The First Year: An Album of Freedom

Editor’s Note: In March 2010, we began posting the work of Enceno Macy, an inmate in a U.S. prison. Enceno’s articles were sent handwritten, then typed and edited by a trusted editor, who would then pass along any comments and emails to him in printed form. One year ago, Enceno was freed on parole. In his very busy first year adjusting to being back out in the world, it has been challenging for him to find time to write for PW, but to honor the first anniversary of his release, he has sent us this brief note and recap of this last year — under his real name, at last. — Amanda and Eric

I want to truly extend my sincerest apologies to for not writing anything more since being out. But I want to make sure to express my gratitude for everything PW has done for me.

I have gone through a lot and learned so much since being out yet many of the thoughts and observations that I have written about have not changed too much; I don’t see the world through the lenses that I used to but I still wear the same glasses.

Below is a brief summary of my first year out. I hope to get things in enough order to be able to contribute once again! The experience is by far as invaluable as anything else I have the good fortune of being a part of and I want to send everyone at PW and all the readers my love and respect!

Thank you so much!!
Love always,
Jordan
Aka: Encino Macy

By Jordan Scott Merrell

Sixteen years after going to prison as a fifteen-year-old, I walked out the prison gates a free man.

The day I was released, after seeing my parole officer, I spent enjoying the city’s restaurants and shops with my family, and Eric of Planet Waves, who had flown all the way from New York for the occasion.

The next day I moved into a transition house. The house is run for eligible ex-prisoners by an organization called Phoenix Rising Transitions. Phoenix is a privately operated non-profit that I applied to right before getting out. The head of the organization is also my mentor.

Living in the six bedroom house with five other recently released felons made my transition into the world much easier. I was shown the few but helpful agencies in the community that would help someone in my situation and shown the best places to shop on the budget I had. Phoenix has been a key factor in the success I have had so far.

I met my wife Julie through a guy in the house a few weeks after getting out, and three weeks later she asked me to marry her. Things with us have been up and down but nothing serious. She is dedicated to our success as much as I am and is a fun, lovable woman. With our marriage, I also became a father to her nine-year-old daughter, Kiki. Being a parent, I learned, takes even more patience and stamina than being married.

The summer brought a lot of reality when finding work was so difficult. The jobs were plentiful but only if you had some kind of work history and no serious (or any) criminal background. Obviously I didn’t fit that criterion. But I did find a job late in the summer and worked as a construction laborer for a few months until the new school term began. The job and some serious help from a friend in getting a loan paid for my first car.

Julie and I had been living separately at the time, near each other in the same part of the city. But we yearned to live together. Landlords and housing managers are so intolerant of a felony background that it looked as though finding a place together was impossible. Yet we got lucky and, through a friend, got a one bedroom apartment in downtown.

I still went to college across the river in the part of town we had moved from, so I had to commute about 15 miles of city three days a week to get there. I did so while taking a math class, an econ class and a writing course. We made our first visits to my old home where I got to spend time with Mom and nature once again!

Hard times also came with the late summer and fall, but none that are unfamiliar to most of us at some point. We had my first Thanksgiving at my mom’s and my first Christmas at Julie’s parents’ house. New Year’s was uneventful as we took a break in classes and cursed the foul weather. That is not a complaint: it is pure luxury to take a break and curse the weather. I signed up for winter term and began classes the first week of the year.

Living in a one bedroom apartment in downtown was not ideal, being too far from school, and was also not our cup of tea. So we searched the area across the river for space large enough to house Julie, our daughter and me. We were lucky again in finding a tolerant landlord, and were accepted into a duplex right back in our old neighborhood!

Three days before we were to move, I was robbed and shot in the leg right outside of our apartment building (an example of it not being our cup of tea) by a guy who lived in the same apartment building. He was arrested (after shooting himself in the testicles) and is currently facing charges in the county jail. I, on the other hand, am almost fully recovered and back in classes.

Last week we celebrated my first full year of freedom with my family. During this time, I have had the good fortune to help other prisoners upon their release and watch as they experience the world for the first time after so many years; a good friend got out a year to the day after I did. Julie and I are both currently going to school and are thankful for the life we are living and pursuing! Still a lot of difficulties here and there but we are just glad to be together, I am glad to be free and we are ever grateful for the friends and family who have made this happen.

Thank you so much!!