Henry Medina: One man's tale of finding his way back

By Western Edition staff

Recidivism is the word used to describe the revolving process of people sent to prison, released and then returned to prison for parole violations or returning to criminal behaviors. The national recidivism rate is 67 percent.

Advocates are working to find ways to cut down that rate. Some experts believe that having an appropriate support structure is critical to prevention while others believe that education is critical. It might be that the most important aspect to ending the cycle is personal transformation and finding purpose.

Henry Medina could be branded as “notorious” for his past behaviors, but his transformation and his “apologetic to society” demeanor moves most people beyond his past. Medina has been a criminal who has been in and out of the system for most of his life. However, he said he intends to make his last prison experience just that – the last time he will ever be locked up. He has learned the need to educate himself and develop skills that are appropriate to society, but his life lessons were learned the hard way.

Medina has become a man of purpose who seeks every opportunity to speak with youth about violence, crime and gang prevention. After all that he has observed and experienced, he knows that a criminal lifestyle will only bring harm to those who perpetrate and to those who are around them and that sometimes includes the innocent.

Medina says his life has been so negatively impacted from his past misdeeds that he is compelled to complete his new mission in life – to warn youth about the dangers of getting into gang, crime and drug activities.

“You have to go by the laws of society, make it the best that you can and teach your children to do the same,” he said is his message today. “Family, morals and principles are the most important things in our lives. That is what I’ve learned.”

Medina learned these lessons the hard way. His life went beyond the “school of hard knocks” to murder, mayhem and now if possible, redemption.
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orn in Puerto Rico, Medina’s family moved to the housing projects in the lower east side of New York while he was an infant.

“It was really nice when I was young,” Medina recalled. “My mother had a lot of sisters and brothers. All of them had children and they always came together as a family. We didn’t do a lot of family outings because we couldn’t afford it, but we were always together. I was always with my cousins, but as we got older and times got harder, the family started to split up and go their own directions. That’s when my father started to get abusive with my mother.”

Times got harder when his father lost his job as a chef in an Italian restaurant and began to drink more. His mother worked as a teacher’s aide.

“I was about 7 or 8 years old and I used to see my dad beating on my mom. Now I ask myself if that had an effect on my life, the way I was raised and the man I became and when I think back, I really do think that it played a role. I think a lot of my own violence came from watching what my father used to do to my mother and not being able to do anything to prevent it.”

Although it wasn’t a conscious choice, Medina said the domestic violence he observed sank into his mind as “normal” between a man and a woman.

His path to a life of crime began when he was about 8 years old. Although he was extremely young, Medina blames no one but himself for his choices in life. He began by stealing instruments from his elementary school and pulling pranks like opening fire hydrants. At about 9 or 10 years old he began to cut school. He would steal money from his mother’s rent stash and use it to take his friends to Coney Island during school hours.

As he spent less time in school, he became aware of gangs on the street.

“I would see the gangs – the older guys – and I wanted to be like them,” he said. “My friends and me formed a little group, it wasn’t really a gang it was just a little group. We would go and get money to get high. We tried to do the things that they did, but not on such a grand scale.”

When asked why he wasn’t in school he answered, “It wasn’t interesting, being with my friends was more interesting.” Medina also explained that he was affected by peer pressure.

Medina said that when he was about 12 years of age, his mother suddenly packed their bags and left his father because of his father’s violence. His older brother didn’t want to leave, he was settled and didn’t want to interrupt his life. Medina and his younger brother went with their mother.

Later, his father discovered their new location by following his older son who would visit them. Medina’s mother worked the night shift at a hospital returning home in the mornings. One morning, his father knocked on the door trying to disguise himself, but Medina recognized him and called his mother to warn her. Medina’s mom told him not to let him in or open the door. Medina’s mother brought a male friend who explained to his father that if he wanted to speak with her they would both need to be present.

While they were walking to a location to speak, Medina’s father pulled a razor and cut the male friend repeatedly. This traumatic display resulted in Medina and his brother trying to overpower his father. His mother called the police who arrested his father. Medina had been able to take the razor from his father’s hand during the fight, but he also noticed that he experienced a deep form of anger. He said this anger resulted in him beating his own girlfriend. Medina would not see his father again until he was grown.

Medina would hang out with the gang members. He wasn’t a member, but liked their clubhouse where he says he and his friends experimented with drugs. Eventually, the gang members explained that he was too young to hang around them. Medina started a younger version of their gang.

At 14, Medina got into his first gang fight where he stabbed another youth. He was later arrested in the presence of his mother and said he will never forget the expression on her face. She couldn’t take it. Years later she would let him know that she believed she had failed him as a mother. He would console her by saying that was not true; instead he had failed her as a son.

During his trial he spent a few months in juvenile hall. The case was eventually dismissed for lack of witnesses. Medina explained that although the case ended, the problem with the other gang continued until it was later resolved by a one-to-one fight between himself and another leader. They fought in private and did not share the results of who won with either gang, a condition of the truce. Tension remained high between the other gang and his. He could see that the matter would eventually escalate. At 16, Medina decided that he would enroll in the Marines as a way out.

Medina’s experience with the Marines was short lived.

“Sept. 8 I turned 17, which was the age you could get in. Sept. 24 I was at boot camp,” he said. “I asked to go to Viet Nam, but they didn’t want to send me because people were already coming back and they didn’t want to send kids my age with no experience. I asked to go out of the country on tour, but they didn’t want to send me anywhere, so after three and a half years I decided to get out.”

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hortly after returning home, he ran into his father who had remarried. His father offered him an opportunity to become a driver that would involve a move to Florida and a place to live. Medina now a young man had a wife and son to provide for. They moved to Florida and life went well until his younger brother moved in and stole a bike from some youth.

This incident resulted in the youth – from whom the bike was stolen – shooting up his home. As Medina puts it, “I wound up getting my hands dirty over there, too.”

Medina called the police and showed them the bullet holes, but they did not make any arrests. So he took matters into his own hands and purchased a gun. A couple of months later when the youth drove by and made some disparaging remarks, he shot the five of them and waited for the police. He admitted shooting them, but he said the case was dismissed because the kids all had different stories.

Medina’s relationship with his wife began to fail. Once during a fight he called his mother who became frightened from what she heard. She flew to Florida and encouraged her son to return. He left his wife and child behind for their safety. His wife joined him in New York a few months later because she couldn’t make it on her own, but nothing would work out the way they hoped.

Medina went over to the criminal side of life and he went in deep. An old friend convinced him to do “stick-ups.”

“We were sticking up big time drug dealers, we weren’t doing no small time, nickel and dime. We would find out who was coming in with what shipment and we would get to them.”

Medina said they would rob drug dealers take their cash and put the drugs back on the street. They were thorough about their set ups, canvassing people, finding out their habits and sending decoys. He said because of that, his partner in crime eventually was killed.

During this time his son was maturing and was not interested in school. His son was interested in what his dad was doing. So Medina “taught him the game. But then I got caught and went to jail.”

Once out of jail, Medina went right back into the life he left. And it only got worse with both he and is son heavily involved in drug/turf wars. This resulted in Medina’s son being shot in the back and left paralyzed. For Medina, it meant another trip to the “pen.”
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edina’s latest trip to prison he views as a life saving one. He viewed it as an opportunity to be taken off the street; self educate and if possible, reform.

Eventually, his son was arrested and sentenced to five consecutive life terms.

These days, Medina carries the burden of knowing that his actions have caused deep pain for himself and those he loves. He tries to redeem himself daily by warning youth about the cost of the drug culture and the drug dealing lifestyle.