By Keith Colvin
July 1984 I turned 18. In August 1984 I found myself sitting in the reception center of Vacaville State Prison. I’d heard the term “school to prison pipeline,” and now I was living it. I recall the public defender telling the judge, “If you send this kid to prison now, what do you think 
he’ll be like when he comes home?”
In 1997 I was sentenced to 39-to-life for 2nd degree robbery. The extra 14 (over the 25-to-life) are enhancements. I know murderers who got less. To add insult to injury, the 14 extra years were already used in order to get me the 3-strikes to begin with.
I often reflect on the P.D.’s comment, “What do you think he’ll be like when he comes home?” Prison only served as a training ground that enforced my dysfunctional behavior, which didn’t help in any way with my established character defects. A short return to society proved that. I was incapable of functioning.
If you park a car with engine trouble in a garage and come back 5, 10, 25 years later, the car still has engine problems. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on warehousing so many like me, without doing the maintenance necessary to correct the obvious behavioral disorders. It’s not only wasteful, destructive, and insane; it’s inhumane, and society continues to pay the price.
Kieth Colvin is incarcerated in California.
