Today I received commutation support forms from the Innocence Project. These forms are for my peers (other prisoners) to express their thoughts about me, as a form of character reference for the board of pardons. I, nor anyone who I know, never even thought about statements from prisoners being of value in this process, or for any other process. However, I began passing out these forms to other men on my block (T-block). Most, no all of the men had the same reaction. They had no idea that this was a thing. Could a prisoner's word or opinion being valued, by the Board of Pardons? It really caught many including myself off guard. One man whom I respect and value his opinion came to me maybe thirty minutes after I gave him the form and said, "I'm nobody why would they want this from me?" That question made me think about the countless encounters that have the incarcerated feeling like "nobody". Strip searches, shake downs, misconducts when we clearly are in the right and where the facts point to our stance, yet we are still held accountable. How many times have our cries for unjust treatment been met with disbelief and been dismissed, strictly because we're "inmates"? There are innumerable examples of disinvestment, debilitating restrictions even after paying our debt to society. This depressed mental state and lowered value of self remains, continuing to feel like " nobody" once these women and men return to society. We must begin to care about what happens to the least of our fellow Americans. We are all held to the limitations of oppressive systems. Abuse of prisoners both mental and physical, is revisited on society as a whole when they fail to reenter successfully. Recidivism is not just a word that impacts those who recidivate. It impacts families, communities and our entire Nation. Programs like T.I.E.R Mann Up and others are designed to help address these issues and more. It is time that we demand better, for our future neighbors. For their sake and ours.