The David Figlus Story

[Music] Mom taught me how to cook, clean, and sew. Dad taught me how to mow the lawn, fetch a car.

So, they’re telling me, “Look, you know, you need to learn to do this stuff now ‘cuz we’re not going to be around forever.” Then at 15, I was arrested.

Went in Jackson prison, it was a wake-up. It was an adult world. There was no more being  a kid. You learn uh a lot of things real quick.

[Music] One incident at Christmas time, my niece was literally about this tall and she just, you know, grabbed my leg. Come on. Come on home for  Christmas, Uncle David. I’m like, look, I can’t go. And the guard that was in the bubble, he just  literally, you can see the tear down his face.

How do you explain to a kid that you  can’t go home for Christmas with them?

[Music] You get hurt and you get attached to  that male or you know that person. You never know when they’re going to go or  you’re going to go. I was transferred at least over a 100 times. After a couple  decades, I gave up on getting out and dealing with people. I just isolated myself  until well I got that letter from Paula.

[Paula] I wrote him a card and I just encouraged  him. I said, “Never give up hope. Always have faith and know that somebody cares on the  outside.” And I left it at that. It was just an encouragement card. And then I received this  letter back from him. And it was so eye opening to me that somebody could have gone that  long without receiving a card or letter.

This is the first letter that David ever wrote  to me and it’s dated September 20th, 2016.

Paula, hello. I received your card last night and I wish  to thank you for your kindness. To start, I’m 55 years old. I spent the last 40 straight years  in prison. Yes, I was 15 when I was arrested.

And no, I’ve never been out. I have no living  family that I know of. I’ve not received a card or letter or made a phone call for the last 12  years since July of 04. So my question to you is, who are you? How did you get the name, number, and  address? I would like to be a friend by someone in the world, but I don’t have very high hopes.  Hope I hear from you soon. A friend ? David.

[David] Writing Paula I was… that was the  only outside communication I had kind of just didn’t want to be a robot anymore  turning all my feelings off. It’s kind of hard digging down your walls that you  build up after years but that’s part of a relationship right and building one I think I  just became more trusting her cuz we talked just about just about anything he would come up.

[Paula] With me I was just an open book. I just wanted to reassure him that I didn’t judge  him, that I viewed him as another human being that deserved a second chance. God loves you. I  love you. Um, as as a believer and as a friend.

[David] I don’t know if everything really changed dramatically other than I  started believing in people again.

[Paula] When I began writing to David, he told me  he had a life sentence without parole and probably was not ever going to come home. He had really  given up hope. For 3 years of letter writing, that’s what I believed, too. So, when  he finally wrote to me and said he was having a parole hearing, I was in shock  and I knew that it was a miracle. I knew that it had to be God doing it to get him to  come home or to even have a parole hearing.

[David] I go back and see my counselor the  next morning cuz I thought it went pretty good and he’s like, “Oh no, you got you’re  not going anywhere.” Well, an hour later, he calls me back and tells me, “Uh,  I’ve got to find a home placement.”

[Paula] That’s when we really kicked it  into gear of my husband and I trying to find him a place to stay. And somebody I knew knew someone who had a halfway house. They had  several and they had one room available.

[David] I still didn’t believe I  was going home up until the day that Paula and Bill was parked  outside in the U.P. in the snow.

[Paula] So he comes out with a coat and I think a  bag with very few things in it. And I asked him, “Can I give you a hug?” Said, “I don’t know. I  haven’t hugged anybody in about 45 years.” He worked so hard. He got his driver’s license.  He got his own job without going through me or any agencies. A convicted felon who spent 45  years in prison walked in and got a job which was incredible. He had met this woman that he told me  about. And in August of 2024, they were married.

[David] I don’t think I still have any real  long-term goals other than to get a house for the wife and I. I’m not expecting a big long  timeline, but hey, every day is a blessing.

[Paula] When I look at somebody with a life  sentence without the possibility of parole, like what hope do they have? But if they can  have one person on the outside that that cares, it can give them just enough  hope to go on another day.