HERE I AM!

Well, not really but you get what I mean. In the SHEA'S DIRECTORY QUICK ACCESS you'll see links that pertain to myself. My story is over there, as is my updated petition for a conditional pardon, and ways for you to show support for my release from prison. Simply click on the desired link and read what it holds and please enjoy what I have provided here for your convenience. I will be making additions to these pages periodically, especially in the News part of this site.

SHEA'S PLEA TO THE PUBLIC

My name is Shea Pascal Dease #1016431 and I am currently housed at Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham Virginia. I am writing on the behalf of incarcerated men and women throughout Virginia who are waiting in hope of parole reinstatement as well as a restructured Good Time Law that is inclusive of ALL prisoners, except the worse of the worse, who have shown they deserve such earnings. I am writing now with a sense of desperation and a hope that every reader will contact their legislators and insist they vote in favor of an inclusive Good Time Law and for the reinstatement of parole, which Virginia abolished in 1995.

First, I would like to emphasize that I do not take the crimes I committed lightly and it saddens my heart for what I put my victims through. For many like me, this realization is our strongest proof that we are not the same person we were when we committed our crimes. I have been incarcerated since 2001 and I am currently serving a 58-year sentence for the following crimes:

• 10 years for Robbery
• 10 years for Abduction by telling individuals to move from point A to point B in the establishment where the robbery occurred.
• 18 years for Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony - 4 separate charges for a toy BB gun.
• 20 years for a probation violation on an Embezzlement charge of $246.47 taken over a two-month period, which if I was able to pay back the $246.47 this charge would have been reduced to a misdemeanor.

Many of the incarcerated in this state, like me, do not feign innocence and are burdened by the shame of their past lives, yet we look into a future without hope for reprieve no matter how our minds and spirits have grown. I do not have an argument for a miscarriage of justice. I do not believe my lawyer committed malpractice. I do not believe the judge and prosecutor were wrong in finding me guilty. But the sentence handed down gives no chance of redemption and does not and cannot reflect the transformation that has occurred in my life over the last 19+ years, nor is there any possibility for me to return home to help my mother whose health is declining.

In recent years, I have taught myself webpage designing along with basic computer programming, which has given me the skills to create this site while incarcerated. During my imprisonment I have assisted in helping fellow prisoners in obtaining their GED. I also volunteered to be a mentor in the Pre-Re-Entry Community at Augusta Correctional Center. While a mentor I shared my growth and maturity with young men who were about to leave and desperate for guidance. I have also received certificates in various programs I had voluntarily signed up for. Please visit Shea's Achievements and see what I have accomplished.

So many of us are simply asking to be seen for the new people we are, for the hard work we put into programs offered at our facilities and, in some cases, programs we paid to take through correspondences. We ask for the initiative we take to educate ourselves and for the betterment we bring to those around us to be acknowledged. When I was younger and committed the aforementioned crimes, I never considered sewing into my own future and the future of others. But these tangible examples of the transformation of heart and mind in myself and some of the men around me go unnoticed by the current system. At times it seems that one gets more recognition by beings bad then being good and something has to change to the current system and that change has to be for the better. Without parole or a meaningful change to the Good Time Earnings law, those who sit idle, playing cards and watching TV, earn the exact same reward as those who go beyond the expectations placed upon them. Therefore, avoiding trouble and rule breaking for years means little or nothing at all to those who are exceptional.

People found guilty of their crimes in different regions with different backgrounds receive wildly different punishments. Virginia's justice system is good, but no system is without flaws. Our government uses checks and balances to keep each branch fair and equitable, a reinstatement of parole and an all inclusive Good Time law balances the rightful punishment of the person we were by the justice system with the person we have become thanks to maturation and a genuine acceptance of our past culpability.

I do not deny any of my offenses, nor do I try to take away from their seriousness. However, 18 years for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony when said firearm was a BB gun and 20 years for a probation violation for embezzling $246.47 was extreme. I am not the disrespectful 21 year-old who was incarcerated 21+ years ago in 2001, and I ask for the chance to continue paying back my debt to society, as many have successfully done before me, by being an integral and contributing part of it rather then sitting in here and being a sponge on taxpayer's dollars that could be better allocated elsewhere.

Thank you for taking the time in reading this message and also for your support and compassion for your fellow man. Conditions in the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) are overcrowded and it's resources are spread thinner across an ever increasing inmate population. Legislators have many demands that require their attention, but we, the changed incarcerated, need to be heard so that we are not forgotten and overlooked. There is a distinct difference in the attitudes between those who are eligible for parole and those who are not. Those who are have a hope that they will regain their standing in society, and those who are not cannot see any saving grace at the end of our long sentences. Our lives are literally in the legislator's hands and I ask you, the reader, to lend your voice and support to the reinstatement of parole and the change to our Good Time credited earnings to be more inclusive.

If you need help contacting your legislators, click Who is your state Senator and/or Delegate for Virginia? If you would like to read more of my story please click Shea's Story.

Sincerely,
Shea P. Dease
Inmate#1016431
^c/_oGreen Rock Correctional Center
P.O. Box 1000
Chatham, VA. 24531