Support Richard Fulton's Reentry to Society

Hello everyone, below are the words of my cousin Richard L. Fulton inmate #67165-053. Please take the time to read his story and donate if you feel so inclined. He has been locked away from our family for decades. It is our intent to assist him in any way possible to acclimate to society. Considering he is being released this year in a state of insolvency, without any support he will face many challenges.

Below are his words;

What's up out there?! This is Rich (Fulton), better known as Mojo or the Black Bishop. I'm speaking out from the federal penitentiary in Hazelton, WV. President Biden commuted my sentence during his last days in office. While I welcome being released earlier than the full service of this sentence calls for, I hate that Biden was responsible for the commutation.

24 years ago I was sentenced to serve 30 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine base (Crack)...a non-violent drug offense, an outcome Biden championed when it was politically convenient to incarcerate large swaths of black and brown folk in this country.

My conviction and sentence was obtained on a myth that was debunked long before I landed on the government's radar; specifically that crack cocaine differed from that of powder cocaine...or that it was some super drug that turned blacks into what Hillary Clinton referred to as "Super Predators". Just to re-iterate the injustice...I was sentenced during a period when one and a half kilograms of Cocaine Base (Crack) was penalized as the equivalent of 150 kilograms of Powder Cocaine. The professed goal of law makers was to fashion a penalty scheme for the drug (Crack) that would severely punish so-called "Kingpins" or "major traffickers". However, the truth is that "Kingpins" or "Major Traffickers" do not traffic or deal in Crack. This is a drug that is converted and sold on the street level.

So to anyone with even a baseline level of intelligence...the crack laws were the government's blatant effort to confine millions of black and brown men and women in this country for long periods; destroying already historically strained family structures; and ensuring that the children and grandchildren of those in my circumstance enter the same cycle of destruction responsible for my incarceration.

President Biden indeed commuted my sentence hours before leaving office. This commutation, like that of others similarly situated, were nothing but Biden's effort to absolve his conscious of these injustices before he arrives at the pearly gates. Just so it's clear, I DO NOT forgive Joseph Biden, Bill or Hillary Clinton, or any other who lent their voices or might to the passage of these genocidal drug laws. I never will. Positions that these politicians take have real life consequences. In my case that has been 25 years spent in this country's most violent and corrupt prisons. Mr... Biden has known for close to 40 years - long before my federal arrest - that the penalties associated with crack cocaine were promoted and passed based on erroneous claims that crack is worse than powder cocaine. They are the same drug with the same effect.

While I welcome being released even a day earlier than the full service of this sentence called for, I did not request this commutation from President Biden. I could not bring myself to ask a man who championed the unjust drug laws for relief. He should've and could've pushed for these blanket commutations when he was Vice-President of the United States. Most of us suffered fully the service of these sentences.

In the next few months I will exit prison after 24 years. I will be expected to re-integrate into society without any aid from the same government that acknowledges, with this commutation, unjustly incarcerating me years beyond he sentence this crime actually called for. I am even being forced to return to a federal district I have no real ties in...the district where I was convicted. While I've prepared myself for eventual release, I'm fully aware that NOTHING I ever experienced will even slightly compare to the reality of walking out these prison gates. The government - or rather, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) certainly didn't do much, if anything, throughout my incarceration to aid my transition to society or reduce the possibility of me re-offending. In fact, the opposite is true. The federal system - especially on the penitentiary level - is nothing but an extremely violent and corrupt university for committed criminals.

For example, not to long ago all 120 FBOP facilities were placed on full lockdown due to a mass-murder incident that occurred at U.S. Penitentiary Beaumont (TX). While the public is just becoming aware of the violence in the federal prison system, I've been navigating and confronting it for over 2 decades. In another illustration of the FBOP's dangerousness...In April 2023 AUSA Thomson (IL) - the FBOP's newest maximum security prison - was ordered shut by the director due to findings by the Department of Justice Inspector-General's that concluded staff responsible for significant abuses and murders of over 7 prisoners in a 3 year period.

Foe historical context on why the federal prison system is so violent and corrupt...and why so many who have been incarcerated for long periods are not provided adequate preparation for eventual release - transitional aid - the U.S. Congress, lead by then senator Joe Biden, voted to strip away funding for educational and vocational programming...a sharp departure from past goals of rehabilitation. The government has since adopted a policy of decapitation...warehousing the many who fall victim to the nation's unjust drug laws.

I've been one of the few behind these walls who prioritized preparing for life after a long prison term. Before my incarceration I transitioned from the mean streets to the legal world, starting a few businesses. Throughout my time in prison I concepted a number of new businesses I intend on establishing upon release. In addition, I have authored 11 novels (6 fiction/5 nonfiction)...the most significant being a memoir detailing the 8 years I spent buried alive at the Federal Supermax (ADX) in Florence, CO and the socio/economic factors responsible for someone as intelligent as I driving up a road of criminality.

I am fully committed to parlaying the influence I have gained with my people toward establishing businesses that provide employment and supporting programs that are aimed to redirect wayward youth. Beyond public speaking, I concepted and intend to immediately establish "The Black Vanguards of America", a racial/criminal justice foundation. I intend on partnering with my boy and former cellmate B.G., the CashMoney Records and New Orleans legend. The foundation has 9 initiatives, all purposed to educate and provide unprecedented support and guidance to young black/brown men/women across the country.

For example, one of these initiatives is the establishment of 6 regional transitional complexes...an effort geared toward better preparing soon to be released federal and state inmates for life beyond penitentiary walls. Another initiative is the opening of "Vanguard Houses" in high crime/risk neighborhoods; a safe space for youth to learn, collaborate, resolve conflicts...etc.

Those in my life now know that I am ambitious and capable of executing any agenda I set. I am determined to spend my remaining years accomplishing the goals these unjust 24 years of incarceration prevented me from even pursuing.

It has indeed been a long and hard 24 years behind these walls, more than half of them spent in solitary confinement. I have been fortunate to have maintained good health and, thankfully, my sanity. Outside support has played a critical role in my survival, this includes the mind-altering time spent confined at the infamous ADX. I credit a couple of individuals for going super hard to hold me down throughout this bid. I will make them proud.

I extend a salute to all the Damu brothers and sisters, and any other who has endured the same hardships as I. Lately many of have been released to the welcoming embrace of the solid brother and sister out there who are in good positions, financially and otherwise. The real ni**as behind the walls appreciate this. I send my shout outs to the recently released Prince (Queens,NY), Meme (Brooklyn, NY), Lou Simms (Harlem, NY) and my ex-celly B.G. (New Orleans, LA)...I'm on my way.

In closing I don't want or need the government's support, They did enough with my life. I'm going to succeed regardless. What I would love most is for SOCIETY to wrap around me, support my transition and fund my success story. Donate to my GoFundMe campaign. I don't care if it's a donation as small as $10, every dollar will be dedicated toward this foundation and businesses I will be establishing. I intend on being transparent. I will place online every dollar that I raised and what every dollar of these donations were spent on. I want The society that decides to invest in me to have a front row/everyday seat to the progress I make. I promise to pay your support forward, helping to ensure others born to similar circumstances don't suffer the same fate. My new release date is now: July 16, 2025.