Longtime inmate carves out new life with help of program
The Denver Post
There are moments when Michael Wentz is gripped by overwhelming dread.
He'll
be walking on a sidewalk in a grassy neighborhood and suddenly
panic, sensing he must have broken some rule that would cast him in a
punitive-segregation cell at Sterling Correctional Facility, where he
has spent most of his life. Then he remembers: He has been legally
released from prison and is on his own.
It isn't easy adjusting to freedom after spending 27 years in prison.
Still, with all the pressures of beginning a new life, Wentz, 45, has
been able to accomplish goals that until months ago seemed abstract and
unattainable. He has done it with assistance from a Colorado
Department of Corrections program that helps prisoners adjust to life
outside of prison.
State officials believe supporting him in this
transition from prison to freedom could have societal benefits,
including safer streets. It could help Wentz avoid future missteps that
could land him in prison again.
"I want to be an asset to society, not a deficit," Wentz said.
In 1985, Wentz was locked up for good reason.
The
then-19-year-old Army soldier and his brother, Theodore, who was two
years older, beat up a man they found walking toward a gay bar in
Colorado Springs. At the time, Wentz said, he hated gays, in his mind
grouping them together with an uncle who had molested him.
The
brothers had lured the man into an alley where Theodore hit him over the
head from behind with a bat, Wentz said. They drove the man in his own
car to a remote area of El Paso County, where Theodore stabbed him five
times, he said. The man survived the attack.
The last time a
reporter from The Denver Post spoke with him, Wentz was sitting in a
circle of convicts deep within Sterling's "kill fence" in June 2011.
The group of men participating in the "pilot" Lifetime Offender Program exchanged ideas about how to survive prison release to freedom after spending most of their lives behind bars.
"When
I was in there, I told myself I have these goals in life and I wasn't
going to let what I did in the past dictate what I would do in the
future," Wentz said. "I didn't let anything stand in my way."
The weekly meetings helped prepare him for his release from Sterling in March to a halfway house.
Since
his release, Wentz has been meeting with prison mentors every other
week. During his first day of intensive supervision, he was confused
about curfew and his limits and called another inmate who explained the
rules to him.
He applied for and was hired at Pelsue Co., an
Englewood engineering and manufacturing firm. He also got a job as a
tattoo artist at Endless Ink Tattoo and Spa near Interstate 70 and
Quebec Street.
Pelsue, which retrofits vans for utility companies
and manufactures safety equipment and tents that go over manholes during
maintenance work, hired him to help retrofit vans by installing clean
laboratories used in the field by utility-company workers as they
perform tasks such as fiber-optic splicing.
Wentz said that
when he came to Pelsue, he didn't expect special privileges because of
his publicized talent as a graphic artist that he had developed in
prison. Many of the walls inside Sterling are covered with giant murals he painted. Wentz's paintings sold in galleries for as much as $2,000.
Wentz
was a quick learner who eagerly worked overtime when called upon, said
his former supervisor, Jose Rodriguez. Pelsue is a relatively small
company and can't afford to have employees who are dead weight,
Rodriguez said.
"He's very smart," Rodriguez said of Wentz. "He has a great attitude. He never complains and did whatever I asked."
In
a few months, Wentz moved to a position in the company's fabrication
shop. He was a full-time employee, getting medical benefits and paid
vacations.
In May, another position came open.
Wentz got the
job, which usually required applicants to have a college degree in
drafting or engineering. In prison, he had earned an associate's degree
in computer-aided drafting, but most of the computer software he uses to
create schematic drawings he had taught himself to use.
On his
computer, he has created three-dimensional drawings of how Pelsue
products are assembled. He has created realistic drawings of products
yet to be built.
In the afternoon, he dons another hat and works
in the marketing office. He has been redesigning the company's catalog,
giving it more of a commercial feel rather than an institutional one.
He has quite an eye for it, said Pelsue chief executive Mark Pelsue.
1 comment:
This story is a huge encouragement to my fellow ex-offenders who are seeking a new life - a positive life - after being released from prison. My salute to you, Michael Wentz, for standing up and making a new life for yourself! Keep up the good work!
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