One of a kind!


Maurice Carter: his life, a sermon.

Maurice Carter died exactly four years ago tonight, after just three months of freedom. His strength ran out in the fight against multiple physical problems contracted in the Michigan prison system, a miserable hell-on-earth where he spent half of his life. His last words to me, in a whisper that I could hardly hear: "I love you!"

This humble, unassuming, innocent man had no idea that his simple examples in life would become a profound sermon, even after death.

Over 29 years of incarceration, his compassion and gentle demeanor under a cloud of false accusation would

-bring tears to the eyes of investigating university students
-touch the lives of countless prisoners
-enrage those who assumed that punishment and cruelty could conquer his soul
-frustrate a judicial system so intent on winning that it even resorted to ridicule
-maintain his dignity under scorching words during insensitive parole sessions
-impress the finest of legal teams
-endear himself to thousands of people, of all ages, around the world, and
-empower him to cling unashamedly to his faith in all situations.

This was a man who treated the medical community better than it treated him.

This was a man who taught us that it was all right to say, "I love you."

This was a man who, under the worst of circumstances, would reverse the scene and counsel his would-be encouragers to just "leave it in God's hands."

Maurice Henry Carter, 1944-2004.

His spirit is alive and well.

Doug Tjapkes
HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
20 W. Muskegon Ave.
Muskegon, MI 49440

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