My name is Rasheem Mathews.
Many once knew me as “LA Jay,” a recognizable figure from Cleveland’s King Kennedy neighborhood during the height of the “New Jack City” era. For the past 36 years, however, I have been known only by a number within the Ohio prison system—16 of those years spent in the extreme isolation of solitary confinement.

I am fighting a wrongful conviction built on testimony that a key witness later admitted, under oath, was false. My life has been defined by high‑stakes decisions, but the most important move I am making is the one before me now: reclaiming my freedom and transforming my experience into purpose.