Tony is 57 and incarcerated in the US (IL).
Attention!! Something different!!!
It was an unusually quiet night; the normally blaring televisions and radios were quiet. The typical long-distance conversations between inmates yelling back and forth from several cells away, or the blusterous sound of someone triumphantly declaring “Checkmate!” – were not heard on this night. On this night, some of us were preparing to say good-bye to a friend for the very last time.
Hashi was making his rounds, saying his final farewells to those that mattered to him. It was a ritual that played out each time someone’s death date was upon them and upon all of us, like some Shakespearean tragedy. Thus is life on Death Row – a series of greetings and farewells. And my turn to say goodbye was approaching faster than I wanted it to.
I could hear Hashi drawing ever closer to my cell, and I steeled myself against the emotional onslaught that was certain to come when I looked into the face of my friend – a dead man walking. I needed to be standing when he got to my cell. I felt it would be inappropriate and disrespectful to be sitting, but I also felt like I had a ton of bricks strapped to my back, and I struggled to rise to my feet. As I did, my solid resolve began to melt away like ice cream on a summer day.
Within seconds, Hashi was at my cell, his hand thrust through the bars in search of mine, and in the one gesture, my resolve dissipated to nothing. I grasped his hand in mine and reached my other arm between the bars and hugged him. “I love you, brother” is all I could manage. The dam broke, and my eyes flooded with tears. Hashi squeezed my hand one final time and told me “I love you, little brother”, and walked away. In that moment, there was a dignity and grace to him that I had never seen. Even in what were to be his final days, he was still teaching, and I was still learning. I sat back down feeling a little lighter and sat vigil for the next three days.
We all knew that Hashi had about 72 hours to live. And as it is with all who are transported to the death house, we prayed for that last minute stay of execution, but God decided to say “no” this time, and at 12:07 am, Hashi was pronounced dead by lethal injection.
Several years later, God would say “yes” to me, and I am alive today and no longer on death row. Now if I could only get him to say “yes” to easing this never-ending pain and loss.
Dear Readers and Potential Pen Friends,
I began my ad with that short memoir because it tells you more about me and my life than any generic recitation of my hobbies, my likes, my dislikes, or my interests. Not that those things aren’t important – they are – but as human beings, we are shaped by our experiences and how we respond to them, and how others respond to them as well.
If after reading what I have shared with you, you aren’t moved, if it does not evoke anything in you, then this is definitely not the ad you should respond to. However, if my memoir stirred something in you, maybe even awaked something, then reach out to me and let me tell you more about who I am and what I’m fighting for.
If you’re still a little nervous, a little unsure, maybe even a little afraid – all understandable – feel free to go to my website first, at http://www.freetonyenis.com.
I discriminate against no one – age, race, sex or orientation are not disqualifiers. Don’t tell me what you are, show me who you are.
• Date of Birth: 09/12/1966 (57 years old)
• Gender: Male
• Marital Status: Single
• Sexual Orientation: Straight
• Race: Black or African American
• Ethnicity: N/A
• Eye Color: Brown
• Hair Color: N/A
• Height: 6 ft.
• Body Type: Average
• Hometown: Waukegan, Illinois (USA)
• Spoken Languages: English, some Spanish
• Religion: Christian
• Astrological Sign: Virgo
Profile will end on: 03/08/2025
Tony Enis #N82931
Menard Correctional Center
P.O. Box 1000
Menard, IL 62259
USA
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• Incarcerated Since: 1988
• Sentence Received: Life Without Parole
• Earliest Release: N/A
