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[NO TITLE] My name is Nicholas Allen Miller Din #xxxxxxx. I'm in NYSDOCCS Five Points C.F. serving a 3 1/2 to 7 year sentence for a non-violent D felony burglary 3rd. This is my first hand testimony on prison life. There's so much about prison that people don't understand. Like how many inmates are victims there self to addiction and while high or to get high they made very bad choices. Then instead of treatment their locked away from everyone and everything they've ever cared about. I've lost a wife I'll forever miss. I've lost years of my sons lives, all for being locked up instead of getting treatment. See most the time it's not monsters going to prison but it's prison making monsters. You take a person and put them somewhere run by gangs and violence and 90% of the time that person will become someone there not just to make it threw the day. I remember being 19 and ending up in Greene C.F. one of NYSDOCCS most violent prisons back in early 2000s. Within 2 weeks I went from a loving family life to walking a prison yard with more fights and cuttings then any other prison. I became someone I wasn't I had to put a mask on just to live. Then months turned to years, and I lost my soulmate and at times it seems I've lost not just her but my own soul as well. Prison rips familys apart. I'm not saying we dont need prisons because we do. What I truly believe though after 2 bids is that for real change to happen in our prison systems, we got to take the non-violent drug addicts and put them in real treatment not prisons. Also prisoners should be in prisons close to home to help keep a strong family bond. Then i believe you'll see a lot less people coming back to prison once they get out. I've seen and done things i can never unsee or undo, but I still reach for life even when all feels hopeless. I wish more people would understand how bad our system is at helping people turn around and get their life back. It turns a problem into a crisis. We need to understand addiction better because it can turn a angel into a demon That's the truth of it. Well I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this I hope it's helped. Truly, Nicholas A. Miller
