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Turning the Impossible into the Possible: The Dr. Antoinette Glenn Story · Nightmare Success In and Out

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What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality?
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Hi, I'm Brent Cassidy, welcome to the Nightmare Success In and
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Out podcast where we explore how to overcome your fears and
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nightmares that set yourself free.
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We're going to be exploring this topic with guys that was in
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Their own. Nightmare.
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These stories can be inspiring, sometimes sad, there's some
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humor, but hopefully you can come away with a nugget of
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This is where you come for what happens when your worst year
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I have been so excited to get to this interview because
1:05
Antoinette Glenn is somebody I talked to.
1:07
I was, I want to give a shout out to my, my buddy Charlie
1:11
Grady, who connected me to Antoinette, because Charlie was
1:17
on the show episode 118 and Charlie's got a very interesting
1:24
career. He's FBI agent, he's a movie
1:27
star actor, he's the founder of Hang Time and Hall of Change.
1:32
And by the way, I've, this is a Hall of change recipient that I
1:36
have on the show here today. So I'm very excited about that
1:39
because I'm, I'm a big fan of this Hall of change that they're
1:42
doing in Connecticut and they're, they're looking to make
1:44
that a, a national program. And I think Charlie can do that
1:49
because he's, he does those kind of things.
1:52
Tell you a little bit about Antoinette.
1:54
She, we just, we just said here before we got on, she's 25 years
2:00
that she's been out and she has done an awful lot since she was
2:03
been out. She, I, I thought it was
2:05
interesting that when she was, when she was a little kid, she
2:08
wanted to be a pediatrician and life decisions took her down a
2:13
totally different path. And she ended up getting a, a 97
2:18
month sentence in federal prison.
2:21
And the interesting thing is, is she really got into education
2:26
and wanted to change things. But she was told by so many that
2:30
you can't have a career in education.
2:32
Can't do it. Can't that word can't because
2:36
she was she was. You have this ex felon thing
2:39
that that you wear around your neck when you get out and you
2:41
have to learn how to live with that.
2:43
But it didn't stop her. It didn't stop her.
2:45
She's Doctor Antoinette Glenn, and that's because she has a
2:49
doctorate in education and she's been in the education field for
2:54
the last 20 years now, giving back to the community she works,
2:58
serving high risk, economically disadvantaged children in the
3:02
public school system. And her ultimate goal is to
3:05
leave the world a better place. And she found it.
3:07
And if you just listen to her, you, it's Antoinette's one of
3:11
those people you just get kind of inspired talking to her
3:14
because she's so up. She's she's got that whatever
3:17
that it thing is that makes you feel good when you talk to her.
3:21
I can't wait to unpack all this was Antoinette.
3:24
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from nightmare success sent you welcome in Antoinette Glenn.
4:05
How are you I'm. Great.
4:07
How are you? I'm doing great.
4:09
I am doing great. I'm so glad we were able to
4:11
connect up. And again, the shout out to
4:14
Charlie Grady for doing that for us.
4:17
So Antoinette, I love, I, I love a, a great comeback story like
4:21
this. And you know, and I love it when
4:25
a couple of things. One is, is when somebody takes
4:28
all their experiences and says, first of all, that's not going
4:30
to keep me down. I'm going to use it and I'm
4:32
going to help people with it. And, and you were told no, you
4:36
were told can't. And it didn't stop you.
4:38
It motivated you. But I'm curious, growing up as a
4:43
kid, did you 'cause, you know, thinking that you wanted to be a
4:47
doctor, a pediatrician, what was life like for you growing up as
4:51
a kid? I single parent household.
4:56
My dad was there probably until the age of five.
4:59
My parents divorced at 5:00 and it I I lived in an abusive
5:04
household. My dad was abusive to my mom.
5:08
So I went to parochial schools from 4th to 12 but from from the
5:15
beginning to 3rd I was in the neighborhood school.
5:18
So my mom sacrificed to make sure that my brother and I can
5:22
go to a parochial where there there was less distractions.
5:27
So my goal was always to be a pediatrician.
5:31
I love science. So when I graduated high school,
5:36
I went off to Virginia State University, which is in
5:40
Petersburg, VA. And it was rough, but my mom
5:45
always made a way to make sure that we had everything that we
5:49
needed. So I really appreciated her for
5:51
that 'cause she. Was like she was a big impact in
5:54
your life. A major impact.
5:57
And she didn't have a college degree until my brother and I
6:04
were in elementary school. She went back to school, got her
6:06
bachelor's, and then got her master's.
6:09
Master's in drug and alcohol counseling.
6:13
But that was motivation enough because here it is, the single
6:17
woman raising two kids by herself, and she went back to
6:20
school so that she can get a better job to take care of us.
6:26
Like a role model. Yeah, definitely a definitely a
6:30
great role model. Definitely a great role model.
6:33
So you went to college. What what was your next step
6:37
after that? What?
6:38
What happened with? I was a pre Med major, so my
6:41
next step was I was going to go to Med school and then I decided
6:46
once I got out of college that let me take a break.
6:51
I don't know if I want to go to school for another eight years,
6:54
'cause you know, you go to Med school for four years, then you
6:56
got to do your specialty. And then I met my ex-husband and
7:02
I met him and I was like, he's a nice guy.
7:06
I hang out with him for the summer or whatever and then I go
7:09
back to Maryland 'cause my intentions were to move to
7:12
Maryland, but I'm just going to go to Connecticut, hang out for
7:15
the summer. I went to Connecticut, hooked up
7:18
with him and never left. So getting involved with him, he
7:24
was a drug dealer. And initially I didn't know, but
7:28
as I found out, I was already deep into it.
7:31
I was in love, you know. So a year went by, we got
7:36
married and then that was 2000. I, I graduated College in 2001.
7:42
I was married and had my son by not 2000 and one 1991 and then
7:49
1992 I got married had my son at the end of that year and then
7:56
1993 is when the feds, DEA and everybody knocked on the door in
8:05
July 13th of that. Year wow.
8:07
Well, I want to go back a little bit because I understand falling
8:12
in love. I've been married for for 34
8:16
years. But yeah, so I, I get that.
8:22
I but I, it sounds like you dedicated yourself so, so much
8:26
into your education. Was that hard for you to take a
8:31
detour at that time in your life, get married?
8:34
Did you think you were going back to it or did you fall into
8:37
that world that that is? I've had so many people on this
8:41
show. When that all happened, did you
8:45
just fall into it and thought, I'll get back to whatever I was
8:49
going to do with all my other stuff?
8:51
Or did you just think, this is what I'm doing, this is the guy,
8:53
I'm married and this is what we're we're going to do from
8:56
here on out? I totally got lost in it.
8:58
At one point I said, OK, well maybe I'm not going to go back
9:02
to Med school, maybe I'd do nursing instead.
9:05
So then I looked into going into nursing, but then I became, so
9:10
he became, he was very abusive, very possessive.
9:13
So there wasn't a whole lot that I can do, you know, And by then
9:17
I had my son too. So I mean, so that was the whole
9:21
thing to take care of my son, the house.
9:24
And then, you know, he was doing his thing.
9:28
So when this raid happens, and that's I think it's probably
9:31
everybody's worst nightmare that somebody raids your house.
9:38
What what did you did you think something was coming down or was
9:41
it a complete surprise and and the whole world changes on that
9:45
moment? I didn't know.
9:49
I didn't know that anything was coming down.
9:51
But I'm going to tell you at 5:00 in the morning, I had just,
9:55
I had just put my son back down. I had got up, I fed him, just
9:58
put my son back down. And then on my way back to my
10:01
bedroom, I heard the door slamming.
10:05
So then he woke up and he was like, look out the window and
10:08
see if somebody's messing with the car.
10:10
So as I'm looking out the window, they're running up the
10:12
stairs. And then here's guns on me, on
10:16
him. And then my son is in the room
10:18
screaming and crying and I couldn't.
10:20
How old is he, Antoinette? How old's your son at this
10:23
moment? He's 32.
10:24
No, at that, at that time. At that time, he was a year.
10:29
A year old. He was a year.
10:32
He was. Yeah, he was a year.
10:34
So they they raid this house and it's a total surprise at 5:00 in
10:40
the morning. What's going through your mind?
10:43
Oh, my God. And he wasn't a year because
10:45
they came. Andrew was born in 92 December.
10:49
The raid happened in July of the next year.
10:51
So he was like, what, seven months?
10:53
Yeah. Oh, I I was scared to death.
10:56
And never in a million years that I thought that what he was
11:00
doing would have affected me. But it did you know because when
11:05
you're dealing with the Rico law is knowledge of.
11:09
Everybody gets wrapped up and then you have to pull the that's
11:13
something I, I don't know that everybody's aware of is, is that
11:17
the way that Rico works and conspiracy works is that you can
11:20
get wrapped up in that, but then you are, if you're part of the
11:24
conspiracy, you have to prove the whole conspiracy, not just
11:26
your part. And that becomes a much bigger
11:31
equation than most people can handle because you're dealing
11:35
with, you know, the government and yourself and the weight of
11:39
the world. So do you guys get immediately?
11:44
I mean, do you just is, are you arrested?
11:47
You're taken down to we're. Arrested, arrested on the spot
11:52
and I had to call my mother to come pick my son up.
11:56
So the head agent and and charged William Reiner, I'll
12:01
never forget that name. He was like, your mother name is
12:04
such and such, such and such, right?
12:06
Her number is 2 because they had a phone wiretap for the past
12:10
year. Who knew, you know.
12:12
So I dialed my mom. I told her to come up that the
12:16
feds was here ATF and I'm telling her and she was like,
12:19
why? What happened?
12:20
And I'm I can't really explain. I just need you to come pick up
12:23
Andrew. So then by the time she gets
12:26
there, I'm already gone. And then of course she asked
12:31
them for a warrant. They didn't show one.
12:32
They didn't show US1 either. They just wished us the way to
12:36
down to Waterbury Police Department.
12:41
Wow, what happens next? So what happens next is at that
12:47
point, I'm shipped off to Westchester County in Valhalla,
12:56
NY, where I stayed until they moved me.
13:00
And I don't know where he went. No, as a matter of fact, I
13:04
didn't go there. I'm jumping ahead.
13:07
I went to, they shipped me the Niantic, which is a women's
13:10
facility in Connecticut. I don't know where he went, but
13:13
all I know is when I went to Niantic, it was it was like
13:17
overcrowded. So I'm in this facility over the
13:21
weekend. It's overcrowded.
13:22
We're sleeping on the floor and mattresses and the cafeteria.
13:26
And during the day we're in the same area.
13:29
And then you have to shower in front of people and all of that.
13:34
So I didn't shower all weekend and I could care less.
13:37
Do you understand? My heart is racing.
13:40
I'm calling my mom, I'm checking on my son.
13:43
And it's, it felt like I was in a nightmare, the worst nightmare
13:48
possible. And all I want to do is wake up
13:51
and be over. So then we go into court and we
13:55
go into court that Monday and we went into court that Monday.
14:01
I got out, I got out. He did not.
14:05
He's of Jamaican descent and they figure risk of flight.
14:10
So they didn't let him out at all.
14:12
I came out and when I came out, I literally moved back in with
14:18
my mother. So I moved back in with my
14:21
mother and I started working and I was working and trial didn't
14:25
begin. This is 93.
14:27
Trial did not begin into 1995 S imagine I have gone on with my
14:33
life now I'm working. My son and I are at my mom's
14:38
house and I'm feeling a little better.
14:41
But at the same time, I have caught over my head, but never
14:46
in a million years, though. I think when I walk into court
14:49
they're going to say I'm guilty. You know, I'm married to this
14:53
man that sold drugs. I wasn't a drug dealer.
14:56
But none of that mattered. So we went to court in 1995.
15:03
What kind of attorney did you have at this time, whether
15:05
you're dealing with this crazy situation?
15:07
I have pro bono. I don't have any money to to pay
15:10
for an attorney. So I have a pro bono attorney.
15:13
So you know they're going to do the minimum.
15:17
But I had representation, right? And I used to have to meet with
15:21
him and talk to him or whatever his thing was.
15:24
Why don't you plead out? You're facing over 20 years
15:28
because based on a point system I was facing over 20 years, your
15:32
son is young. They are offered something much
15:37
lower so you can raise your son. And I'm like, no, why would I
15:42
plead guilty for something that I didn't do?
15:44
I would not do it. I'm going to trial.
15:47
So that morning when we actually got arrested, there was close to
15:51
30 people across the city of Waterbury that got arrested
15:56
because my husband and it ran for weeks.
16:00
Jamaican kingpin and his wife and all that ran for weeks and
16:05
weeks and weeks, right? So everybody played out, made a
16:10
deal with the exception of myself, my ex-husband and
16:14
another Co defendant. So the other Co defendant end up
16:19
getting 120 months with this 10 years.
16:22
I end up getting 97 months with this eight years and one month
16:27
and my ex-husband end up getting 30 years.
16:32
Wait. Well, I want to make sure I
16:33
understand you guys. You went to trial, Antoinette.
16:36
I went to trial. Wow.
16:38
OK, I, I, I did, I, I don't think I understood that when we
16:42
were talking on the phone. I didn't realize it.
16:45
So that's my. Trial.
16:47
I went to trial and not only did I get trial lasted for about two
16:52
weeks, they had a lot of professional expert witnesses or
16:57
whatever. My ex-husband sold to an
17:02
undercover 11 times, right? So they had him there, right?
17:07
So when they came that morning to arrest us, he had drugs in
17:11
the house and he had drugs in the house because the undercover
17:15
ordered a certain amount. He wanted to get it early that
17:19
morning. So my husband, rather than
17:21
taking it to his stash house across town, he brought it home.
17:27
So and he knew that I guess if I'm a come and meet you at 6:00
17:31
in the morning, you're not going to go across town.
17:34
You're going to have it close by so I can just get up or
17:36
whatever. And that's what he did.
17:38
So did you, did you think, Antoinette, when you were going
17:44
through this in the trial, did you believe that being with a
17:51
jury in a courtroom, but you've never done this?
17:53
Did you think that you were that they were going to understand
18:01
like what was your feeling as as this trial went on for two
18:04
weeks? Because, you know, very rarely
18:05
do I have somebody on who actually went to trial.
18:08
I went to trial. I went to trial and my heart was
18:12
pounding every day. But I, I can be honest with you.
18:16
When I, the night before the charges came, I didn't sleep all
18:25
that night. I was up and I stared at my son
18:28
and I was like, what if they take me away from you?
18:32
You know, I mean, you're my whole world and I'm your whole
18:35
world. So then I cried through the
18:38
night. And then that, that next day,
18:40
they, they found everybody guilty, all guilty, whisked
18:45
away. And what happened?
18:46
I have family in the courtroom that had left because it's 4:00
18:51
after 4:00. So figuring, oh, they go once
18:54
again, they're not going to come back with anything.
18:58
The jury's not going to come back.
18:59
So I'm just going to leave or whatever.
19:00
I see you later, later never came.
19:05
They took me away. And that's when they took me to
19:07
Westchester County Valhalla. Wow.
19:13
So when when this the jury comes back and they give the verdict,
19:18
how, how long was it until you? I mean, obviously sounds like
19:23
you were immediately remanded to custody.
19:27
How long did you have to wait to find out what your sentence was?
19:30
A year over year, you know, once they have you, they have you,
19:35
they just take their time with the sentence in so and how it
19:40
goes. You're not allowed into the
19:42
Bureau of Prisons to after you're sentenced.
19:45
That's why I spent most of my time in Westchester County
19:50
facility and I was there and they moved me from Westchester
19:56
County to Rhode Island, Cranston RI adult facility and while I
20:04
was there is when they brought me out to sentence me.
20:08
So I was brought out and I was sentenced and I was sentenced to
20:11
97 months. What did you think?
20:14
What did you think, Antoinette? I can't imagine.
20:17
My heart dropped, my heart dropped.
20:20
My mom was in the courtroom. My heart dropped.
20:23
I just, my heart dropped. But another part of me felt
20:28
relieved that I felt free because I was no longer going to
20:35
be with him because I had left several times and I kept going
20:40
back. So I knew at this point that
20:45
there was no way I was going back because I was going to
20:48
prison. And when we were asked if we had
20:52
anything that we wanted to say, so I stood up and I told them
20:57
that for the first time in a very long time, I felt free.
21:01
I said, I know it may sound ironic, ironic to you, but I was
21:05
in a very volatile relationship. So even though I'm going to
21:10
prison, that's just a physical prison.
21:13
I was already in prison. And I said, you know, once I get
21:17
out of prison, one of the things I'm going to do is I'm going to
21:21
write a book. And I said I'm gonna write a
21:23
book and I'm gonna tell my story in hopes that I can help every
21:28
other woman that are in this situation that I'm in right now.
21:33
Wow. By the time I finished, the
21:35
whole courtroom was crying. That was it.
21:38
And then? And you did, he did write a
21:41
book. It's called Found Guilty, My 26
21:43
year Journey to Redemption. So you didn't just say that that
21:46
day. You actually wrote a book that's
21:49
that's out on Amazon. I want to take a break here
21:52
because when we get back, I want to I want to go into what it was
21:57
like for you after you were in a a year in the county jail, which
22:00
is the worst place to be. How you entered the world
22:04
knowing that you were going to be, that was going to be your
22:06
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So Antoinette, you get this devastating sentence.
23:38
And for those who might or might not know, a lot of times in the
23:42
federal system, when you go to trial, you get a trial penalty
23:45
because you've gone to trial and that and that sentences that
23:47
being longer than it would have been if you would have played
23:49
out. And that's just the way the
23:52
system works. It shouldn't work like that, but
23:54
it does. It does.
23:56
But you walk into this prison, what mindset are you in walking
24:03
into that knowing you're going to be there for a while?
24:08
When I first go into Westchester County, I was, I was afraid I'm
24:14
going into a county jail and all types of people in county jails
24:20
you have people that are do the revolving door type of thing.
24:27
I had a couple of girls that came in and out a couple of
24:30
times out while I was there because they were addicts.
24:33
Yeah. So I had never been around an
24:37
addict. So that was new for me.
24:39
So I can see the detoxing, the bones hurting and everything,
24:44
and them standing in the Medline and getting whatever they need
24:48
to get because some had HIV and then others detoxing.
24:53
So they got to get that medicine that they give you to help you
24:57
detox, which is no better than the drug itself.
25:01
I was in shock still. I'm still in shock, still in
25:06
shock. Could not believe that it was
25:09
happening. It felt like a movie.
25:11
Yeah, yeah, I had a better experience when you finally get
25:15
to the federal prison, which is different.
25:19
I mean, it's the county and and the prison.
25:23
Jail is different than prison. What were you, what was your
25:28
first, your first entry like going in, being in in the
25:33
federal prison? Were you federal prison camp?
25:36
Yes, I I was in the camp the whole time.
25:38
So no minimum security, no gates.
25:41
You can just walk right out if you wanted to.
25:43
But who's going to do that? Right, exactly.
25:46
Who's going to do that? So I mean, you look, you see the
25:48
gate and you can just walk out, but you're not definitely not
25:51
going to do that. So I was heartbroken because
25:55
there's a federal facility maybe thirty, 3540 minutes from my
26:00
hometown, Danbury Federal Correctional Facility.
26:04
They didn't send me there. They flew me across the world to
26:08
West Virginia and even in transit.
26:11
Transit was definitely like a movie because it was like a
26:18
flight of just convicted felons and marshals and, and, and
26:26
retired military with rifles and all of that.
26:29
So you, you're getting off your van to get onto the plane and
26:34
then they have the women lined up on one side, the men lined up
26:37
on the other. And of course, they're more
26:42
dangerous than we are. So they're going to put them on
26:44
the plane first. So the whole plane.
26:48
And I'm sure it had to have been, of course, you don't know
26:50
where you are. I'm thinking the military base
26:53
because it's not going to be a regular airport where they're
26:55
going to have this going on. Well, anyway, so you, you're
26:58
standing there, you're waiting to get on you shackled, so you
27:02
can't even really walk. I mean, you really can.
27:06
It's on your feet, on your hand, and you got the chains down.
27:09
I felt it was so degrading. Yeah, it's very dehumanizing.
27:13
It was so degrading. Oh my gosh, it was so degrading.
27:17
I think that was one of the worst phases of my time of being
27:22
in prison. How low I felt at.
27:25
That Antoinette, I had a situation where I had been in
27:28
prison for a year and a half. I was at Leavenworth and I had
27:32
to go back to be a witness in the federal civil trial.
27:37
And the guys had told me, oh, it won't be bad.
27:40
You know, they'll be marshals and it'll be easy.
27:43
And, and like you said, you never know because they never
27:46
tell you when you're leaving, where you're going, how far
27:49
you're going, when all that. But the thing that most
27:52
surprised me was I voluntarily surrendered in 2014 and never
27:56
been, you know, handcuffed or anything.
27:58
And first thing that happens is I get picked up by these
28:02
sheriffs that take me to this Warren County Jail and I'm
28:05
immediately shackled. And I'm riding in this van
28:09
shackled and thinking like you're saying, it's the most
28:13
dehumanizing feeling of having the these chains at your waist,
28:17
chains around your your ankles. And then when I got to the when
28:23
I got to the trial, I was able to wear a suit, but my ankles
28:32
were shackled. So I walked into this courtroom
28:36
with my ankles shackled and this, you know, just gigantic
28:39
courtroom totally filled with people.
28:42
And I was thinking, wow, what an unbelievable feeling experiences
28:46
this is to have even in the in the courtroom where you're
28:51
supposed to feel like that you're normalized and walking in
28:55
with shackles on your ankles is just it was just a feeling, you
28:58
know, you never can quite explain unless you've actually
29:02
worn those shackles, right? I it it you can't.
29:06
No. Well, you finally you,
29:09
Antoinette. You finally get to where you're
29:11
going after this horrendous ride on Conair and everywhere else.
29:18
What's that entrance like for you once you finally get to the
29:21
place you're supposed to be? Well, it, it was totally
29:24
different of course, than the county jails or the holding
29:27
facilities. When I got on the compound, you
29:35
know, I had to do the check in or whatever.
29:37
I had to go get my uniforms or whatever 'cause everybody has to
29:41
look alike. Even though when I got there,
29:44
when I got there, people had their street clothes on, right?
29:49
They had they the Zimmerman bill, they had their street
29:53
clothes still on, leather coat, sneakers, jeans or whatever.
29:57
And everyone coming in at that point had to wear the uniforms.
30:01
But, but they was phasing out the people on the compound that
30:05
had their clothes. They had to box them and ship
30:08
them out because at this point they getting away with it and
30:12
everybody's going to be in tacky.
30:15
So that's what end up happening. And when I actually walked into
30:19
the cottage, I'm going to be quite frank with you.
30:25
It, it, it felt like I was walking into my freshman dorm on
30:31
on campus because the rooms were set up like a bunk, 2 closets, a
30:40
desk. So it, it felt like a college
30:43
campus setting inside of the the room and we had keys to our
30:49
door. I said, who gives you keys to
30:51
the door? You know, that's awesome.
30:53
That was strange. All of that was strange to me
30:56
and it was definitely totally different from where I came
30:59
from. But all that was short lived, of
31:02
course, because the fact still remained that I was in prison,
31:08
right? So I had to decide at that
31:10
moment, was I going to do this time or was I going to let this
31:15
time do me right? I'm already away from this
31:19
abusive man. I'm away from my son.
31:22
My heart is broken. But now it's my time to get me
31:25
together, to build me up and and to find out why you even got
31:30
yourself in that situation in the 1st place.
31:33
So I had to dig deep and that's what I did when I was away.
31:36
I focused on me. I almost had to blocked outside
31:41
out and it was easy to do. Being over in West Virginia,
31:45
it's not. How many hours away would you
31:46
have been from your mom and your son?
31:50
I didn't see my son for over a year when somewhere that first
31:53
year I was there, I didn't see anybody.
31:55
I had no visits. All was horrible.
31:58
And then after that, IA sorority sister came to visit me.
32:05
And then my mom and my aunt came to visit me and brought my son
32:08
to see me. I, I must have saw her maybe
32:10
twice while I was out there and that was difficult.
32:15
But in the meantime, I was learning me again, you know, and
32:21
building me up so I can be a better person, a better mother.
32:25
And I had to put a plan in place of what I was going to do once I
32:28
got out because the reality is what it was is that I'm in here.
32:34
So what are you going to do while you're in here?
32:36
Because you're not going to be in here forever.
32:39
So I went to the library because I was sentenced to 97 months.
32:44
And as I read my paperwork, they had me.
32:49
They charged me with everything they charged him with.
32:53
And I was like, there's no way. So I go into the library, I'm
32:58
doing research. I find some other cases.
33:02
So I immediately wrote my attorney and I was like, I want
33:06
to go back for an appeal. He was like, why you, you were
33:11
facing 20, You ended up with eight.
33:15
Why would you want to? I said, because I'm being
33:17
charged for every transaction of drugs that he did.
33:21
And that's unfair. So he didn't want to do it
33:25
initially. So I wrote the courts and I was
33:27
like, you know, I'm a filer, a 20, yeah, a 2255 ineffective
33:34
counselor. I need you to appoint me another
33:36
counselor so I can go back into the court and file an appeal.
33:41
They said, well, he's not going to be dismissed from being your
33:45
attorney. If you want to go back on
33:47
appeal, then he's going to take you back on our appeal.
33:50
So I did my research. I told him what I want to go
33:54
back on our pill with. Of course, I won.
33:58
So that was my first that. Had to feel.
34:04
Good. Yeah, it it felt good.
34:05
And that was the first time that I realized that I'm never going
34:09
to accept no for an answer, you know, because had I not followed
34:14
my own sense of who I was, Yes, I'm, I married this man.
34:19
And at the same time, I shouldn't be punished for that
34:22
amount of time that they wanted to punish me.
34:25
If you found me guilty, you found me guilty of whatever.
34:28
But let me do this amount of time.
34:30
I'm not doing all that time. I have a son out here.
34:33
So I went back on our appeal and I was re sentenced to six years
34:40
and six months instead of the eight years and one month.
34:44
And then I did five years and three months off of that
34:47
sentence because, you know, in the federal system there's no
34:50
probation, right? So you get 54 days off a year.
34:55
So I end up doing five years, three months, 2 weeks, 8 hours
35:01
and 4 minutes. And you said that what you did
35:05
while you were in there, I mean, I, I love that part of the
35:08
story, though, that you at that moment, you, you decided I'm not
35:12
going to accept no, because that's really your story.
35:16
Your comeback story is, is that you, you didn't, you did the
35:20
impossible. What people said you couldn't do
35:23
when you were in there, that for that amount of time, what were,
35:26
what were you thinking as you were getting close to getting
35:29
out and you were getting these wins that you weren't, you were
35:31
going to get served less time. What were your thoughts and what
35:34
were your plans on when you got out?
35:40
I at that time I hadn't even written anything down but before
35:44
I came home and I knew I needed to forgive my ex-husband.
35:50
Not for him but for me. Because after I spent so much of
35:55
my time and energy hating this man for not sticking up for me,
36:01
for not taking the deal, that he could have took a deal and I
36:05
wouldn't have did one day. Wow.
36:07
And my attorney told me that. So the fact that you didn't do
36:11
that, I held that over him for all those years, and it ate away
36:16
like it ate away. That started heating me up.
36:19
Yep. It did.
36:20
So I had to release that and forgive him, not for him, but
36:26
for me so that I can move on. And that's what I was able to
36:30
do. So at that point, I had to and,
36:32
and I tell people this and I don't know, it didn't matter if
36:35
they believe me or not. I knew that when I got out that
36:41
I had to do something that was going to reach a whole magnitude
36:47
of people that was going to help them in the same situation that
36:51
was going to help all the broken women, all the broken kids,
36:54
because that's what I was, right?
36:57
So now I found the purpose doing all of this.
37:01
I found my purpose in prison. So I'm laying in bed one one
37:05
night and I felt a presence. And then I felt like, you know
37:11
how you feel? Somebody sit at the foot of your
37:13
bed. That's what I felt, but I wasn't
37:17
scared of anything. I looked and there was nobody
37:20
there. But but I, I felt a sense of
37:24
love. And it was my grandmother.
37:27
And what she said to me was that she was proud of me.
37:30
And she said, you know, although you're going through this, your
37:34
journey is not over and your story is going to impact so many
37:42
people. I'm proud of you.
37:45
Remember that. And I think that next day I
37:48
found out that my grandmother had passed away.
37:51
So that very next day, they told me she passed away.
37:54
I was like, well, that explains why she stopped by to see me.
37:58
So at that point, I was like, well, what can I do to actually
38:05
reach women like myself, reach children like myself?
38:11
But going to the school system, I never wanted to go into the
38:15
civil system. I mean, I love kids.
38:17
I wanted to be a pediatrician. I never wanted to go into the
38:20
school system. So when I came home, you know,
38:25
and I stayed in Connecticut for about a year, and then I moved
38:30
to Maryland with one of my sorority sisters, and she worked
38:34
for the school system. So she went down to the board of
38:37
Ed and she was doing her paperwork and stuff.
38:39
And while we were waiting in the hallway, one of the HR people
38:43
walked by us and say, do you all have your assignments for the
38:47
school year? She was like, well, I'm just
38:49
here dropping off paperwork, but you know, And then we explained
38:52
to her about my situation. So she was like you, a biology
38:57
major, you can still teach. I'm like, I was told that I
39:00
couldn't teach. She said you definitely could
39:02
still teach. So then she took me to the head
39:05
person in charge. I explained my story again.
39:08
So I filled out an application. So of course, on my application,
39:11
I had to fill out what happened. I went to trial and my charges,
39:17
what they were, I had to get fingerprinted and I got
39:20
fingerprinted and no charges came back.
39:24
Wow. Well, well, the other thing I
39:28
think's really powerful about that little bit of a story you
39:31
just told is, is that you went in and you told your story.
39:35
I think it's so important that people when they get out and
39:39
they go through the horrific part of re entry is, is that
39:42
they can tell their story. Because whether you're going for
39:45
a job or you're just at a social function or whatever it is,
39:48
you've got to be able to tell your story.
39:50
Because if you don't, then they own it.
39:53
And if you tell your story, you own it.
39:55
And, and you didn't. Who was it that told you you
39:58
couldn't be a teacher? The federal probation, I can't
40:04
say, officer, she was supervising releasing me.
40:07
And when we got out and she was like answering that I really
40:11
think you would be a positive to these group of girls.
40:15
So she took myself and another lady that had been in prison and
40:20
we were both under her. We went to speak to these group
40:23
of girls. I guess they had already started
40:28
getting in trouble, right? So we went in, they were sitting
40:32
there. They didn't want to be there
40:34
talking whatever. I told my story, she told her
40:38
story. The whole attitude in the room
40:42
totally changed. They were crying.
40:44
This, that and the other. And my fingers.
40:46
You don't want to end up where I just came from.
40:50
You're still young. You need to make better choices.
40:55
So at that point is when I told her, I said, you know what, I
40:59
really want to go into education for the same reason.
41:02
She was like, well, answering that you can never go into
41:04
education, you're a third party risk.
41:06
I said, oh, OK, I said. But in the back of my mind that
41:10
was a no again and I wasn't dealing with no's.
41:14
Remember I told you, Brent, I wasn't.
41:15
You knocked nose to the side, no?
41:19
The fact that you told me I can't do it, I'm getting ready
41:22
to show you that I can't. I did that's.
41:24
Your motivation. Right.
41:26
So what I had to get from her was I had to get permission to
41:31
relocate to Maryland because I told her while I'm here, I say
41:36
it's like a black cloud hanging over my head.
41:40
I don't feel that I can get to where I want to be if I'm still
41:43
here because our fingers are going to be pointing or
41:47
whatever. I need to go off and start over
41:49
new somewhere. And she agreed.
41:52
So because I was a low risk for her, you know, I had never been
41:56
into trouble, never did drugs. I reported when I had to.
42:01
Drug tests came back clean all the time, of course, 'cause I
42:04
don't do drugs. She was like, well, I'm gonna
42:07
let you go, move to Maryland, she said.
42:09
When you get there, get a job. Once you get a job, I'm gonna
42:12
transfer you down there. But I can't transfer you down
42:16
there before you get a job, she said.
42:18
But meanwhile, call me, check in with me, and we'll do that until
42:24
you get a job and I transfer you down there.
42:26
So I got a job as soon as I got down there because I was one of
42:29
the hey cooks in both facilities.
42:31
So it was easy to get a job at a restaurant.
42:34
So that's what I did. I went to tgi Friday's when I
42:37
got out of prison. So when I moved to Maryland, I
42:41
had that tgi Friday's manager called the one in Maryland.
42:46
So I had a job when I got there and I worked there until I got a
42:49
job at the school system. So getting a job with the school
42:53
system and and while you were doing that, when did your
42:57
education part come in with with getting your doctorate and all
43:00
that? OK, so I started working for the
43:03
school system in 2001, right? So I'm actually been working
43:08
with school system now for 424 years and in 2007 I went back
43:17
and got my masters at Coppin State University because my
43:21
district had a partnership with Coppin.
43:24
So we got reduced prices with our courses and so I got my
43:31
masters in two years. So in 2009 I graduate from COP
43:35
Coppin State with my masters in education, adult education and
43:40
supervision. That's when I got my admin 1 and
43:43
I was qualified for being an assistant principal.
43:46
So in 2019 is when I got a a job as a principal.
43:54
But in 2015, I was research. I knew I was going back to
43:59
college to get my doctor. I want to be a doctor to begin
44:02
with. There you.
44:03
Go right. Right.
44:05
So because I am not expelling, I don't think they're going to let
44:09
me be a medical doctor, but I am going to get my doctor and I got
44:12
my doctorate and executive K12 administration and I just
44:18
researched the different colleges and the different
44:21
programs. I needed something that was
44:24
going to allow me to, I can do hybrid.
44:28
I didn't want to do online. I wanted to be able to go on
44:31
campus. So I went to the College of
44:34
William and Mary in 2015 and I went to class once a month, one
44:42
week in a month, and then two weeks over the summer.
44:46
It was an accelerated program that you can get your doctorate
44:49
in three to four years. I got mine in four years, four
44:53
years exactly. So in 2015 I started, in 2019 I
44:58
walked and I became Doctor Antoinette Glenn.
45:02
It's impressive. So what all do you do?
45:05
What all do I do now? Yeah, 'cause I've there's a
45:08
whole host of things when you read about all the different
45:10
things you've been involved in. Oh my gosh, yes.
45:13
I was inducted into the Connecticut Hall and Chains back
45:17
in 2021, and I graduated in 2019.
45:21
I got a call from somebody that was on the board, hang time or
45:28
something, yes, and asked me if I would be interested in being
45:33
nominated to be a part of the Connecticut Hall of Change,
45:38
right. He explained to me what it was
45:42
and would I be interested? And I was like, sure.
45:44
I was like, wow, they giving recognition for people that have
45:47
been to prison, coming home, doing positive things in the
45:50
community. Who knew?
45:52
So of course I would want to be nominated.
45:54
So I was nominated. I went, I spoke, and it was very
45:59
powerful. It was very powerful to hear the
46:02
different stories of everybody that was inducted.
46:05
And my class was the second class that was inducted, the one
46:10
the year before it was COVID. So they did everything online or
46:15
they did everything in a small setting, whereas we had a big to
46:20
do or whatever. And it has since spread to mega
46:23
gowns and everything. It's it's really a major deal.
46:28
Oh no, I and I love it. Charlie sent me the video of, of
46:31
the most recent one. And, and you know, what I love
46:36
about the Hall of Change is that it's giving people recognition
46:40
for doing the hard work of getting out and, and making a
46:44
change, you know, and, and making a positive change in the
46:48
community. And, you know, it's, you know,
46:52
when I was talking to Charlie about you, it's, it's, it's so
46:56
inspiring because one of the things I love is that this, this
47:00
show, you know, is heard around the world, but they, it also
47:05
goes into over 1000 prisons. And I think, you know, stories
47:09
like yours, Antoinette, is that's that thing of being told
47:13
you can't be told no. And in the, the thing about it
47:17
is, each time you were told that it inspired you, motivated you
47:22
to figure out a solution to overcoming that.
47:26
And I think the other thing that's so powerful is, is you
47:30
were talking about when you were in that room and you were
47:32
talking to those, those young women and they could feel what
47:39
you were saying because you had walked the walk and not just
47:42
talking the talk. You, you, you had been and lived
47:46
that experience and, and giving back has got to make you feel.
47:51
I don't. It's got to make you feel really
47:52
good. It really makes me feel good and
47:54
I think the most another thing that we did as being a
47:58
Connecticut, a great aider, as we're called great aiders, going
48:03
into the prisons and speaking to those correctional officers that
48:08
are just coming in, haven't even stepped foot into the door yet.
48:12
It gave them a sense of humanizing us.
48:16
Absolutely not just a number. You're a person.
48:18
Right. So we had an opportunity to talk
48:20
to them before they even did their first hour or first, you
48:24
know. So we, we will go in and we'll
48:27
stand up and we'll tell our stories.
48:30
And everybody is just amazed at the fact that we've been through
48:35
what we went through, and our mistake is not where our story
48:41
ended, right? Bottom line, you know, And we
48:44
got standing ovations. Well, it's powerful too,
48:47
because, you know, yeah. And, and Charlie talks about
48:51
why, you know, not just to have and reward these people for
48:54
their, their great efforts, but then going back in and talking
48:57
in the cadets, talking to CEOs to bring them to a place where
49:04
hopefully they look at their job, the people that they're
49:08
around differently, knowing that these people that just spoke
49:11
today have been there, they've been to prison.
49:14
And this is what they're doing now.
49:16
So don't kick them to the curb while you're there working.
49:20
Look at them as possibilities of what they can be when they get
49:24
out. And I think it's, it's such a
49:25
powerful thing. And it's one of those things, I
49:28
hope that the Hall of Change can be something that's in every
49:32
state because I think it it has that kind of power to it.
49:36
That's, that's my goal and that's Charlie's goal as as well
49:40
as, you know, he retired. I said I'm close to it.
49:42
And even though I'm not, when you want to get on the road and,
49:46
and promote this from state to state, I'm there because I truly
49:50
believe in it. I, I really believe in, in, in,
49:54
in. It's a brotherhood, a sisterhood
49:58
of being at our lowest in life and still getting to where we
50:03
are today. So I'm I'm very thankful for the
50:07
Hall of Change and that's how I got involved with the reentry
50:12
because I wasn't involved with reentry upon getting out,
50:16
because how do you get involved with re entry and your ex felon?
50:19
You know, So once I became involved in this, it was like,
50:23
OK, there's so much more that I want to do that I can do.
50:27
And because I'm in the school system, this really a conflict
50:31
of interest of me really doing a lot more that I want to do
50:34
within the building. So I really got to kind of wait
50:38
and do things outside the building.
50:40
But I still travel and I still tell my story and I still
50:44
support when we have events in Connecticut.
50:47
I'm up in Connecticut more now than I was before.
50:51
You know, a couple of times a year I'm up there, I'm speaking,
50:54
I'm supporting the event. So well, and you know, you said
51:00
your son's 32 years old now he's got to be I would think Mom's
51:05
pretty much she's got it going. She's she went through it all.
51:10
She's I mean to think that you went through hell a nightmare
51:16
and came out on the other side, got got recognized as a a great
51:20
aider that was holochange in the state and and and got your
51:25
doctorate and helping the youth of America through education is
51:30
just a fantastic comeback story. Thank you so much.
51:36
Yes, he wrote the preference in my book.
51:39
I asked him to write it and just to come from his point of view
51:44
of when he was a child and what he felt when I went away.
51:50
And every time I read that page, I cried.
51:53
Oh man, I bet he was. Two, he was 2 when I left.
51:57
He was seven turning 8 when I came home.
52:02
Wow. So I mean, I said, your book is
52:05
next. Let me know when you want to
52:06
write it. Well, you know, it's the, the,
52:10
the thing about it is, is that kids, you know, when somebody
52:13
gets sent to prison, the whole family goes to prison.
52:16
They have to deal with it and, and, and work through it.
52:18
However they work through it. And when, when people stay
52:21
together and lean on each other to get through it, I think that
52:24
even makes them stronger. I, I'm curious, Antoinette,
52:29
after all this you went through and now you know, we're
52:32
reflecting back on, you've gone through 24 years of really have
52:36
a a big impact. What do you think's your biggest
52:39
take away through all of it? Since I've been home or just
52:47
this? Just the whole thing.
52:52
I I really had to dissect my life when I was in prison.
52:58
And I looked at it from the time that I was a child and being in
53:03
a home where my dad was abusive to my mom and then I was
53:07
molested by a family member by the age of 9 or 10.
53:11
I can't even remember the exact age.
53:15
So I grew up as a broken child who became a broken and abused
53:24
adult. And then I went to prison
53:29
because of choices that I made. So I have to do something with
53:38
my journey that's going to help those students or those women
53:45
that are broken. So my that's my biggest take
53:48
away because, you know, men go to prison all the time.
53:53
And I mean, that doesn't make it right.
53:55
But when you look at a mother being taken away from her child
54:00
in this capacity, then it's it's collateral damage almost, you
54:10
know, So as a mother, I had to come back stronger than I was
54:16
before I went out. So that was my biggest take away
54:19
of being a better me when I came out and making sure that I
54:24
positioned myself to receive all that I needed to receive, to get
54:28
to the places that I need to get to and to have an impact on all
54:32
that I needed to impact. I like that.
54:36
Yeah, you came. You're helping the broken
54:39
through your own experiences. That's powerful.
54:42
That's powerful. If people want to get your book,
54:46
you can go to Amazon and the the title of it is found guilty, my
54:52
26 year journey to redemption. I'll be getting that book.
54:56
I I, I now have. I want to read that the the sons
55:00
at the beginning of the book where yeah, you got my curiosity
55:06
way off Antoinette. It's.
55:09
A powerful It's a powerful page. I can't wait, can't wait to read
55:13
that. Tearjerker.
55:15
I bet it is so. You're going to go through.
55:19
I wrote the book in hopes that everyone truly went on my
55:23
journey with me. You're gonna have your highs,
55:26
your lows, you're gonna have your humor, but in the end,
55:30
you're gonna see the woman that I became as a result of all of
55:35
it. I love it.
55:37
That's what life is, the highs and lows and what you've become.
55:40
Well, Speaking of gratitude, I want to thank Homestead
55:43
Financial for letting me use this podcast room here with all
55:48
this fancy equipment and stuff. If you got home home mortgage
55:52
needs, Greg Aftiav is your guy. I got a book out there too on
55:56
Amazon if you want to check it out on in Barnes and Noble,
55:58
Nightmare success. If you've got time, leave me a
56:03
review on Apple or Spotify. It helps the show.
56:07
If you want to know any more about what I've got going on, go
56:10
to brentcassie.com. I spell it wrong.
56:12
I spell it with ATY, not a DY. And as I used to say to my
56:16
people when I was writing my emails back and forth from
56:19
Leavenworth, stay strong, I'll do the same.
56:23
Antoinette, thank you so much for being a guest here today.
56:26
I love your story. Thank you so much for having me,
56:29
it was a pleasure as always. I have your success in and out.