My name is Johnny Lee Gates, born in 1955. I'm spending my life in prison since 1977, the belly of the beast, for a terrible crime that took place in 1976 but that I didn't commit. Rape, robbery and murder of a white female, Mrs. Katherine Wright.
It is the most cruel way to die; an innocent man spending the rest of his life in prison and suffering day in day out from the inhuman conditions and treatment. The only thing you have to look forward to, is death. You are surviving like an animal. You are not human, not a man any longer, you are an inmate, a number, a heartless and careless beast. I'm placed in a cage, to live out the rest of my life, while the guards shake my cage, poke at me, and pick my neck to see whether I'm a wild or tame savage beast that was brought to them.
Like the lion in his cage, I, too, roar for my freedom, but no one hears me. They come to look at me, pat my head if they can. Where is this merciful God people around the world speak about? When will someone hear me and set me free? Where are they? Risking their lives in other countries' wars? I, too, am mistreated, I, too, am suffering, I, too, am crying out! Nobody seems to care, even my prayers are not heard and answered...
