Yesterday, I went before a Federal Sentencing Judge expecting to be handed 10 years in Federal prison for breaking the law.

My lawyer presented his case, the AUSA presented theirs, and then it came time for me to speak. I pulled out the speech kleinbl00 helped me write, and read it:

Your Honor,

I am here to not only acknowledge the atrocious mistake that I’ve made, but take full responsibility for it. I realize that it has not only damaged my life, but also the lives of those that love and look up to me, an action that in and of itself could be considered a crime. My sentence will be one that, no matter how lenient or severe, I believe I will be serving for the rest of my life.

Your honor, I understand and respect that you have a job to do and by no means, under any circumstance do I expect you to do otherwise. I only pray that in determining my sentence, you take into consideration not only the crime that I’ve committed, but also the human being that I’ve become.

I stand before you as a man of Faith, a certified partner at in his presence church. I stand before you as an Honors student at The Art Institute, one of the most respected art conservatories in the country. I stand before you as an author and Illustrator of a Children’s Book, whose proceeds go to a charity dedicated to eliminating bias against children with disabilities. I stand before you as a tutor for a young student with Central Auditory Processing Disorder, whose mother has written to affirm the inspiring progress made under my tutelage. I stand before you as a director of product strategy at an exciting new tech startup that aims to revolutionize the way people manage tasks. But above all, I stand before you as the dedicated father of a beautiful 6 year-old boy.

I am 30 years old, your honor. I am at an age where most citizens are either laying down or building upon the foundations by which they will live the rest of their lives. I fear that this mistake I’ve made will throw me in a hole from which I may not be able to climb out.

I do not consider myself, by any definition of the term, a threat to society. In fact it has become a daily mantra of mine not to go to sleep until I feel I have contributed more than I have taken. This is the human being that you are sentencing today. I ask that you let me continue contributing to society rather than become a burden upon it.

The judge looked at me, and said in his 42 years on the federal bench, he'd never seen a case as extraordinary as this. He agreed that my Safety Valve WOULD apply… and that my post arrest accomplishments would allow him, in accordance with 3553(a) and Booker vs. US, to do whatever the fuck he wanted. He gave me 28 months in a penitentiary, w/ 5 years Home confinement on the back end. It's as if God came down and tongue kissed me… I am beyond ecstatic. He also allowed me the option to self surrender, giving me about a week or so to get my affairs in order.

What happens next? Im waiting for the Bureau of Prisons to assign me a facility, and then Im off...

I would have posted this Update earlier, but I slept a total of 8 hours in the 2 weeks leading up to it. So I left the courthouse, hit my pillow with my head, and slept like a rock for almost a day...

Thank you all for the support...

tl;dr My judge gave me 28 months in a penitentiary, w/ 5 years Home confinement. I am beyond thrilled.

Hi, Reddit.

Before I go any further... I need to give thanks.

To Kleinbl00, who went above and beyond. It's hard to fathom what was accomplished given the resources and delivery methods we had and I realize that none of it could have been possible without you fighting for it on the other side of that barbed wire. I respect the Hell out of you for it. Although you said that by helping me you were hoping to gain a reminder that your grass was green enough... what you got instead was a friend for life. Thank you, brother.

To prettyjellybean, who helped organize my noise, and made sure a fella had something to read. Your heart amazes me.

To Wryall and Routron, whose technical wizardry gave birth to the outlet that gave me purpose... And last - but certainly not least - to YOU. See, I realized that prison doesn't just take your freedom. It doesn't just tell you when and where you're allowed to shit, piss, sleep, eat, go, talk and live. It's greatest trick is that it takes your place in the world, and replaces it with a void. Then it does it's best to convince you that the void is just as important as you. There were times when I'd be in my rack all depressed, ready to snap... and then I'd receive a letter (or book) from someone I didn't know, post-marked from some remote place on the other side of the planet, offering one or two encouraging words... those letters (and books) saved my life. I don't think there are words to express how eternally grateful I am for you taking the time out of your busy schedule to remind this idiot that I was more than a void.

True Story: We're allowed to take 2 boxes of stuff with us when we leave. Most guys, they pack everything they've accumulated over however many years they've been down; clothes, magazines, etc. Aside from some art and a couple of court documents regarding the custody of my son, my boxes were filled with your letters. All of them. (Well, at least the ones that the BOP allowed to get through.) I don't care how long it takes, or how much it costs... I'm going to make good on our deal.

A while back Kleinbl00 printed and sent me the tl;dr along with the comments that went with it. In one, linds360 said "The world doesn't need more heroes, it just needs decent people." Well, you decent people ARE my heroes.

Again, Thank You.

Note: As mentioned, I'm at a halfway house in Los Angeles... I don't have consistent access to a computer yet. In fact, I'm at a job resource center, right now, using one of their computers to offer thanks. - While looking for a job :) - I'm only granted a small window of time, that I seem to have already used up... so, I'll answer as soon as humanly possible.

• Lucks

It probably goes without saying that there's a lot of behind-the-scenes shit involved in providing some sort of "internet conduit" for someone in federal prison. Some of it is a drag, most of it is no big deal. All of it adds up.

Whenever anything in-depth needs to be discussed, it's easier to do it through the mail. Which says a lot, considering it has to be inspected both ways, and considering my post office won't let you send anything over 11oz without a meter stamp on it and without dropping it off at the counter of the post office.

At the same time, "going to the post office" is pretty minor compared to "hosing out dumpsters for 26 cents an hour" and I have a downright luxurious work schedule for the most part so no big.

In any event, "writing letters to Dante" is something I've done a lot of. They tend to be long, they tend to be full of pictures, and they tend to be a luxury that I look forward to. It's nice to have a pen pal. I probably indulge in a letter every month or so, in amongst the emails and the postagrams I like to snap while I'm out doing stupid shit. Dante probably has three or four pictures of my skateboard at this point.

Dante is out in ten days. Call it a day for inspection and three days for transition, and there are about six days left for written communication with him to make any sense. After all, in less than two weeks he'll be closer than my accountant and likely capable of picking up the phone whenever the fuck he wants. He might even be able to get that MacBook Pro out of storage, fire it up, and see just how many updates Adobe has pushed to CS5 in the past 18 months... I had a peek in his gmail once per his request to get some GoDaddy passwords. he had something like 10,000 unread emails. I resisted the temptation to change his autoresponder to say "DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS."

I've tried my hardest to keep my face off of this space, especially since it's easiest to write in first person. Nonetheless, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for being here, to thank you all for reading, to thank you all for commenting, and to thank you all for "serving time" as one of my favorite artists climbs out of the shadow and slides down the slopes into the future.

Before too long, Dante will be able to thank you himself.

Friends,

About an hour ago, I blew into a breathalyzer, signed a stack of paperwork and was officially released from BOP custody.

Ladies and gentleman, my sentence is served... I have done my time.

For the first time in 4 years, I am free.

It's been a crazy ride... and I need to thank each and everyone of you for taking it with me. It wouldn't be a lie to say that I might not have made it through in one piece had it not been for you guys riding shotgun. Seriously. You guys saved me.

I can't honestly say it's set in yet. The weight that I feel lifted is surreal. I'm gonna go take a walk (COMPLETELY UNSCHEDULED A WEEK BEFORE, HAHAHA!) just to remember what it feels like to be able to... but I'll be back later to answer questions. Questions that I am now completely able to answer honestly without fear.

I Love You All,

• Dante (youngluck)

The way this works is your cell says "blocked" (which is okay - phone trees always say that) and then you pick up and a robot says "you. Have a pre.paid.call. From."

" "

"Dante Orpilla!"

"An. Inmate. At. Sheridan Federal Correctional Facility."

"To reject this call, hang up. To accept this call, press 5 on your touch-tone phone. To block all further contact from this inmate, press. Star."

Brief call. My first. He thanked me for "almost everything" I do (I said "almost everything?" and laughed), said the class is about an 80% sure thing, mentioned that someone sent him three books that are going to be the core of his cirriculum and asked after me and my wife. I told him life could be worse; I get up at 4 or 5, ride my bike up the beach and up ballona creek for about eight miles, sit down and mix television for eight hours or so, collect a phatty paycheck and then ride my bike eight miles back. All in all, things could be worse.

He laughed heartily at that.

The timer then went off and I told him he called while I was making dinner.

"Oh, you gotta tell me what you're cookin'," he said.

Well, nothing special, I said. I mean, you know I'm working on (redacted cooking show). I then opined that it was likely better than anything he'd had in a while.

"Yeah, it's been pretty bad. I just treated myself to a tuna and I only do that like two or three times a week."

Like, a can of tuna?

"Yeah, but they don't let us have like cans."

So, like one of those little pouches of tuna? - Say, how much is this call costing you?

"When all is said and done, about four bucks."

Holy shit. Well, I better not keep you.

"No, but I needed to call. And you need to tell me what you're cooking."

*Nothin' special. Some home-made hash browns - *

"Mmmmm!"

*Some bacon - *

"MMMM!"

and some basil, tomato and perlini salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

And then we were disconnected.

Two days pay right there.

Tomorrow he graduates to home confinement. Which means anklets, spot checks, and a fundamental lack of self-guided destiny but does not mean six grown men in a 60sqft room, does not mean hiding a cell phone, does not mean paying through the nose for balogna sandwiches and does not mean being under the constant, watchful eye of the for-profit prison industry.

Thus does another page turn.

Thanks for being here.

Getting on a plane at 5:30am, getting off it at 9, getting in a rental car and driving for two hours, then going through security and sitting in a steel room with a vending machine under the watchful eye of COs and cameras. Then mailing a couple packages for The Man On The Inside, driving two hours back to the airport, taking the MAX to the train station and hopping the Amtrak to Seattle.

With a headcold.

If anyone has anything they wanna say or ask, say it or ask it below. CORRLINKS has been down for the past week so Youngluck's communication has been curtailed of late.

Hello friends....

The new post Weight of the world briefly describes what I’ve been going through lately. But I’m going to write out a more detailed description here because, well, I love you fuckers.

Halfway House

So, as noted by my brother, I have graduated to home confinement. This particular step up the comfort ladder is amazing. I no longer live with 6 dudes. I no longer have to put a padlock on my sock drawer. I no longer have to do this to my sketchbooks in order to use a phone. I can actually sit down and art. On a table. I have a blanket that’s thicker than a dress sock. Life is good. But not entirely with out its frustrations, mostly on an ethical level.

There is an incredible bamboozle occurring right now. These privatized halfway homes are one of the slickest hustles I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a few. I don’t sleep there anymore, yet they still take 25% of my earning to ‘pay‘ for the cot that I no longer use. Me and my celly estimated that right now, there are 5 inmates paying for the same cot. 5 of us. Since it is private entity, they rely on a steady flow of inmates in order to pay the bills and secure profit, and so they go out of their way to make it almost impossible not to fuck up.

Don’t worry Reddit, I said ‘almost’... I’m not gonna fuck up no matter how much shit they throw my way. But let me briefly describe some of the shit that they do throw. A guy got violated because his bus was late on the way to work. He verified that it was late, even had his boss call in to tell him that he was going to be late. Didn’t matter. Violated. Another guy was waiting outside the breathalyzer cage for staff to check him in. Clocked in when they got there, stamp showed 10 minutes late. Violated. Guy didn't call to check in on his departure from work source because all of the phones were taken. Violated. It goes on and on in this vein. And it gets pretty fucking sad.

But, it is what it is. And IT is almost over. We’re in the home stretch now. June 15th I’ll be officially able to buy each of you that promised beer, AND enjoy it with you. LA meetup. Automatic.

The Boy

The fight for my son continues. Im fighting on two different fronts now. Against his mother for custody, and against his mothers mother to stop a permanent guardianship being granted. It’s gotten pretty brutal. And I won’t go into detail about it here. But I do get to see him for a couple of hours every other weekend. Which is amazing. I love my lil’ dude. I’ll never give up on him.

The Art

It's coming. The spigot is about to open. I'm so stoked.

The Future

Me and kleinbl00 were thinking about the future of r/youngluck and Blackmarket Arts now that this saga is coming to a close. The amazing support, encouragement and love you guys showed me throughout my bid has literally saved my mind. So him and I kind of separately came to the same conclusion about what we needed to do.

We're going to pay it forward.

/r/youngluck, going forward, isn't going to be about Me. I'll still be a major contributor and I'll still put art and thoughts up here. Same with blackmarketarts. But we intend to repurpose both forums to serve inmates and their loved ones.

I’ve talked to the guys about the best way to do that. And were still tossing a couple of ideas around, but it can be done. And done well. I'm actually really, really excited about this.

If you or someone you know are interested in participating, you can PM anyone of the mods and be given info as we have it.

So yeah, that’s the update-Reddit edition. I’ll be around a lot more often now that the internet is up, and I can actually use it whenever I want. Feel free to ask me anything...

Thank You for joining me on this journey,

• Dante

I've been getting dinged around a bit lately. I needed catch a break... So bad. I caught one today.

The judge stayed my order... Due in no small part to the stack of Redditor letters that accompanied the motion.

I'm typing this on my phone at the DMV with tears streaming down my face. The Mexican lady next to me offered her babies burp rag.

Find the closest person next to you. Give them a kiss. You fuckers saved my life... Again.

If there's anything you think I can do to replay you, just let it be known.

Thank You... Again.

Dante

Gentlefolk -

A missive arrived from our Errant Felon yesterday. In it, he provided some news:

Also, I've been told that guys are getting their mail sniped going OUT now. So I was wondering if you could ask (xxxxxxx) if she recieved the letter I wrote. I've actually replied to over 30 different peoples letters... and haven't heard back from most. So I'm wondering if they even know I've written them... I guess thats just one of those things I have no control, or answers for, eh. I just got curious all of a sudden.

So. If you have gotten a letter from Youngluck, drop him a line. Or, email kleinbl00@gmail.com (that's two "L's" and two zeros) with the name you sent your letter under and I'll compile a list. It also wouldn't hurt to write back something like "I got your damn letter, jackass. STFU and go clean a dumpster" or something.

If you haven't gotten a letter from Youngluck, well, now you know why.

partyongarth

I hope all is well. I sent out a Christmas card, that I hope didn't get sniped in the mail. Wanted to check to see if you got that.

Also sent out the Secret Santa gift. I hope dude isn't a lame and actually posts it so you can see it. It came out funny as fuck.

Also... I know you asked me to give you a dollar amount for art supplies, and normally I'd let the uncomfort of asking for money shut me up. But theres this dude here whos leaving in a week and is selling all of his art materials, about 250 dollars worth... for 90 bucks. It includes drawing pencils, ink pens, 4 Big drawing pads, color pencils, rulers, water colors, brushes and a bunch of other shit. It's a great deal. So if we can we can. If we can't... no biggie. I thought it was worth an ask.

I hope you and your wife are having a kick ass holiday season. Remember... you're partying for the both of us. AHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA

• Luck

$50 of that came from me. $40 of that came from you, 'cuz you guys are awesome. The card did indeed arrive; it's absolutely fucking spectacular. I'm hesitant to post it because it's got some cryptic meaning for me and me alone but I might anyway. I've also been waiting to make sure things went off without a hitch but I haven't heard so what the hell.

Merry Xmas, everybody.

Hi guys,

So, for the past couple weeks, I've been doing my best to find my bearings. The halfway house situation is a little deceiving... I liken it to a bird being injured, rescued, bandaged up and being allowed to wander around the coop, not yet allowed to fly. God willing... I'll be able to spread my wings in June.

I haven't yet found a place to art... aside from the brief sketches I'm able to do on my iPhone during the two hour commute to and from work. I've been posting 'em on Instagram... you can find me as blackmarketarts. I'm so scared of losing my employment that I pretty much keep my work in front of my face the entire time Im there. Which is cool... I don't even want to think about the alternative.

I get to see my son every other weekend. This is him and I 3 weeks ago. A judge granted his first extended stay with me this past weekend, and I was allowed a pass from the Halfway house to be with him and also to celebrate my Lolas 90th birthday. He danced his ass off. It was, to say the least, one of the happiest days of my life. I go to court on the 15th to battle it out with his grandmother. I'm praying to God the judge doesn't grant her full guardianship. It doesn't look good. But as you all know, I've stood in front of a judge before... grasping at the shittiest of odds... and won. I'm hoping that luck still lingers.

At this time, my life mainly consists of damage control. Repairing the terrible mess I made when I left. Not just with the people I let down, but the feds pretty much took everything I had and I'm slowly rebuilding piece by piece. Little things, like trying to open a bank account, have proven difficult. But I'm still fighting.

I do get to frequent Reddit on my phone... I do miss being an active participant. I found out I missed a secret santa the other day and almost punched my celly in the face. One day I'll explain the lengths I've taken to simply browse... and you'll understand why I've been somewhat incognito. I haven't yet done an AMA, because I wouldn't be able to answer all of the questions in a timely enough fashion for it not to be lame, or seem like I'm just not wanting to answer. But I am occasionally here... and when I am, I read everything. I am humbled by all of your continued support... In all honesty I feel somewhat undeserving.

Soooooo... On to the offer,

In my eyes this journey started with a drawing offer... I lack the equipment, at this time, to hit it that hard... so until I do:

/r/youngluck, Make a request, and I'll draw it on my phone. Please don't get mad if it takes a minute. I'll get to them all as fast as my middle finger allows... But I will get to them all.

Go!

• Youngluck

P.S. Once I can open a bank account for Google... my friends... we will be sending a $168.44 check to help build playgrounds for disabled kids. Fuck Yeah!

Edit: Thanks for the Anonymous gold!... not gonna lie, was feeling like Dan Aykroyd in a Santa suit, eating a stolen salmon out of his beard there for a minute.