The 42 year redemption story!

Mario and Wayne sit down with this week's special guest, Rodney Araiza. Together, they discuss Rodneys journey as a young impressionable boy in prison to a man finding redemption and building a life for himself against all odds.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Reformed and Real, where we take a journey with our people fresh out of prison and we see how the community around them really feels. My name is Mario Hernandez. I'm one of the afflicted people that got released back into the community, and we're here to figure out how this looks.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

And I'm Wayne Burt, curious onlooker who wants to know about our prison system. Get to know the stories beyond the stigma of incarceration, because like Mario, I believe all stories count. Yes. Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Wayne, welcome back. Thank you, sir. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for hosting me again. Yeah, thanks for hosting me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

I'm like your roommate by now.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yeah. Yeah. Last night I ran into you at TreeFort. That was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

It was cool. Yeah, very cool. Um, a lot of people, and then sounds from all sides, right? Yeah. It wasn't like a quad stereo system. It was like, what is a stereo system with three speakers? Oh, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. They don't have a word for it. Yeah, there's no word. Tri-stere.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Dolby 5, and there's Atmos 7-1 or whatever. I don't know. So uh Wayne, we have a uh special guest, an old friend of mine. Um for those of you that don't know and don't remember, I used to I've done some prison time myself um a few years, and uh in my last stint, I ran into a gentleman. His name's Rodney Ariza. And uh Rodney, uh welcome to uh Reformed and Real. We appreciate you coming.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Thank you for accepting. Yeah, and now that I now that I already gave your name up, why don't you give it up again for us? My name is Rodney Ariza.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

I served 42 years in prison and uh here I am now, enjoying life. I've been out tw two years now, and I'm enjoying life out here in society with Mario.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Good. Yeah, 42 years. Yeah, that's a good stint. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

When did it all start? Started back in uh 1982. I went in when I was 16 years old and got out when I was fifty-nine, right on my birthday. Wow. Yeah. I turned turned seventeen. Yeah, that's a stint, my friend.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Yeah. Did uh did you come from a place that uh you knew people like your parents, anybody who who were already incarcerated, like during your childhood? Did you have a bad childhood?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I had a pretty bad childhood, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Did you?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Yeah, I was grew up in an alcoholic dysfunctional family, migrant family. Um Yeah, it was pretty bad. I had a father that was very abusive, violent towards me. Taught me how to drink, use alcohol, steal, do all the rotten things that you're not supposed to be doing. Yeah. It was uh a learning experience, you know, thought thinking as uh, you know, when your parents teach you to do something, you think you know it's supposed to be something good. So I believed in it and I rode with it and it took me to prison. Actually it took me to reform school first, county jails, and then uh eventually uh ultimate it led me to prison.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

One thing led to another.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Was there some addiction involved in that?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Yes. By the time I was eleven years old, I was already addicted to alcohol and drugs.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Um my first stint was actually the county jails, and then uh I did uh reform school in St. Anthony here in Idaho. I did like two terms there. We might we might have been there together. What years were you there? I was there in um I think it was late in eighty one, and then because it was in January '82 when I came to prison. I mean, I went I got it locked up for the prison term. So between 79 and 81.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Well I was there in 86. 86? Yeah. Yeah. I did a year at St. Anthony back in 1986. You did one one stint. One a one piece. A one piece. I did a one piece. In St. Anthony's. Yeah. Rodney, one of the things that we like to to tell people uh about about us is first of all, where we came from. And you told us a little bit about, you know, your history, your you know, alcoholism, your family, you got taught to drink. Um and did you get involved in gangs when you were young? Yes, I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I um after one of my guy when I got out of St. Anthony and I ended up going to California, I got uh on the interstate somehow. My father got me out my first time out of uh St. Anthony. I did like about six months there, and then uh he got me out because I wasn't uh I wasn't gonna make it out, I was gonna be there for a while, and so you know I wasn't really adjusting and it was getting bad for me. So somehow my father got me out and they flowed me to Tex I mean to California. Once I got there and I was in LA, Southgate, and I was learned how to navigate the streets of California and got into the gangs there. So then I think it was about I ended up getting in trouble for uh a B and E, they call it, breaking and entering. I got caught into the house, and instead of instead of um going through the process of the courts, I my father took me back to Idaho, brought me back to Idaho. When I came back to Idaho, Idaho found out that I was um running from over there, and they ended up sending me back to St. Anthony. I did another term in St. Anthony. After that term, I did another about four months, five months. But I since I already knew the first time I knew how to manipulate my way out, I got myself out a little faster.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Um I spent about four months there. Um without getting into the details, uh, you know, too much. Um when you went to prison, you were pretty well influenced by a lot of people around you, right? It's it's hard to be that young in prison and not have uh people affect how you think and where you go, where you go, who you hang out with, what you what you where you sit.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, I I would say I was influenced. I was very impressionable still. I was still, you know, at the age. Yeah, I'm still a child, and uh I wanted to always fit in. Uh so all the elder all the elder convicts that were there, you know, knew how to bring me in and manipulate me into doing things that I shouldn't be doing. Uh and it it left me to live a life of uh always being in trouble with the this department of corrections. I was pretty I was pretty much well despised and hated by the correctional guards because I was really I was really bad. I you know, I always was in trouble with them, you know, because I didn't want to listen to them. But that's how the convicts brought me up to do, to live, you know. It was uh it was us against them.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

So when I ran into Rodney was uh 2017, right? Yeah. And at that time, you know, you're still looking at what seemed like a lifetime never to you probably didn't think you were ever gonna get out. Um and uh I I came into the prison system and I was uh doing a video program while I was in prison, and that's how I met Rodney. He joined he joined our ranks of the uh the video production group over there. Okay. So yeah, he was uh he really wanted to do it and enjoyed doing it. And um talk to me about like when could because and this is not about me, talk about to me about when I first went to the prison and what did you what were you thinking about? Because you had a mindset when I met you.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

So my mindset was learning the video, audio, video, visual thing. I really wanted to get into it. And my principal at the time, Mr. Durant, used to always show me videos of Mario Hernandez of all the stuff he was doing when where he was at in Orfino. And I was watching his videos and I really dug his videos, and I thought, man, this guy, he really knows his stuff, you know. So I wanted to meet Mario and I wanted to be like him. I wanted to learn what he knew, and I needed knowledge from him. And then I remember at the time our principal was trying to get him into our institution, but somehow they wouldn't let him go from where he was at. And there was a like little struggle between the wardens, right? Was it a betting war? Yeah, it was a little worse than that, but yeah. They wouldn't let him come over and stuff. And then one day, one day when I and I was I was looking at um, I think I was doing uh which program I was doing. It was a project, I think it was uh it wasn't the Da Vinci, it was something else. It was a different program, a low grader, lower grader of a of a program that I was working with. And then uh my principal calls me into the office and says, Hey, come here. So I go down there and he says, Guess what? I said, What's that? He said, Mario's coming down. He told me Mario was gonna be coming down.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

So I was so happy.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

I was happy to you know to finally meet him. And when he actually showed up, when he showed up, uh I think I met him, he was sitting in the office with uh Mr. Wardwell, Kim Wardwell, and uh they were interviewing and stuff. And I I I was just I was so excited, I can remember that. I I was so excited that I ended up getting him, got him, took him on a tour of what we were doing and stuff, and how I was doing what I was doing, and he was and then he took it from there showing me that he's he's I'm gonna teach you something give you a better program and sure did. But you were already part of uh video program. No, no, no. I was trying to get something started there. You were trying to get what he was doing over there, yeah. And I was just so into it that I thought it was it yeah what our institution needed, yeah, you know, but I didn't know the knowledge that he had.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

Yeah, and I was trying to You got to the point where you wanted to build your knowledge and you knew Mario was the place to go.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Yeah, and so I just started flying underneath him, you know, and they're cool stuff. Yeah, oh man, we did.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

We did we did podcasts, video podcasts, we did uh newscasts, we did uh we made a TV station. TV station, uh what is it, the Yard Buzz.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yard Buzz, the podcast. You know, and and right around that time when he showed up, it things were crashing because of the pandemic hit. Yeah. And everything just died and froze. And it took a little bit, but after started season upcoming, you know, we were able to go back into the institute, go back to the education department and start working, but just the workers, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

So did education change your life? Just talk about like the education building, right? Because that's what they say. And this is a true testament to this, Rodney. He's like when they say education and rehabilitation and treatment is the way to stay out of prison, education, people when they get out, their chances to recidivate are way down. Down. Uh so that helped you, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yes, it definitely did. I don't think I would be here today if I had not got my education. Yeah. Um, further my education. Uh I, you know, even though I got my GED back in 1991, uh, I but I was in uh the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, IMSI. And uh I remember it was a time, you know, where it was really it was at the beginning of the time where I was sentenced for that murder case and stuff and uh for the thing that happened. And I can remember a time that when I was on the yard, everybody was making a fuss about why I wouldn't go to school. I had to. I had to go to school or else I'd get punished, I'd go into confinement and stuff, and I was just so adamant that I was like, no, I'm an inmate now, I don't have to go to school, but they had their rules and you had to, but I didn't want to. And I remember there was a couple of friends of mine that always would tell me, come on, man, get to school. You need your education. And I would tell them, no, I don't. My dad didn't have it, you know, I don't need it. And so I I remember after this incident, after this incident that happened, they had me in confinement for all this time. Everybody forgot about me. They didn't care about it, about me getting my education anymore. And, you know, for anybody that's done time, they can tell you, you know, being in a cell 24, 23 hours a day, it gets very monotonous, you know, very bored. And and I remember one time I just got so sick of it, man, that I was lonely, I was depressed. I, you know, and I ended up going in handcombs to a law library, and I saw one of my friends there, and I asked him, hey, help me get me me, help me get my education, my GED. And his name was Anthony Tony Coons. And uh the man sat there with me and gave me all these books on how to prepare for your GED. And uh he told me I would, I would, I would help you. And uh I said, okay. And he would send me on my way. I would come every week, twice a week to the library, and he would check my test out and everything, and boom, I'd go back and do my work and come back. And and it came to the point where I can remember they really good, that he went to vouch for me after he figured that I could pass my GED. I didn't think I could, but he said I could do it. He set something up with the education department to allow me to take my test. But being that he was the one mentoring me and testing me, and I didn't do it through the education, they didn't want to let me. But somehow he finangled and got them to let me take my test. And I took all my tests and I passed them. Yeah. I went I took every one of them. Uh my government test was the highest, my highest one that I made. I had at that time we had to do like six tests, and uh I passed them all. Yeah, you know, and got my GD.

SPEAKER_03 13:05

You always knew you always knew you were a smart guy.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah. You you you just had to apply yourself. Exactly. You had to get to that point. You know, it's it's a hard thing. When you're when you're a youngster and you're in there, you know, it's kind of it's kind of hard because I think we're so impressionable still, you know, that we want to uh fit in, you know, and find a find our spot, you know, our place in that world, you know. But I I can tell you right now that uh I am so grateful for how I DLC is today compared to back when I was there. Uh today we have a very a very good system, you know, for education, for programs, for the things that are being allowed to happen now would never happen back in my days when I first started. Yeah. And I, you know, and I contribute a lot of that to to Mario's uh video editing thing, the stuff that he's done. Uh, the push that he has pushed, uh I DLC to help and better the people. You know, a lot of people don't want to, you know, probably don't want to think like that, but they do. I do, you know, because it was from people like him, you know, that actually pushed and started let's start these programs and better the better the the community inside the inside. So that way when they get out, you know, they have they they'll have a chance to get out and stay out, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

So you have to think that you, you know, you knew that you wanted to learn more about video. So you kind of pushed it too.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah. Well Yeah, he did.

unknown 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

He did. I I I I could say I got it, I I pushed. I was I know I pushed. I got but it you know, it was it was our staff though. We had some we had some really good staff, and I'm gonna tell you, one of the best staff that I have when I it was Lieutenant Stelzer. Lieutenant Stelzer, man. That was the man, let me tell you. I when I met him and I started working for him, and he pulled me into work for him under the the uh the pandemic thing, you know, that's how I really got to know Stelzer. And then he I was doing a little bit of filming and stuff and everything, and uh but that man, yeah, he was awesome. I don't know how many people know about Mr. Stelzer, but yeah, Mr. Stelzer was uh I think we've talked about him once or twice in the show.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

I've heard him mentioned. Yeah. You talk about him in the same terms, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's a great man. So so uh um well, thank you, Rodney.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Yeah, what a great, what a great story. Um we still have much more of it, so don't go away, okay? Yeah, this is Reform and Real, my co-host Mario Hernandez, and our guest Rodney Ariza, and we'll be right back. Yeah, welcome back to Reform and Real. I'm Wayne Burt, joined in the booth uh with my co-host Mario Hernandez and our guest Rodney Ariza. Great story.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Thank you. So uh, you know, we we talked about your childhood a little bit, touched on it, and uh, and we touched about education. And now let's switch gears and let's talk a little bit about what's Rodney doing today. Like uh, because you've been out how long now? Two years, a little over two years. Success, ladies and gentlemen. That is success. He has been out doing it, doing that thing. This is what we're talking about, Rodney. We're talking about how when people get out, that everybody can do it. Anybody can do it. Do you remember a phone call that you made to me the day after you got out? You were walking down the street. Do you remember what you told me? That I was free. Yeah, not just that. I'm gonna remind you. So my phone rings and uh and I look at oh it's Rodney and uh answer him like, what's up? He says, He's oh, let's hear it. I was lost. No, no, no, not the after that. So he says, Man, Mario, you should see the flowers. Oh he said, Man, everything's so beautiful out here. He says, I'm looking at the mountains, I'm looking at the flowers and these yards. You remember that? Yeah, I do. And uh, we were on a video call too, and uh he was showing me, he says, Check out these flowers, check this trees out, and I'm like and you know what it was?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

I cannot remember it's because I had I I was walking back from a job to back to the Catel house where I was living, yeah, and my boots were I was on fire, my feet were on fire.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yep, I remember I couldn't walk, and I was like, man, I didn't know how far I was away from where I was at, right? And you were lost at the time. And I was lost, and and Mario was showing me how to use a GP, a GPS system on my phone. I was like, wow, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

So you were directionally lost because yeah, you were you weren't like lost in your life.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

No, not yeah, directional, because uh I got hired, so I got hired to do a landscaping job, and the person that hired me, it was a lady uh that I met at uh at one of the AA groups, and uh one of the questions was when I did a little talk there, they knew that I just got out and they wanted to know what was kind of the hardest thing for me. And I had told them that it was trying to find a job. Because it at the time it was, because I just barely got out. And she asked me if I knew anything about landscaping. I told her, Yeah. You know, know a little bit, and if I don't know it, I I'm sure I can learn it. So she hired me and she's asking how how was$20 an hour. And I said, Yeah, that's good. That's like better than 10 cents. Yeah, I know. So I was telling her, I said, you know, in prison, I was making 10 cents to 40 cents an hour, and that's the most I can make, you know.$20 an hour is good, really good. And uh she I told her, I said, but I don't have a a way to to get there, you know, and stuff. And she says, Where do you live? I'll come and pick you up and I'll take you back. And she did that for about a week, you know. And then one day she she had to, and that was the day that I I called Mario. She wasn't able to come take me back home. She took off. And so I told her, Don't worry about it, I'll walk, you know. I figured I can go, I know how to do this. And I took off, and um, and that's when I remember seeing I was like, because it was summertime still, you know, and everything was so pretty, all the flowers. I'm a tree hugger, you know, by the way. You know, I love trees, you know, because you don't see them in in prison, you know. And so, yeah, and I thought, man, where where am I at? You know, and that's when I decided to call Mario, you know, tell him, hey, check this out.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Yeah, I and I do remember because he laughed at me.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Tell him how beautiful it was, but also telling you were lost. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah. You should see these flowers, man. They're beautiful. That's great. That's funny. Yeah. Good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Because, you know, after you know, I mean, certainly 42 years, I mean, you don't at the time, institutions don't beautify the prison system, you know what I'm saying? So you don't really get to see any of that. You know, uh one gets to only see an ugly side, you know, of life. And that was at a time that I didn't think I was gonna get out. And I wasn't gonna make it out of prison. And I remember Mario used to always say, You're gonna get out, or they're gonna let you out, they're gonna let you out. But I didn't have any faith at the time, you know. I wasn't really looking at to get out. You know, and then to be able to get out and finally get out and actually see the beauty of what it truly is to be free. It was awesome. I yeah, it was it was awesome for me.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

And yeah, so yeah, it really shows how young you were at heart. And uh and really young, period, because you know, 60 years old, 59 years old or not, you spent so much time in prison, you're still a youngster when you get out because you don't know anything about the world. And it was such an it was a such a good time, and you know, you have you know, you've you've you came back from that now. Uh so w where did where did you go from there?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

You were at Catalpa House and then I was at the Catalpa house, you know, and I'm kind of one of those believers that I've always heard about the solar living houses, halfway houses and stuff, you know. But one of the things that I've learned in prison is that it was hard to for people to find a place to live. And I always thought, well, halfway houses, and even though they're they're there, they're there to help people, they're like a stepping stone, you know, to help people to get out, and once they get on their feet and then they can move on and and go. And and that's what I did, you know. I ended up getting there. I got the job. It was. They yeah, they didn't want to let me out at first because it was it was hard. It was hard. I'm um you know, i I couldn't find a place that would accept me at the time. That's you know, we can take it a little step back. I couldn't find a place to accept me because of my crime, you know. Um and it really wasn't If it wasn't for Mario knowing the person that he knew who allowed me to get out, I mean to accept me at their place, uh I probably uh it would have taken a little longer to get there. Yeah. And who is that guy? Because he's an amazing dude, right? Yeah, he is. And that was Doug French. Yes. Who runs a sober living house at the Catalpa house. And uh, he did an interview with me and Mario and another friend and with my people before they let me out so they get to know me who I was. And uh yeah, they let me out. And eventually I became a manager there, you know, uh and helped around the house. He they loved the way I I did the landscaping all around the house and stuff, you know. And to this day, man, me and him are really tight still, you know. We're we I moved on, you know, to to get a better place because I got a place, a different I worked for a different company and you know, uh started doing everything. And yeah, I just it just kept on. And it's it's just like I'm one blessing after another that I was my road was going and I was learning so much so fast, you know, that and I was absorbing it all. That I got to a point to where I felt that I could actually go live on my own, and that's what I did. I went to find a place uh closer to where the uh company I was lit I was working for. Uh and and I'm it was like amazing because I had to just walk downstairs. I was on the top floor, and our office where I had to get was on the bottom floor, and I just had to walk downstairs to get to my job and go to the office, and then uh our boss would ask us, tell us what's gonna happen who where we're going, and then we get in the truck and go on to our business. You know, so it was a perfect thing for me. You know, I didn't have to go 30, 40 minutes off out of my way to to get to a job. Yes, no getting lost. Yeah, yeah. You know, uh but yeah, and and and you know, I've had some really good, great talks with my uh, you know, Doug French. Um and it was a blessing, you know, uh that uh he gave me that opportunity, yeah, because some of the other halfway houses didn't want to give it to me. He says he never regrets it, you know. So I'll be going up to working for him here pretty soon, as soon as he pays me$50 an hour.

SPEAKER_03 24:23

Well, good. You can drive a hard bargain now, man. Did you hear that, Doug?$50 an hour. Yeah, that's what he wants, okay? We're the labor negotiators.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

So you so you recently you're you're obviously you're looking at other things in the future, but you just launched your own business.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yes, I did. I launched uh Second Chance Services in LLC. Uh I want to be able to give back to the community and and uh help other ex-convicts coming out, residents coming out. Uh I want to give them a job uh for them to learn and get better and get in the spot that I've gotten. Because I feel like I've done 42 years straight. For somebody as myself, who was so ignorant of the world, of the technology, you know, to come out after that long and be able to make it, I can honestly say that if I can do it, and I believe that the majority of us, what we need is we really need that person that to really believe in us. And had if I not had Mario, if I would not had Doug French, all these other people that are helping me, I probably would not have made it. It made it easier for me, you know, to be able to be surrounded by people that were like-minded, that want to, that wanna force you to help you get you, get on, you know, uh, and and make it in society. And I truly believe that that's what's why I'm here still, because I have I really have a strong uh support system, support people around me. Now you're stepping into that role. And exactly. Now I want to step in that role and give back and help others, you know. Um I already have the business going, you know. I'm I'm just doing one step at a time. And it's the same thing. And the the the the what's the ironic about this is that Mario has the nonprofit learning how to live. That's exactly what I'm doing, learning how to live.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

Sounds like you titled that pretty accurately there, Mario.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Yeah, yeah. Man, uh, I gotta say, you know, uh uh, you know, obviously we all have busy lives, you know, and we uh lost touch a little bit, but we always seem to reconnect a little bit along the way. Um but the progress that I see and the progress that you know that that that everybody else sees is amazing. And Rodney, that's that's what people need to see out here. Is it doesn't matter if uh how bad the the the community sometimes tends to look at people that get out of prison, right? And it's our job right here to tell the stories of the people that are transitioning to the community and tell them that anybody and everybody uh that gets out of incarceration is capable of that change. And you have found it. Yeah, and uh, you know, it's crazy because um are you happy?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Oh, totally. I mean, I'm I'm overjoyed. And you know, and it's a blessing. I see I wake up, you know, a lot of people ask me, how come you're not angry? You know, why aren't you sad or hurt? And I said, you know, because all that would I was at one time and it poisoned me and it kept me. I feel like it kept me inside for so long that it didn't allow me to see anything, to see the real beauty of life and the people around me that surrounded me. Uh and I look back at I look back at times that when people did try to help me, I didn't think they were trying to help me. I always thought they were trying to play me, that they were trying to manipulate me or whatever, you know, into doing, you know, their bid. But in reality, there are people that want to help you, you know. It's just the way of our mindset is. And mine for so long was just it was bad, you know. Sure. But to be when you give that open that door and you give that person that chance and you see it, it'll it'll it just continues. And that's what I think has been happening to me. That like I say, when I go to bed, I kind of go to bed. I feel like I go I go to bed happy and I wake up happy. You know, I don't think to be quite honest with you, I've had not one bad experience or bad day since I've been out in the last two years. You know, because no matter what, if it's a if it's a setback or whatever, it's not a big one. I know I've learned how to take the bad and make it good. And if I can't do it by myself, then I go and I read I look at I call I call on the people that support me. Yeah. You know, so you know, that and they teach me, they'll they'll help me.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Yeah. Rule number one, yeah. Freedom's a big miracle, and you're not taking it for granted. Oh, yeah, definitely no. I don't take that for granted. Are you still uh moved by the flowers?

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Oh yeah. I plant flowers now. You're helping that part out too. I plant flowers. I beautiful beautify people's yard.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

That's funny. We just I had a customer come in here to to for a purpose, and uh they I just started talking with them, and the lady says, Well, you know, my mom's getting older, and uh gosh, I sure wish that I could find somebody to help her with the landscaping. And I said, Oh, I know just the right guy. And now they're that's they're like Rodney's best friends now. They're taking pictures with them and they're like, Hey, we're gonna have a barbecue, we're gonna have Mario and Rodney over.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

We're gonna I can't remember when I can remember when I first got that. I because I didn't hear I don't think I heard from Mario. I it was that person, I think, just called me and said, Hey, do you know Mario? I said, Yeah. Well, Mario referred me to you, and you know, so we that's when we went from there. And she asked me, uh, I can remember. She started asking me if I knew about landscaping. I said, Yeah. She goes, Well, I need you to work for me. Will you work for me a couple hours and do a little a little thing, something small? And depending on how we get along from there, we can uh, you know, I'll decide on what to do. And I said, Oh, girl, we're gonna get along. I says, we're gonna get along. I says, I'm a very like a good likable guy. I says, Man, I'm I'm awesome. I says, I'm a hard worker, and sure enough, you know, now she calls me cousin. We're cousins. And it's only been two weeks. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

She introduced me to her mom, and her mom, yeah, her mom loves me, and I work for her mom too. You know, yeah. So yeah, yeah, handcrafted.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

That's how you build a business, man. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

So some of the great stories, you know. You know, I gotta tell you, I'm I'm proud that you've even you went over through a lot, went over a lot of hurdles, and I've watched you, you know. I've I'm uh you know, I get busy, but I still watch you, I still see what's going on, and um I haven't seen you falter. And uh I know that you have a faith as well that guides you too. And I, you know, I like to talk about that a little bit just because um you're a faithful person, right, Rodney? Yes, I am. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

And you know, going back a little bit when I was telling you about my my upbringing, my father didn't believe in Christ, you know, he didn't believe in religion or anything. And so I I don't know if I was an atheist or I just don't don't ever remember, you know, wanting to learn about God, you know. And so I remember it it took me a while, so I never believed, but it wasn't until you know 2010 my mother passed away, you know, and um I I I remember I used to do a lot of taught tell her a lot of things that I was gonna do to when I got out, if I ever got out, because I was still hurt and I was still things were happening to my my mom that I, you know, that I didn't like, and she was passing away in 2020, and uh May 2nd, 2005, she passed away. But before she passed away, I was able to talk to her for about a five-minute call. You know, I was living in Florida, I was in the prison system up there, and it was kind of bad, and worse than Way Idaho was, and I can remember hearing my mom's voice, you know, talking to her, and she was telling me to be good, she was telling me to behave, and I I could always remember telling her, Mom, I tried, I'd done everything. I said, Mom, I didn't these are her last words to me. You didn't try God. Wow. And I tell you, at the time it didn't really dawn on me. It didn't really faze me. I mean, I didn't understand it. But I was just in tears. They hung up the phone on me. That's how it was brutal. I was so mad. They hung up the phone on me because they only gave you the five minutes. I remember going home going back to my r my my bunk area, crying. I was in pain, I was I was hurting, you know. And I I really wanted to do some things that I just hell I don't want to talk about now, you know, but I know God took the took those those thoughts away from me as as time went on, now that I realize it. But I think it was like years a couple years later, some friends helped me get back to Idaho. And I remember coming to Idaho, back to Idaho after she passed away. I was trying, she was, they were trying to get me here to be here to see her. So you were in Florida, right? Yeah, and I was in Florida. Prison. Yeah. And but she passed away before I could actually see her, when I before I got here. When I got here, when I really focused and I thought about what she said, was I kept getting locked up back and forth in confinement because of my past. And even though I was changing my life and I was trying to direct myself in a better path, my name kept coming up because of who I was in the past. And uh I kept getting locked up. And it was in 2014 that I just my last time that they locked me up, and uh I went to I'd say because my names kept popping up while I was there. I remember when they shut the door on me. I cried. I cried like a child, got on my knees and I was in pain. And I can remember hearing my mom's voice, you never tried God. You never tried God. And sure enough I said a prayer and said, Man, I don't know who you are, anything about you. But if you're truly out there, I am seeking your help. And I look back when I went to bed that night, I went to bed in peace. When I woke up the next morning, I was at peace. I got up and I filed a grievance. I felt like they wronged me. They shouldn't have locked me up and uh I filed the grievance and thirty days later I I won it. And I was let back out. And I made a promise to God that I would continue to follow him. And sure enough, I went to church. Doors were opening that I could never imagine would open. I was being allowed to go to school. I became a teacher assistant uh for a really good teacher, um Mr. Durant. I was working for him first. Then Mr. Strobel came in. Um I met some people that came in. I I became a facilitator for um the alternative to violence project. I started teaching for almost eight years twice a week at uh in the education, I mean in the chaplain area against violence. I spoke against violence. Um yeah, doors just opened up to where now because uh I really truly believed in Christ that uh and I believe that God, when God realized that I was truly had my eyes open that uh I was being sincere, that He gave me these blessings. I started a Mexican American history program in there. Start we taught uh yeah, the Mexican uh I just I taught uh a lifers program. I just got was I was being blessed in every angle that I was happening that could never happen before. And I contributed that because I I truly believe in Christ now. So without God, I don't think I could I would never have been able to make it. You know, so that's where my belief is. And I still know. I go to church every Sunday, you know. I I I do my thing. I give back to the community and I just try to stay and walk that faith, you know, continuously. Uh yeah. Uh well good.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

So that's the story that we tell for everybody out there is that redemption is out there for anybody that wants it. And I and I I I've always a firm believer, Rodney, and um everybody wants change. Not everybody knows how to get it. Most people don't use their support systems, and you did. And that's that's that's not just impressionable, but it's important and it's and it's it's valuable to show people that are out there that are listening that they know that if you make that choice to use your support systems the way you're supposed to, because um it's preached in there, but some people are like, yeah, support systems, support system, whatever, you know. But when you really do use it, you stay out. You stay out. Yeah, you stay out.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

And and you know, that's something that I've learned. Because as you remember, when we first met, I was trying to do a recidivism uh documentary. And I interviewed a lot of people because I wanted to know why why are you coming back to prison? You ain't you you haven't been out but 90 days or 30 days or whatever, 60 or uh you know, they don't last very long out there. And a lot of them would always come back because they said that they wouldn't tell me things that, oh the probation officer didn't like me, or or my they would always have an excuse that I felt like nah, it can't be like that, you know. You you're just not doing the right thing. There's something's wrong there, you know. But they try to always convince me that it was somebody else's fault. And I get out here now and I see the real interactions. I interact with the probation officers and parole. I interact with officers and everything, and you know, it's how we react and we respond to them that makes a choice of how they're gonna deal with us. You know, if we make that bad choice and we we we don't, you know, do the right thing, then well, this is what's gonna happen to you. That's it. And that's what's been going on. That's it. They don't want to accept uh I guess the responsibility um or face the truth of what they're doing, they cause, because we make our own choices. Right. You know. And uh I think I I I I believe I I know I I have hard times. I really do have hard times. But the the positive side to that is that, like what you just said, Mario, is that I learned how to utilize my support team. If I didn't use that support team to get the help and the talk, to help me understand things, I probably I probably would have failed too, you know. Yeah, but it is it is it is uh solid that you have to you have to go after your your your support team, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Well, yeah, and if people say, hey, my support team isn't big enough, you guys keep adding numbers to the support team, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Yeah. Well, that's that's you know, it's been a great story, uh, Wayne and and uh uh Rodney. Can I get one message from you that you want people to hear? And let's kind of group a bunch of people in. People that are listening, that uh have never been in prison, uh, people that have family members that are in prison, people that just got out of prison, people that are in prison because this will still be on the air uh through the prison system because they can still get on 89.9 FM and uh get it there at Radio Boise. And uh um yeah, what do you uh what can you tell everybody?

SPEAKER_01 41:40

You know, for those who are still in car and who are still incarcerated, that can listen and know, that know me, they know my history, they've been around me through the bad and the good. I'm sure they can see the change. They saw the change. I'm out now, I'm free when we never thought I'd ever be out. To be in the spot where I'm at, I feel that a lot of us have to change. And that change that you make, you have to make it within yourself. If you don't make that change within yourself and accept that change, then it's gonna be hard for you. No matter what. If you come out here, even if you have a support group or whatever, it's gonna be hard because it has to start within yourself. That's number one. For those who are still or who have loved ones incarcerated, don't ever give up on them. Because the moment that you give up, that's when they give up. I've been there and I've been through that. When people are incarcerated and they feel no hope that they don't have anybody behind them, they lose and they get lost. And it's hard to find them. So don't ever give up on them. So it's a great message.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Yeah, very great. Yeah. Thanks for your story. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Yeah, it was amazing. I really appreciate it, Rodney. Good episode.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Could be a series.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Yeah, definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's a pleasure having you in, Rodney. And uh we'll uh we'll have another one soon, maybe next week, uh Mario?

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, next week, a week from today. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_03 43:27

Well, this has been Reform and Real. Um, I'm one of your hosts, Wayne Burt, joined by Mario Hernandez. Thanks for listening. See you next week. Yeah, see you next week.