Latest / Nightmare Success In and Out / Redemption Behind Bars, A Story Of Hope: Jason Holland
Transcript
- 0:01What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
- 0:04Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
- 0:07Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
- 0:11nightmares that set yourself free.
- 0:13We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
- 0:15Leavenworth with and others who survived their own nightmare.
- 0:20These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad, There's some
- 0:24humor, but hopefully you can come away with a nugget of
- 0:27something that'll help you knock down some of the prisons you
- 0:29built up in your own mind. All right, welcome back
- 0:34nightmare success in and out. Listeners, This is where you
- 0:36come for what happens when your worst year becomes your reality.
- 0:39How do you adapt, survive, overcome, set yourself free?
- 0:43Wow, do I have a very fascinating, interesting guest
- 0:48today. I've been deep into his story.
- 0:52We had a long conversation on the phone the other day.
- 0:54And this is one of those stories that to summarize it really
- 1:01quickly, and some of you might have have heard about this story
- 1:04back in the 90s, but it was it was six teenagers in the
- 1:07backyard and there was a fight and fight was pretty, pretty
- 1:16brutal. And some brothers and some
- 1:19friends and a guy that sold marijuana and and someone died
- 1:25and it was Jimmy Farris and he was the son of a police officer.
- 1:29And the the story got so much press with these teenage boys is
- 1:36out in California in a small, smaller towns, a suburb town.
- 1:42And they hadn't had a lot of this.
- 1:44And it was one of those stories that really, I think picked up a
- 1:48lot of steam for a lot of reasons.
- 1:51But the 3/3 of the teenagers got charged with felony murder, with
- 1:57life without parole. And it's, it's I've got Jason
- 2:05Holland with me today who ended up, he's with me today.
- 2:08So obviously he's not life without parole.
- 2:11He served 28 years. And when I talk about the people
- 2:15that picked up on this, I mean, it's it's there was a
- 2:17documentary done on this. It's called Reckless
- 2:20Indifference. Actor Charles Grodin did a play
- 2:23and directed that play called The Prosecution of Brandon Hine.
- 2:29Alan Dershowitz was a guy that was very much a part of having
- 2:34an opinion on this. One of his quotes was that the
- 2:39the prosecutors terrorized the jury into believing the
- 2:41defendants were gang members and it it kind of tainted the whole
- 2:45feel of how this was was played out in the courtroom.
- 2:49The Rolling Stone magazine lynching in Malibu teens on
- 2:53trial. Wow.
- 2:56It's, it's just a, it's an in depth story about all of this
- 3:02and all the different things that happened.
- 3:05But it's, it caught the attention of a lot of people.
- 3:11And I've had the pleasure of Travis Ritchie connected me to
- 3:15Jason Holland. Travis was on this show and he's
- 3:18done some great things with his life since he got out of prison.
- 3:22And I, I can't wait to jump on to this Jason Holland story
- 3:27because he's doing great things with his life now.
- 3:29And, and, but at first, I want to recognize show sponsor
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- 4:04deserve Auto Plaza direct telling Brent from nightmare
- 4:06success sent you Jason Holland welcome in welcome.
- 4:10Thanks for having a. Good time.
- 4:12Absolutely, thanks for having me.
- 4:14So, yeah, I mean it this, this story, you know, after we got
- 4:18off the phone, I, I, I started looking at, at all the different
- 4:22things that went on with this. This is, you know, 95, I think
- 4:25is when you were in trial in 96. And then, you know, 28 years
- 4:29later, you've been out since 2023.
- 4:32And I've been following. I looked at your, your Instagram
- 4:38and social media. You, you have also taken a
- 4:41bucket list things of things once you've gotten out.
- 4:43I'm sure there were things that you thought of while you were in
- 4:46that I'm I'm going to do this. And if you're jumping out of
- 4:49planes and you're diving in, you know, the oceans and really
- 4:53cool. But Jason, take us back before
- 4:59the event. What, what was going on in your
- 5:02life growing up? Take us back to that.
- 5:09So that's a, that's a pretty heavy question, right?
- 5:15I think that's what's important is when I look back on it now,
- 5:21I, I'm looking at it from a much different lens than how I was
- 5:24experiencing as a, as a youth. And so I grew up in ultimately a
- 5:29really good household. You know, I had two parents and
- 5:32at home, while my mom did get divorced from my biological
- 5:36father at 5, my stepfather married my mother at 8 and, you
- 5:41know, moved us out to California.
- 5:46There were complications and challenges within the family
- 5:49unit. You know, there was violence,
- 5:51there was some drug use and things like that.
- 5:56And it's hard for me to really paint a picture that I had a
- 6:00terrible childhood childhood because I didn't, I had some
- 6:03experiences that were good, some experiences that were negative,
- 6:06but I, I had a great childhood in terms of like I grew up in
- 6:09Southern California. I played sports.
- 6:11I had opportunities and access to a lot of things that many
- 6:15people don't now. At the time of 1995, what I was
- 6:23going through was in 93, my mom sent my brother and I away to a
- 6:29boarding school in Missouri. We were there for a year.
- 6:33That was a very difficult experience for me at the time.
- 6:37Yeah, You were 13. Years old.
- 6:40Then I was, I was 15, my brother was 12, came back when I was 16
- 6:44and. Into the Midwest.
- 6:48Yeah. And so we went through our
- 6:51experiences in that, in that school, that boarding school.
- 6:54And when I came back, how long were?
- 6:57You. There, I was there for a year, a
- 6:59year, yeah. So when I came back, I tried to
- 7:03reintegrate with, you know, my friends here.
- 7:06And things had changed for me. Things had changed in my town.
- 7:10And one of the ways that I dealt with it, like the social and
- 7:14academic pressures that I was facing at the time, was I just
- 7:17started smoking weed. And I was telling myself that it
- 7:21was fun, but really what it became was numbing and escape.
- 7:26And the truth is, is I just didn't want to deal with the
- 7:29pressures that I I deemed other people to be placing upon me.
- 7:33And so it was easier for me to just go get high, find friends
- 7:38that like to get high. And at the time, I gravitated to
- 7:42a group of friends who were not not only into getting high, but
- 7:46they were into crime as well. And so through exposure with
- 7:52them and through encouraging them to do bad things and them
- 7:55encouraging me like it just progressed.
- 7:57And so my behavior became progressively worse and
- 8:01reckless. And so within a matter of two
- 8:04years, you know, I was using experimenting with a lot of
- 8:08drugs. I was drinking frequently.
- 8:11I was school was not in really a real issue in my life because I
- 8:17was just truant all the time. But it said when I was reading
- 8:21about you, yeah, Jason, that you had you were smart.
- 8:25I mean, you you didn't have to try very hard and you were AB
- 8:27student and even though you weren't going to school that
- 8:31much, you were you were getting by with school.
- 8:35So it wasn't like you were a bad student as far as not getting
- 8:39what was there. It's just that somehow you
- 8:41weren't plugged in. I'm, and I was curious about
- 8:44that time period that you were in that boarding school.
- 8:48I guess I, I think about that. I think that that's got to be so
- 8:51weird for, for a California kid to come into a, a, a, it was, I
- 8:56think it was a Baptist boarding school type situation.
- 8:59What? What was that like for you to to
- 9:01go from that to that? It was difficult.
- 9:09It was very much to me like a prison at the time, very
- 9:12confusing because they in that school, I was there with my
- 9:17brother, they had a lot of like a strange rules.
- 9:20So for probably 3 months at the time that I was there, I wasn't
- 9:23even allowed to talk to my brother even though I would see
- 9:25him. They had these rules about stuff
- 9:27like that. And like they had these, they
- 9:29had the kids placed in tears, I guess you could say, in terms of
- 9:33privileges, who they could and could not interact with, what
- 9:36they could and could not do. So it was a, it was a somewhat
- 9:39oppressive environment. It was very much they forced
- 9:41fetish religion. And so do you.
- 9:45Think they had an effect on you going?
- 9:47Back to Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- 9:49And it, and it not only had an effect on me then, but I many, I
- 9:53realized many years later, it just had an effect on me
- 9:55spiritually in my relationship with how I perceive God or, you
- 10:00know, just religion or any kind of spiritual walk in my life.
- 10:02I didn't realize it at the time. I just became a really defiant,
- 10:07belligerent teenager when I got home, especially when I was
- 10:10given access and freedom and I wasn't sort of being kept under
- 10:15thumb by the staff that was at that school.
- 10:17So it was a, it was a difficult time, challenging time for me to
- 10:20say the least. And so when I came back, and
- 10:24it's actually, I'm glad you mentioned that because being
- 10:26that my mom sent me there at the time, the, the way that I told
- 10:30myself that story was that she had betrayed me.
- 10:32And that gave me the reason, the, the excuse and the license
- 10:35to just basically do whatever I wanted, right?
- 10:39And so, and I, I harbored this resentment towards her and I
- 10:44harbored it because it allowed me to, to the permission to do
- 10:47whatever I wanted to do. I didn't realize this at the
- 10:51time. This took, this came to me many
- 10:52years later, But so when I came back, I, I was running reckless
- 10:58and wild. My behavior was progressively
- 11:00getting worse and it was getting to the point to where like I was
- 11:08willing to use violence on people to get what I wanted and
- 11:11so on. Then May 22nd, 1995, that's
- 11:14exactly what I did. And it was extreme violence.
- 11:16And Jimmy Farris lost his life. His his best friend, Michael
- 11:21Mclaurin was critically wounded. Their families were traumatized
- 11:25and the community was traumatized.
- 11:27And we went to prison. Yeah, but it there's a lot in
- 11:33that because, you know, the, the struggle that that I read about,
- 11:38I mean, whether you say it or not, your your brother was just
- 11:42getting absolutely pummeled as a older brother, you were, I think
- 11:47the the adrenaline and the protection of, of trying to pull
- 11:50him off and and the whole craziness of you guys being
- 11:56high, been drinking that day and and the other guys, you know,
- 12:02the whole thing sounds like a bad movie.
- 12:06And you know, the situation of how it developed was fast.
- 12:12It sounded. I mean, when I read about it,
- 12:13it's just like you weren't even sure that Jason, you, you've,
- 12:19you looked at the pocket knife and you weren't even sure.
- 12:22But then you knew that you had, you'd stabbed Mike and and then
- 12:27when Jimmy came around and you'd been kicked in the head, you
- 12:30stabbed just as a adrenaline. So you the, the, the rush of
- 12:34what I understand is, is when you guys ran out of there and
- 12:38you're sitting on the curb, you're like, man, I, I, I, I
- 12:41think I, I stabbed those guys with my pocket knife out of this
- 12:45whole thing. And and I know that the
- 12:47craziness of the never under an overlook, somebody lost their
- 12:53life and, and it's a horrible situation and, and you've and
- 12:58and three other guys went through a a hellacious
- 13:00experience. But man, that sounds like it was
- 13:03a nightmare that that happened in that moment.
- 13:07And you know, and you know, you and I have talked to you said,
- 13:10do you wish you could take away everything that happened?
- 13:12Absolutely. Absolutely.
- 13:14And I want to be really clear, Brent.
- 13:15Like looking back on it now, I knew what I did.
- 13:22I knew the gravity of my actions and I used my brother was
- 13:26involved and I used that as sort of a way to minimize my actions
- 13:31later and to justify like why I would have done such a thing,
- 13:34especially once we were under trial.
- 13:36But I definitely don't want to try to avoid responsibility or
- 13:41minimize my actions today. There, there was nothing that
- 13:44Mike Mclaurin or Jimmy Farris ever did for me to take things
- 13:47to that extreme. I had no business being on their
- 13:49property or doing what I was doing or living the lifestyle
- 13:53that I was living. One of the things that I
- 13:55realized is I was living my life in a way at that time where
- 13:58sooner or later someone was going to get hurt or I was going
- 14:01to. And on that day, it happened to
- 14:03be them and. The and the other thing that I
- 14:05think that was such a heavy burden for you at that time is
- 14:09that you did it and the other guys because of this felony
- 14:14murder law that they didn't kill somebody and they didn't charge
- 14:21manslaughter. They caught, they charged
- 14:22murder, they didn't it wasn't self-defense, it wasn't
- 14:25manslaughter. They charged murder, but they
- 14:27charged felony murder. So these other people, even
- 14:29though that they didn't do it, they were charged as felony
- 14:32murder and they got the life sentence.
- 14:34And I think, you know, I can't imagine, you know, that feeling
- 14:39of having to deal with the fact that I'm the one that did this.
- 14:43I can't believe that my brother and the friend and whatever is
- 14:46is is being charged with the exact same thing.
- 14:49And, and I, it would have been a lot to deal with.
- 14:52I mean, I would I, I, as I, as I read through all your stuff, I
- 14:56was like, man, that's, that's just the heaviness of that is,
- 14:59is and, and I, I was wondering when you were going through
- 15:03that, you know, I know that there was, I don't know how many
- 15:06days it went by that you, your, your mom made a plea and out to
- 15:11the TV and, and, and then you, you turn yourself in.
- 15:14She took you to the the sheriff, so she was able to do that.
- 15:20And then there was that moment where you said I loved you and
- 15:22she said, I love you too, babe. I mean, it's also gripping.
- 15:28It's like what as a kid at that time, what, what in the world
- 15:32was going through your mind? At that point in time, OK, so
- 15:39once I realized the gravity of my actions and the extent of it,
- 15:42that Jimmy Farris had lost his life, I just was thinking, I
- 15:46can't fix this. I can't take this back.
- 15:48This isn't something that you can just return to someone as if
- 15:50you stole something, right? This is a final action.
- 15:53So I was really overwhelmed and almost just seemed surreal, like
- 15:59I couldn't believe that this was the situation.
- 16:02And then I went on the run. And during that time, I had
- 16:06heard that they were charging my Co defendants with murder.
- 16:11And it's very much true that they didn't even know that a
- 16:13stabbing had occurred, right? And I couldn't stay on the run
- 16:18and let that be. My conscience wouldn't let me do
- 16:21that. So my hope was that I could turn
- 16:23myself in, I could accept responsibility for my actions
- 16:26and that my Co defendants would go free.
- 16:29We didn't know about the felony murder rule at the time.
- 16:31That was something that we had never.
- 16:32Heard of, didn't either. Yeah.
- 16:35And there's been laws or or bills that have been, I'm not
- 16:38sure I didn't go deep enough into it that they if they
- 16:41changed that. But there's been looked like
- 16:45looking through that, there were several people that tried to
- 16:47change that law. Well, they've definitely made
- 16:51some adjustments to it now. But yeah, at the time it was
- 16:56very broad. And so they prosecuted us pretty
- 17:01aggressively, rightfully so. And we all ended up with life
- 17:07sentences at the time the four of us did.
- 17:10Well, I want to go into that stepping into this whole trial
- 17:15thing and and everything surrounded before I do, I want
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- 18:26Nightmare Success is sponsored by the White Collar Support
- 18:28Group. It's the world's first support
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- 18:32criminal justice journey. I'm a member of the White Collar
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- 18:59So Jason on when you walk in, turn yourself in.
- 19:08I'm, I'm sure walking in there and knowing what was in front of
- 19:12you, how long did it take for that whole process to to happen?
- 19:18You mean just initially getting booked?
- 19:20No, just you, you walk in there. It's it's may what you it.
- 19:26Was May, June, so I believe at that point it was June 9th or
- 19:31June 10th on the day that I turned myself.
- 19:33You turned yourself in. Yeah.
- 19:35So you walk in, you don't know anything about what's going to
- 19:37happen next. Do you get an attorney?
- 19:39Do you? How does it?
- 19:40How does it all unravel? Yeah, so that's that's true.
- 19:46I really had no idea of what I was walking into.
- 19:49But eventually I did get an attorney.
- 19:51My mom found an attorney for me within a matter of, I would say
- 19:55a month, maybe, because I initially had a public defender.
- 19:58But then there was someone that she hired within 30 days, and we
- 20:03began the court process. And a lot of it's really murky.
- 20:08As I look back on it, I have these moments that stand out.
- 20:12Yeah, it's been quite some time. And I have some moments that
- 20:15stand out. But yeah, it, it was, I think it
- 20:18was pretty much a typical court experience.
- 20:20I was lucky enough to have an attorney and we were tried
- 20:28together, stood. Out to you like.
- 20:29What was that? What were the moments that stood
- 20:31out to you now, looking back on it?
- 20:34Oh, I think like key moments in the court, like key decisions
- 20:38that were made where they decided to try us all together.
- 20:41Or there was a moment where the judge allowed the prosecution to
- 20:45introduce a crime spree theory. And it was the crime spree
- 20:48theory that really enabled them to anchor us to felony murder.
- 20:55Because up until that point, there wasn't a whole lot of
- 20:58evidence to support that. But with crime spree theory, all
- 21:02they had to do was essentially say that we had done these three
- 21:06things throughout the day that established identity and intent.
- 21:10And once they were able to put that together, and that was a
- 21:12probably one of the biggest controversial decisions of the
- 21:15trial, the fact that the judge allowed that because that's that
- 21:19was really the thing that that put it all together well.
- 21:22And I think there was an interesting thing about the
- 21:24judge, and I can only I'm only speaking from my behalf, not on
- 21:27you, that this judge was someone who had some high profile Robert
- 21:35Downey junior, Gary Busey. And there was some high profile
- 21:41things that happened and he let him off on probation.
- 21:43I think from reading I I also think he was looking for a case
- 21:49to to come down and show that he was tough on crime.
- 21:52And this happened to be at that moment in time of the place was
- 21:56on fire. People are upset and, and it
- 22:01appeared that this judge who had been someone who was seen as
- 22:05lenient before, looked at this case and really came down hard.
- 22:09And, and and I'm not saying that you're saying that.
- 22:11I'm saying that that's what I'm reading from how people it
- 22:15appeared that he just didn't like these kids and he was going
- 22:18to do whatever the hardest that he could do to to show and make
- 22:22a point. But being what it was, you ended
- 22:28up getting life without parole. And I just wonder, you know, not
- 22:35too many people. I mean, we see it in movies.
- 22:38But when somebody tells you life without parole, what, how do
- 22:43you, how do you eat that elephant?
- 22:46What, what goes through your mind when somebody says you're
- 22:49done, you're, you're going to go to prison forever and not get
- 22:54parole? Yeah.
- 22:55So I, I, I don't have a good answer for that.
- 22:58I think I checked out and just sort of, you know, the lawyers
- 23:02at the time were telling us that, well, hey, you have a you
- 23:05have a hope for appeal. The the prospects for an appeal
- 23:08look good. And you hang.
- 23:09I hung I hung on to that right going in to prison.
- 23:13Yeah. And and also there were some
- 23:14more pressing concerns for me now like I was AI was not a big
- 23:18guy. I was a young younger guy and I
- 23:20knew I was out of my depth and I was getting now ushered off into
- 23:24level 4 prison in California. And I knew that it was going to
- 23:28potentially be pretty dangerous. And so that was really at that
- 23:32point, I was just more like, survive this rather than worry
- 23:37so much about my time. It was just like, let's, let's
- 23:39go. Because there's no avoiding it.
- 23:41It just felt like this look, it's, it's one of those things
- 23:44like you got a reckoning coming. This sword's dangling over you
- 23:47and you're going to have to face it.
- 23:48There's no wiggling, there's no maneuvering.
- 23:51So that's kind of where I was at, like.
- 23:53Well, and I and I have a lot of conversations with people
- 23:55because I do this show and a lot of people will ask me, you know,
- 23:58as they're going into prison, nothing like what you are
- 24:01experiencing with love before prison, just the unknown of
- 24:03prison. Yeah.
- 24:04And you know what I say is that nothing is ever as bad as your
- 24:08mind makes it out to be. The unknown is the worst thing
- 24:10that you can do to yourself. And I think once you even as bad
- 24:13as it can be the worst information they can give you,
- 24:16at least you can start stepping off of that, stepping into it
- 24:20and dealing with it. But I still think that would be
- 24:23different if I knew I was going to a level 4 prison, because
- 24:27that's the very most violent place to be.
- 24:30And, and at 19 years old, you and I were talking about this
- 24:32before you got on. I mean, you more or less grew up
- 24:38in prison at 19 years old, you're a teenager.
- 24:43And, and you know, for the next 28 years of your life, you, you
- 24:46were going to, as far as you know, you're going to spend the
- 24:48rest of your life there. But you, you, you grew up in
- 24:52prison, which is fascinating, really, because you have to
- 24:56figure out so many things. Jason.
- 24:59Yeah, I did. I grew up, I matured in there.
- 25:02I learned a lot. I went down some dark paths and
- 25:05eventually I found the light. Yeah, so.
- 25:08And it's a let's. Talk about that because you, you
- 25:10were talking about that, you know, when you went in, you were
- 25:15so much different than than what she became while you were in.
- 25:18But walk us into that moment of you going into that and, and,
- 25:24and those times and years that you were there and you were, and
- 25:28walk us into how you found a different way because when you
- 25:33walked in, you were in a dark, dark space.
- 25:36So when you say walk into how I found a different way, do you
- 25:39mean like the moment when I really started to change my
- 25:41life? Well, when you walked into
- 25:44prison, how did you? How did you survive?
- 25:49How did you live before you transformed yourself?
- 25:52Yeah, So I think that when I walked into prison, there was a
- 25:58lot of, you know, California prison was different at that
- 26:00time. And there were a lot of
- 26:01different, like narratives and things.
- 26:03And I, I, I I just knew that I had to survive.
- 26:06And I'm going to be straight like I was.
- 26:08I knew I was out of my depth. I was never a tough guy.
- 26:10I was never a tough kid. I tried to project that and
- 26:13convince other people of that, but I knew like, I just didn't
- 26:18belong. But one, one thing, I remember
- 26:21having this conversation with these guys, these older guys,
- 26:25and they said, hey, So what are you going to do?
- 26:27And I said, what do you mean? And they said, well, you're
- 26:29doing life without, you're never going home, what are you going
- 26:31to do? And I was like, I don't know,
- 26:34what should I do? And one of them told me, he
- 26:36said, look, if I were you, I'd make a name for myself.
- 26:39And what they meant was, you know, get involved with all the
- 26:42stuff that convicts at the time get involved with and make a
- 26:46name. Because really at the time, I
- 26:48think for those guys, it seemed very true that that's what we
- 26:50had left like in the world. And so I bought into that.
- 26:54I bought into adopting a lot of the belief systems of my peers
- 26:57around me. And a large part of it was,
- 27:00look, I wanted to, I wanted to survive.
- 27:03I, I had been, you know, I'd allowed myself to be bullied
- 27:07before in my past. And one thing I was deathly
- 27:09afraid of was I didn't want to be doing a life without sentence
- 27:12and get bullied in prison. So survive, don't get bullied.
- 27:16And also I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be perceived as
- 27:21strong enough to sort of hold my own in there, right?
- 27:24I was, I was really afraid of being perceived as weak.
- 27:27So I was a 19 year old kid with a bunch of insecurities that
- 27:31knew he was way out of his depth.
- 27:33But I also knew from my previous criminality that I could, I
- 27:39could adopt behaviors and beliefs that were destructive in
- 27:43order to survive. I knew that I wouldn't have
- 27:46phrased it at that time, but that's exactly what I did.
- 27:49And so I became, in many ways, fraudulent, a chameleon.
- 27:53I would do what I needed to do to fit in.
- 27:55I was violent. I was involved with criminal
- 27:58activities, and I would tell myself all kinds of stories to
- 28:01justify that. And I was very much deceptive
- 28:07towards my family and friends who are supportive of me.
- 28:09And when I would get into trouble, I would say, I would
- 28:11say, hey, man, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just getting through this.
- 28:14And they would believe that no one really questioned me because
- 28:16they didn't know what I was going through.
- 28:19But could I have done things a lot differently?
- 28:21Perhaps there were guys that that navigated prison much more
- 28:24gracefully than I did. But I chose what I chose because
- 28:28I for me, it seemed like the best option at the time.
- 28:31And eventually I had a reckoning with that.
- 28:34I came to a place where I realized I had to make amends
- 28:38and changes for all of the harm that I had done to prison
- 28:43community, my outside community, to my friends, my family, the
- 28:47people that I had harmed, and also to myself.
- 28:49And that in itself was I was, I was at 19 years in when I
- 28:55reached my point where I realized that I call it my rock
- 28:59bottom, my Step 1 moment where I realized that, you know, all my
- 29:03supposed smarts and wits and everything that I thought I'd
- 29:06established in prison up until that time.
- 29:08Because that point I was established.
- 29:10I was much more confident with myself and like the world how it
- 29:13worked in prison, but I realized that all of it was just empty.
- 29:17And I had a real like, reckoning with myself, and I had to get
- 29:24really honest with myself about some things that needed to
- 29:26change, and I had to make some hard decisions.
- 29:29And I began that process of doing so and started seeing
- 29:34different results in my life. Was it?
- 29:35Just the moment, Jason, that you just felt like after 19 years
- 29:39you were just totally spent, just that you were empty.
- 29:43Is that, is that what brought you to that rock bottom moment?
- 29:45That I've got to do something different?
- 29:46Even though I'm here, I've got to feel different?
- 29:50Well, I think what happened for me, Brent was OK at that point
- 29:53in time. I was, there was a lot of things
- 29:56going on around me that I was no longer.
- 29:59So for instance, the criminality, being involved with
- 30:02politics in prison, smuggling, all the stuff that I was
- 30:05involved with, like my values had shifted that that was no
- 30:09longer working for me. And I was at odds with a lot of
- 30:12it, right. And I couldn't justify the
- 30:15things that I once had justified anymore.
- 30:18And I felt really out of place. I felt out of place with my
- 30:22peers. I felt like I had finally proved
- 30:25to everyone that I was as bad as I had projected myself to be.
- 30:29But I felt more fraudulent than ever.
- 30:31And so it just felt like I was like, it wasn't working and
- 30:36something needed to change. And I couldn't go on like this.
- 30:38And so when I realized like, hey, man, like this isn't going
- 30:41to work. And I was, I was at the point of
- 30:45I was either going to commit suicide.
- 30:47I was at like a depth of despair and hopelessness that all of my
- 30:51life had led to nothing but harm and destruction and chaos and
- 30:57lies. And so I reached this place of
- 31:01hopelessness and despair. And I was like, OK, well, what's
- 31:06it going to be? Am I going to continue doing
- 31:07this? Because I know how this is going
- 31:09to go. I'm just going to continue
- 31:10digging holes for myself and other people.
- 31:11And I just don't want that anymore.
- 31:14Am I going to change or am I going to just take myself out of
- 31:16the equation? And before I took myself out of
- 31:21the equation, I said, well, look, let me just try to change.
- 31:24And So what happened was I happened to be reading these
- 31:28like pamphlets from this group called ACCI, American
- 31:33Corrections Community Institute or something like that.
- 31:36And it was on one of the topics was on scripting.
- 31:41And scripting is the belief patterns that we pick up that
- 31:44impact our worldview and our place in the world.
- 31:48And as I was reading it, as I was so, so I'm at one point, I'm
- 31:52in conflict with myself and everything that I've been
- 31:54thinking about my position in the world and imprisoned
- 31:56specifically. And I'm trying to figure out how
- 31:59it can change that. But I'm at odds with that
- 32:00because I've bought into all these ideas and beliefs and this
- 32:03whole mode of conduct, Right. Well, I read this thing on
- 32:06scripting, and it says, look, man, a lot of people pick up
- 32:09scripts that they just adopt without ever really critiquing
- 32:12them. And I thought about it, and I
- 32:15was like, wait a second, what if all of my ideas about my place
- 32:18in the world are just scripts? Why can't I just change it?
- 32:22And so I started looking at that, and that was the real
- 32:26beginning of making all the decisions that came after that.
- 32:30And that takes courage. Well, it does too.
- 32:33I mean, to change on the outside here when you're not in prison
- 32:37takes courage, obviously. But when you're in prison and
- 32:40you've created this world for yourself and how people perceive
- 32:45you and then you're going to break from that.
- 32:49That's, that's something man, because you, you're going to,
- 32:52you have to find a whole different way of moving in
- 32:56prison, people you move with in prison.
- 33:00And that's something that's kind of hard to explain if you
- 33:04haven't been to prison. But people, it's very primitive.
- 33:08And I'm talking about it in a, in a much lower level than where
- 33:11you were at. But even at any level, when
- 33:15you're in a place where nobody leaves, the place gets
- 33:18primitive. And so there's people who hang
- 33:20out together and do things together.
- 33:23And you broke away from that and went another way.
- 33:26How, how was that proceed? How did how did you move out of
- 33:29that? So for one, I had to, I had to
- 33:36take steps to change who I was associating with.
- 33:39That was one. Then here's the deal though,
- 33:42with, with that environment, you, you can't just, you can't
- 33:46just run from problems because you're still there.
- 33:49Wherever you go, you're there, right?
- 33:51So not only did I have to change, yeah, not, did not only
- 33:54did I just change who I started hanging around, but I had to
- 33:57start changing how I responded to the environment, how I looked
- 34:00at opportunity. And So what happened was
- 34:04initially when I started making real changes in my life and I
- 34:09started getting involved with like looking at critiquing my
- 34:11thinking and my approach to the world and the prison
- 34:14specifically because at that time I wasn't really you sure,
- 34:18there was this wish that I could one day go home, but it was
- 34:21really just more like, as long as I can never come back to
- 34:23being in the place where I am right now, like spiritually,
- 34:26mentally, physically, like I'm, I'm good.
- 34:29I just don't want this anymore, right?
- 34:31I don't want to be involved with anyone getting hurt.
- 34:33I don't want to be involved with smuggling drugs and whatever
- 34:36else we were involved with, right?
- 34:37I just, I just want to go find something that has real value
- 34:41and meaning that I can contribute towards.
- 34:43Well, I read this book by Tony Robbins and it shifted.
- 34:47It just shifted my entire idea of what my potential was and
- 34:51what possibility was. And then I happened to land on a
- 34:54yard where there was these guys that were doing this innovative
- 34:58programming for like rehab and self help.
- 35:02And there happened to be a captain on that yard who knew me
- 35:05from my younger days. And so when I came on that yard,
- 35:08he said, hey, get him involved. And he opened the door for me to
- 35:11get involved with these guys. Well, I had just read this Tony
- 35:14Robbins book and like, I had read like Stephen's, Stephen
- 35:16Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
- 35:20And so my thinking is, OK, everything that I've been doing
- 35:23before, there's some value to it, but let's take the stuff
- 35:27that's valuable because not everything I was doing
- 35:29previously was wrong. I knew how to network, I knew
- 35:32how to problem solve. I knew how to like think and
- 35:34adjust and all that stuff. But now it was, let me take, let
- 35:38me take what was good from that because not all of it was bad,
- 35:42but let me apply it a new way with what I'm learning.
- 35:45And I started immediately seeing results, right?
- 35:48And what happened was Tony Robbins has this thing, he says,
- 35:51look, man, if if you want to, if you want to do something in your
- 35:54life, you go find the people that are doing it and bring them
- 35:56value. Well, these guys that were on
- 35:59this yard, they were doing what I wanted to do.
- 36:01So I just went to them and I was like, hey, give me something to
- 36:04do. They gave me, they gave me a
- 36:05task and I executed quickly and said, give me another one.
- 36:08I executed again, right? And all that was was just me
- 36:12bringing value to them and establishing credibility and
- 36:15reliability, right? And I realized over time that
- 36:19that's really one of the big keys for success because a lot
- 36:23of guys, they would come later and they would say, hey, give me
- 36:26a chance to the same guys, but they just wouldn't execute.
- 36:29And so I was just like, when you're the one guy who does in
- 36:32the room full of people who don't, you it's able to
- 36:35differentiate yourself and to stand out, right?
- 36:38And so that's what I did. Meanwhile, I kept continue
- 36:42learning. I invested in my education.
- 36:44I went to college, but I was also studying self help stuff.
- 36:48And I really started believing and serving the community.
- 36:51One of the things too that I picked up, it sounds corny, but
- 36:54the secret to living is giving. And I would just live in that.
- 36:58And I would go try to bring value to people in New York.
- 37:00I would try to get them involved with groups.
- 37:02I would try to encourage them to get involved with education.
- 37:05We would try to be a voice that really spoke to what's possible
- 37:11for us and how we can expand our horizons in here, how we can
- 37:14have a different level of value and meaning in here, aside from
- 37:18what we've been accepting for ourselves.
- 37:19Because up until that point, Brent, I realized that I had, I
- 37:22had been accepting a world that was very small, right?
- 37:26A very narrow scope of the world.
- 37:29Also, what happened was that specific yard, they had a couple
- 37:34of events that I had never experienced before and one of
- 37:40them was at the Five Ventures event, which is the organization
- 37:43I work for now. They help people learn
- 37:46entrepreneurship skills, develop entrepreneurship mindset, and
- 37:51there's character building but also business building.
- 37:53Well, they bring people into prisons and they bring
- 37:56volunteers and you have these workshops and these huge events.
- 38:00Well, for me, being involved with those events was like
- 38:04transporting me for the day from prison.
- 38:07And that experience was something that I would hold onto
- 38:12when times got difficult. And really the culmination
- 38:16event, the graduation event is like a rocket pitch competition
- 38:19where you're like, it's like a Shark Tank style thing and I
- 38:22happen to win. I just got lucky.
- 38:24It was my night. I won out of my class.
- 38:26You told. Me about this when we talked on
- 38:27the phone. Can you share that a little bit
- 38:28because? It Yeah.
- 38:29So it was really. Interesting how that all worked.
- 38:31So in the culmination event, the graduation of the five ventures,
- 38:36you've been building up your business concept all this time,
- 38:38building up a pitch and you, you, you've developed a business
- 38:41model and these investors and these volunteers are going to
- 38:43come in and they're going to basically judge you against your
- 38:45peers. And you, you work through a
- 38:47bracket system to get to the final five.
- 38:50And that's all I was hoping to do.
- 38:52It is like the Shark Tank. It's cool.
- 38:53They give you feedback and you get a chance to like step into
- 38:57something that is different than what at least I was accustomed
- 39:00to at the time. And also like it's a valuable
- 39:03experience. There's, there's these
- 39:04connecting exercises with the volunteers.
- 39:06You realize how much you have in common with them.
- 39:08They realize how much they have in common with you.
- 39:11And so it's very expansive, right, In terms of expanding
- 39:16like your idea of of what the world can be.
- 39:19Well, I made it to the final five and I got to pitch in front
- 39:23of some of my loved ones that came, some of the other families
- 39:26that came for the other guys. I think there were like 40 or 60
- 39:29of us in that cohort right at that time.
- 39:31And then all the volunteers and I pitched against four of my
- 39:35friends, one of them, my best friend, and I happened to win.
- 39:40It was my night. It was great.
- 39:42That experience validated so much of what I had thought I had
- 39:47in me. And that experience was
- 39:50something that just, I took it like you, you mentioned earlier,
- 39:53we were talking about small wins, right?
- 39:55That was a big win for me. And in the time since where
- 39:58there's been hardship and challenge and difficulty, I've
- 40:01often used that as a reference for, hey, look like, no, this is
- 40:07just a tough time. It's not how it's always going
- 40:09to be because I know I've done this before, right?
- 40:11I can get through this. I can learn this, I can adapt, I
- 40:13can pivot. Beliefs are all about
- 40:17references, right? So true.
- 40:19And there was a guy that talking about all these different books.
- 40:22So one guy says, you know, we we do a really good job of playing
- 40:24the bad movie in our mind. Sure, plug it in.
- 40:28And and what we really should be doing is plugging in that moment
- 40:31that you were proud of, the one that you knew that you
- 40:33conquered. You did well and you made you
- 40:35made yourself proud. That's the movie you should be
- 40:37playing when you get into tough times because you know that you
- 40:40conquered, that you had a whatever.
- 40:41Everybody's got their best moment, but for whatever reason,
- 40:45naturally, I don't know if it's environment or whatever, we plug
- 40:48in bad, the bad movie instead of taking the good movie that we
- 40:52that gives us confidence, it gives us strength, it gives us
- 40:54the will to fight all those different things that happened.
- 40:56But I so agree with what you're saying to that.
- 41:00So, so so I began to build up a whole new set of references,
- 41:05right? And also I learned so many tools
- 41:07like 1 is like when I'm at my worst or most self absorbed or
- 41:12feeling most insecure, the the, the cure for that is go find
- 41:16someone to help, right? Like they call it one of the
- 41:20medical mental health terms is extreme self focus on a
- 41:23continuum. The other side of that continuum
- 41:26to mental health, like that's mental unwellness.
- 41:28Mental Wellness is on the other side of the continuum is
- 41:31altruism, finding someone else to help, right?
- 41:34And that's not just in like mental health, but also you'll
- 41:38find that in 12 step work, right?
- 41:41It's so for me, being able to do that and bring it, realizing
- 41:45that I had a value to give to people and I in in that I had a
- 41:49value to receive from people has been a cure.
- 41:51It's been medicine, right? And it hasn't been perfect.
- 41:54But you keep I keep setting these points sort of as my aims
- 41:59and I use these tools as I go. And so it's been successful thus
- 42:02far. Well, you know, I had a guy on
- 42:06here, Damon W, who he, he's been, he, he was sentenced to 55
- 42:12years. He was burglarizing things.
- 42:14He, he, he was, he had gotten addicted to methamphetamine.
- 42:17So he burglaries were feeding his habit.
- 42:21But you sound like the coffee bean of the book that he writes.
- 42:25Because oh, I know of him now. The coffee bean guy?
- 42:27Yeah. It's, you know, it's the, it's
- 42:29the egg, the carrot, and you got to be the change.
- 42:32The coffee bean changes the water, the otherwise the water
- 42:35changes the carrot makes it soft, the egg makes it hard.
- 42:39But his whole thing is about being of service, but being the
- 42:43change. And so he was the change and,
- 42:46and now he goes out and he talks to everybody.
- 42:50You know, he's he's gone all through the SEC and and football
- 42:54and now he's talking to corporate and whatever.
- 42:56But his, his thing is, is right on point, Jason, to what you're
- 43:00talking about is, is being able to be of service and be the
- 43:05change. And then that gives you this
- 43:09confidence that you can continue to step forward.
- 43:13And you know, that's one of the reasons, you know, the people
- 43:15always when I first got started, like why, why is this called
- 43:17nightmare success? Like why are those two words
- 43:20together? And I and I, I was when I was
- 43:22walking the fence of Leavenworth, I always thought,
- 43:24you know, what are the two words that don't go together, that are
- 43:26always together? And it's, it's you're walking
- 43:29through your nightmare to get to whatever you perceive as your
- 43:32success. But the nightmare is your fears,
- 43:35your unknowns, those things that scare you.
- 43:39And, you know, it makes your stomach kind of, you know, turn.
- 43:42But if you continue to walk through it, you find your
- 43:44success, whatever that is. Everybody has a different
- 43:48definition for their own success.
- 43:50But it's really, I think it's freedom and freedom to believe
- 43:54in yourself. And I think somehow, some way,
- 43:58very unbelievably, you did that while you were in after 19
- 44:04years, and then you started teaching other people while you
- 44:07were. In Yeah, yeah.
- 44:08So absolutely that process was the process from when I began
- 44:14really taking real steps to change my life to coming home
- 44:16was nine years, right. And I learned the entire time,
- 44:22one of the biggest things that I, I, I have to say that I
- 44:25learned was prison had always been offering me a form of
- 44:30salvation. There had always been
- 44:32opportunities. I just refused to see them for a
- 44:35long time because in my mind, like the world owed me
- 44:39something. And it should be, it should come
- 44:42gift wrapped like a Christmas present.
- 44:44Where what, what I learned by the time I left was, you know,
- 44:49sometimes blessings come in ways that just aren't very
- 44:51comfortable. And it's up to us to to utilize
- 44:55that and live into that and see if we can contain the blessing
- 44:59that's involved, right? Like, can we contain?
- 45:02Can we be the vessel that actually nourishes this thing
- 45:05and stewards it so that it can be beautiful for me and for
- 45:09other people, right? And so like, yeah, I, I was
- 45:13blessed to stay in the work. I was facilitating a lot of
- 45:17groups. I started developing my own
- 45:19programs, involved with some just amazing things, man,
- 45:22Miracles, miracles, right? And by the time I left, I was
- 45:26just, I went through a lot of hardship.
- 45:29Even once I had turned the page, so to speak.
- 45:31But by the time I left, I was just so touched and grateful to
- 45:35have had the experience that I've had to have the brotherhood
- 45:39that I had with the the men in there that were by now just so
- 45:42many guys really committed to changing their lives, bringing
- 45:45value to the outside world, living a men's and just just
- 45:50beautiful people, right? And so for me to go through that
- 45:53process with them, the struggle, the victory, I just felt really
- 45:58like blessed, enriched, you know?
- 46:00So you were going through all this, but in the meantime there
- 46:07was something going on to where things changed, to where there
- 46:11was a possibility for you to be able to have the hope that you
- 46:16were getting out. How did how did that all come
- 46:19about? So what first had to happen was
- 46:23I had to get commuted from life without parole to a different
- 46:27sentence. And when Jerry Brown was leaving
- 46:30the the office in 2018, yeah, I think he left in 2018.
- 46:39The end of it, I put in a commutation and it really, it
- 46:43was just a ring and a prayer. Now look, here's the deal.
- 46:47I had done enough things at that point to make a compelling case
- 46:51for myself. Was I perfect?
- 46:52No. Was I?
- 46:54Did I have 19 years of bad Rd. behind me at this point when I
- 46:57put in the commutation, I think I had 2223 years in.
- 47:01So I had a a good like chunk of time where like I'd been like
- 47:05significantly devoted and I had a documentation trail to show,
- 47:09right? And I had letters from staff and
- 47:12all kinds of support from the outside world, right.
- 47:15And so I put in for a commutation.
- 47:18And I think, I think when we spoke on the phone, I think at
- 47:23the time, right. So I think, well, I think it's
- 47:27like when I, when I first decided to, to change my life,
- 47:32I, I think I calculated it as like a 1% chance of ever having
- 47:36a real change of fortune in coming home with the
- 47:40commutation. When I put it in, I think it was
- 47:42like 7% of commutations at the time.
- 47:44I think we're getting either granted or getting the interview
- 47:49right. Well, then I got the interview
- 47:52and what the, the man told me when he came to interview me
- 47:55from the governor's office was that 30% of interviews get
- 47:59granted. So I went from 7% to 30% at that
- 48:03point. And then once I eventually got
- 48:06granted the commutation, they they did, the governor commuted
- 48:11me to 30 to life. And so I knew that that made me
- 48:15eligible for a new law to immediately go to board.
- 48:18And so at that time, I guess people that were going to board
- 48:21for their first time, it was like 66%, sixty, 8% grant.
- 48:25So OK, so slowly I'm just sort of playing that the numbers here
- 48:29in the back of my mind, right. Well, I got denied the first
- 48:33time I and then I waited 2018 months or something 20 months
- 48:40got denied again and that was a really tough denial for me.
- 48:44But I just stayed in the work man, like, like and even when
- 48:47there was times. Where is it like the movies
- 48:49where you go in, there's a board, got people sitting at the
- 48:53table, you sit down in a chair. Is it?
- 48:55Is it? Is it like that?
- 48:57I think the first time was more like that, yeah, the first time
- 48:59was, but the second time I went was after COVID.
- 49:02So they do a lot of the board stuff on monitors now.
- 49:06But yeah. And, and so I had done a lot of
- 49:10work at that point. I felt like I was ready, but
- 49:13they denied me. I wasn't super shocked the first
- 49:15time. Now the second time I went back,
- 49:18they denied me again, not for anything new, but they denied me
- 49:21for something that I had admitted in my first hearing.
- 49:24And they felt like not enough time had passed.
- 49:27And so at that point, I think this is important.
- 49:32I really was at odds with, with, with that in terms of like my
- 49:37relationship with God specifically.
- 49:39I was like, you know, I can't, I'm fine with God having a plan,
- 49:44but I, I wish he would let me in on it because I can't, I don't,
- 49:48Yeah. I, I can't read the tea leaves
- 49:50here, Right. Yeah.
- 49:52And most of my peers were like, dude, I can't just let.
- 49:56Me in Yeah, because if God. Came down and he told you you'd
- 50:01be cool with it, right? But because you're not getting
- 50:03clarity, it was it was it was challenging for me and I had a
- 50:07lot of conversations with my friends and a lot of them were
- 50:09like, they didn't understand why I've been denied either.
- 50:11Some of them did. But it did you know what I was
- 50:14left with Brent was I got to, I got to make this have value for
- 50:18me and other people. And so I just took it to the
- 50:21guys. I took it to the groups, I took
- 50:24it to prayer, I took it to meditation.
- 50:25I took it to my journal. I used all the tools.
- 50:28I just stayed in my rituals and my daily things to continue
- 50:32living into being the man that I wanted to be that could be
- 50:36suitable, right? And it was great because that
- 50:41time gave me more time to refine.
- 50:43It gave me more time to build, you know, build out my coaching
- 50:47stuff that I was using with the guys.
- 50:48It gave me more time to help build programs for people in
- 50:51prison. And yeah, it just it ultimately
- 50:54now I can say, hey, it was. I made the best of it.
- 50:58Well, what I love about it, though, Jason, is that so many
- 51:03times and, and you're a testament to how important hope
- 51:08with action is, because, you know, just having hope is nice,
- 51:11but you have to take action. But a lot of people will have
- 51:15hope and they get knocked down and, and they're like, well,
- 51:18that didn't work and and they lose hope.
- 51:21And then when they lose hope, that's the worst thing to
- 51:23happen. You know, we, we walked around
- 51:25with a lot of people in prison that had lost hope and you could
- 51:27just see it in their eyes. But there was something in you
- 51:31that that even though you were getting rejected, you weren't
- 51:36quitting. And, and that's, I think that's
- 51:38the secret recipe sauce there is that you don't quit when you get
- 51:42rejected. You get better, you know, you
- 51:44got better every time that you get rejected.
- 51:46And, and that's, that's something that's, that's a
- 51:49nugget of wisdom there that anybody who's listening to this,
- 51:53this goes into 800 prisons. So for those listening, don't
- 51:57lose hope, but you also have to take action.
- 51:59And and if you keep stepping, there's a good chance that your
- 52:02percentages like you're talking about Jason, your percentages
- 52:05went from 1:00 to 7:00 to 30 to 66.
- 52:09I think that that's a really important point.
- 52:12So there's a couple of things in that, right?
- 52:14Again, it's building the reference model for your
- 52:17beliefs, right? And, and in knowing you have to
- 52:20step in the in the faith, right? And you have to take action.
- 52:24We're always planting seeds. We're always creating something.
- 52:28So, so, OK, when I was when I was a kid and I wanted to be a
- 52:32gangster and I was involved with drugs, I was living my life day
- 52:35in and day out a certain way to where I was creating a high
- 52:39probability that someone was going to get hurt or I was going
- 52:41to get hurt. I.
- 52:43Don't. I don't usually talk about
- 52:45guarantees, but I do believe in probabilities.
- 52:47Once I started changing my life, I was starting to eat, sleep,
- 52:51breathe, living my day, day in and day out to where now I'm
- 52:55creating new probabilities that I'm going to have freedom of
- 52:58some sort, liberation of some sort, at least mentally,
- 53:00spiritually, right? And creating different like
- 53:05value in relationships. I live that way to bring that
- 53:09fruit, right? We're constantly planting,
- 53:13waiting or reaping, sometimes both.
- 53:15And So what you're talking about when guys quit, right?
- 53:17Like say they don't see the results quick enough.
- 53:21What I learned about this, and I learned this from my second
- 53:23denial. I thought that because I had
- 53:26been planting that I was in the, I was ready to reap at that
- 53:29point. But what I didn't realize was I
- 53:31wasn't in a reaping phase with the, with the seeds I'd been
- 53:34planting. I was in a waiting phase.
- 53:36But what I was reaping was the seeds from yesterday still.
- 53:39And I needed to get clear on what Phase I was in so that I
- 53:43didn't have frustration so that I could continue to plant the
- 53:46right things. Because had I given up and
- 53:48self-destructive or self-destructive, man, the next
- 53:51harvest, it would have gone a ruin, right?
- 53:54So we got to constantly realize like we're always creating
- 53:58something. What are we creating?
- 54:01And if we don't have a clear aim, right?
- 54:03And we're not committed to that aim, then what's going to happen
- 54:06is we can slip into what's called not just a default
- 54:09purpose, but a default future, right?
- 54:12And that's, that's a scary place to be.
- 54:14I've been there. So yeah.
- 54:16I ran across that default purpose on your Instagram.
- 54:19You had posted that and that's so true because if you don't
- 54:24have a purpose and you don't have a plan and you don't have
- 54:27the goals to put action into that plan, then it's, it's a
- 54:30default purpose and, and whatever that is happens and it
- 54:33might not be what you want to have happen.
- 54:35And I, I think also that's how people get institutionalized.
- 54:39You know, we talk about being people getting institutionalized
- 54:41in prison and, and it, it's so easy to do because you
- 54:44everything's, you know, counts at the same time, this is the
- 54:47same time, this everything is the same.
- 54:48I sit in this chair the same, but when I got out of prison, I
- 54:52started like looking around me and realizing, no, it there's a
- 54:55lot of people that get are institutionalized, a bad
- 54:57marriage, bad childhood, bad job.
- 54:59And they won't get out of it because, you know, it's like the
- 55:02guys that are afraid to get out of prison that they, they, it's
- 55:06such an ugly routine. They hate it.
- 55:08They talk about it when they get up, when they go to bed, they
- 55:11hate it. But it's something that gives
- 55:13them comfort because they know it.
- 55:15And, and that's the one thing that I see with people on the
- 55:18outside is is that they, they hate their job or they hate this
- 55:23or they hate that, but they won't step out of it because
- 55:25it's become that ugly comfort to them so that it's more
- 55:29comfortable to the stay and something they hate than to step
- 55:32something that scares them. But it's something I want to
- 55:34step forward to. And that's, yeah, I think that's
- 55:38absolutely. True and over.
- 55:40Yeah. And plus, like I reached the
- 55:41threshold, right? Like when I had my breaking
- 55:44moment, one of the things that I've read that I think is, is,
- 55:47is really valuable is you, you, the, the pain of staying the
- 55:51same, like the, the, the fear of change has to be outweighed by
- 55:55the pain of staying the same. And that's what happened for me.
- 55:58Like I reached the pain threshold where I had to take
- 56:01action, man 'cause I just couldn't do it anymore.
- 56:04And for some people, they haven't reached that place yet.
- 56:07You know, I hope that they don't ever have to and they can make
- 56:09the changes, but I understand it if they don't.
- 56:12So I think that there's a there's something to what you
- 56:14were just saying right there. Like we get we get comfortable
- 56:17in our routines. I think there's a quote, I'm
- 56:19going to paraphrase it. Men will like, men will like
- 56:23accept a level of despair and call that happiness, right?
- 56:27And I think that that's kind of what goes on.
- 56:28Like we'll get familiar with this, this this pain and we'll
- 56:31sort of make all these rationalizations why we can stay
- 56:33in it because we're just afraid to take the steps.
- 56:36Or maybe it's the unknown, like we don't know how to do it.
- 56:39But I think that the hope and that is every day we're given
- 56:42the opportunity to step out into discovery, right?
- 56:45And we can ask for help like people will help us, you know,
- 56:49so. And I think that's, that's
- 56:50another great nugget of wisdom that you're throwing out there,
- 56:54Jason, is that people will help you, people that I mean, we have
- 56:57to humble ourselves to ask for help, which is sometimes very
- 56:59hard to do. But for the people who are
- 57:02getting it right, you can look around and say, you know, that
- 57:04guy's getting it right. If I go talk to him and ask him
- 57:07how he's getting it right, there's a good chance he's going
- 57:09to tell me he's getting it right because he probably is pretty
- 57:11proud of the fact of how he's getting it right.
- 57:13And then once he shares that with you, he kind of takes you
- 57:16on because you he shared something with you of his own
- 57:19thing. And it almost becomes like a an
- 57:22automatic mentor. But I always say it's like,
- 57:24yeah, this was the test before the test because but you have to
- 57:26humble yourself first. Yeah, man, I need help.
- 57:29I like what he's and then I'm going to implement that back
- 57:31into my world. Absolutely.
- 57:34And I think that one of you like, one of the things that I
- 57:39would encourage everybody listening to is, hey, man, pick
- 57:42people, 10 people that you want in your network, 10 people that
- 57:44you want to mentor you, that you can learn from.
- 57:47Write them a letter and be and be really, really sincere and,
- 57:52and how you think that like how you admire their work, how and,
- 57:57and ask them how you can bring value to them.
- 57:59And you'd be surprised with some of the responses that you'd get,
- 58:02because that's what I have done and still do, and it works.
- 58:06And it's not, this is not something that I made-up.
- 58:08I just read about this in personal development books and
- 58:10then tried it. Most of the stuff, most of the
- 58:12stuff in personal development books, people never tried the
- 58:15stuff. But if you actually try it and
- 58:17don't just do it once and give up, like understand that you're
- 58:20building a new skill set and there's going to be a learning
- 58:22curve to it. But eventually you get it and
- 58:25it's like, bam, now that's one win, two win, three wins, four
- 58:28wins. Before you know it, you're
- 58:29standing in a whole different place with a whole different
- 58:31level of possibility in front of you.
- 58:33Yeah, beautiful. So true.
- 58:35And, and, and it's like anything else, you know, I, I played a
- 58:37lot of sports when I was growing up and you, you just don't go
- 58:40out and play the game. You practice.
- 58:42Sure, you practice, you practice and then hopefully when you get
- 58:44in the game, you can do what you practice.
- 58:46And that's what life is, is you got, you got to keep practicing
- 58:48and you know, you get into the game and you can perform.
- 58:52So you get to that 66% Jason and the you finally, you finally
- 58:58make it. Yeah.
- 59:00And I, I can't imagine like after that amount of time, what,
- 59:08what did you think? Like when, when when I came.
- 59:12Home, if they say, hey, you've, you've, you've we're going to
- 59:16let you go. I mean, after all this time,
- 59:19were you like shocked or, or were you thinking, yeah, it's
- 59:23time? I mean, how did your mind play
- 59:27that out? Actually, yeah, I was.
- 59:30I was, I was accepting of it. I was grateful.
- 59:37I was also somewhat like, I want to say very, I was very even
- 59:44keel like I didn't overreact or or because I wasn't sure
- 59:48exactly. Again, now what am I stepping
- 59:49into? I knew I had an idea at this
- 59:52point. I was.
- 59:53I had enough. Like what did you think you were
- 59:56stepping into? Because I know a lot of guys
- 59:58like where I was. You know, six months out guys
- 1:00:02would get kind of freaky. You know, it's like, Oh my gosh,
- 1:00:04this means that I've really, you know, you, you kind of get into
- 1:00:07this thing where you've been, you know, I had a five year
- 1:00:10sentence you were in for 28 years.
- 1:00:13So six months out people start this, they know what their date
- 1:00:17is. As they start getting a little
- 1:00:18freaky. It's like, I hope I've done
- 1:00:20enough in here to get ready to be out there.
- 1:00:23What was what was your thought about stepping back into the
- 1:00:26world after 28 years? So if I remember it correctly, I
- 1:00:30think that my, my main approach was I'm going to continue to do
- 1:00:34the things that have worked, like in terms of I'm going to
- 1:00:38continue to use the tools that have gotten me this place.
- 1:00:40I'm going to continue to have my morning rituals.
- 1:00:43I'm going to continue to like like center myself and, and have
- 1:00:46time with myself so that I can continue being the person that I
- 1:00:49want to be, who I want to show up as.
- 1:00:52But also I'm going to leave room for learning, adapting.
- 1:00:55I know that there's going to be challenges and struggles and I'm
- 1:00:58going to try to do my best to like temper that right.
- 1:01:02And, and, and I knew too, like there's a lot of people like
- 1:01:07that are rooting for me to be successful.
- 1:01:09And there's a lot of guys come in behind me that want to come
- 1:01:12home and I represent them. And so I want to do the best I
- 1:01:14can buy them. And yeah, I mean, that was kind
- 1:01:18of my general thing. But then I also knew, like,
- 1:01:20there's stuff I just don't even know.
- 1:01:22Like I can anticipate and theoretically I might understand
- 1:01:25something, but I could have never told you what.
- 1:01:28It was like the first time I stepped into a gas station and I
- 1:01:31saw the immense amount of things that were available.
- 1:01:35And it's really, it blew me away.
- 1:01:37It just blew me away. Like I cannot believe I can
- 1:01:40purchase any of these things that I want right now because
- 1:01:43because everything else up until then had been very restricted,
- 1:01:47right? So it was just A and, and I
- 1:01:49could anticipate that, but actually experiencing it was
- 1:01:52something else. So I had the self-awareness to
- 1:01:55kind of recognize that. And yeah, dude, like some of the
- 1:01:59things I mean. You just walked out a little
- 1:02:02over a year ago. Yeah, 14, it's been 14 months.
- 1:02:0514 months and and the picture that you're of the person you
- 1:02:07were walking out with. Who?
- 1:02:09Who was that that you were walking?
- 1:02:10Out. Oh, that's my fiance OK.
- 1:02:13So that had to be fantastic. Right.
- 1:02:14That was great. That was great.
- 1:02:17And she's beautiful, man. She, we've been close our entire
- 1:02:21lives, just about. And yeah, we're doing well,
- 1:02:25yeah. That's awesome.
- 1:02:27And and the other thing, and I know you're doing good things.
- 1:02:30You know, you went back, you're with the five inches that was
- 1:02:34part of the thing that that really you plugged into while
- 1:02:38you were in, which I think is so cool that now you're with a
- 1:02:41company that was meant something to you while you were in.
- 1:02:45Yeah. And you're doing things, Jason,
- 1:02:47that I love that you had a bucket list either written down
- 1:02:51or in your mind. I'm, I'm watching and seeing,
- 1:02:54you know, you jumping out of planes and, and, and, and, you
- 1:02:57know, going down in the ocean and what's all that been like?
- 1:03:01Oh, so, so that stuff's been amazing and fun.
- 1:03:04And I share the bucket list because I think it's important
- 1:03:08that people have dreams and have goals and then execute those
- 1:03:11things, right? I think that there's a value to
- 1:03:14that. And that's the fun stuff that I
- 1:03:15get to do aside from also the meaningful stuff, right?
- 1:03:20I think that there's a there's a huge.
- 1:03:22Well, tell us what? You're doing now.
- 1:03:24OK, So I work, I work with the five ventures.
- 1:03:27I'm a program manager. And so for the incarcerated
- 1:03:30community that comes home, if they want to build a business
- 1:03:34out here and get involved with our program, I'm I'm one of the
- 1:03:37guys that coaches them through that process.
- 1:03:39We have a whole system and a program in place for that.
- 1:03:43I also Co founded a nonprofit called re entry wheels with some
- 1:03:47friends. We'll be looking for funding
- 1:03:51soon to get that rolling where we'll be providing vehicles for
- 1:03:55people coming home that are. I love that because.
- 1:03:57That was personal to you. You you had.
- 1:04:00Yeah. And and you know how much that
- 1:04:03means you. Know, oh, it's, it's, it's, it's
- 1:04:05a game changer. There's a lot of people that
- 1:04:07when they come home, they might not have access to personal
- 1:04:10transportation and so they miss out on job opportunities or they
- 1:04:13miss out on it just makes their life a lot easier if you have it
- 1:04:16right. And So what we want to do is for
- 1:04:18people that are ready and responsible, we want to provide
- 1:04:21that access to them. Right.
- 1:04:24And then, yeah. So I got I have a book on Amazon
- 1:04:28called the Move Your Mountain program.
- 1:04:29It's just made of workshops that I created while I was in prison
- 1:04:33and that we were, we were holding for the guys in prison
- 1:04:36that I've held for people out here.
- 1:04:38And it's just, it's the Move Your Mountain program.
- 1:04:41Yeah. And it's just, it's just an
- 1:04:44offering for someone. If they couldn't come to the
- 1:04:45workshop, but they wanted to do the work, they can get into it.
- 1:04:48It's not, you know, it's not a bunch of stories.
- 1:04:50It's just brass tacks, like, let's let's roll up your sleeves
- 1:04:52and let's get to it. Let's go ahead.
- 1:04:54Yeah. Technology wise, what was that
- 1:04:57like after 28 years? Actually, technology, let me
- 1:05:02see. I've taken, yeah.
- 1:05:04So, so I've taken to it fairly well.
- 1:05:08It's pretty amazing. That said, I also realize that
- 1:05:12I'm constantly in a learning phase with it because it's so it
- 1:05:17just, it's so fast And like when you're doing documentation or
- 1:05:21you're using, you know, different databases that you
- 1:05:25have to input information into, you know, it's, it's been
- 1:05:29challenging for me, but I'm, I'm really grateful that I've had an
- 1:05:31opportunity to immerse myself in it because I'm picking it up
- 1:05:34fairly, fairly well. You know, I can't imagine.
- 1:05:37And I, and I, that's an encouragement I want to give to,
- 1:05:40to all the guys or, or women hearing this is don't be afraid
- 1:05:44of technology. Just immerse yourself in it and
- 1:05:46allow yourself to just experience it.
- 1:05:48Even the frustrations like this morning, man, I had a password
- 1:05:51that was driving me nuts. I can't tell you.
- 1:05:53That's one of the things they don't tell you is how to how to
- 1:05:56take care of all your passwords. And but hey, look, we got to
- 1:06:00learn. We got to get into it and just
- 1:06:02evolve and grow you. Know that's so cool.
- 1:06:06I, I am absolutely fascinated with your life story because
- 1:06:11there's so many times and places and things that it could have
- 1:06:14ended so badly. And, and you, you worked through
- 1:06:17it, Jason, to the point where I think you are an inspiration of
- 1:06:22people. And I hope you keep doing the
- 1:06:24things that you're doing because people like you are the people
- 1:06:28that can really make real change because you've, you've lived
- 1:06:30such AI mean all the way in all the way down to the rock bottom.
- 1:06:37And you worked your way back and, and now you're at a, a
- 1:06:40point where you're helping people get back on their feet
- 1:06:43And, and it's, it's got to feel good.
- 1:06:46I mean, it's got to feel like you've you've put in a lot of
- 1:06:48work, but the giving back part has got to really feel good to
- 1:06:52you. Yeah, absolutely.
- 1:06:53I think that that's what gives me meaning and purpose in life.
- 1:06:57I I realized that like for me, I have to have meaning because I
- 1:07:02could be surrounded by wealth and all these like opulent
- 1:07:06things. But it's, if it doesn't have
- 1:07:08meaning, then it's just going to be empty for me, right.
- 1:07:10And so I got to have that, yeah. I think that is something that
- 1:07:15might be a common denominator going to prison and that is you
- 1:07:21actually have a different perspective on when you get out.
- 1:07:24You really want to focus on things that have meaning you.
- 1:07:28You want to be doing something that you have a passion about
- 1:07:32because you feel like you, you, you had time taken away and you
- 1:07:35had a lot of time taken away. I felt like I was jumping and
- 1:07:39moving car after three years. So I can't even speak to what
- 1:07:42you must feel like that. But I think there's a common
- 1:07:45denominator of, you know, I, I think this is the 147th
- 1:07:49interview I've done. This is actually the end.
- 1:07:53This is the the interview that ends season 3.
- 1:07:56So we'll start Season 4 next week, but.
- 1:07:59Congratulations. The the thing that I think is
- 1:08:02that the reason why I think about all these interviews,
- 1:08:05these people come out and they think, man, I've got, I've got
- 1:08:08so much time left and I'm grateful that I have this, but I
- 1:08:11want to find what what's meaningful and and that's a
- 1:08:16narrative that people don't really know because they think
- 1:08:19that people who go to prison are lost forever and they're ex
- 1:08:23felons forever Wish that we are, but we're not lost forever.
- 1:08:26We, we do find our passions. We do find things that that we
- 1:08:31find that we want to have meaning.
- 1:08:33And, and I also think that one thing I hope I don't lose is,
- 1:08:38you know, I just got back from from my youngest daughter
- 1:08:40getting married. And, you know, one of the things
- 1:08:43that I was thinking was when I was walking down that aisle is
- 1:08:45to thank God I'm here, You know, thank God I'm here and I'm not
- 1:08:49in prison. And the moment you know that
- 1:08:52that is, you know, we, we had these moments that I think some
- 1:08:58people take for granted, but we have moments that you got to
- 1:09:01just stop and think, man, OK, this is good, this is good.
- 1:09:04This is a lot better for sure than that other place.
- 1:09:07But I think you've done so well with that, Jason, and you've
- 1:09:11done it so quickly because a lot of guys have a really, really
- 1:09:15hard time getting out, you know, re entry's, hard re entry's.
- 1:09:19But I think that you had planned so well in your mind and what
- 1:09:22you're doing with your programming and, and everything
- 1:09:24that you're doing, you just stepped into it and it maybe
- 1:09:28felt more familiar to you than somebody who hadn't planned.
- 1:09:31And that's one of the things that you know, as people are
- 1:09:33listening to this that are in the prisons, man, put don't
- 1:09:36waste your time while you're in because it's going to be hard
- 1:09:39when you get out. So make sure that you don't
- 1:09:41waste the time when you're in so that you can get out and you
- 1:09:43have a plan. And I think that's one of the
- 1:09:45things you've only been out 14 months and I think you've
- 1:09:48stepped into society in a way that it's the way you want to
- 1:09:52step back. Yeah, I, I, I hope so.
- 1:09:56I think so. And I hope I continue to do
- 1:09:58that. I think that one of the, one of
- 1:10:01the two things I, I'd never look at it like I lost time.
- 1:10:05I look at it like I spent my time and I got, I got, I got
- 1:10:09from it what I got from it, right.
- 1:10:12And I have value in that to give to others to share with others.
- 1:10:16That's a big statement too. So you feel like you didn't lose
- 1:10:19time? Because.
- 1:10:22Yeah. I'm 47. 47.
- 1:10:25Yeah, I never, I, I almost never tell myself that story, right.
- 1:10:30I always look at it like I spent my time and I got value from
- 1:10:33that and I now I have value to give.
- 1:10:36Secondly, I I never look at it like I did this all myself.
- 1:10:41I was, I put in work, but I was also surrounded by beautiful
- 1:10:44people. I think that there was a higher,
- 1:10:49you know, higher power involved. Like I, I was, I was blessed.
- 1:10:52There was opportunities that came my way, just all kinds of
- 1:10:55things that it was those guys. Being.
- 1:10:59What's that was? It hard to leave those guys
- 1:11:02being there as long as you were that really some of those guys
- 1:11:05become family to you. Yeah, absolutely difficult.
- 1:11:08But also I want to set the table for them when they come home,
- 1:11:10right? And I'm going to stay in contact
- 1:11:13with them and just be a source of encouragement for them until
- 1:11:17they do right. And that's, that's part of part
- 1:11:20of my mission. And so again, like, I, I think
- 1:11:24that no person does this alone. You got to realize like you,
- 1:11:28you, you have a community that's available for you.
- 1:11:31And even if you feel isolated, let's really look at that.
- 1:11:34What's the script involved? And then how can you connect to
- 1:11:38others? What, how can you bring value to
- 1:11:40them? Who can you help solve a
- 1:11:41problem? And even if it's only one
- 1:11:43person, one can lead to two can lead to four can lead to 8.
- 1:11:46Right before you know it, again, you're standing in a completely
- 1:11:49different place with a completely different
- 1:11:51relationship to the world, other people and yourself.
- 1:11:54But it really starts, it starts with us, like just taking an
- 1:11:58accounting and saying, Hey, I'm going to take the next step
- 1:12:01forward. That's that's that's the best I
- 1:12:03got. Well, Tony Robbins needs you on
- 1:12:05stage, Jason. That's what.
- 1:12:07He does that's. What's his next deal?
- 1:12:09He needs Jason and Holland on stage.
- 1:12:12Well, after all this stuff that you've been through, Jason, what
- 1:12:17do you think's your biggest take away through the whole thing?
- 1:12:21Oh gosh, yeah. I think, I think my biggest,
- 1:12:29I'll say one of them, the one that comes to mind, we are
- 1:12:34constantly being afforded an opportunity and we have a choice
- 1:12:39with how we choose to utilize that.
- 1:12:43Prison was always offering me something.
- 1:12:45My childhood, my past was always offering me something.
- 1:12:47There was gold there if I was willing to look and refine it.
- 1:12:52At this point where I am now, I realize that.
- 1:12:55And so every day, every moment, I'm given an opportunity to use
- 1:13:00something to enrich the lives of others and thus myself.
- 1:13:04What that requires, that requires awareness, that
- 1:13:07requires creativity, that requires patience and humility,
- 1:13:11right? It requires all these character
- 1:13:13traits that I need to have and I need to employ in order to make
- 1:13:17the most of the moment that's being afforded to me.
- 1:13:21And so I think we are never at a loss for opportunity no matter
- 1:13:26where you are. And, but you have to choose to
- 1:13:31see that and then do the work to sort of make it so.
- 1:13:36And sometimes that feels like you're just trudging a lonely
- 1:13:39path, but there's options. There's options to that.
- 1:13:43So that's that's, that's one of my biggest takeaways.
- 1:13:46I think it's an awesome take away, awesome take away.
- 1:13:48And and tell us again the Amazon how we find that on Amazon.
- 1:13:52What's the name of that again? Yeah, it's the Move Your
- 1:13:54Mountain program by Jason S Holland, and it's just on
- 1:13:59Amazon, you know? Yeah.
- 1:14:01Folks out there, don't forget to follow, subscribe, share, like,
- 1:14:04comment. That's all good stuff.
- 1:14:06I love it when you guys do that. Talking about being grateful.
- 1:14:09Homestead Financial lets me use this studio here in the the
- 1:14:13fancy lights and the cameras and that.
- 1:14:16So if you've got any home mortgage needs, Greg FDF is
- 1:14:19definitely your guy. He knows it backwards and
- 1:14:21forwards. I've got a book out there,
- 1:14:23nightmare success. Check it out.
- 1:14:24It's on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
- 1:14:28Leave a review on Apple if you got time.
- 1:14:30Those are great. I've got a new website
- 1:14:33outtherebrentcassidy.com. It's where the Ty, not a DYI
- 1:14:36spell it wrong, as I used to say when I was writing my emails
- 1:14:40back and forth from Leavenworth. Stay strong, I'll do the same.
- 1:14:42Jason Holland, man, keep doing what you're doing you.
- 1:14:45Me too, Brent. Thank you, all of us.
- 1:14:47Thank you so much. Really appreciate you having me
- 1:14:50and good luck to everyone listening to this.
- 1:14:52Stay focused guys. I'm your success in and out.