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Remembering Matthew Omisore
Prison Diaries Contributor Shot to Death by Rival Drug Dealer
 Listen to Joe Richman's report.
Listen to the Jan. 16, 2001 Prison Diaries segment featuring Matthew Omisore and his juvenile court judge.
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Matthew Omisore at Rhode Island Training School.
Photo: Sue Johnson/Picture Projects
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Matthew Omisore died a couple of weeks ago. The 18-year-old lived in Providence, R.I. He was shot and killed on the street in what police say was a dispute over drug-dealing turf.
Omisore's story is not unique, but it's a story NPR listeners may remember. When he was 16, Omisore was given a tape recorder to document his life behind bars for the series Prison Diaries that aired on All Things Considered last year. Independent producer Joe Richman has this remembrance.
March 1, 2002 -- The first time Matthew Omisore was locked up, he was 13. He was 16 when I first met him, serving his third sentence for dealing drugs.
By then he had spent more than half his teenage years incarcerated at a juvenile facility called the Rhode Island Training School. Matt and the other kids called it "The Ritz."
I gave Matt a tape recorder while he was locked up, and he had it for almost a year, recording the sounds and scenes and small moments of his day-to-day life.
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"Matthew was charismatic, intelligent, good looking, and athletic. But in the end, what happened seemed inevitable."
Independent producer Joe Richman
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Matt stood out at the Training School. Not just because he was a foot taller than the other boys. He was also smarter and funnier than most everyone there. And he was very confident. Probably too confident.
Matt didn't think he needed to follow any "script of rehabilitation." He didn't talk about wanting to change, turn things around, do the right thing. Matt told everyone who asked that when he got out, he was going to sell drugs again. The only difference is, this time he would be an even better drug dealer.
Matthew had been recording for about six months when three things happened: He was released early, he went back to the streets with a new beeper and cell phone, and two weeks later he was arrested again.
Back for the fourth time, Matt's recordings sounded different somehow: He was fed up with spending his life behind bars.
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Omisore was killed one day before his 19th birthday.
Photo: Sue Johnson/Picture Projects
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You always want to think there will be a happy ending. The staff and the social workers at the Training School liked Matthew. They played chess with him. They watched him grow up. And they had hundreds of conversations with Matt over the years, trying to convince him to use his talents for something other than selling drugs. But it didn't do any good.
Matthew was charismatic, intelligent, good looking, and athletic. But in the end, what happened seemed inevitable.
When he was released this past October, Matthew was 18. Which meant if he was arrested again, he'd go to adult prison. Matt had spent his last three birthdays behind bars and he was looking forward to celebrating one at home. Instead, a rival drug dealer -- a 16-year-old kid -- shot him first.
Matthew was killed a day before his birthday. He would have been 19.
 Browse more NPR stories on the Prison Diaries series.
Other Resources
• The Prison Diaries series was produced by Joe Richman as part of the Radio Diaries project.
• Some of the those featured in the Prison Diaries series were also the subject of a unique multimedia presentation called 360degrees, created by Picture Projects
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