Expression (for the crowded and alone)
A poem and testimony by Matthew Garcia – on felony murder, the 13th Amendment, and 30 years inside.
-Posted by Carisia Garcia
The Backstory
Lately I have a lot of trepidation, a heavier sense of anxiety. With the PA Supreme Court ruling that deemed mandatory life sentences unconstitutional for those convicted of second‑degree felony murder, there has been an enhanced feeling of urgency. I have always considered life past these walls and fences, and perhaps that’s why it has been such a difficult stay for me for these almost 30 years I have existed in prison.
It’s not that life in prison isn’t very hard to endure for anybody serving any sentence – but when you have a free spirit, a spirit for change and liberty, growth that counts and can be implemented, these walls and fences are highly offensive and restrict too much.
So my disposition has been just with a more intense eagerness to solve the dilemmas that have been plaguing me and the pace I have been made to go. My writings have been even more purposefully composed, knowing my voice is now getting louder, my momentum on this train toward liberty is speeding up, more individuals are listening, more eyes are looking – and I want to make sure I stay true to a purpose that has driven me deeply.
I hope you read my lines and even discover what’s between them, the expressions illustrated.
– Matthew Garcia
Expression
by Matthew Garcia
🎧 Listen to Matthew read his words
Click below to hear Matthew Garcia speak this piece in his own voice
Let these words ring loud and echo
as contributions for those
who haven’t found the right articulation
to invoke sentiments
that will inspire you to really help the many
that are in a crowded place
feeling very alone,
oppressed and bleeding.
Lost from freedom –
those that are in agreement
that 2 letters and 4 numbers
can’t define souls and minds behind lines,
that separate a million different definitions.
Behind lines
where everything is searched and torn apart
except the inside of your heart –
where true character lives
and what will never be
on the list to be inspected.
Rejected in a place
where one moment in time dictates treatment and trajectory
for an unmeasurable period –
during which an action, process, or condition
exists or continues –
and a thousand years confined
or an absolute entire existence
that one moment made your permanent meaning.
Life suspended,
stuck in a school that’s unusual and cruel in
detention.
It’s not about repentance.
With billions of dollars at stake
there is no pretending.
Explain the 13th amendment –
is this just slavery remnants?
Felony murder gave life sentences
for people who didn’t kill –
now who benefits?
Communities crushed
that they want to tear down.
Chains don’t have to be present
when you wear browns.
Think about the refutation
of an irrefutable science.
The juvenile offenders law
and how they applied it.
Think about the innocence crying –
the men and women who spent 40 years fighting,
and still offered a deal to keep a conviction.
The ones convicted,
accused of doing something they didn’t.
Do you understand the dynamics of a system?
Will you only listen
if it’s you or one of yours missing?
Did we forget Ms. Harriet’s mission?
Have you ever heard
about the super predator policy?
Fallible individuals themselves –
how are they the guardians of the galaxy?
When the same ones instituting these things
are on the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s.
Acres of skin, experiments and testing.
I pray you receive what I’m expressing
Postscript – Why this matters now
Matthew Garcia has been in prison for nearly 30 years.
He is one of thousands impacted by felony murder laws and mandatory life sentences.
The recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling opens a door –
but only if we listen, share, and act.
If this piece moved you –
if you believe in second chances
and you know that a single moment should not define a lifetime –
then you are exactly who Matthew is speaking to.
You are the reason he kept writing.
Three ways to be the echo
1. Share this post
Send it to someone in Pennsylvania who needs to hear a voice from inside. Share it with a friend, a neighbor, a person of faith, a voter. Let the words land somewhere new.
2. Contact your lawmakers
Pennsylvania needs reform. Felony murder laws and mandatory life sentences have stolen too many decades from too many souls.
Find your Pennsylvania legislator and demand reform:
3. Write to Matthew
Your words on a page can reach through walls and fences. A letter costs a stamp but means everything to someone who has been made to feel invisible for 30 years.
Send letters to:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Matthew Garcia / EG5999
PO Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733About Matthew’s platform
Clink the link below to follow Matthew Garcia’s ongoing work and advocacy: