Hey, this is Taylor Conley here. I'm currently incarcerated in Washington state prison, and I'm serving life without possibility of parole. I'm also the host of "Life of a Lifer" podcast. So if you'd like to reach me or hit me up or find out more about me, you can find me on lifeofalifer.com and there's all the information about me. I'd just like to tell you a little bit about myself and introduce who I am and what I'm about. I decided I wasn't going to let this life sentence determine the outcome of my existence. Regardless of my past, I was locked up at the age of 20 in 2006. You know, my life was kind of over before it even started. Shortly before that, I was at a place called Tranquility Bay, which is a behavioral modification program that was located in Jamaica. Came back from there at the age of 16. And basically right after that, I was out on the streets. That experience was quite traumatic in it. There was a lot of abuse that took place there and it had lasting effects that I didn't deal with well, and I made bad decisions. I was around bad influences when I began using hard drugs, which although, I was wrongfully convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to die in prison. I do take responsibility for all the wrong that I did, which led me here, but I am living proof that change is possible. So I wanted to not only get my voice out there and let my voice be heard, but I wanted to create kind of a platform that helped others to get their voice out there and, and show that people just aren't people that can just be thrown away and mocked up and throwing away the key and never to be heard from again. And that's why I created the "Life of a Lifer" podcast platform to kind of, you know, get out there and let other people understand and know that we're people, even though we're incarcerated people that are incarcerated for decades and decades. I spent the last 15 years in here and I haven't left this negative prison cycle cause there's a lot of negative cultures around here affecting to the points where I was going to give up on mine, you know? And that's kinda what I've searched for. I spent years of my life searching for a meaning, you know, regardless of the circumstances or the outcome of my future. I have appeals pending right now, in my case, and the court of appeals of Washington, which had been dragged out due to the Coronavirus. And it's been a long process. I've gone through a lot in the healing and growth and maturing from the adolescent that I was to the man I'm am today. And a lot of that came through art. I found a passion in art, and that's what I do to pass a lot of my time is art and I do different programs like self-help programming, I'm a mentor in, and I only had a GED and now I have several, multiple college certifications that have been able to take on my own through, uh, correspondence and different things that I've been able to do, including becoming a professional dog trainer. I was in the fellows program doing Toastmasters, different things like that. Which led me to start a social enterprise called Design Conviction. And it's a platform where artists can get their artwork out there. And we provide design services for not only incarcerated individuals, but people that are out there in the world, professional people. I was able to also write music as a passion in some way that I passed my time and I'm able to express myself. And I was linked up with a formerly incarcerated artist named Seth Anthony, and we even got Bubba Sparks and another artist named Burden on a couple of tracks that we were able to release recently on an EP called the Free Taylor Repeat. I wrote a book since I've been incarcerated, "The Convicted Entrepreneur," just to list a few of the things, man. And I, I really do it because I like to give inspiration to others, to inspire hope in people, even if we're in the direst of circumstances. And that's what I'm doing with, with all these things in my life, or "Life of a Lifer" podcast is my outlet. And I would like to be able to share it with anybody out there that's interested. And I would also like to know, you know, what do you think? What, what do people think, I like to hear from people what they think about life sentences, man, do you think that people deserve another chance, but anyways, my name is Taylor Conley. Check me out. Uh, look me up. Um, you can Google my name and you'll find a lot of stuff. And, uh, I'm interested to hear from you what you think, but I will be back and, uh, Thank you very much. These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.