At the age of thirty-six, you might be surprised to learn this is my very first stab at a blog. In fact, I am not too sure how any of this works.
I have now been incarcerated for going on thirteen years. I was arrested in Seattle Washington back on April 20, 2003 due to my involvement in a series of armed robberies. I was twenty-two at the time and looking back can’t believe I allowed myself to even consider such activities. Thankfully I am not that guy anymore, I just wish the changes I have made in my life could somehow erase the scars I have left on my victims, society and my like loved ones.
I was recently asked what was the worst part of being incarcerated. Initially my mind went to the separation from family, the horrible food, the sore back from a nonexistent mattress, but the reality is the worst part of incarceration is not experienced by me personally.
You see my actions and resulting incarceration have only made me a better person. I have obtained an education, learned morals, gained understanding of how our society functions and best of all became a person who can now look himself in the eye without a feeling of disgust.
The only real negative effects are felt by those funding my prison stay, by those who have decided to love and support me despite my many failures, essentially by everyone but me.
This is no to say prison is some type of Disneyland, it’s not I assure you. It is, however, what you make of it and I decided to make the best of it.
My current sentence is fifty-four years nine months, of which I still have around 38 years left on. While I long for another chance, I am not sure I am deserving of it. As such all I can do is hope and pray for some type of grace and mercy.
One loses a lot coming to prison with a sentence like mine. The first thing I lost was my wife, Roxie. While I can never blame her for her choices, I will never get over losing my best friend.
Several years into my incarceration, after she had left me, I was talking to my grandmother, Phillips, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. In a strange shift in our conversation, Grandma Joy as we call her, told m she spoke with Roxie last week. Confused, I looked at my father, James William Frost, who told me she hadn’t seen nor heard from Roxie in years. In any event, my grandmother went on to explain Roxie had told her while she loves me with her whole heart and always will, she just cannot handle seeing me in prison; it’s just too hard to say goodbye. Whether that conversation actually happened or not I may never know, but I like to believe it did.
The next thing I had a difficult time dealing with was the death of my mother, Wendy Irene Frost/Farafontoff. I remember the day I learned of her death all to well. I was at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, a severe storm had just hit the coast and we were all preparing for days with out power. At about two-O’clock I was approaches by the unit officer and told the Sergeant wanted to speak to me.
I thought it odd as our unit sergeant was off Sundays. As I walked in, I noticed a sergeant sitting at the desk staring at me with a blank look. He asked my name and DOC number, which I provided. His next question left my head spinning out of control, “what’s your mother’s name?” he asked. I answered and just stared at him in horror.
His next words have echoed in my head for almost a decade now, “Your mother passed away this morning, your family is waiting for your call.”. I just sat there, unable to move or talk. I wanted only one thing at that moment, but I knew she was gone too. I didn’t even try.
As I finally re-entered the unit I was met by my best friend, Michael Thomas Humphreys, who I call Kibe. Like my own, his eyes were filled with tears. He didn’t say a word, just gave me the biggest hug. Honestly it was a good thing as I was still unable to speak.
With the love and support of family on the outside and dear friends like Kibe on the inside I was able to recover. I am thankful to each person who has over the years loved and supported me.
Through this blog, while I will be sharing more about my life, both before incarceration and after, looking to make some new friends, and trying to build a support network, I also plan on exposing gross corruption within the Department of Corrections.
For example, I am currently preparing to file a federal civil action against the Washington State Department of Corrections for retaliating against me for standing up for a victim of prison rape. I will share with each of you the evidence I have bee. able to uncover showing how Department personnel have filed falsified reports surrounding this rape, and how upper management has completely ignored every cry for help.
Understand my goal in this is not to embarrass the Department, even though they should be, but to fix the system to ensure nothing like this happens again. Ultimately, the system needs to work and we can not have state workers intentionally filing falsified reports.
With that I will close for now. I you want to contact me, feel free to write me, or look me up a JPay.com by searching for my DOC Number 867220 and name, Joshua James Frost. Will be looking forward to hearing from you all…
Joshua James Frost
867220/H3A05L
Stafford Creek Corrections Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, WA. 98520
Joshua James Frost
DOC #867220
aka Yasha
