She is married now with two kids. Jason went on a juvenile crime spree, ran away, ran further, ran to California, ran to Hawaii.

Jason's Dad got out of prison on parole. He wanted Jason to live with him. Jason wanted to have a Dad. He returned to Colorado to live with his Dad and new wife and her kids. Jason arrived in December and was given a corner in an unheated Tough Shed. Jason had never known his dad. He turned out to be violent and unstable. Just sixteen years old, Jason was caught eating cereal in the tough shed. His dad put on gloves and heavy boots. He then beat and kicked Jason until he almost killed him.

Covered in blood, Jason walked 5 miles through the snow to recover at his sister's house. But he returned to his father because he really wanted it to work. Other beatings followed. In the Spring, Dad's parole officer discovered that Jason had juvenile warrants for running away. Jason was arrested, transported, and served 2 years in the Division of Youth Corrections (prison for kids).

Jason's mom and dad both died before age 40 from drug and alcohol abuse. Jason was released from DYC at age 19. From that time to the present, he floundered and failed, picking up 5 felonies, including burglary and kidnapping. He's served plenty of jail and three prison sentences in two states. But the details of the crimes show more.

His first felony is for possession of meth, under 4 grams, a drug crime. He was found by police slumped over a slot machine in Nevada. A search turned up drugs.

Second felony, Jason was paranoid and wasted on meth. He climbed on the roof of a huge furniture warehouse to watch a gas station where he was going to meet a drug dealer. Fearful he would be seen from the sky, he climbed into the duct work, took more drugs, and passed out. When he woke in the dark, he panicked, slipped, and fell through the ceiling of the warehouse, dropped 2 stories, and landed on a showroom couch. Employees witnessed him, fall through the ceiling, and chased him from the building.

Nine days later, still on the run from the warehouse "burglary", still wacked on meth, he forced himself into the back seat of a car and demanded that the driver take him across town. When the driver realized Jason was unarmed, the driver got out and called the cops. This was charged as kidnapping and became Jason's third felony.

Released from prison, Jason was again using meth, not sleeping, and delusional. He tried to buy water from a gas station, but the register was down and the clerk couldn't sell the water. Jason went to the gas pumps, pulled a fire hydrant off its rack and began beating the pumps. Police arrived and drew their guns on him. He sat down on the pavement, pointed the hydrant nozzle straight up and emptied the canister into the air. It made a magnificent mushroom cloud of dusty fog, perfect for a Hollywood escape. But when the dust cleared, police found Jason sitting in the same spot, and crying. His fourth felony, back to prison.

What do you think, Ceci?

Ceci

It's all just sad.

It makes me sad reading about it.

How old is Jason now?

Jack

35

Ceci

Think he'll last much longer than his parents?

Jack

Yeah. I think he will.

We got him in a treatment team. He's working very hard.

Lots of PTSD, more from seeing killings in prison, and his life as a kid.

EMDR, and a girlfriend, and a treatment team. I think he's turned a corner.

But he's a very hard sell to a judge

Ceci

You just never realize how messed up people's lives become.

Does he have a viable skill to contribute to the community?

Something he's learned recently? Something to indicate he can stay on a clear path?

Jack

You have good instincts.

He does everything I ask. Eager to do more. I sent him to a client's home to fix an emergency pipe freeze, water main break. 20 degrees below zero. Three feet of snow. Jason saved the day. Avoided big fines. Worked out great. Without the drugs, he's a great big nice guy.

Ceci

Wow, that's encouraging

Jack

His childhood is blasted by drugs, prostitution, neglect, violence...but he survives, tries hard, works harder.

Ceci

Why is he such a hard sell to judge?

Jack

Fifth felony, Prior prison sentences.

There is a prison tax. Each time you return to prison you get more time, not less. It's an unwritten rule.

Ceci

Getting late here, dozing off.

I'm glad Jason has you fighting for him.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Jack

Thanks.

I pulled over to keep a strong signal to you. But need to go, get home, eat food, sleep, and get back to work.

And Ceci, you peach, it's nice to know that you are monitoring my gibberish here.

Sweet dreams.

Ceci

Through all this childhood trauma, did he go to school?

[⭐VOTE⭐ for protecting kids.]

Photo 1: Kid Barbwire by Kantsmith, 2016 (Pixabay #1717192).

Photo 2: X-ray, owned by authors, 2016.