Johnny Strozier is an ex-offender who spent 46 years in the Georgia Prison System. He grew up behind bars, having been incarcerated since age ten -- from 1968 until July 31, 2013. He was in solitary confinement for 15 years and even spent a short amount of time on death row. Johnny never killed anyone, but he tried to when older inmates threatened to murder Johnny as a teenager if he did not kill a certain guard. Luckily, Johnny's murder attempt failed. Johnny is the first man this prisoner rights advocate has met who admits responsibility for criminal behavior.
Johnny exited the Georgia Prison System and became a Christian motivational speaker and a part-time cook. He assumed his role as a husband, father, grandfather, and child advocate - initially with only $25 dollars in his pocket. On July 31, Strozier celebrates his first year of freedom since age 10. Please give generously to the "Johnny Strozier Reentry Fund." Please help us say "Congratulations, Johnny Strozier on your successful reentry!" Here is why:
Johnny's warden told him at one time that he would never leave prison except in a coffin, but Johnny prayed for freedom and relied on God for deliverance. He became a Christian in the 1980s after a failed suicide attempt in solitary confinement. Johnny credits his relationship with Christ for making him a changed man. He began to prepare for reentry immediately after his conversion when he experienced his first miracle: Johnny was released from solitary confinement minutes after accepting Jesus as Lord. He asked the prison chaplain if Jesus could get him out of solitary, and the chaplain and he prayed about it. What a marvelous confirmation of God's power that was for Johnny!
Johnny became a certified cook and brick mason while behind bars. He regularly attended church services in prison and testified often about God's grace and mercy toward him. This inspired other inmates who had known Johnny as being a "tough guy." His "life of crime" began at age six when he and other youngsters broke into an Atlanta warehouse to steal candy for themselves and cigarettes for relatives. His life up to age 10 was hard, but growing up behind bars was tragic. Strogier kept getting his sentence lengthened because he escaped numerous times and broke prison rules until he was remanded to solitary where he stayed until God's deliverance.
Johnny married in 2005 while still a prisoner. Ironically, his wife's first husband was also named Strozier. Having been incarcerated from early childhood to his mid-fifties, Johnny fathered no children, but he loves his stepchildren and grands who share his name if not his DNA. Against all odds, Johnny was finally released last July. Apparently, the Georgia Pardons and Paroles Board and Johnny's warden recognized the changed man Johnny had become and gave him a second miracle: his freedom! Johnny is determined to succeed as a free man walking in integrity. Johnny Strogier knows he's been changed! We congratulate the Georgia Prison System for noticing the change and giving Johnny another chance.
Everything else in America has also changed since 1968, the year Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died and a little boy named Johnny went into juvenile detention. During his first year of freedom, Johnny learned how to use a cell phone, and he plans to learn how to operate a computer. We can be sure he will. Deprived of a formal education, Johnny taught himself to read and write while behind bars and even graduated from high school. As a Georgia prison laborer, Johnny worked for years but did not earn wages. Since his release, Johnny does yard work and recently found a part-time job. He and his wife attend church regularly, then she goes home to her apartment and Johnny returns to his lonely rooming house.
Johnny and his wife do not live together. Johnny escaped from prison in the 1980's and was found living at a house with a young woman and her children. It was necessary for all blame to fall on Johnny, because he had to return to prison anyway. Therefore, he was charged with kidnapping. Since the woman's children were minors, Johnnie was also listed as a sex offender although Johnny did no sex crime and was never on trial for a sex offense. However, as a listed sex offender, Johnny cannot live with his wife in her apartment. Her lease ends in September, and the couple dreams of renting a home together. Johnny worked hard for years doing prison labor, but he has no savings, no retirement account, nothing except what he earns on his part-time job, for which he is very grateful. Would you help this couple raise $5,000 to begin their lives together under one roof, please?
Johnny enjoys public speaking. He inspires youths to avoid behavior that could lead to incarceration and motivates released prisoners to change their lives to avoid recidivism. He addressed approximately 500 youths at Valdosta State College in February at the "Let's Make Man" conference. He also spoke to a mental health group in December. The rest of his in-person speaking engagements have been through churches. He appeared on the WAOK Radio AM station in Atlanta and also hosts a radio show on the "Human Rights Demand" channel at Blogtalkradio on Friday nights at half past six, EDT, called "Johnny Strozier Keeping It Real." http://www.blogtalkradio.com/humanrightsdemand is the url. Email Johnny Strozier for speaking engagements at JohnnyR.Strozier@gmail.com. Johnny said he will gladly speak anywhere in Georgia with reimbursement for transportation costs. He also started a program called "KCOP" for "Keep Children Out of Prison." Johnny Strozier works for God, helping children and adults alike improve their thinking, conduct, and expectations.
It is refreshing to meet somebody who is positive like Johnny is and optimistic about the future despite the many challenges life presented to him and the barriers he now faces. One might believe that after enduring 46 years of incarceration from the age of ten and serving over a decade in solitary, a man might be bitter, but not Johnny. He focuses on self-improvement and future opportunities. He believes that he has found the key to success and sees it as his mission to share it. He says, "If a man thinks right, he'll act right, and if he acts right, then things will go right in his life." Please help things to go right for Johnny Strogier and his wife. Thank you in advance for your generous gift.
Learn more about Johnny and hear him speak at "Legal Victories" blog: "Johnny Strozier Keeping It Real" "Legal Victories" Blog: Johnny Strozier Keeping It Real
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