"Surviving Angola Prison" - Overcoming Life Sentences w/ Reginald Watts & Arthur Rhodes

Join host Omar Calvillo in this powerful episode of Wrong to Strong Chicago, where special guests Reginald Watts and Arthur Rhodes recount their incredible journeys from incarceration to redemption. Growing up amidst hardship in New Orleans, both men navigated the perilous streets and found themselves behind bars in the infamous Angola Prison. Their lives took a transformative turn through faith, education, and personal determination. They both had life sentence's and they were told that they would end up dying in prison. Hear how these former inmates are now leading prison ministries and helping transform the lives of others. This episode is a testament to resilience, faith, and the power of second chances.

https://koinoniahouse.org/give/

Transcript

0:15

From the city of Chicago, a city most recently known for its crime and violence. On this podcast, we will be sharing stories of redemption from individuals raised in the tough streets of Chicago and from around the country. Some of them were gang members, drug dealers, incarcerated victims, and perpetrators of violence. Listen to my guests as they share their experiences, struggles, trauma, but also the strength, Hope, faith and perseverance. These have developed in them to keep pushing and moving forward in life. Tune in to hear how their lives have gone from darkness to light and from wrong to strong. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Wrong to Strong Chicago. I'm your host. My name is Omar Calvillo and tonight we're doing something different. We're actually at a business. Our host was gracious enough to give us an opportunity to do this interview here. And I got my brothers right here. I got Reginald Watts and Arthur Rhodes. I just met these two men recently at RTO, a shout out to a pastor, Manny Mill, Koinonia House National Ministries. Uh, they're doing amazing work when it relates to a prison ministry and not, not, not just those that are behind bars, but even, uh, being a blessing to, uh, Families and friends, uh, so these brothers I'm going to, you know, I already introduced them, you know, Reginald and, uh, Arthur, if you guys could tell us, uh, where did you guys grow up? You know, uh, if you could tell what city, what state and maybe describe how it was growing up maybe in those early years.

Watts: 1:47

My name is Reginald Watts, born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. The baby of five, five siblings. Um, I had a great upbringing, great parents, but with eight grade educations, but they had master's degrees in how to raise children. So I had a great, great, great life protected, but still in the streets of New Orleans, didn't have any trouble growing up except for what, what children have. And so I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything. My name Arthur Rose. I was also, uh, born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. In fact, he stayed across the street from me, and we didn't even know it. We found out later, but, uh, I love baseball and football. I think that was what I should have been doing. I was great at it, good at it, and I got caught up in the street life. I was going to get a guy to pitch for us, and he stayed next to the corner where everybody hang out at. And, and I got attracted to what I saw. It was, man, it was just, I thought these guys had the world by the tail. And I wanted to be a part of it, and that was probably the worst thing in the world I could have done, you know, cause again I left my first love and got attracted to that and one thing led to another and I have to, I don't know if I should go further, I ended up serving almost 42 years of my life incarcerated.

Omar: 3:22

You know, can I ask you, I know you mentioned, uh, leaving, uh, your first love. What is that first love that you mean?

Arthur: 3:27

Baseball and football. Okay. I was telling them a story about how my grandmother punished me, but I loved it. I loved baseball and football. She punished you? Yeah, she punished me. In what way? She told me, come home from school and put on a dress. And, uh, I, yeah, I kept sneaking out of the house to go play football and baseball and I didn't want to come in early and she told me to put the dress on and I cried for a minute then you know what I did? I went and played baseball. I ran about six, seven blocks and played baseball with the dress on. No way.

4:00

Oh

Omar: 4:01

man. True love. Yeah. True love. Alright. You know what, can you tell us, I know that was like, like, like growing up. you guys could describe New Orleans, you You know, like, uh, but what's one thing that's different? You know, I'm from Chicago. I've never been down there. So what are, what are some things that you remember that are unique to that area?

Watts: 4:20

In New Orleans, you can go to anybody house and you were safe. You could eat, you can sit at that table, any, I'm talking about literally anybody they take in. It's called Southern hospitality, but in the seventies and eighties, it was more evident than it is now because of the crime rate, you can't do it. Because, you know, of, of poverty, but back then, when I was growing up, and anybody could, could whip you. If they knew your mom or your daddy, they could whip you. If they heard you cursing, or doing something you had no business, and they would look out there and say, Ain't you a little bit, boy? Come here. And then get you on that porch and whoop you and send you home. And then call. And let them know, look, I'm sending you, I'm sending your son home. He down here fighting with a girl or, or whatever it was. You know, I got caught smoking a cigarette. And, and I, I guess I was about nine, ten and I was wobbling. Come out the woods, you know, out the, behind the tracks. And the lady saw us and I didn't know she had seen us and and and me and my partner Rudy Mills and we went down the hill to where my dad had his trucks at and and she snatched me he kept going he took off running and he was our next door neighbor neighbor up the street that was a whipping and then she called my mom when we got home my mama whooped us and so at that time New Orleans probably was the greatest place to be oh man yeah you have much love uh camaraderie of the families you You know, you didn't have, you didn't have the problem that you have today, but still what was going on up north wasn't going on in the south. Okay. As the south was not as advanced as the north.

Omar: 6:06

In what sense or what areas I guess?

Watts: 6:08

Um, even when clothing, what, what they wore up north and to the east and the west hadn't reached New Orleans, hadn't reached the south, hadn't reached Mississippi and Alabama. And not just that, but the way that 12 year olds act there, 12 year olds in the south didn't act that way. They wasn't as mature as the people on the east coast, west coast, or up north.

Omar: 6:33

Okay.

Watts: 6:33

And so that was a good thing. Yeah. It wasn't a bad thing because you had a chance to be a kid. It You stayed a kid much longer than, and you know, today it's,

Omar: 6:44

it's, it's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Everywhere. Okay. Now, you know, I was going to go, go back. I know you mentioned being attracted to, to the lifestyle. You, you want to tell us how, how that, how that looked maybe in the early stages and that eventually what, what it led you to?

Arthur: 6:56

Yeah, there, there's some guys on there, man, they stayed neatly dressed. They had all the girls and it was flashing money. And I was about. 13, love sports, and before you know it I put the baseball and glove down and I went on the corner and hung out with them. I remember one guy telling me, so you're in the game, now let me tell you the rules of the game. And he set me on a barber shop step and he said, this is the rules, it's uh, it's two to one. You're either gonna go to prison, you're gonna get killed, or you're gonna get rich. He said, if you hang in the game. But in this game, you can get killed or go to prison. Still, I chose to be out in the streets and doing what everybody else was doing. I loved the fast money. Again, I told you I was attracted to what I saw. My thinking was, y'all haven't gone nowhere, but they had. They had been to juvenile homes and jails. But again, I got caught up. I started hanging out. I went to liking it, uh, drinking, and girls, and eating. at that young age, and uh, just being out late at night, it just attracted me, you know, and uh, caught a lot of whoopings, but it didn't change nothing. I wanted to be around these guys, and again, I went to the boys home twice, but doing different things, and ultimately, I started messing with drugs, and it elevated from one thing to another. I got hooked on heroin, and when I got hooked on heroin, the sky was the limit. And uh, there was nothing I couldn't do. I wouldn't do to get some heroins. So how, how, how, how old were you when you, when you got hooked on that? I think I was 16 when, when I got hooked, 16 or 17 years old, uh, a older guy who was I looked up to, he, uh, he said, try this, man. You gonna love it? And, uh, was it, and I, I, I kind of admired the guy and I did it. Probably the worst mistake I ever made. My life just went down at that time. I might. Just like to dress and girls and, but uh, from that point on, it's just, you gotta get out and hustle. Yeah. And I did things that I wasn't raised to do. You know, I robbed people and I, every time I did it, I was, I felt bad because, but then I felt good because it provided the money I need to do what I needed to do. Right. And I kept on, in, in 1974, I was shot in a robbery and, um, I. I went to prison, they gave me 10 years, and I did 6 years, and uh, it was, didn't change nothing. I'd heard so much about Angola, how bad it was, and uh, one guy told me, he said, young blood, I was young, I was 20 I think, he said, young blood, when you grow up there, the first thing you do, don't buy no cookies and candy with the money your mama gave you, he said, buy a knife. He said, you're gonna need it. Wow. Wow. And when I got there, there. Trust me, I needed it. I was young, nice looking, 120 and I need, I've seen people looking at me. At that time I felt like I was a prey. They were looking at me like I was a prey, man, you know, and I had it on my mind. I ain't, I'm going to kill somebody before I leave here. Any different than I came. And that was my thoughts. But uh, by the grace of God, I know it now. Nothing happened to me. You know, I left and I really when I got. I felt, I felt like I was strong. I was bad. You know, I had my chest poked out because I went to Angola and survived and came. Yeah. You

Omar: 10:49

want to tell us, I know he, he, he, he touched on his, uh, teenage years. You want, you want to take us through that and then eventually what, what led you, you know, like

Watts: 10:56

I was the baby of the family. So I had, uh, my sister was the oldest and I had three brothers, so I didn't really have the problems in the Because we had a good last name. My mom actually made our last name famous. Yeah. Everybody knew my mom. In what way? Like, did she make you famous, I guess? My mom was, she was a go getter. My dad had a good lucrative business in trash hauling. But my mom was a go getter. She was, she, she, she lent money. We didn't know this. I didn't learn this until, until I was in prison. That my mom I used to lend money. I learned that from a guy who, who mother told him, I know that man talking about me. And he told his mom, you don't know him. And she said, go ask him for his last name Watts. I was working in the business shit and he came, I knew the guy he came up. I knew he was out to 17 water. of New Orleans which we from. And so, Nelson, he say, My mama, man, she trippin She say she know you want you come to the table. I went to the table, she say, What's your name? I say, Uh, Reginald. She say, Your last name was? I say, Yes, ma'am. She says, Your mama name Lillie Mae? I say, yeah, your mama used to help us so much and she's the one that told me the story about my mom. So I was like, well, that's why everybody called my mom. I thought, you know, but for me, I was in college at Texas University. I was a junior. And I went to a frat party. I wasn't frat, but I went to a frat party. My brother was drum major in the band. And so I was very popular from the time I got there and even more popular by the time I was a junior. And so I, I tried free bass and then it wasn't called crack.

12:41

Okay.

Watts: 12:42

Cause we talking about the mid eighties. And so I tried it kind of like that. I didn't mess with it. Month or so later, I tried it again and then I started doing it on weekends. And then I started saying, well, you know, we can extend to Monday, be a little late for class. Grades started dropping. I had to drop a couple of classes. And before you know it, I was selling my, my clothes. I had great clothes. I always liked to dress. My jewelry, family jewelry, I sold that. Then I started stealing, but before any of that, I borrowed money from everybody that I knew. Cause everybody, I was in good standards with everybody. and not paying back. My circle of people got smaller and smaller, started hiding from family, losing weight, not dressing well, not well groomed. And so, got to a point to where I had to start stealing. And I wasn't raised that way. But I started stealing. It got so bad at certain stores I couldn't go in anymore. You know the cable that they have on the clothes now? I believe I'm the one that made them do that across the world. I'm telling you, I was terrible, man. And when I ran out, the addiction got bigger and bigger. The means to get it got smaller and smaller. And so, I started robbing people. In places. First places, then people. And, it seemed to be easy. And I got shot. Yeah, I got shot. And, uh, I didn't change anything. I caught a bid. I did a year. I caught another bid. Six years. I did three on that. That didn't change anything. But then I got that next time I ended up with a life sentence, no parole, no probation, no suspension of sentence. The judge actually said, you're going to die in Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola. You will never come out of Angola. And so, I served my time. 25 years before, but I, but I got saved in prison. Yeah. I got saved while in prison.

Omar: 14:57

Okay. Could I ask you this? Uh, um, faith, did faith play a part in your family growing up or was it just, okay.

Watts: 15:04

I remember one day my dad said this, I don't know what happened, it was, it was a, I don't know if it was a Saturday or Sunday, but I know we was watching football. And he said this, he just, he put his recliner down, and he said, everybody in this house is going to church, it was a Saturday, cause he said, he didn't say next week, he said everybody in this house is going to church, I don't care where you go. He never raised his voice, my, our whole life. He said, I don't care what church you go to, you're going to church. Everybody. And he told my mom, my mom was on the other side of the house. He said, he called her Puddin

15:38

He

Watts: 15:38

said, Puddin that goes for you too. And. I don't know, but I was in Catholic school, so my brother as close as Timmy, we chose Catholic school because if you go to church 10 minutes late and you lose, and you leave 10 minutes early, that means you'll only be in church 25 minutes. So we chose, and no disrespect to anybody in religion, uh, uh, so we chose Catholicism. So we had to go every Saturday to confession and, and, and so, but then it got to the point where it started getting real, you know, and my mom got saved. Hmm. She never did. took another drink in our life. My dad was being keynote speaker at church and, you know, we would hear him singing spiritual songs and the house changed and my oldest brother was in college and he got saved first and then my, my sister got saved. Actually, my sister got saved first, then my oldest brother. And so it kind of trickled down to we was running out of places to hide from God. Um, and so I went off to college and um, so I had a taste of what it was like to be governed by God. Yeah. From, from early age. But I wasn't all the way in. No, yeah, yeah. I wasn't all the way in. But I knew that, I knew God, Almighty Yahweh, and I knew he had a son, Jesus. I knew that. I knew he died for my sins. I knew that I needed to repent, but we wasn't calling it repentance in, in the Catholic.

Omar: 17:04

No, right, right. Yeah, we wasn't

Watts: 17:05

calling it that. Yeah, yeah. We was confessing and we wasn't really repenting, wasn't really turning away from it. We just wait till next Saturday and see all that I did again, you know, and so, but it played. And so as far as religion, what it did for me was from my mama's and daddy rule, what they told us to do was spiritual because they always told us the right thing to do, that we couldn't choose. We couldn't choose who we loved. We couldn't say. White boy in our house. We couldn't say fool. We couldn't say lie. We couldn't call out my brother. We couldn't call each other bro. And so they was telling us and raising us right. That's why none of us got in trouble in the younger, in the younger

Omar: 17:50

years. So you got older. Yeah. Okay, you know, before you go back to him, I know he mentioned Angola and how it was. How was it for you in the beginning and can you tell us how long were you in there before you got saved?

Watts: 18:02

I was, I was saved when I got to Angola. Oh yeah? Because I, I, I did two years. Before I went to Angola, on a life sentence, because I did, I backed up a roll, they let that 18 months run out, then they ran me back to Orleans, and sentenced me, uh, to life sentence, and then they sent me to the wrong prison, they sent me to where he wind up going as a missionary, it was called WCI, they sent me there, when they found out, because I had 25 years, they vacated at 25 and gave me life, they only saw the 25, I was on the baseball field, and they came out there and looked like what every officer they could find. Reginald Watts, who is Reginald Watts? You know, I'm always thinking positive right now. I'm thinking I might be going home right here, right? Yeah, put that glove I had a baseball bat. Yeah, so put that back down and come to me when I got to him He said I walk in front of us. I said what's wrong? I said turn around and walk and they brought me to my you and told me pack everything And they put me on lockdown.

19:01

Hmm.

Watts: 19:02

He told me I was gonna be on the first thing smoking to Angola I didn't want to go in and go. I was cool at WC I don't wanna go Go to Angola. But when they said that, when I said the first thing smoking, I was on that next bus, on my way to Angola. And I went all the way, shackled, feet shackled, my fists balled up, and how I knew my fists was balled up when I got ready to open them, I couldn't. I couldn't open them, because I had, because I was standing on that bus, I said, and many guys will tell you this, most guys, they don't want to tell you, but you go with fear. But I said this, I said, anybody mess with me, I'm going to kill them. So the next man won't fool with me, I'm going And I must have said, I don't know, I kept my fist balling up, but I kept saying it. And we got other guys on the bus, buses loaded, and you see all kinds of faces and stuff, but you don't look around, because that's a sign of fear, so you're sitting there, you're hogged up, and you know, and I was big, I had an 18 inch neck, I wasn't fat, I was 223 pounds, you know, I was capable, but I just didn't want to go to Angola. And I remember putting up to that front gate, everything changed. Changed my whole life, changed my worldview changed, my, everything changed. And I saw guys out working. I saw the field, I saw a field line. This got me, I saw a field line later when they brung me to Camp C and there was guys on the, on the, they call it chain game. They not changed, but they got these tools on their shoulder and they walking in unison. And I said, man, that's just like the movies I seen. Yeah. I said, man, I gotta do something. And then I remember. But I had a life sentence with no probation, no parole. So I got to get in this and my mind is racing. They dropped me at Camp C. You go to everybody looking guys looking to see who they're going to pick to be the girl. You know, they're looking at this. This is still in the 90s. And I'm saying to myself, you don't want to look down. The man meet your eyes. You want to meet his eyes. I knew this from Orleans Parish.

21:05

Okay.

Watts: 21:05

It was 7, 000 inmates in Orleans Parish. Orleans Parish was a jungle. And so I say to myself, I said, he going to be the one he think I'm the one I said, he going to be. And then I see another one, two, three feet down. I said, he going to be the one I'm just, I'm actually losing my mind and don't know, you know, and man, I wind up being a pastor. Yeah, they, they chose me to be a pastor, you know, about a year later, but I chose God before I got that my mom had died. The most pain, I've been shot. I've been conked in the head, bleeding like a stuck pig. When I called home and my mom had died, I had went back to the parish. And I told everybody in there, Don't talk to me, don't come near me. If you do, I'm gonna kill you. I don't know about friends and all. I don't want to talk to nobody. And I told God, if you don't kill me, I'm gonna start killing everybody in there. If you don't kick me out, I'm too much a coward to kill myself, But, but, but, but my mom gone. I want to die. And it was an old guy named, his name was, was Diamond. And I remember he came by my bed and he said, I was teaching Bible study. He said, that same Bible that you're telling people, you need to look in it. I said, well, man, if you don't get from by my bed, I'm gonna slide you under the bed. Get from by my bed. He said, I ain't going nowhere. He got up, he was swinging his hands with his fist ball up. All the dudes was looking cause they know I'm gonna get inside his head if he didn't leave. He didn't leave. And he said, you need to practice what you preach. I said, man, get from by my bed. And he stayed there a little while longer and he walked off. And I told God this on that bed. I said, if you give me the spirit to want to live, I'll live for you the rest of my life. But right now I don't want to live. And I don't know if it was the next instant, if it was a minute, ten minutes later, or the next day. A little calm came over me, which I know now is the Holy Ghost, came over me, a peace that surpasses all understanding. It was a light that came on, that clicked on. And it was all God. And from that day forward, I've been living for Him. And that was twenty, oh, I've been out four years, four months. That makes 29 years. That was about 27 years ago. Man, praise God. Amen. Okay.

Omar: 23:32

Now we'll get to you. I know you mentioned being in Angola and, you know, everything you were going through. How, how did that process look for you when, when, when you came to faith?

Arthur: 23:39

You know, uh, again, I went, Just continuing a life of crime, I got out, it was a bloody prison and uh, I came back again and I got out, by the time I got out this time my mom had died, a month before I got home my mom died, my wife had remarried, my daughter was grown, I didn't really care, I didn't really care and uh, I just started doing what I've been doing, I said I was gonna live for myself and uh, I ended up robbing something and my friend got killed and I miraculously I miraculously, you know, police all around me, helicopters, I miraculously got away from there. But something happened when I was getting away. It came to me that something miraculous just happened. How you got away from all that stuff. Something just, uh, miraculously happened. So I got caught in California. They brought me back to Louisiana. And I went to court and, uh, I was, uh, attempting to escape. I was thinking of escaping the next day, but you know, you were talking about my mom always told me, Arthur, when you get in trouble, pray. So I was about to escape. Cross some Constantine wire and jump three floors down there to escape and I heard my mama say pray and I prayed and I heard the Spirit of God tell me to read Jeremiah 17 7 and they say blessed the man that trust in the Lord and Whose hope the Lord is and I knew that was God. I knew it was God from that point on I just said I want to know more about you. I know you I want to know about more about you If I'm gonna follow you, I need to know more. I went to back to Angola. They started a bomb a car and I 300 men, they chose me out of 30 to attend it full time. And uh, I began to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ through the Bible College. Uh, God gave me a promise about running around Stone Mountain and, uh, I just continued to follow Him, continued to put my faith in Him. And I went, they asked me to be a missionary to go to another prison. I went to another prison and I started, uh, classes over there, started help, uh, build a church over there. And, uh, after getting my bachelor's degree, the chaplain said, you need to get your master's degree. So, I pursued a master's degree and I got my master's degree in 2012. And, uh, I just continued to go around telling people about Jesus, but I kept telling people also what God had promised me, that I was going to run around Stone Mountain, it's five miles around. And they were saying, man, Mr. Arthur, you done went crazy. Somebody called you mister, that's respect. And that's the way they used to call me, they said, Luzardo, You done lost your mind, man. We love you. But man, you done lost your mind, man. You, you with that Jesus stuff, man. You got a ball till you fall. That's what they told me. You got a ball till you fall, man. You been in this here. Everybody respect you. You just gotta keep on going, man. I said, man, look. Jesus is real and I know He really even spoke to me. I said, I'm gonna run around Salt Mountain, Georgia. Just watch what I tell you. And I continued to run around. They would laugh at me cause I ran around the gym. I kept running around the gym. And, uh, it's just, uh, that's all I wanted to do. Whatever he called me to do, I did it. I did it. And, uh, one guy, I think I was telling it, he told me, he said, you need to get in the law library. You're too smart. And I told him, I said, man, look, I ain't saw a file in Jesus for the fish and bread. I filed him because he's real. And that's why I come down here and let y'all talk to me like you do, uh, because I want you to know he real. And, uh, he told me. Well, brother, they don't want to hear it. I said, let me tell you, I'm going to tell you this here. I said, God is real. And I promise you, if God wanted to get me out of here, I did what I was here for. I said, if God wanted to get me out of here, guess what? He had changed the law just for me.

Omar: 27:33

You know, before you get there, I don't think you mentioned the sentence they gave you this time, the last time. Can you mention the sentence? Cause I know they mentioned you were crazy for saying you were going to run around this mountain. So can you share that? When

Arthur: 27:44

I went to court, it was in, it was in 1994. When I went to court, The judge gave me life and 99 years and I told you I had been in and out of prison. She said, you are a menace to society and you will never, ever get out of prison again. I promise you that. And uh, I didn't pay her much mind. It didn't move me one bit. I got saved and I was studying the Bible when she said that all I did say to God, I want to know you. I just want to know you and put me in a place where I can learn more about you. And that's what happened. Uh, again, while, uh, ministering to the guys and stuff like that, the guy sent a law to me. He said, you need to read this, because I was bored out of court. Bored out of court means you can't get back in. And, uh, I read. And I read, I got chills. And I told my friend, he wanted to get me a lawyer and stuff. And I said, yeah, yeah, get a lawyer, get a lawyer. And I was, uh, praying one day after I told him that. And God said, you don't need a lawyer. You. And, um, I took and told him, he said, man, you lost your mind, man. You crazy man. You don't know who you are. You don't remember what the judge told you. I said, man, you, you need a lawyer. I said, man, I know the voice of God. And he said, I didn't. Long story short, they took my life sentence back and that was enabled me to go up for parole. It gave me 1 99 years and that guy was sitting right, right before me on a Thursday. They were serving hot dogs. I know it was a Thursday. And I said, remember one time I told you God wanted me out here to make a law just for me? I said, he did it. I said, I'm going home tomorrow. He said, oh yeah. And he went to walk off. And when I got up and grabbed him, he was crying. He was crying. I said, man, look, God is real, man. I'm telling you. Amen. I'm telling you, God is real. Yeah. And again, and I'm going to give it to Mr. Watts That lady called me a menace society in 1994. In 2024, I'm the chaplain director at Parchman prison. You tell me where they come

Omar: 29:58

from. Holy God. Praise God, brother.

Watts: 30:03

We, uh, I, I think more than anything else, the hand of God is on us in that we actually love going to work in a prison after fighting all our lives to get out of prison. You know, okay, so your part about getting out, how much time did you do? I did 20, I did 25, I did a total of 31 and a half, but the last was 25 straight and, and what happened was. I went to take a job as an inmate chaplain pastor in Grant Parish, Louisiana. They were letting us, because I'm a Bible College graduate. Bible College graduate as well. I didn't want to go. The director of the Bible College He saw me, I was tutoring, I had already graduated, and he said, come in the office, I need to talk to you. And he called me in the office, he said, I need you, he said, the sheriff and some other people are coming here next week to interview some guys to go to Grand Parish. To be a chaplain pastor. I said, I said, no, uh, uh, Chaplain Shark, I said, uh, Mr. Shark, I said, uh, I'm going to the police barracks. He said, I heard that. I heard that. The police barracks is where you want to go when you got a life sentence. But, but, but, what is that? The police barracks is headquarters. You actually may have a job with the governor. And only way I can get out, and he can get out, if the governor, or the law change, or the governor sign. So I, I had pictured myself driving a lawnmower, waving at the governor early in the morning, every morning. You know, cutting grass in the winter, even when the grass didn't need cutting. I thought I was going to be able to see the governor. I was going to come by one time with a sign, you know, with a sign. I need your help, you know, pardon, pardon me. I need a pardon and, and, and, but, and I told the sheriff when I did, so I told the director of the Bible College, I said, I'll interview, I'll do that. So it was three of us that narrowed it down to three. We interviewed, all three of us are friends too, all three of us Bible College graduates. And uh, I mean, I told the sheriff, I said, listen, I said, uh, I appreciate the opportunity. I say, but uh, I want to go to the police barrier. I really don't want to go to, to your parish. I said, no disrespect to you and, and your, and the warden. He said, why the police barriers? What's that? The police barrier? I said, the governor. I said, I have a life sentence. He said, I know you have a life sentence. I said, I don't have any way out unless the governor signed. He pulled out his cell phone. And he showed me on his cell phone, he said, what that say, I said, John Bel Edwards, that's the governor at the time. He said, this is not his work phone. He said, he's a very good friend of mine. I said, sign me up. Literally, that's what I told him. I said, sign me up. He started laughing. So I still went through the interview, the other two guys went through the interview. And later that day, the other two guys came, they didn't tell me who they picked, the other two guys came to me and said, listen. Man, you better fit for that. You've been pasturing all these years up here. I said, Oh, no, y'all trying to, I know what y'all two trying to do. Y'all trying to, y'all going to go, y'all going to go behind me and go to pull these bags. I said, he said, no, man, we say never both of them went to the master's program. Okay. So they stayed there. And so they chose me. I went 14 months later, I went before the board and the sheriff spoke for me and the lady on the board said, Sheriff, we've never seen you in one of these. He said, no, this is my first. And so you can only have two speakers. One at the live board, which was in Baton Rouge, which is the capital. My daughter spoke there and one person in the person that was going to speak wasn't the sheriff. It was my barber, my mentor. And so Mike, I spoke with the sheriff raises hand and they let him speak. So I ended up with three speakers when you only can have two. And I tell you, we cried like baby. They say granted. Wow. You know, and it's, it, it was just God just showing me I, I've been as you, but I need you. I need you to put on more of me. You ready to go home, but you wasn't ready to stay home to put more of me in you. And that's why I took you through what I took you through. And we cried in there. At the time, my wife that's out there was my fiancée and, uh, her aunt came with her the only five days apart and I had more people in the room than what was allowed. They allowed me to have more people in and then they even asked me, do you have more people that's coming? And I said, not that I know of and, I mean, the sheriff that, his deputy that brung me, the lady from DOC. We all just cried like babies in there. And this is what I remember about, about God. He said, I know the plans I have for you. I saw this two different times. I saw this early on in my walk. I saw it one way and I saw it in the latter days of my walk. He said, I know the plans I have for you. Plans to do good, to prosper you and do good to you. Those are my plans for you. At that time it just meant, Okay, God gonna bless me now. No matter what, but as I matured in the gospel, I learned that I had a position I had to be in to receive that. He said, if my people that are called by my name would humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven. I will forgive their sins and heal their land. See, those, that's, that's stuff don't come with you living any type of way. Dibbing and dabbing as we call it in New Orleans. It comes from you living on the straight and narrow. That don't mean sinless. That mean you sin less.

Omar: 35:47

Amen.

Watts: 35:48

It don't mean that you perfect. It means that Greek word for perfect means to mature. When God say be perfect, it means to mature, to go from faith to faith, from glory to glory, to grow daily in your walk with him. And while in prison is what we did, we did, yeah, we was calling everything on the side. And we wanted to ball our fists up and fight. But if we did that, that made us less than they were, that was calling us the names that they was calling. That's a fake. My cornerback, I coach football, tackle football, and I played. And my cornerback, one of the greatest athletes I ever seen, he told me one night, in the TV room in front of everybody, because I didn't let him turn the TV. He said, you live in the fakest existence there is. And he used other words. He said, y'all walking around here talking about Christianity. Talking about men of God and all that bull crap. You gonna die here just like the rest of us gonna die here. And God ain't gonna do it for you and for me either. And he walked to the back. I don't know. And so everybody's looking to see how I'm gonna react. And I said, uh, I said, man, we got, I got to work with that guy. Cause I love that dude. You know, and everybody was like, okay. Yeah. And so I remember, I remember that day, like yesterday, he's still in prison. And I kind of, he, he, he write me every now and then. And, and I remember what he said like yesterday. And I remember what God said about my life. So he can't change it. The devil came. I'm change it. I'm the only one can change it. Amen. He has no power over me. I'm the only one can change my destiny. I'm the only one can get off that straight and narrow and do those things that are not conducive to being blessed by god. Yes, sir. The only one.

Omar: 37:27

Amen. Amen. Yeah, go ahead. I'll do it. Yeah.

Arthur: 37:29

I'll remember. Uh uh Yeah, I remember, uh, I began to tell everybody I was going to go around Stone Mountain Georgia. I ran, I was in pre prison, and everywhere I went, I would preach, I would bring that in. I would teach classes, I would bring that in, and I would say that and say that, and I kept running and running, and uh. People just start to say, man, the old man been locked up too long. He lost his mind. You know, that's five miles around. He's got inclines and, and, uh, there was one guy, I rescued him. He was scared when he came to prison. I put him in my class and I told him, uh, Hey man, God going to deliver me from prison, you know? And, and I told him I was going to help him know more about Christ. And he stayed in the class with me about a year. And, uh, I went on the parole board and, and August the 1st, 2019, they released me. And the first thing was on my mind, I gotta run around Stone Mountain. I gotta run to fulfill prophecy and, uh, the guy heard about it, David, and he came there. He said, man, I'm gonna buy you a ticket to Stone Mountain. He said, you was talking about this, I mean, 10 years ago. And now it actually happened. And he bought me a ticket, a first class ticket on a Delta. I got off the airline in the first seat, round trip, and I went to Georgia and I told my daughter get up. She didn't want to get up. It was early in the morning. She didn't like getting up. I said, get up. You got to bring me to Stone Mountain. I said, I won't let you get up in the morning. I said, yeah, you got to bring me today, baby. She brought me to Stone Mountain. How long you going to be there? I'm tired. I said, I'm going to be an hour. Just go to sleep. I'll be back. And I went in that track and I ran, man. And when I went to hitting them inclines, I said, man. I don't know, but I kept running. I kept running, you know, what was going through your mind as you're, as you're running, thinking about what God promised. I said, I can't stop. I said, I can't stop. God promised me. I'm going to run around this moment. And man, if I don't do that, man, everything that I've been saying was alive, but man, I kept running. I'm going to tell you, I was tired when my daughter saw me, she said, Hey, you look like you want to die. And I said, Nope, I did it. God did it. He gave me the strength to make it around. I went around Stone Mountain, Georgia and what I did afterwards, I took pictures of it and sent it to every prison. Me coming from Stone Mountain, Georgia. I stood right there in front of it. And that was a witness that God will never ever, uh, relinquish his promise. If he said it, he's gonna do it. And I, I, I, 27 years I talked about that.

40:18

Amen.

Arthur: 40:19

And it, again, he did 25. Just like me, I did 25 years and seven months and I was talking about Abraham. Abraham took 25 years before he got his son, you know, the one God promised him. So God will keep his promise, man. Amen. No problem with that. He will keep his problem. No, no, no. You did, uh,

Omar: 40:39

25 years and seven months. You get out. What's the plan? You know, what was your plan getting out? What would you envision? And then tell us what you're actually like doing now, you know?

Arthur: 40:50

My plan, I just want to get out She was my daughter. My daughter had been through all kinds of stuff, man. She'd been ill and I said, man, I want to be there for my daughter. I told God that and for three years, man, I just spent three years taking care of my daughter going back and forth to Georgia from Louisiana, just taking care of her. Kidney went bad. She couldn't walk three, three steps and she'd get tired. She couldn't cook. She couldn't do nothing. So I was going back and forward there and then, um, she got a kidney transplant. Transplant. Now you can't keep her still. She, she went all over the place. But I was, uh, I just told God, wherever you lead me, I'm going to go. I want to tell people about you because you're real. And I just continued to, to do that. And Burl Kane called me. He called me when he first saw it, thought about it, to become the Parchman. And I told him, I can't, my daughter's sick. And then he called me and said, we want to change the culture like we did in Angola. And, uh, after my daughter got a kidney, I said, uh, you all right. Alright, can I go? She said, yeah, I don't need you no more. I said, yeah. And that's just a joke. Cause he

Omar: 41:58

called me every day. You know, can I ask you mentioned the, the warden, uh, Burl Kane. Could you talk about the change that happened in Angola? I know you're changing the culture. Could you describe it? Like some of the listeners understand? How it looked previously.

Arthur: 42:12

Angola was a dangerous prison. At one time, uh, uh, they didn't even have a free man in there. And whatever you were big and bad enough to do, you did it. You know, and uh, man, there was a lot of killing going on. He came toward the end of it, but when he started this Bible College, he came to us and said, people think y'all animals in here. He say, uh, I'm gonna let the church in here and y'all got to show them you're not animals and the church start coming in and um, he started the bible college and Men begin to graduate and you could go in that prison and see men on the wall praying Groups of good dudes on the yard praying They're in a dormitory praying that wasn't it before before that was that was a sign of weakness For you to be praying You need a knife That's what they thought. But he, but his coming, man, he, he changed the culture of the prison, man. He changed the culture of the prison and, um, a lot of men benefited from it. A lot of men were glad because of what he did. And now he's at Mississippi as a commissioner. And he's trying to do the same thing he did there, bring Jesus Christ in. Okay. Bring Jesus Christ in. And again, that's how we dealt. He asked us to come there.

Omar: 43:29

Yeah. Can you talk about your role, like, and

Arthur: 43:31

then you could pass it to him, like, what are you doing? I'm the chaplain director, but he's the director. He's the one. He's the boss man. He's the moving sheet. Yeah, he's

Omar: 43:40

the boss man. You're the boss, but he don't listen anyway, so it don't matter, right?

Arthur: 43:44

Yeah, but we, uh, we changed a lot of things that we do. We got field ministers, uh, these guys, they graduate from the college, and we have about 40 something of them. And, uh, 20 of them. They have them in dormitories. Our goal and our vision is to put two in every dorm, in every unit so guys could be able to come to them. Like somebody died, we can go see them but at night at 5 most times and we not all the time, we going home. But these guys gonna be with em in the wee hours of the night so we have these guys to be there for em, talk with em, uh, anybody die in Mississippi we have to bury em. You know, we have, at one time, they were just throwing them in a box and putting them in a grave. We have funerals now. Well, we put them up there and the dude do a eulogy. God do a eulogy and we give them a good burial. We do weddings there. He just, him and I, we just did seven weddings not long ago. So, uh, a lot has changed. A lot of things that's going on, God said, never happened before. I told him one time, I said, man, I'm leaving. I'm going back home. He said, man, please don't leave. This is y'all. Y'all please don't leave. Y'all give us hope, man. So, y'all a living example that God is able to do anything. So, you got a life of nine, nine years. He had a life in Angola and now y'all out working as chaplains. Say, man, only God can do that. Yes, yes. Only God can do that. Amen. Praise God. So, that's what we do, man. We just trying to change the culture of the prison. And at first, there was some resistance from I'm not saying that they hate us. They don't have any security about us. But a lot of them are realizing they hate them guys for real. Amen. Them guys for real. Amen.

Watts: 45:33

You know, I'm a chaplain, but I also work with programs. Bringing in programs. Churches and schools and politicians and to give them guys. It's really to let society see them, not them see society. And so, they label us, they label inmates as vicious, good for nothings, they're right where they need to be, lock them up, throw away the key. They don't even know a lot of times that we've been to jail until we tell them. And so then they, they like, wow, what? And so we don't tell them initially purposely because when we bring them in, we want them to see the inmates. And then when they see those inmates to put a topping on it, then we tell them our story. So really I was in jail that long. You know, so we just like these guys here, we just like these guys, I'm not saying everybody in jail. I'm not saying everybody in Mississippi State Penitentiary or Angola or anywhere else, every inmate is ready to go home. I'm not saying that, but there are some guys that you put a suit on them and put them in a room with the rest of your dignitaries, with the rest of your executives, and you won't be able to tell them, not from their speech or from their actions. They're ready to go home and I always say this and I tell the board this when I speak for one I said the way I judge Or think about the guy that i'm speaking for I say this. Can he be my next door neighbor? Where my wife is my kids and my grandkids and I feel safe

47:11

Then

Watts: 47:11

I can tell him man. I'm going out of town. Keep your eye on my house Keep your eye on my family If I don't feel that way i'm not speaking for

47:21

him

Watts: 47:22

That's kind of harsh don't you think that's my That's my standard for going in front of them people because you may mess it up for me and better than that you mess it up for somebody else that's in prison. No, I'm going to speak for those that I know already and I know I'm going to spend time around them. I'm going to put them on assignments, tough assignments. That's what we do. And if you can't handle it, you don't like it, you're going to back out of it and then you can go anywhere you want to go. I'm still there for you, but I'm not going over there to get you. I've been in that land before. It's hard coming from that side of the fence. Oh yeah, and the grass is. greener on this side. It is green.

Omar: 47:56

Amen. Amen. You know, for the people that are going to listen to you guys story, is there a way that they could help? Like, I don't know what ways could I guess somebody that helped them to minister you guys are doing. I

Watts: 48:07

want to say this to, to the viewers of this. Don't judge a book by its cover. That's, that's all I ask of you right now. Not to judge a book by its cover. Because a lot of times, there's guys in prison that's in prison for something they didn't do. I did everything they said. Everybody in every place they say I robbed, and everybody they say I robbed, and there's some more out there that God forgave me for and nothing they can do now anyway. But, there's some guys never did the crime. There's some guys, one time, I'm not gonna say a mistake, one time, I'm bad decision. And they done done decades behind one time. One time. Yeah. Got off the porch wrong one time. And now those guys are teaching classes. Yeah. They're mentoring. They're leaders in there with that kind of time. So I tell society, I tell my, the guys and gals that are viewing this. Don't judge a book by its cover. Everybody, including yourself, needs another chance. Not a second chance. You've been used at it. You used that up when you were three years old. You need another chance. And our God is a God of another chance. Amen.

Arthur: 49:18

Again, uh, we're here in Chicago from Mississippi because of friends. Friends that understood what we were doing. Manny Mill, John Zeistra. And, uh, others in Mississippi, and they do everything they can. We'll call them. In fact, I just got a, a big old package from Jay Z, uh, with cosmetics in it. Uh, uh, Portsmouth is a poor prison. Yes. And, and, and guys, uh, can take advantage of people who don't have any money or need stuff. So, we make sure every indigent person has cosmetics. Things to clean itself up with, uh, deodorant, soap, and toothpaste. So that's one of the things that, you know, we ask people to contribute, help us on that end. And uh, Uh, So these guys can have something that they need, you know, and this is why again We here they invited us here to come and share our story but that's what we come out to do just to Help the guys there in whatever way we can and that's one way is uh to provide the things that they need

Omar: 50:26

When I release this if you guys having like a link or a website or anything we're People could contribute with financially with the things you mentioned, I'll put it on there that way they could, you know, they'll have somewhere to go to be, you know, to see what they could send and be able to help out.

50:41

For all of you who really want to help us in Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchment, Mississippi. You can send your donations to the Koinonia House, and the address to that is P. O. Box 1 4. 1415 Wheaton, Illinois 60187 again, it's called Koinonia house and you designate it to Parchman Prison Parchman is P. R. C. H. M. A. N. and it's P. O. Box 1415 Wheaton, Illinois 60187 Koinonia house. Thank you. And we love you.

Omar: 51:20

But man, I thank God for this opportunity to talk with you guys and usually ask our guests before we close out any final words and then if you could close us out in a. prayer, you know, each, each of you, you know, so if I know words and then, uh, yeah,

Watts: 51:36

uh, the opportunities like this, it's not about me and him. It's not about Omar. It's about God. It's totally about God, what God can do for anyone. It's a lot of people that's not in physically incarcerated, but they are meant to inspire. spiritually incarcerated. They go to work every day, nine to five or whatever the time may be. They live in nice homes and, and some of them live in poverty and they can't get out of the trap that Satan has set for them. And so I'll say this to anybody that's willing to listen. God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that. These finite minds can think. We have to get away from the five senses that God gave us. There's a sixth sense. It's called the Holy Ghost and it's common sense. It's come from God. Give God an opportunity to do what he's been doing through the dispensation of time and that's saving souls, lost souls. He came for the sick, not the well. You don't have to be in jail physically to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.

Arthur: 52:50

Thank you Lord. Yes. Our God and our Father we just thank you Lord God for this time Lord God we've spent with Omar and his lovely wife and Lord I, I talked with Omar the other day and he said he doesn't do it for money but he does it to glorify you Lord God and we just hope Lord God that everything that we said Lord God today Lord God will glorify you Lord God. We don't want any glory whatsoever Lord God we just want someone to hear what we're saying and to know that you're a God that keeps his promises. You are God that can do anything but fail, Lord God. When people say you are menace to society society, you say you're my son. And God, we thank you, Lord God, for that. God, thank you that you love us in spite of us. Thank you, Lord God, that you're changing lives in the prison, Lord God. And men are coming out, Lord God, being soldiers for Christ, Lord God. Thank you for the ministry that Omar has. Pray the blessings of God upon Him all God, I pray the anointing of God upon him. I pray you continue to lead God and direct Him all God as the way should go who she eat to speak to. And God, we just thank you Lord God for this time that we spent together. Lord God, you are great God, Lord God. And we know Lord God, you orchestrated this from the foundation of the world, Lord God. We had no idea that we'd be doing a podcast, Lord God. But you want someone to hear it. And Lord, someone lives are going to be. Change. We just believe, Lord God, that the words that were speak, spoken won't fall on, on, on a bad ground Lord God, but it will fall on good ground and he'll bring forth fruit in his seeds. Lord God, thank you for Jay-Z, Lord God, and being with us, escorting us, being showing us hospitality for days opening up his home for us. And God, we just pray, Lord God, your will. Continue to be done in Illinois. Lord God, save, set free, deliver. Lord God, in Jesus name.

Omar: 54:41

In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. I've been blessed by meeting you guys. You know, the other day we were able to hang out at Culver's and talk and it's a blessing. I know you guys came out here for a reason. You know, God's God's purpose and it's a blessing. I've been blessed by this conversation and I'm sure the listeners are going to be blessed by it as well. And with that, we're going to get ready to wrap. I'd like to thank, uh, Reginald Watts, Arthur Rhodes, and I'm your host, Omar Calvillo, and we are Wrong Too Strong.