Dear Readers,
My name is Fernando, I am 49 years of age. I grew up in a two parent home until the age of 13. Which is when everything started to go wrong for me. I was raised by two immigrant parents from Mexico. I am the youngest of five boys. I grew up in South Phoenix, which was not as bad as it turned into once gangs took a turn to violence. I loved going to school, where I was an honor roll student, and part of the student council. In school I was a happy kid with no worries in the world. It was once I was home that was traumatic and painful. My father was, (passed away on 1/21/08), an alcoholic and physically abused my mother. This took place as far as I can remember, my earliest memory is being four years old. This continued until they separated when I was 13 years old.
I feel this was my turning point. I had no idea that I had been traumatized by those events. I didn’t realize I had an anger built up that was going to be uncontrollable and end up being the reason behind my incarceration. I made a promise to myself as a young child that I would never allow anyone to hurt someone I cared for, not knowing how far I was willing to go to fulfill that promise. Gangs became more prevalent in my area and I started a gang and ran it with pure hatred and violence. With this attitude jail became a common place, from juvenile facilities to prison. I was arrested for 1st-degree murder, which I was found guilty in trial for 2nd degree murder. I was sentenced to 22 calendar years, meaning I had to complete my full time before I could be released. I was 23 years old when I was arrested. One can only imagine, I felt my life was over and took that mind set to prison, where I met all the wrong people that loved to take advantage of a troubled youth with no hope and nothing to lose. By associating myself with these “shot callers”, I ultimately was back in trouble with the law and received 7 additional years in 2009 and 13 1/4 years in 2018.
Finally, I met a wonderful woman that brought about a change in my life. I had lived my days happy, or that is what I told myself. This woman would become the center of my universe. She would constantly tell me that I was worth so much more than wasting my life in prison. I did not want to listen to her, but she was persistent. This woman became my wife and I made the choice to walk away from the prison life that was negative and damaging to many individuals. I started to change my mind set, I enrolled in Ashland University where I obtained my Associate of Arts in 2022, within a year of enrolling. I also became a certified paralegal from Blackstone Law College. This is when I knew I could be somebody productive. I spend my days now enrolled in the Edovo platform and building my future.
