Destinee And Mario Redding - 17 Years Of Love Through Incarceration And Beyond

Destinee and Mario Redding’s remarkable love story endured and flourished through the challenges of Mario’s 17-year incarceration. In this powerful episode, they share their journey of love, incarceration, resilience, and the strength to overcome hardships that seemed insurmountable. Hear firsthand how they navigated the emotional and practical struggles of prison life while maintaining a deep connection and planning for a bright future together. If you’re seeking inspiration, hope, or a testament to unwavering dedication, Destinee and Mario’s story will leave you deeply moved and uplifted. Don’t miss this unforgettable episode!

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Destinee And Mario Redding – 17 Years Of Love Through Incarceration And Beyond

Introduction To The Podcast And Guests

Welcome everyone. This is the show, where we bring you real life stories, education, information, and hope for anyone connected to or impacted by the carceral system. When I say carceral, I’m referring to prisons and jails across the United States and the countless individuals and families affected by them.

I had the privilege of attending the Connecting for Justice Conference in Ohio in September where I met incredible people from all sides of the carceral system, formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, advocates, and even professionals working within the system. It was a powerful experience showing just how deep and meaningful the connections can be between those navigating this journey.

These relationships foster hope, understanding, and change. Among those amazing connections, I met Destinee and Mario Redding and they’re here with me. They’ve sustained the relationship through the immense challenge of Mario’s seventeen year incarceration and their story is nothing short of inspiring.

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Welcome Destinee and Mario to the show.

Julia.

I’m so glad you guys are here. I always like to start at the beginning. Let’s start about how you guys meet and move into the challenges of staying connected during incarceration. Where did your love story begin?

Our love story began in a small neighborhood in Cleveland called Cliffview. I met Mario when I was 15 years old when he moved over into the neighborhood and we just started out as good friends. He was always shy. We would just constantly talk and build and we just kept a good relationship. We went to the same high school. We walked the stage together from Shaw High School in East Cleveland. Then he was sentenced to seventeen years right after he graduated. We maintained that just by really being friends.

The love started, I want to say, in about 2009, 2010. I reached out to him to make sure that if he was okay, he was fine. We just built from there. We started talking about our morals, our values, and the principles that we had in life. What we wanted to have in life, so how we can hold ourselves up to a higher standard than what we were taught because sometimes people become a product of their environment, and we definitely were a product of our environment. He went to jail for drug trafficking and vehicular homicide. We just wanted to change the ramifications of where we came from and build on that. What would you say, Mario?

You can either let the world define you or you can redefine your world. We chose the latter. Share on X

The thing about growing up in our neighborhood or I think any neighborhood, which we are referred to as the hood, the inner city ghettos. Coming from a broken family, the people in that neighborhood start to become your family. An outsider looks at it as nothing but illegal activity and nothing but a gang that labels you.

It’s deeper than that, it’s more like a family, and her being from the same neighborhood I’m from and around the same age, we really clicked and we really started to care about each other even at a young age, like it was a real care. It wasn’t even about sex or nothing. It was like this, my friend. When I went to prison one year after graduating, like she said since the 18 years, and she reached out to me, it was still that. It was just like, “You, my friend, like I’m going to do whatever I can to help you.” She did every bit of the way, she never missed a visit.

Thanks for sharing that because that’s a really good perspective that a lot of people don’t understand. Where you’re coming from and that family connection and things that happen. You explained it really well because that’s something that, like I said, I don’t think a lot of people understand. Also, this friendship that you guys have. I’ve heard from other people that when there’s a relationship like that, where you guys were close before and you’re apart because you’re incarcerated, you’re on the outside, but that there’s this growth, there’s this connection that’s even higher than being together personally. You really get to know each other.

I totally agree, Julia because everybody be thinking, people say things like, “When you come home, you all going to get to know each other more. It’d be like, “You all don’t understand.” Like I think that we talked and communicated more than a married couple who was living in the same household for those 17 years. We could teach a class on how to successfully do time together.

We used to watch the same shows at the same time. We would watch the same movies. We would read the same books, the same articles, and magazines. We started to discuss, it became so raw because we would be like, “What do you think about this character, and what do you think about this?” We really started to know each other in a super intimate way without the physical. Like in a mental and spiritual way, like challenging each other, talking for hours every day, calling home. It’s yes, I totally agree that it is not like, “You apart and you all don’t know each other.”

Love isn’t about being together physically. It’s about growing spiritually, mentally, and emotionally—even when you're apart. Share on X

It’s like we knew each other on a deeper level because we were apart. We had to utilize other things, like he said, mentally and spiritually, and emotionally. We got to know if something was wrong or how someone felt just by the sound of our voices. It became a deeper connection versus it just being physical.

Prison the Hidden Sentence | Destinee Redding and Mario Redding | Love Incarceration — Incarceration: Incarceration can separate bodies, but it can’t break a true bond. We just became closer, mentally and spiritually.

Enduring Through COVID And Health Challenges

I’ve heard that and I really appreciate you guys sharing it. One of the things that I thought was really amazing that you spoke about when I met you initially and you just said again, is that you never missed a visit when you guys connected to have that person visit you. I’m just going to back up a second and we’ll move on, but how did you handle that during COVID?

It wasn’t no visit. I literally had a visit scheduled right before COVID hit. When COVID hit, they were like, “No, you cannot visit.” It was a very hard time because he caught COVID and it was something that was so unexplainable and scary for me. I know for him, he’s very health-conscious and always works out. Eating habits, like we really focus on our eating habits. We only eat fish, so we’re pescatarian, but we would go days just with vegetables, or we’ll fast and just do water and fruit. When he caught COVID, I cannot really tell that something was wrong. Like he had breathing issues.

When he told me that he felt like he could die, it really bothered me because I knew that they didn’t have everything that they needed in there. As far as the best nursing staff or actually a really good hospital with the treatment that they needed, they were literally just putting everyone together. “You got COVID, you go over here. We’ll come around and check your temperature.” It was very difficult. It was very difficult because I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t really talk to him because I had to let him rest. All I could do was really just pray and we got through it.

You did. It’s so difficult and that’s just a really good demonstration of how difficult it is for those of us on the outside because we get that hopeless feeling. Mario was there just dealing and working on getting himself healthy and better and you’re on the outside worrying and there’s really not a lot you can do and that’s just one example of a lot of circumstances and things that happen when our loved one is incarcerated, that we just have to have faith.

We have to have hope. We cannot project that we have to believe that things will work out and because of your faith, and because of Mario’s determination and plus he was healthy and to begin with right that he had the stamina and that really the vision to excel, to get healthy. After COVID, you guys reconnected, you got to see him again. You guys, at some point, you have to tell me when you started thinking about the future and starting a nonprofit and a business because you knew that you had a future. You knew that you were going to thrive and succeed. Tell me a little bit about the nonprofit that you started in the business.

No matter what life throws at you, with resilience and love, you can create a future worth fighting for. Share on X

I would like Mario to speak on that because every one thing that we believe is if you think it, if you believe it, it will come, you will manifest it. He has journals, he had a journal, he kept journals since he’d been in prison. His journals are probably stacked to the ceiling, no lie. Everything that we talked about and that we built on literally has manifested. We’ve been talking about owning our own business and getting into real estate, like back in 2011 or even before, we used to watch, like how you said, we would watch certain shows together.

Every Sunday we will watch Howard Hanna together, it’s showing the listing of houses and we buy, “Are we going to get a house like that, or are we going to invest in real estate.” Today we are in a beautiful home. I say this humbly, but it’s worth $320,000. We come from nothing. We work hard, and he wrote this in his journal years ago. I didn’t even know he had a price on it. When he actually showed me, I was like, “You put a price on it and this is exactly what we have?” We started in real estate back in, I want to say about 2016, 2014, somewhere around there.

We brought our first property. I thought he was coming home on a judicial and ended up being denied. I gave up the apartment that I had got for us. I said, “If I’m going to give this up, what can I do? If I’m going to be spending $16,000 a year in rent, I can use this money for something else. I got a house and I became a landlord.” That was our first initial way of getting into real estate. We also talked about financial literacy a lot within our neighborhood. They teach us in school to be workers, not entrepreneurs.

They don’t really teach us about money. I feel like that’s why a lot of people are in poverty, especially people from the inner ghettos, inner city, I should say. We said that we always wanted to get the youth at a young age where we can catch them before they go down a path. How he did thinking that they only had to sell drugs or to establish some type of financial stability. We started a nonprofit last year before he came home. It’s called We the Negus. It means in Ethiopia. Ethiopia means royalty and that’s our roots for black people.

People period though. I don’t want to pigeonhole us to just black people because it’s a lot of white people in prison too. They got to know that you got royalty and you too. It’s only a physical world, but when it comes down to the mental and spiritual aspects, we are all the same. The spirit does not have a color. Anybody find that niggas inside all of you, but being that we are black and we come from that world. For whatever reason, the universe chose us to have this melanin in our skin or whatever. We come from a people who have been oppressed and depressed for centuries.

Of course, we want to lift those people up because those are the people who need more. This is 44% of the prison population. Only 13% of the U.S. population. Obviously, this entity, this mass incarceration, this criminal injustice system, whatever you want to call it, it’s targeting a specific person. Everybody else is just collateral damage, I would think. Yes, it got that specific towards black people, but everybody finds the royalty within you and that’s where we go. That word niggas, they just the root of the word a more popular use of the word nigga. Let’s get back to the root of it though. We are not ignorant, we are kings and queens.

With that, we want to teach people and the youth, and anyone for that matter, that financial literacy is so many ways to build financial wealth and break those generational curses that we all have. We just want to start somewhere with doing it, where there is teaching you moral values because it has to start with self. You have to love yourself, you have to respect yourself, you have to know who you are, you have to stand on what you believe, and then you can go there is be, do, have.

First, you have to be who you want to be, then you have to do, you have to start putting in action. Once you are the true you and put in the actions, then you have then the universe bless you with the things that you manifest in your mind. We started a nonprofit last year. I’m so excited about that. We’re in the process of getting some speaking engagements at our old high school and some local high schools and middle schools in our neighborhood, just to give back to the community. Like you said, we came from nothing and we’re in a good place right now. We just want to help. We just want to help and tell our story because I feel the more people know our story, they can relate.

The Importance Of Financial Literacy For The Youth

I really appreciate that. I’d love to have you guys if you want to do a Zoom on Prison Families Alliance to talk to our youth and some other groups that we’ve met at the conference. How can we support you in that effort? What else do you need?

Just like how we’re building our website right now. It would be great to put the hidden sentence on our website and I think everybody, iron sharp as iron in every way. If we support you all movement, you all support our movement and then we change the world bit by bit.

I agree. One of the things I wanted to ask you is about being incarcerated and having this great vision, this great mindset, doing your journaling, doing your vision, and putting it out there, manifesting it, and doing it together. I just give you guys so much credit for taking a terrible and turning it into something positive. I love what you said about doing. It’s like a lot of people think things like, “I want to do this, I want to do that, but you got to do, you got to take action.”

That’s a lot of times the missing step. Teaching financial acumen. I mean, the schools should be doing that, and they’re not, and unfortunately, groups are picking that up for our youth, because we know that that’s where we need to start. I commend you on that and we’ll put information about your group there and your business. I think you’re moving forward with your real estate.

We just bought two houses. We got to renovate them. We got our method is to renovate and rent and get that income coming in every month. The income, the financial is so important. You cannot underestimate that in a capitalist country. You have to know how to use the capital. Money is the dollar is a tool. That’s where we at with that. When we say we grew up in the same neighborhood, she grew up a street over. On the street I stayed in, I slept on a futon in the dining room. I didn’t even have my own bedroom.

She slept on a couch in her front room. We both come from a home where our mothers were addicted to drugs. Our father was absent and that’s why it’s amazing that we are living in this house. Like it’s different for us because we came from a lower place. Money gives you options. That’s why it’s important but we are not worshiping money because we know it’s only a tool.

The more emphasis is on what you were saying about what she just mentioned about be do have and knowing that you got to control your thoughts because even in that cage, I started to notice that whatever self-help book or the Bible, all this knowledge teaches you that as a man thinks of, so he is. If you can control your thoughts and control your emotions, then you can control your life. That’s what we mean by be.

First, cultivate your garden, become who you are eternally, then do essentially how you change potential energy into kinetic energy. You have to step and then the universe is going to support you and before it, you bring it to fruition. That’s the have. Be do have is the law. That’s one of the main things that we teach with our nonprofit that be do have. Think it, become it, do it, the action, and then manifest it. Most of the time people try to work it backwards. They want to have stuff first. That is not how it works.

Now we’re blessed to have two properties that we bought from the auction. We still haven’t made up our minds exactly what we want to do because we also want to give back. We’re thinking about either turning it into a group home for people that’s mental health or for veterans or even maybe some type of halfway house because it’s not a lot of housing for people that’s coming home from being incarcerated. With this being America, you wouldn’t think that we will be dealing with hunger and food and sheltering the way that we do in the most richest country in the world.

We’re still trying to figure out exactly what we want to do where we can help support our life, but also help people in the community. We’re very excited about that. We always said that we would be on HGTV one day. We plan on renovating and starting ourselves and probably even recording it and putting it on our website to show people like you got to start somewhere. Like, you don’t have to know everything just to get involved.

If we can do it, you all can do it. We come from the bottom of the bottom. If we are doing these things, it’s no excuse. That’s one of the reasons why we want to put our brand out there is like you said, when you started this interview, it’s for inspiration. It’s inspiring. To some people it may come off, that’s why you have to say it with humility because you don’t want to come off arrogant like you bragging, but you have to show your accomplishments. You got to show it so people can be like, that’s the only way people can listen to you.

That’s the culture we live in. No matter how you slice it, we live in a materialist. We got a forage list for a reason. People get acknowledged for the amount of money they have in this society. I am not saying it’s right, but that’s the game. By stating our accomplishments and stating the great things that we’re doing like, “Look, we buying properties,” then we got a boy or a girl who is growing up in poverty who can dream, like, “We could do it because they did it and they just like us.” You got a man or a woman in prison who could say, “I could come home and have a better life post-incarceration because they doing it.” It’s just, we got a game plan, Julia, and we just want to build it and do it the right way.

I just want to take a second to talk about Mario because when he was incarcerated and we met other people who had known him when he was incarcerated, like how you are such a model and you helped a lot of other people while you were incarcerated and probably more than you even know. You have this mindset and working on how to make your life better, you were actually spreading it out to other people around you to make their lives better.

I just wanted to make a note of that and commend you on that because it didn’t start the day you got out of prison because we say that reentry starts on day one and you guys started working on it. You haven’t been out of prison for very long. If you could just share some of the things that were challenging or things that you saw that were different or something that can help both families who are having loved ones that are returning and for people who are returning from prison.

It’s hard. It’s a readjustment but that’s why you got to use that time in there to prepare because a lot of people think like in prison, you’re going to have like arrested development from being in there, especially if you had been in there for a long time. For the most part, some people do. A lot of people do let’s be real. It’s a thing where people be like, “You the same age as you were when you went in prison.”

I knew these things, so I consciously did my time to make sure that wasn’t me. When I say I read a thousand books and kept a journal my whole time, I really mean it because I knew that I had to mature mentally and spiritually so I could be prepared for the world. Now, there are some things you cannot be prepared for. Locked away from society all that time, you are going to take a hit with your social capital.

You don’t know people. Now I’m out here and I got to build networks. Thanks to my wife, I came home and she knew so many people. Like she knew just the right people, good people who were like, “Let me help you now that you’re out here.” It’s certain things that you cannot substitute for technology. I got all these Apple products that I hardly even know how to use. That is frustrating, Julia.

I cannot lie to you because, in every single thing you are doing, you got to learn through technology. It’s like, for example, I want to build a website, but I got to learn Squarespace. Like I left that in 2007 before Facebook was out. My first time getting on Facebook was in 2024. Think about that. I never shopped on Amazon until 2024. That part about it is all new. It’s a process.

What’s funny though, is that he knows more than me because I’m nowhere near tech-savvy and I have never been incarcerated and I’m still old school. Give me a pen and a pad. I’m good with that. He’s learning and he’s catching on but I just want to touch base with what you had previously said with him helping people. That has always been Mario. I don’t care what type of situation he’s in. He can be at his worst but that’s the beautiful soul and spirit of him because he always wants to see people do better even if you’re taking small steps, even if you take a giant step.

He just always encouraged you to do better. He had just such a great impact. A lot of people always wonder like, “How can you be with someone and they’re in jail? How can you just save yourself and wait for someone who’s not here physically? You are so young, you should be living your life. You should be dating, you should be traveling.” In those years, those years while he was incarcerated, it took time for me to focus on myself and focus on the things that were broken with me. Having a mother that was addicted to drugs, not having a father that was around.

It was a lot of pain and a lot of things that came with that. It took time for me to get my spirit, and my emotions together and it paid off because when I look at myself now from a girl that was in poverty, I have my own business. I have my own real estate investments. I have a beautiful home. I have principles and morals and all of that. I came so far and it’s great to have a partner that has those things that always want to try to build you up. I just want to say, yes, he’s a blessing and he’s a great person.

It means a lot too, when you’re with somebody who has some of the same experiences that you can really share because you understand each other. We’ll have some pictures of you guys, but I mean, you’re just beautiful, you glow. I was just so excited when I heard your story. It gives hope to people and especially for people who are listening and don’t have somebody who’s incarcerated or a student or somebody who’s in law enforcement to see that you cannot break people. If they’ve got the spirit and they want to do things that you cannot break them.

I love that.

Very true.

You cannot break them. Nelson Mandela, 27 years, came home to be the president of South Africa. If you cannot break the spirit.

You guys are proof of it. When did you guys get married?

Yes, on July 13th, 2016.

I went to the ho.

A Wedding Day In Prison

I got suspended on our actual wedding day and inside of the jail.

Literally pictured it. She comes with the wedding dress on, and makeup. My auntie came who was like a mother to me.

The chaplain who married us is my cousin.

They come, boom, we have a great visit, we get married, we exchange vows, all of that. At the end of the visit, the CO, that’s another thing about a prison. I can see, I was just telling Destinee this earlier, that it affects you. “We got a neighbor.” She told her she was 70. She’d been living in his neighborhood for 37 years. She sees me walking down the street. I was walking to the block earlier before football came on, just thinking and meditating. She has seen me and she called me over here.

She was like, “You’re my neighbor, right?” I’m like, “Yeah.” She said, “Get over here, come here.” She gave me this handshake and all this. Now this is an old 70-year-old white lady. I told this like, it’s crazy because, for seventeen years, it’s unheard of to even shake the hand of a white lady. You get it, it’s like slavery times in there. The COs talk to you crazy, and that still goes on. Anyways, at the end of this visit, the CO gets talking crazy to Des.

This is my wedding day. Like he gets to saying, “I told you to do this and do that.” It doesn’t even matter the specifics. Me was younger at the time, this is eight years ago, and a little, probably a little bit immature. I would handle it differently now. I said some things back to the CO. He cuffed me up, and they took me to the ho on my wedding day and suspended her, I didn’t see her for six months after this. On my wedding day, my wife sees me going to the ho. That’s her last vision of me on our day. It’s crazy, Julia. It’s a crazy story.

I cannot believe that. I’ll tell you a really quick story. The first time I went to visit my brother who was incarcerated, it was on Valentine’s Day and there was a wedding. This is like many, many years ago. I hadn’t known anything about the prison system and there was somebody getting married. I was like, “How can anybody in prison get married?” It just didn’t comprehend because I didn’t understand. A lot of people who might be listening that haven’t been through it might be thinking the same thing initially, like how can you get married in prison?

I think your story, it really shows how people can and it’s the right thing because you guys have had this relationship, this growing love and you decided to get married. I just wanted to bring up my first visit to a prison. I really like your story about how you guys have grown and getting married and how it was a beautiful thing. Even though, I’m not laughing at it. I’m laughing because it’s so crazy what happened afterwards. I cannot imagine your heart at that time.

Went to the ho that day. They put me in a cell that smelled just like urine. I sat in the ho for two weeks this time. I got the worst. It was like COVID before COVID was heard of. I got the worst sickness. I stayed sick for a month after that. Keep in mind, I’m telling you, I got journals my whole time in prison. It’s a crazy story.

I think it’s amazing that you have all your journals and that you haven’t lost them along the way. That’s pretty amazing because a lot of people lose things when they move around.

You’re right. On my last day, three months before I came home because I sent them home a lot. He found the journals I had. It was like twelve of them, twelve different journals, probably the last 3, 4, or 5 months worth of journals. He takes them and sends them to the investigator’s office. For the last three months, I’ve been fighting to get these journals back. Like, “Please give me my journals back. You all don’t understand. It got sentimental value.” On the day I left out, before I left out, the investigator called me to his office and he had all the journals sitting there and was like, “Here.” Gave them back. I walked out with my journals.

He was worried about, “Yes, are they going to give me my journals? I need my journals, all my plans, all my thoughts are in those journals. What do I want to do when I come home? I need those journals.” I said, “You’re going to get them. Just pray about it.”

They thought they were drugs.

You had your journals. Did you ship them to Destinee?

Every time I get probably like every six months, I send the ones I got home.

Destinee, did you read them before? Like, did you read them before he got home?

No, I didn’t. I felt like when he came home, I wanted us to sit down and go through certain things like, “Like this. How you felt that day or what were you thinking that day? In this letter, I wrote you, where were we? I wanted to make it more intimate.”

We got all our letters, Julia.

All of our letters. Good and bad.

I see a book out of this. Definitely, the journals. Again, everything we do helps people. When we started, before we started recording, we were talking about the hidden sentence and how it’s a hidden sentence for the families on the outside while somebody’s incarcerated. They’re serving a sentence that maybe isn’t as hidden, but the family on the outside is serving the hidden sentence. Destinee, who did you tell that you have support? How did you manage on the outside?

Destinee’s Hidden Sentence And The Family’s Sacrifice

When I met you at the conference, I told you that I really wish I knew about prison, the hidden sentence, because I didn’t have anyone. I would talk to some friends, but they really didn’t understand. It was like, “He’s in jail. He’ll be all right, just live your life.” People don’t understand how deep it is. People don’t understand the things you go through just mentally.

A lot of people do focus on the loved ones that are inside, but the family suffers a lot too, making ends meet, sacrificing knowing that money has to be on the phone or this food box has to get sent or how I’m going to get down there if I have car trouble. I don’t want to miss a visit. My phone broke and I could not miss a call or even just hearing. Sometimes I would just literally think that my phone was ringing and I was rushing to see if my phone was ringing and it was not, but I could hear it ringing in my head.

It’s very difficult and I wish that I had known about your organization because it would have definitely been needed. I think I may have avoided some of the things that I had to go through. I wouldn’t have had to feel so alone going through them. I’m definitely putting out there that you have this great group of people available and it’s like therapy. You relate more when someone has been in your shoes because a lot of times I just had to keep it all bottled in. That caused the stress.

I totally relate. Prison the Hidden Sentence and Prison Families Alliance, which is the support group that we spoke about at the conference is online so people can call in and get support. Prison the Hidden Sentence. My book has everything that I wish I knew when my brother was incarcerated. A lot of things you’re saying, a lot of us that have or had somebody who’s incarcerated share. It’s so important to get that out and talk about it. That’s why we’re doing it. Right now, what have the last couple of months been like since you’ve actually been together? I mean, you could hug each other and see each other like every day must be like grateful and you’re just both, you smile all the time.

I just said a prayer earlier, we said a prayer together and I asked God to help us be more grateful because now I’m out here and it’s the real world, we got things to do. It’s crazy because I think sometimes we take that for granted, like that we are here now, and out of all those hundreds of visits we had, we just wish we could have been here, like on this Sunday talking. Next to each other on the couch.

There’s so much going on in life and so much that we try to create and do that sometimes I wish myself would just sit back and enjoy the moment. Like, “I dreamed about this and now I’m here.” Instead of thinking, “What’s my next step?” It got to be a balance. The past three, almost four months that I’ve been home, super definitely grateful that I’m here. Definitely but I have not taken it in like how somebody would probably expect for me to have taken it in because there’s so much going on, it’s hard to take it in. That’s somewhere I need to grow.

I think it’s really important that people hear your story, that they hear your story and continue to hear it and continue on your journey, and follow your journey. As you do more, we’ll definitely share that with the community, because we’re not in the same state. There are people all over the United States who are sitting there thinking that they don’t have anybody to talk to or anything that they can do. By joining together and listening to each other and supporting each other across the United States, that’s how we’re going to make a change. Especially with the youth, which is what you’re saying, and I just wanted to bring up one other thing about triggers because even though my brother’s been gone for 12 years, he passed in prison. I still get triggers.

He passed in prison?

He passed from hepatitis C.

Like a sanitary environment? Did the environment play a part?

With hepatitis C, you don’t know because it can be in your system for many years. We don’t know. My point was that as you go forward together, different things are going to trigger you. To support each other when those things happen because I still get triggered after all these years and in the weirdest times and the weirdest places, and especially since I haven’t been incarcerated, but having spoken to a lot of people who’ve been incarcerated, there’s going to be certain things that’s going to happen. You’ll hear keys or you’ll be in a store or there’ll be a bright light or a noise or something that’s going to trigger you.

You just need to let Destinee know. Destinee, there’s going to be something that might trigger you because of an experience you had when you were visiting or hearing somebody yell or standing up for count or just different things. Those are the kinds of things where I think you guys can really support each other as you go forward because it’s going to get better. It’s never easy, but it’s definitely going to get better and just keep doing what you’re doing and giving back. I mean, I think that’s beautiful.

The three months that he has been home for me, it definitely seemed how it’s supposed to be. When he came home and like actually like came home, like in the house, it was just normal and natural.

You went and picked him up. Just tell me the story. He got his journals and did you have to wait or like what was it like that?

I was outside the gate pasting, just waiting because I didn’t really know how it worked, or what time. I’m just waiting and waiting and waiting. I’m just like, “Where is he?” Finally came out the door and it was just like a relief. It was like, “Is this really happening?” I think it took me a couple of nights to really realize like, “He’s here.” Like the first night, I woke up and I wrote, I’m like, “He is next to me?” Really having to put this in my mind, “He’s next to me.” How you just said, like triggers and being timid.

Like I’m so used to someone yelling my name, “Redding, you’re kissing too long. Redding, you’re hugging too long.” I had to let that go because I was still timid with giving a kiss or giving a hug because I’ve been programmed that I have a certain amount of seconds to do it. It is challenging but it’s also amazing and wonderful. I know as time goes by, those things will fall off. Those leaves will fall off and it’ll be new leaves that bloom and those are going to be the things that carry us on into our future.

Mario, what was it like for you when you walked down and saw Destinee?

All the days leading up, months leading up, all the moments leading up, it did not resonate with me until I was signing that paper and you actually knew like, “I’m free. I’m about to leave out that door.” It was probably like fifteen people out there waiting on me, but Des ran up. I heard you hear Des’s voice. Listen, this is another thing. For the first three days, I had a cameraman-like film like all my three days, my first day home. I came home the day before my birthday. My first day home, the next day was my birthday. The day after that was an official coming home-like party. When I left out, you could hear Des on the video saying, “Ooh, wee.” I had tears in my eyes, he had tears in hers.

I knew it was real when I saw the tears fall out of his eyes, I’m like, “Yes, this is really real.” He said, he expressed to me, he was like, “You just never know.” You can be standing there and then what? They’ll call us and be like, “Here, come back. It’s like you couldn’t really embrace the moment until you really felt and saw it happen.

What I do agree with, she said, “It feels natural.” It doesn’t feel like sometimes I watch, everybody has a different experience, but I watch a documentary and some people discuss how they became so adjusted to prison that now that they are out, it seems abnormal. No, no, no. I’m pretty sure a lot of people can relate when I say this. Every single day in there. I think 6,745 days to be exact, felt abnormal. It was never comfortable. Even though I did the time the right way, and I would say it might sound like an oxymoron, I would say I had a successful time in prison, it still felt like hell. This feels like heaven. The moment I walked out, I knew this was right. That’s how it feels.

Closing Thoughts And Words Of Advice For Families

That’s beautiful. I just love you guys. Thank you so much for spending time. The way that I like to wrap things up is, to our families that are listening, what can you tell them about having somebody that’s incarcerated and coming home? What are some words of advice that you can give them?

Words of advice that I can give, Julia, is for them to communicate and use each day for growth and don’t be afraid to give a challenge even though you’re in a challenging situation because you have to beat the odds. You have to grow together. If you’re communicating and trying to grow together, then you’re beating the odds. You’re standing up against what’s trying to push you down. That’s the best advice that I can give is to communicate and to challenge each other is not a situation to be babied or to feel sorry for. Of course, you’re going to feel sorry like, “You shouldn’t be in prison, or we shouldn’t be going through this.”

We learned that communication and growth are the keys to staying strong, even in the toughest of times. Share on X

If this is what the case is, then let’s just deal with what the case is and figure out the best solution that we can do to move forward. For those who may not have an out date, you’re still alive, you’re still living, you’re still breathing, you can still do something to better yourself. Then if you do have an out date, prepare to be that person that you want to be when you come home. Don’t try to do it once you come home. No work on being that person. Challenge yourself. Take care of yourself. That’s the advice that I could give.

Do you want to add anything, Mario?

I cannot follow that.

I think I see you guys as motivational speakers. I mean, this is just the beginning. I just so appreciate it. I’m definitely going to follow your journey, stay in touch and however, I can support you guys.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you, Julia.

I really mean it.

Thank you so much.

Important Links

About Destinee Redding

As a self-educated real estate investor and proud co-founder of We the Negus, I am passionate about transforming communities and creating opportunities for sustainable growth. My journey into real estate began with a desire to understand and uplift underrepresented neighborhoods, turning vision into action with every investment.

Alongside my husband and business partner, I’ve dedicated myself to building wealth and empowering others to do the same. Our work focuses on revitalizing communities, lowering recidivism, and nurturing a legacy of resilience and success.

I believe in the power of knowledge, perseverance, and a commitment to making a meaningful impact. Every property we invest in is more than just an asset; it’s a step toward building a better future for our community.

Let’s connect if you’re interested in real estate, community development, or simply believing in transformation’s power.

About Mario Redding

I am deeply passionate about empowering individuals transitioning from prison back into society. After serving a 17-year sentence, I proudly co-founded “We the Negus” with my incredible wife. Our non-profit is more than an organization; it’s a movement dedicated to transforming lives, lowering recidivism rates, and building community pillars through education, skill development, and unwavering support.

Armed with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Ashland University (where I maintained a 3.7 GPA and graduated Cum Laude), I’m also a certified Paralegal from Ohio University. My education didn’t stop there—I devoured over 1,000 books while incarcerated, turning my cell into a classroom and myself into a scholar.

In addition to my non-profit work, I’m all about real estate. Investing in properties and transforming neighborhoods fuels my mission to bring hope and opportunities back to my community. My hands-on experience as a Master Grower at Ohio Nursery and Landscaping taught me the value of hard work and nurturing growth, whether plants or people.

I’m also the proud author of “Rich Negus in the Hood,” a book creating buzz and anticipation in my network. Public speaking is another avenue where I share my story, inspiring others to believe in second chances and the power of resilience.

Known as “Cliffview Obama,” I am dedicated to family, community empowerment, and outreach. I am happily married and fiercely committed, my mission is to create a positive impact, drive meaningful change, and show that with quality work and determination, any obstacle can be overcome.

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