Randall Thompson was thirty five when he saw the inside of a prison cell for the first time.
“It was difficult times that pushed me to do it. It’s not like I woke up and said ‘I’m going to rob a grocery store today’.”
“I got laid off three weeks before and I was terrible hungry–I didn’t have nuthin’ to eat in days. When that happens, you kinda go out of your head. I took the food. I did it and that’s on me. I didn’t mean to hurt nobody; but things happen so fast and well…there’s no use talking about that now.”
“The hell of it was that it was 33 degrees outside–33 fucking degrees. If it would have been in the 20’s, the shelters they got to take you in. But not when it’s above 30…no sir, they made that real clear. Ain’t that a kick in the teeth.”
“I guess one thing just led to another. I got 47 months for robbing that store. When I got out, I was in worse shape than when I went in. You can’t get nothing good when it says robbery and assault on your forehead. Next thing I know, I’m back in for driving a car during an armed robbery. They give me 17 years for that.”
“Now I ain’t sayin’ I’m an innocent man–I did them things. But I was hungry. Still, it was a bad decision and this cell is where I spent my adult life. I should have known better. I should have done better. And that’s what I’m doing now.”
Randall Thompson was released from incarceration in April of 2000. Now on the outside looking in, he works as a third shift custodian and tells his story as part of a juvenile pre-trial diversion program to adolescent males who have recently committed their first crimes.
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