Richie 18 Years in Prison

Criminal History and Incarceration:
Richie has been incarcerated twice for significant periods.
First Incarceration: At 16, he was sentenced to 18 years for manslaughter. He does not want to discuss the specifics of the case to protect the victim's family. "Like I don't want to open old wounds up for the victim family and stuff like that."
Second Incarceration: He served five and a half years (out of a seven-year sentence) for a single punch that caused severe injury during an altercation at his then girlfriend's birthday party. The man he punched fell, cracked his head, and went into a coma. He went to a maximum-security prison. "The worst of the worst happened. He fell. He cracked his head open and he went into a coma."
He was on bail for two years prior to his second incarceration, and thus did not experience county time as part of the sentence. "I was fighting my case for two years in the streets. So, I I I was able to bypass a lot of county time that a lot of people go through."
Richie served more time than he was sentenced in his first incarceration due to behavioral issues in prison. "I already did the time. I did more than the amount of time that they sentenced me to for that case because I was acting stupid in there."
Impact of Incarceration:
Richie describes his childhood as having been spent mostly in prison and on the streets. "I spent most of my childhood in prison."
He feels he had a very short and truncated childhood of only about 4 years between 12 and 16 years old. He described his childhood as "a quick childhood."
His childhood was not traditional; he missed experiences such as prom and graduation. "I didn't have the traditional uh childhood growing up, you know, I never went to a senior prom class. I didn't graduate, none of that. So, my childhood was a little different."
Upon his release from prison, Richie had difficulty adjusting to modern life. "When I came home, I didn't know how to I I didn't even know how to use a phone when I came home."
Richie feels he was forced to grow up fast.
He feels that he knows jail better than normal life because most of his time has been spent in jail.

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