denniscoleman.net

Gratersford Prison                                         

August 25^th, 1998

Tim Fry

Burke –O’Neill and Fry Law Offices

11 Charlestown Pike

Malvern, Pa. 19954

Dear Tim:

It seems as though I have stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Lauren told me that you mentioned my last letter, and that a loud scene followed. I apologized to her but she said that wasn’t necessary.

Really Tim, I think that this is between you and me. Why not talk to me about it?

I can assure you that anything that Lauren tells me about you is out of concern and not gossip. She would not tell me anything, unless I asked her about you. Again, I ask her because I hear nothing from you.

Perhaps the reason for your concern is that a part of your life that you wish were hidden is not.

Think about the fact that your sister is concerned about you.

I wish, as the instrument of discord, that I could also be the instrument of peace between you.

I must also tell you though, that my concern for you is genuine. I hope that you are well.

Out of respect for you both, I will try my best to be inquisitive only in a direct manner. This will leave Lauren out of it. But it will require you to respond.

Do I ask so much to know how you are? Do years of writing letters count for nothing with you?

I am sure that you are ashamed that an old friend of yours now resides in an institution such as this. I am aware that as an attorney, your job is to put people here.

People make mistakes though. I certainly have.

Living here is not really a place that makes your life better. Every day I have several opportunities to just give up. There are drugs everywhere. Violence is like a mist that settles on everything. Bestiality is around every corner.

I have turned my back to these things Tim. I have attempted to make my life better and I am pleased to say that I have had some success. Do you know that I have now completed enough college work to be in my third year at a college? I may never get a degree, but I am doing the work and I have gained the knowledge.

Since I have been here Tim I have not written to a single person who was my “friend” in my former life style on the outside.

I have only written to you. You represent the very best days of my life. Days of youth, freedom and adventure.

We were the brothers that each of us never had. Could it have been possible for us to be any closer?

I know that when I left the farm, and you were off to college, that I should have tried harder to keep in contact. I knew that you would be out at the big house for every holiday. I know that I could have found you there, but I suppose that my bitterness for having to leave, and my own sinful desires kept me away. Maybe it was only shame.

Maybe I didn’t want to see what I had become. Maybe I knew that there was a wide gap between us and I wondered if it was too wide to cross.

But I always thought about you and wondered about you and hoped that you were well. I always assumed that you were. You always had everything going for you.

Do you know that I never missed a basketball game that you played in, home or away?

Do you know that there is not a single person who has gotten to know me since the day I left the farm that doesn’t know all about you?

How do you suppose they know this Tim?

I will always care about you. I will always admire you. With the fear that this will sound “sappy”, I will tell you that I miss you.

Write to me Tim. Close the gap. Please.

.

Sincerely,

Danny Coyle

1930776-D

Excerpt Two

It amazes me Tim, that the only thing that I find to be in common in the people here is the sick bravado that masks the insecurity of ignorance. I know all about this personally.

If you act tough, they won’t know that you are stupid.

Did we choose not to learn? Were we given up on? When did it happen?

By reading the letters, I would bet that if you averaged the competency level of every guy in here, it would be around 6^th grade.

Do I believe that this lack of an education is responsible for us being here? Absolutely not.

The thing that is responsible for bringing us all here is the belief, somewhere deeper than we know, that this is where we belong, that this is our destiny.

If we could change one thing in young men, it should be to help them to envision a destiny of greatness, or, at least purity. If we could do this; the prisons would be empty. I guarantee it.

Look at you Tim, successful people raised you to be successful, and you are.

I was raised with the goal of “getting by” and to be kind to others. That is not a criticism; it is an observation.

And look where each of us is.

I hope that you are doing well.

Sincerely,

Danny Coyle                     1930776-D