By C1 Staff
SAN QUENTIN — A recently posted question on the site Quora prompted a response from a San Quentin inmate.
In response to the query “What does it feel like to murder someone?”, inmate Tommy Winfrey posted six paragraphs outlining the circumstances that lead to the murder he committed at age 19 and how he has coped with the repercussions.
Here’s an excerpt:
“I felt worthless and unworthy of love, so in return I placed little value on my life or on the life of anyone else. All of these feelings combined, made feel so powerless in life, I lashed out. My lashing out cost another human his life. I am ashamed to admit it, but at the time I felt a great weight was lifted off my shoulders when I pulled the trigger. I felt like I had finally stood up for myself. I was completely irrational. I realize now it is like my friend David Monroe always says, ‘hurt people hurt people.’ I was really hurting and I didn’t know how to ask for help.”
Winfrey uses Quora through “The Last Mile,” according to the Times, which is a startup accelerator program that trains San Quentin inmates in the hopes of placing them in technology jobs following their release.
Select inmates like Winfrey answer questions mostly related to prison, like “Do emotions like empathy, love and compassion exist in prisons?”, but can also participate in other categories.