Author: mpau@thebeatwithin.org

by Johnny C. Perez On November 20th, 1991, I was a gang member. At around 9:33pm that night I was riding a moped. I didn’t give much thought to how dangerous it was for me to be out at that time of night. The past two years, two gang associates had been murdered, and many more shot. I wasn’t thinking about that. I was a sixteen years old having fun. In the blink of an eye, there was a blazer in front of me with a person half way out the passenger window shooting at me. I was hit in

by Genaro Patterson Hello Future, yes you, every child who resides in the juvenile detention center, you are the future and the world is depending on you to help make it a better place than what it was when you first came. You might not realize it, but your existence could have a drastic change on how we live here on earth. You could be the next miracle doctor, the next senator, the president, the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg or James Patterson, the best fiction writer in the business. Now is the time to make your change, to take

by John Vasquez Sometimes the stress seems unbearable. My younger brother is homeless, and I haven’t seen him in twenty-two years. My mother, who turns sixty this year, is in poor physical health and she must drive three and a half hours just to visit me. Here I am in prison and I can’t do anything about it. I feel powerless to help the people I love, and it stresses me the hell out. I got locked up at sixteen years old and my family has been waiting twenty-five years for me to come home. I’m doing life in prison