Exactly 35 months ago, I began a 78-month federal prison sentence and that time in custody has now been completed! The almost three-year journey of incarceration took me from Morgantown, to Oklahoma City, to Texarkana, and finally back home. For the next year, I will have to finish my prison sentence on home confinement. Today, I will be checking into a halfway house for an indeterminable amount of time, which I expect to be quite short. For the past few weeks, many emotions and feelings have surged: surreal surprise when my sentence was reduced, incredulous joy when my date to return home changed sooner, hidden exuberance to be leaving a federal custody so that other inmates might not become dismayed, regurgitated regret for being absent from significant life events of loved ones, blessed gratitude for all the love and support shared from loved ones, subtle shame from the poor life choices that led me here, ongoing remorse of those I've hurt by my actions, optimistic excitement to be home and contributing again to society, a sliver of nostalgia for the few quality men that I've befriended, and graced with serenity of knowing the end of my incarceration is finally be done.
Over the past few weeks, I've maintained a routine schedule to help the time continue to quickly pass. I tried not to focus on counting the days or how many meals I had left, although I did count how many times I had to put on the dark green uniform. The past three years of a time warp were very long but manageable due to the ongoing love, continued generous support (visitations, monetary gifts, printed photos, letters/cards), faithful prayers and lifegiving encouragement that I received from each of you! From the worst weeks of experiencing the loneliness of the SHU and transit through Oklahoma City to the rehabilitative opportunities like participating in the electrician apprenticeship and rocking in a few prison bands, to teaching classes for fellow felons to the hours-long pickleballing, to strengthening my faith through Catholic services, to connecting with the free world through this blog, I have had quite the prison journey.
I'll have more time to reflect and follow-up with this whole experience, but for now, I'm at a loss for words and excited to leave this portion of my life in the past. You'll now be able to contact me by email or phone since I'll have my cell phone in the halfway house. I still have my same number 614-256-2357 and same email of kengaughan@gmail.com. I could spend endless pages sharing my gratitude to everyone, but please know that I am especially grateful to each of you for following my prison journey. I cannot wait to see and hug each of you (finally)!!! As always, please continue to be mindful of any little miracle in your daily life 🙂 My BIG miracle today is the finale of incarceration!!!
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