Barbara Wieland • bwieland@lsj.com

Program held at LCC warns of consequences
of crime, poor choices

The moment the sentence came down in March
1992, John Vende-ville knew that his freedom was
gone forever.
Because he was found guilty of first-degree murder,
Vendeville would spend the rest of his life in prison.
No chance for parole, no escape.
"I was thinking, 'Let me back this up and do this
over,' " Vendeville, 51, told a standing room only
crowd Thursday night at Lansing Community
College's Dart Auditorium. Vendeville and four other
prisoners at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility near
Ionia spoke via video linkup.
But Vendeville can't go back. Instead, he wants to
make sure that other people don't end up where he
is now.
"I'd like to think my life in prison was for some kind
of reason," he said.
By taking part on the five-prisoner panel event
named Breaking the Cycle of Incarceration, Vendeville
hoped to prevent others from making bad
choices like his.
The program was put together by the Capital Area
Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative, the Lansing Police
Department and Lansing Community College as an
attempt to inform youth about the consequences of
crime.
"My younger children, they were taken from me
because I was incarcerated and they've been
adopted out," said Derek Redman, 47, who dropped
out of Grand Ledge High School and became a
master carpenter but was arrested for making and
delivering methamphetamine.
Many of the offenders said being separated from
family is the worst part of being in prison.
Vendeville said he's had only one visitor in the past
decade, as many of his family members have died
off.
But others said it was little things they miss just as
much.
"If you come to prison, you are going to miss taking
a bath. You come to prison, get used to taking a
shower," said James Foster, 50, serving up to four
years for domestic violence and possessing
cocaine.
Former prisoner and Lansing resident Hakim
Nathaniel Crampton offered closing remarks in
which he urged young people to make smart
choices, and urged parents to be involved in
children's lives.
Crampton spent 15 years in a Wisconsin prison on a
murder charge, a crime he said he didn't commit. He
was released four years ago and is now on parole,
according to the Michigan Department of
Corrections website.
But Crampton said his history of criminal activity
made it easy for the state of Wisconsin to blame him
for the murder. The label of criminal is what sealed
his fate, he said.
"You don't want a label," he told the audience. "You
do not need a label. A label like that can direct your
future."

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