I draw golf courses in my prison cell

I started drawing at the age of three, but by the time I was convicted of murder at the age of 21 I had lost interest in art altogether. This indifference persisted for the first seven years of my time in prison.

Then my uncle sent me some art supplies. It took me a few months to take them out of the packet, but when I did something changed inside me and I began to draw a lot. Despite this, if you’d have told me that I’d end up drawing golf courses for 10 hours a day, I’d have said

you were out of your mind. I’ve never even been to a golf course and where I come from golf is not exactly something we speak about.

I first drew a golf course in February 2010, when Attica Prison’s superintendent asked me to draw the 12th at Augusta. I’ve now drawn hundreds of courses, but none compare with Augusta because of its landscaping and the flowers. It is so bright and pretty. I love it.

After seeing the drawing I did for the superintendent, several other inmates said it was really good and encouraged me to continue drawing golf courses. One even gave me a few golf magazines to copy from. I began doing just that and soon drawing golf courses became my passion and purpose in life.

When I do a golf course picture, I want it to come to life, so I like the grass to be really green. The shape of the sand dunes is also very important and so is the position of the trees. Good drawings should always have some trees off in the distance in the background.

I am due for parole in 2030, but, even though someone else has confessed to the murder I am supposed to have committed and six eyewitnesses have come forward to clear me, I don’t hold out much hope of being released. When you’ve spent 22 years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit, you pretty much lose all of your faith in the system.

That said, drawing golf courses gets me through the tough times and helps me to imagine a life outside the prison walls. If I ever get out of here, I’d love to visit a course and perhaps even play. That’s my dream and hopefully it will happen one day. Until then, I’ll just keep drawing.

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