1 Comments Posted by Elle-O-Elle

wrote:
My uncle went into Lorton's facility in 1982 for first-degree murder. He was a baby, 19 years old, sent away to the playground of grown men living inside of the lion's den.

He got into a fist-fight with a group of guys. I don't know what happened during the fight but apparently he didn't like the result of it. He went home looking for grandpa's gun and found it. He returned later that night,, saw the guy, shot and killed him on the spot.

He got 30 years.

I went to visit him once when I was a kid here, I would guess maybe 1988 or 1989 when we went down to see him. I hadn't met him before. He used to call the house every now and then and ask for things; toiletry items, socks, shoes... sometime he just wanted to talk. He sent letters and he had the most exquisite handwriting for a guy, really neat. He stayed in Lorton until they transferred him to another prison once this facility closed.

He was eventually released in 2009 after serving 27 years of a 30 year sentence. He was much bigger than what I remembered of him from the visit and pictures he sent. We went to see him at a halfway house over in the district. I gave him a pair of tennis shoes and maybe a few shirts or so. He told me the district had changed so much since he went in that he felt like he no longer recognized the area. We haven't heard from him in a while but as far as I know, he's doing alright I guess.