WEBVTT - Jeremy | Chapter 5 - Like a Little Kid 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:17.560 Well, because I clean. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.080 I listened to a lot of podcasts to get through 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.080 the day, and I kind of exhausted all the good ones, 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.640 of course Cereal, and went through all those pretty fast. 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.760 Mary West has had many jobs and worn many hats. 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.199 She's in her sixties now and living in northern Florida, 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.279 where these days she cleans houses. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:39.960 I did it when the kids were in school so 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.960 that I could go on field trips or go to 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.280 their swim meets or whatever. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.920 I like cleaning, actually, and so I've just stayed with it. 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:51.760 I was just. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:56.680 Googling one day for like podcasts set in Florida, because 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.280 I really just wanted to hear about local stuff. 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.760 I guess you know, you came up. 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.520 Like I would even agree to do a house I 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.760 didn't want to do because I'd have four hours of 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:16.200 uninterrupted listening. You know. The part of the podcast really, 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.600 and it's still memorable, it is when you played the 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:21.440 clip of Victoria Avalon. 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:30.039 Mister Scott, this man. My name is Victoria Avalon. I'm 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:31.200 the prosecutor in the case. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.480 Victoria Avalon is an assistant state attorney who questioned Jeremy 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:40.040 Scott after he confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in a 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.600 twenty seventeen evident Charry hearing right. 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:49.240 And she was questioning, Jeremy. 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:48.960 Grandmother's dead right. 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:50.880 Leave her out of this. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.280 Your grandmother's dead right as she is. She's the only 0:01:55.320 --> 0:02:00.320 one on earth that cared about you, wasn't she answer 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:04.279 out loud? Yeah, no one's sending you any money. 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:13.519 Correct, No, ma'am. 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.960 You can't even afford to buy deodorant, can't you. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:20.200 No, ma'am, you can't even buy deodorant, can you? 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:25.320 And I was like, man, she's just she was harsh. 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:27.639 I thought, man, that's awful. 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.560 I just felt so bad for Jeremy. So I thought, well, 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.960 I want to send Jeremy some money, like twenty dollars. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:36.760 You know, I don't know, do. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.000 You remember the first letter what you said to him? 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:44.320 I think it was right around Christmas, and I don't know. 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.600 I just said he was that I thought he had 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.839 done the right thing to confess what he had done. 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.880 I knew it had to be hard, and that. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.240 I felt bad because he had said he felt like 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:01.560 he slept with ghosts that night, and that was just 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:07.440 wanting to help a downtrodden person. Really, I didn't have 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.120 any plans to keep writing him like that. 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:16.400 You know, do you remember the first letter that Jeremy 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:16.800 sent to you? 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:35.120 Well, I have it. Oh right here, let me see. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:42.520 You my mind, I have to have my feet sorrow 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.360 step sorry this. 0:03:47.040 --> 0:04:25.640 In this vista see. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.880 To things. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:39.440 Things Bone Valley, Season two, Jeremy, Chapter five, Like a 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:46.160 little kid. When Mary first decided to write Jeremy a letter, 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.000 she wasn't sure how to reach him or where he was. 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.680 In order to deposit funds into an inmates canteen, the 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.960 Florida doc has to approve you. So I helped her 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:01.479 navigate the protocols. She sent Jeremi a letter, got approved, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.560 then deposited a little money for deodorant and toothpaste. She 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.320 assumed that would be the end of that, but Jeremy wrote. 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.760 Her back January thirty first. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.320 Christmas had passed and it was the beginning of a 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.800 new year, twenty twenty three. One day she was picking 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:21.880 up her mail and there it was. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:24.880 I think it's on like a half a piece of 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.280 paper because he didn't have any money to buy paper. 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:29.720 It's torn at the bottom. 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:31.839 Yeah, go ahead and read. 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.440 It, okay. 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.600 So January thirty first, twenty twenty three, Dear miss West, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.160 I just want to let you know that I received 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.360 your letter and to let you know that you were approved. 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.960 I've been trying to find out who you were. I 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.880 even sent a letter to mister King, the one that 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:54.280 did the podcast on me. I have not had anyone 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.680 to write me in over ten years now since my 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.240 grandma passed away, so I kind of give up on 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:08.159 hearing from family. I hope that you can understand my 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.200 spelling and writing. I haven't wrote for so long, and 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.359 it's hard writing on paper like this because it doesn't 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.600 have any lines on it. Oh and yes, I did 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.240 like your Christmas card. You were the only one to 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:22.680 send me one. Thank you. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.600 You said that you want to put some money in 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.799 my account. Well, I'll give you my word. 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:31.880 I will buy stamps and writing paper if you got 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.159 me off podcast. You should know what I am in 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:41.320 prison for. I've been locked up since nineteen eighty eight. 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.680 I was nineteen and I went to prison in nineteen 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:45.320 eighty nine. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.640 Have been here since. I'm fifty three. 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.919 Years old now and right now I'm on cm IE Lockdown. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.720 As soon as she started getting letters from Jeremy, Mary 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.440 agreed to send me voice memos talking me through them. 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.360 What really struck me in those early letters was how 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.840 surprised Jeremy was to be hearing from her. 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.160 He says, can I ask you something? I ain't never 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.920 had anyone to want to help me. And now, don't 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:23.960 get me wrong, I just wanted to know. He didn't 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.200 say why, but I'm guessing he meant to say why, 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.600 but thank you, and I hope you are well in 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:30.360 doing good. 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.360 Something else that stood out. It seemed like Jeremy wanted 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.760 to prove to Mary that he was worthy of her time, 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:39.600 her letters, and her attention. 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.120 In the beginning, he would send me exactly what he 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.720 bought a canteen, you know, to show me that he 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:47.200 was spending his money wisely. 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.320 When Jeremy was a younger man in prison, his family 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.920 was still writing and visiting, but then they stopped. Now, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.360 all of a sudden, he had someone new in his life, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.280 and it seemed important him to be accountable to her. 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.440 Like here's that he sent a receipt of something. He said, 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.880 I still have four dollars I can use. He said, 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:13.600 I did buy degodurant and another bar of soap, and 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.480 I just wanted to let you know that I use 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:16.600 that money for the good. 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.800 In those early letters, Jeremy and Mary are just getting 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:28.520 to know each other. 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:36.280 The third letter I got from Jeremy, we've talked about football, 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:42.240 Gardner Minshew specifically because that is one person in football 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.320 that I know about, because he's pretty hot. 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.200 At first, he's writing once a week or maybe every 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:49.840 two weeks. 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:51.600 I got to say. 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:56.320 His handwriting is really good at slants evenly and pretty 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:01.320 consistently to the right. It's incursive for some who never 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.800 made it through high school. He doesn't have a lot 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:09.880 of misspellings, so my thought is that he puts a 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.280 lot of time and effort into his letters. 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:19.800 By April, Jeremy is writing all the time, sometimes every 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:20.480 three days. 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.960 I just wanted to drop a line so that you 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.600 would have a letter from me, and then a little 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.760 smiley face drawn on the paper. 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:33.319 The letters get more personal. 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.160 I hate being behind this door all day, but I'm 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.360 doing everything I can to get off CM. 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:43.319 And then he says. 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.000 Mary asks him about his family and the people he 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:47.559 used to know on the outside. 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.360 He said, you ask if I heard from my son's mama, 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.800 and I have not since my son was twelve years old. 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.440 Her name was Jamie C. Allen. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.400 I learned she got married, so I don't know her 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.840 last name. I still have family, they just don't write me. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.400 I don't know where they are. My own mom doesn't 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.600 write me. My son justin m Allen, I don't know 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.880 where he is anymore. It's hard to think about them, 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:24.040 knowing that they are my blood family and won't even 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:29.320 let me know how the family are. I just don't 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.280 know what else I can do. I wrote my Aunt 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:33.560 Debbie in May. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:35.520 The letters ramp up even more. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:42.199 He talks about Missus, his grandma. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.400 He asked me one time if I could get a 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.599 picture of her gravestone. 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.800 Mary wasn't able to find her gravestone, but she was 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.880 able to find her Aleene's obituary. It had a picture 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:57.120 of her. Mary printed it out and sent a copy 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:58.000 of it to Jeremy. 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.600 He wrote back, I was looking at that picture of 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.040 Grandma and I used to have the same picture. When 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.400 I was in prison in Miami. They lost all my stuff. 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.440 I had another picture of me, Aunt Debbie and Grandma 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.120 when they came to visit me once in some picture 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.040 of my son and others as well, but now I 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.560 have none. Thank you for sending what you could and 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.599 finding out what you could. Again, he asked, what, I 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.040 please find out his grandma's birth date, and I'm not 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:29.800 sure I ever did, so I'm going to follow up 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.040 on that. Then he said, I also understand that you 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:34.600 found some news about my brother. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.480 Looking at Mary also did what she could to connect 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:43.160 Jeremy with other family members, just like I did last 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.319 time I checked. Royal Dean Scott was in prison himself 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.000 in Alabama. In Alabama, Mary found his mugshot online and 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:51.520 sent that to Jeremy. 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.040 As well, that's my little brother. I would know that 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:54.960 face anywhere. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:59.280 Exclamation mark, exclamation mark, And he said he had last 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.160 seen him when he was about thirty five, and he 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:02.480 must be fifty two or three. 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:07.559 Now it's clear how much these family connections mean to Jeremy. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.880 Dated May sixteen, twenty twenty three, he thanked me again 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.320 for sending the obituary, and he said he was looking 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.000 at it again and rereading it. 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:18.160 Thank you so much for the obituary. 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:24.360 She was strong, never turn her back on anyone, always 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.440 trying to help if she could. Sometimes we don't think 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.200 about stuff that she did for us all, and I 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.360 feel bad it took me thirty four years to understand 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.120 what Grandma had been telling me. I will always remember 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.680 the good times I had with her. If you find 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.199 out anything else or get any other pictures, would you 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:52.920 please send them? He said, you know you're really the 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.960 only person that writes me. Basically, it was just me 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.160 and mister King that were writing him. 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.160 He says, I also want you to know that I 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.000 really appreciate everything you have done for me. 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.840 I still find myself sometimes looking for help. Sometimes it's 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.800 good to talk. I hope that you've had a great weekend. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:21.160 Take care of Jeremy Scott. 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.800 From his letters, Mary has learned even more than I 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:30.559 have about Jeremy's childhood. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.040 He said that as a kid he used to have 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:41.920 fun in foster homes, never staying long, always getting himself 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:45.400 in trouble, and he said, I think that I might 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.959 have been in more foster homes than any other kid 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.840 growing up. Some were good and some were real bad. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.400 I just wish none of this had ever happened. I 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:58.960 never met my dad, don't even know who he was. 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.360 I asked my mom, but she would never tell me. 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:04.680 My mom was a kid when I was born. I 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:09.040 think she just turned fifteen years old. Then I was 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.800 raised by my grandma and grandpa. 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:14.240 I live with it. 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:18.000 It does hurt, but I learned some time ago that 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.239 you have no one to blame but yourself. 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:25.200 But it still hurt. I never did grow up. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.600 Even now, I at my age, I still feel like 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:34.480 a kid. I'm always thinking things like a kid. Maybe 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.280 there is something wrong with my head. 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.840 During the sentencing phase of the Donald moorehead trial, when 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.280 he was nineteen years old, Jeremy listened to his aunt Debbie, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.360 describe him as slow, with a mind that wanders like 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:48.600 a nine year old child. 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.240 They always said, even in court, that I had the 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:57.280 mind of a nine year old. He does say that 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:00.680 when he looks back that he can see how stupid 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:07.040 he was and he never did things the right way 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:11.680 until it was too late. He did say, ever since 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.920 he was six, seven or eight years old, he always 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.200 felt like something was wrong with them in the head, 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:23.440 and that he always felt like people were putting him 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.640 down or making fun of him, and that it hurts 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:31.160 real bad. That's one of the reasons that he doesn't 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.080 go too many groups or anger management classes. 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:38.800 He said he did try those. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.120 And it didn't work, and all it did was get 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.720 him in more trouble, so now he just tries to 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:47.120 work out his problems in his head. I'm sorry for 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.520 my dog barking in the background. I have two dogs 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:55.240 that don't get along. I had told him about I 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.600 was dog sitting one of my cleaning clients, three rockweilers, 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.120 and he said he was familiar with them and he 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:07.440 liked having dogs when he was a kid. And he 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.640 put a little smiley face, which he doesn't do very often. 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:17.080 He comes around a lot. 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.040 Then he says, oh, I really want to get an education, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.160 and education is printed in all caps. 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.160 Jeremy was barely literate when he was sent to death row. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.120 It sounds like that's where he finally tried to learn. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.280 He mentioned the old man who taught him to read 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.320 when he was on death row from eighty nine to 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:44.720 ninety three, and he said, an old man was teaching me, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.160 and if school could teach me the way he did, 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.520 I could have been a new person. I can't remember 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.360 his full name. I always called him mister Jackson. He 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.840 was good at helping, not just me, but others as well. 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.360 He is a black man, about sixty five years of age, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:08.680 maybe sixty eight, and he didn't care what color your 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:09.480 skin was. 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:12.160 I never saw him again. 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.480 I heard he got off death wrote someone told me 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.679 that he had died, but he says that may not 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.840 be true because he heard rumors that he himself, Jeremy, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:27.880 had died in two thousand and two. I had ordered 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:32.600 him a ged study book, and he said that should 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.680 really be fun, because I suck at everything. I only 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.119 went to the sixth grade and I never got past 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.359 it math. I don't know at all. I mean, I 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:47.080 can add, and that's about all I've ever learned. The 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:52.240 next letter, he said that he got the three books 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:53.760 I sent, and he said, I don't know that I 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.520 can do this. It looks really hard, but I'm going 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:57.000 to try. 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:57.760 He says. 0:17:57.880 --> 0:17:59.879 Remember I told you that I only went to the 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.600 sixth grade. He said, really, I only went to the 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.840 fourth grade, but they moved him up to the sixth 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.720 because of his age. I sent him a math book 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:13.040 on top of that, and that I had. I sent 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.879 him one that was fourth and fifth grade math, and 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.840 I felt bad doing it because it looks like a 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.359 kid's book, and I didn't want him to feel, you know, embarrassed. 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.639 I don't know what the other prisoners see, or you know, 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:26.840 if they make fun of him for. 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:27.560 Things like that. 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.480 You know. When I'm more reflective about what is going 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.720 on here about me and Jeremy writing letters, I kind 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:45.919 of think, like, Mary, you're insane because here you are 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.760 talking to him basically a mass murderer, and worrying about 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.760 whether he's going to feel bad because you sent him 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.560 a fairly childish kind of book. 0:18:57.720 --> 0:18:58.720 So who knows. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.960 Truthfully, I just don't think about it too much. I 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.760 just just write the letters, you know, as if he's 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.480 any other person in my life, maybe like a brother 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:18.639 or something. Anyway, So he says he can't do the math, 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.359 and he guess he's gonna have to just read it 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.640 real slow and try real hard and maybe something will 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:28.879 come to him. 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.399 Between the ged books Mary sins and the paperback novels 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.840 that I send him, it still sounds like he can't 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:36.680 get enough to read. 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.480 Mary, you told me that mister King is gonna mail 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.440 me the Game of Thrones three four and five. Does 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.440 he know how to order the books from the bookstore? 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:53.760 You might have to let him know. The next letter 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.280 I got was dated May ninth, two thousand and three, 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:00.440 and insight on the very front he had written in 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:02.960 big letters it said, Happy Mothers Day, Mary. 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.679 Sometimes Jeremy's letters are just his stream of consciousness what 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.159 it's like to spend day after day in prison. 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:14.680 He said that the last two or three days it's 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.679 been raining real hard, and it was cool for a while. 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.720 I was just thinking about summer, and when it gets here, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.480 it will be really hot. The bad thing is we 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.119 have to wear our blues all day from seven am 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.080 to four thirty pm. I just wet my blue shirt 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:34.560 and then put it back on and sit under the 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:36.200 window and try to stay cool. 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:39.560 He says. 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:42.679 He washes his own shirt and pants because if he 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.240 turns them in, they never come back clean, and they 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.080 often just give you another pair, and they don't always 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:53.080 fit the same. So he washes them himself and that 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.439 way he knows they are clean. Then he writes, I 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.919 try to write a letter like most people do, but 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.320 when I'm done re read what I just wrote, it 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.840 never sounds right. I just don't want you to think 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:18.680 that I ain't trying. He says he felt pretty good 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:23.000 right now, it's not as hot and he's clean. He's 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:27.320 going to clean his floor, and he said, he takes 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.920 off his blues and will lay right under his window 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:33.960 and the rain comes in just a little bit and 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:36.280 hits him in the face and feels good and cool. 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.000 He said, I did this last night and then went 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.040 to sleep. I hope everything is good and you are 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.880 well and don't work so hard. 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.520 By summer. Jeremy and Mary are also talking on the phone. 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:02.600 Okay, so it's August. Well, shit, it's September twelfth. 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:06.359 But my phone call with Jeremy, the last one I 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:11.000 had was August fifteenth of twenty twenty four anyway, so 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.440 I was not expecting a call from Jeremy because I 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:17.159 had not written him in a while. He said that 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.520 he was fine. That he gets two times a week 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:24.480 he gets to go outside for an hour. But he 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:27.199 said the cell was small. It was about eight feet 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.720 long and seven feet wide. And he said he is 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:34.480 able to shake hands with the cell MAT's next door 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.120 to him, but that right now he has no neighbors 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:40.160 on either side of him, which sometimes he likes because 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:44.200 it's quieter. But sometimes, you know, you miss the interaction. 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:48.760 And the operator was saying, you know, our time was 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:51.000 running out, so that's how. 0:22:50.880 --> 0:23:12.760 We ended it. Yeah, I just I wonder what that's 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.159 like for Jeremy. Just to know that somebody's going to 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:18.520 be checking in. I feel like that has to be 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:23.119 significant for him, probably, but it might be a I 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:23.479 don't know. 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:28.280 Not everybody wants to be, you know, micromanaged by a mother, So. 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:31.719 Uh do you ever feel that, like you're just yeah, 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:32.160 I do. 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:34.280 I worry about him. It's like a it's like a 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:37.840 parental thing. I'll ask him, has he easy versh in 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:41.040 his teeth and taking vitamins and all that, you know, 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:44.239 you know, has he been to a dentist or does 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:45.160 he need glasses? 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:49.720 In my calls with him, Jeremy always asks for updates 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:52.040 on Leo's case, and when I let him know that 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:54.360 Leo had a big hearing coming up that could lead 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:56.719 to his release, he wrote to Marry about it. 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:00.600 Mister King told me that Leo's parole here his next 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:02.040 week and he is going to be there. 0:24:03.000 --> 0:24:04.600 I hope things turn out good for Leo. 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.160 Jeremy will never see the day where he's actually par old. 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:12.160 But he tells Mary how much it means to him 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:15.800 for Leo to be released from prison, you know. 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:17.359 Of his own accord, he said that. 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:21.159 He had heard that Leo had been married and he 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:24.000 was sure hoping they would let him out soon, and 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:27.280 that he did everything he could think of to help him. 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:32.560 But Polk County, it's just really bad. And he said 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:37.800 it's hard to undo or right or wrong. And you 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:49.000 know that's pretty profound coming from Jeremy, but also true 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.040 life is so fucked up. Now look at Leo. They 0:24:56.080 --> 0:25:00.560 really didn't want to even hear Leo's case. No matter 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:04.399 how much we try, they just they won't even listen. 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:10.200 When will people just say stop, let's look at this. 0:25:12.200 --> 0:25:15.240 In the spring of twenty twenty four, Leo was finally 0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:19.399 released from prison. Mary talked to Jeremy on the phone 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:20.240 not long after. 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:23.080 Oh, I guess it's this. 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:26.880 From that call, he said he met Leo's former roommate 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:29.800 and he said he can't remember his name, but the 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:34.000