Life of a Lifer

A new venture with an old friend, remember our friend OG, one of the founders of Manifest something beautiful? 

With a similar concept and mission as Designed Conviction, Manifest Something Beautiful is an independent company whose mission statement is to display their beautiful expressions; through Music, Visuals, Spoken word, and through their clothing line PRVNU [PARVENU]. 

Taylor Conley has kept in touch with them sin...

Cecilia brings this great interview with Antwann Johnson, a wrongly convicted man who is currently serving a life without parole sentence in the state of Missouri.  He has served more than 20 years and still maintains his innocence. 

Despite this fact, he is doing positive things with his time. He and Cecilia discuss his work during the Covid 19 pandemic (which you can read a detailed account of here https://sfbayview.com...

In this episode of Life of a Lifer, Cecilia interviews David Bomber, a contributor to our magazine.

For most of the part, he wants to bring attention to his case, below his testimony:  

"In a nutshell, I am the first person to be convicted in Virginia's history of both aggravated malicious wounding and second-degree murder [of the same victim] that involved the same act - a stabbing that occurred while defending myself in my h...

Today Cecilia interviews Karen Brown, a woman who was sentenced to life without parole for 25 years at the age of 21. After 35 years incarcerated and applied for parole 3 times, she was denied future hearings, making her sentence an official LWOP. 

Below some relevant information.   

The recent decision about Karen Brown is a textbook example of what is wrong with our KY parole system. Seeing the parole board for the...

Today Cecilia interviews Jose Armendariz, a man incarcerated at the age of 16. Below is the profile he shared with us. 

My name is Jose Armendariz. I am a 30-year-old Mexican and Salvadoran-American man. I have been incarcerated since the age of 16. At 16, I was tried as an adult and sentenced to 80 years to life. While incarcerated, I have come to embrace what the late Congressman John Lewis called “good trouble.” As I have g...

This episode takes us to Baltimore, where we met up with Chris Wilson, the man who worked his way out of a life sentence by showing he was rehabilitated. After reading his book "The Master Plan" Life of a Lifer, Taylor Conley felt compelled to reach out to him. Wife of A Lifer Cecilia Conley traveled across the country to capture the interview and make this come to life. In an exciting exchange, Chris also turns it on Taylor and as...

Taylor talks about how he is making the most of the time, finding ways to cope while everything is taken away. Hear about the thoughts and what he has been doing. He describes a couple of pieces of art work and the inspiration behind them, one being a painting which was inspired from a Diego Rivera painting who was a famous Mexican mural painter in the early nineteen hundreds... and the other a graphite pencil drawing that was insp...

Torie Chisholm is a mentor and teacher for the nonprofit organization Second Chance Quest created by inmates and their families in 2015. He has been also a GED tutor.

Torie has been Incarcerated since he was 15 years old at the Virginia Department of Corrections, 17 years later,  he's now 32. He has a strong network of advocates who argue he got a harsh sentence:  his crime didn't include murder or rape, still the state o...

In this episode of Life of a Lifer, Taylor does some introspection about the past few months. From not seeing his family, modified lockdowns, testing positive on Covid 19, to going back to his unit while we all wait for the end of this pandemic. He also discusses how he enjoyed "The master plan" by Chris Wilson, who, after serving 16 years for murder (life sentence), was set free by  a judge.

Please remember to subscribe and v...

Today Cecilia interviews Allen Richarson who submitted his application, he has been incarcerated since he was  18, below is the transcript of his letter.

My name is Allen. I am about to turn 35 in February. I’ve been incarcerated since I was 18. Prison has been both a gift and a curse. A gift because I’ve learned some priceless lessons about things such as the ripple effect, one seemingly small decision can have on one’s ...

Taylor interviews Marcus Timmons's "Big Herc"   

As of 2016, 2.3 million people were incarcerated in the United States. These numbers are continuing to grow each year as our prison system has a revolving door of individuals that aren’t being properly rehabilitated, given the proper job skills or education to get by in life. The demands of the reentry process can be difficult to follow all its requirements. People give up ...

Today we have Cecilia Conley @wifeofalifer interviewing Jolyn Armstrong, founder of  La FOTA Project - Families Of The Accused.

Jolyn’s son went from being a respected soldier in the military to an accused felon overnight. Their business, their relationships, and nearly every other aspect of their lives suffered through the experience of supporting her son through his trial and ultimate conviction and prison sentence.

It ...

Take a walk through the first days of Taylor Conley's incarceration as he was locked up on serious charges and faced the rest of his life in prison in. this exclusive insight you will only hear here, directly from the source. the struggles he faced, and how the situation impacted him. Taylor the host of the "Life of a Lifer"  podcast speaks about his journey through trials and tribulations unimaginable to most, yet today he is...

Hello, this is Wife of a Lifer and today I have James Nelson "Prison Peacemaker" on the "Life of a Lifer". he comes and talks about all the positive programs he has been involved in, which sadly have been put on hold due to the pandemic. 

Visit us at www.lifeofalifer.com 

James describes himself as: 

My name is James Drannon Nelson II. I'm currently incarcerated in Ohio at Ross Correctional Institution, serving a sen...

Taylor interviews Bubba Sparxxx. Bubba Sparxxx is a rapper from Georgia who was first influenced by the sounds of 2 Live Crew. His song featuring the Ying Yang Twins, Ms. New Booty reached number 7 on the Billboard top 100.

Bubba was recently featured on Taylor’s new EP and is very supportive of Taylor’s movement to show the world that the incarcerated deserve a second chance.

Taylor and Bubba discuss the early roots of Bubba’s car...

In this episode of Life of a Lifer, Lucy tells us about her amazing life and podcast.

Life on the Outside is a podcast that shares stories about returning to society after decades of incarceration. For many, the process of reentry is complex and they navigate a society that is in many ways very different from the one they left decades earlier.

You can check out her podcast here

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-on-the-outs...

 Today we have Jose Lugo, who is thirty-three years old. He would join a L.A. street gang when he was sixteen and would be convicted and sentenced to five years in prison at the age of eighteen. When he paroled from prison, he vowed to himself that he would never go back and dreamed of one day telling the stories of his peers.

Jose Lugo currently travels the U.S. listening to and sharing peoples stories as the founder and lead...

"Hey human" podcast host, Susan Ruth joins Taylor Conley on Life of a Lifer. 

Life of a Lifer’s host Taylor Conley talks with artist, singer, songwriter, and podcast host of Hey human podcast, Susan Ruth, after growing up in Seattle, Washington, Susan sets out to pursue her music career, moving to Nashville and got into songwriting for other artists as well.

Some of her most well-known cuts include Reba McEntire and Lone Star....

Taylor speaks with Brian Dolinar, Ph.D. an independent, experienced journalist who specializes in mass incarceration, prison, jails, and police brutality. Similar to Taylor, his goal is to give a voice to those currently and formerly incarcerated as well as their families.  

This is a very informative and enlightening discussion that touches base on topics that many are simply unaware of. Many people are uninformed of what is ...