Steve Maxwell
Portrait of Stephen Maxwell.
Stephen “Steve” Maxwell was a friend to all living creatures. On April 26, 2020, at the age of 69, he tragically passed away from complications from COVID-19. He is survived by his childhood friends, including Nancy Watson and Rick Hughes. In a phone call, Nancy shared warm memories of Steve.
Steve was known as the “Cat Man” to others incarcerated at Sumter Correctional Institution in Florida because he befriended any feline who came his way. He had a cat he called “Smokey Joe,” whom he trained and fed with his personal supply of food–a supply that was meager to begin with. Whenever the cafeteria gave Steve sardines, he shared them with his cat. Eventually, Smokey Joe was taken away, and Steve was heartbroken.
“He couldn’t have hurt a fly at his age,” his friend Nancy lamented. There is literal truth to her statement–Steve cared for all critters, even mice and lizards. Nancy recounted a time when Steve told her about the lizards that would come and sit on his shoulder. When she wondered aloud why such critters were so drawn to him, Steve answered, “because they know I would never hurt them.”
“He was one of the kindest people I knew,” Nancy said. She had plans to visit him before the COVID-19 outbreak struck and made it impossible to do so. He was supposed to get out on parole on Christmas Eve. Despite the risk the pandemic posed to Steve at his advanced age, and even though he had only a few months left in his sentence, the Florida Department of Corrections refused to release him early. Instead, they kept him crammed in a housing unit of 200 people. Its capacity was 60.
Now the Department of Corrections is ignoring Nancy’s request for Steve’s ashes. He has no traceable next of kin, so Nancy wants to be the one to memorialize her close friend. She mentioned spreading his ashes out on a lake: “He loved fishing,” she said.
Steve Maxwell was a radiant and loving soul. May he rest in a place more deserving of his soft heart. Maybe there is a lake and eternal critter companionship. Certainly there is peace and light.
This part of the memorial was written by MOL team member Ivana Bozic with information from a conversation with Nancy Watson.
Original artwork by MOL team member EJ Joyner.
“They're going to keep us here as long as they can.” I have heard these words echoing in my ears for years and years. What do these words mean? Why do incarcerated people always say this? Why do free world people think differently? Does the time fit the crime?
People spend decades in prison atoning for one mistake that lasted only moments. Some become stuck in time once in prison, wondering if freedom will ever come. Others remain frozen in the hope of forgiveness and a second chance. The latter, forgiveness and a second chance, are non existent to a “violent offender.”
Stephen Maxwell died at the age of 69 on April 26, 2020 from COVID-19. Maxwell began his sentence as a teenager going into young adulthood. Then the realization hit: It could be a long, long, long time before he ever saw the world again outside of prison or a book. There was no hope in imminent freedom for a man like Stephen Maxwell. There existed only a hope in new relationships and an inward transformation in the excellence of his character. Then 50 years into his prison sentence, COVID-19 strikes the world and the prison world.
The law was absolute in that no “offender” shall be released until the entirety of their prison sentence is served according to whichever statute the “offender” falls under. There is no exception to the rules, even amidst a global pandemic. One mistake cost Stephen Maxwell dearly. But, what is the cost to our humanity when we lock people away and throw away the key? When will we remember that PEOPLE deserve forgiveness and a second chance? There is still no sympathy for “violent offenders” wasting away behind prison walls. There is no sympathy for young adults under the age of 25 who commit thoughtless acts. There is still no sympathy for an old man dying in prison 50 years later for an act committed in his youth. Let us hope that COVID-19 will teach us to value all lives and to offer up forgiveness and reconciliation. It is not that we should avoid punishment and correction. We must avoid the cost of vengeance on our humanity when we refuse to open our hearts and the prison doors for those too old to stay locked in or too great to remain hidden forever. There is an abundance of lost talent and misguided youth behind these prison walls. Is this our only option: to keep them there as long as we can?
Rest in peace Stephen Maxwell. Now you are free…
This part of the memorial was written by MOL team member Tiara Smith with information from reporting by Grace Tooey of the Orlando Sentinel and Daralene Jones of WFTV.com. Transcribed by Ivana Bozic.
