the Christmas Timeline:

---

In his youth, Christmas held the best memories and was a short period of time when the abuse would temporarily stop, he would be surrounded by family and good food and beautiful decorations.  Christmas was the one time of the year when Temujin felt safe and loved. 

Although money was scarce,   Temujin wanted dearly to start building more special memories during Christmastime, so he bought several inexpensive trinkets  in preparation of the upcoming holidays in winter of 1986... 

 In  December 1986, as a lost 23 year old young man, Temujin spent his first of the next 36 Christmases incarcerated and wrongfully convicted for the murder of a man he never met - Scott A. Macklem of Croswell, Michigan.  One day Temujin may update this page and share his feelings regarding how it felt to spend his very first Christmas in St. Clair County Jail - prior to being sent to the state's most violent prison - Jackson. 

Wrongful convictions are one of the worst hands you can be dealt in life. Prison is hell - and most of us are fortunate enough to have no idea of the gravity incarceration brings - wrongful or not.  Few inmates are lucky enough to have a spouse on the outside fighting for them.  Very few friendships survive the lenth of incarceration.  Life goes on and society forgets those no longer present.  Sadly, it's just how things are.  The system is structured to prohibit communications and friendships, regardless of what the prison "mission statement" says. It's not about rehabilitation or reform or rebuilding lives.  Incarceration is meant to throw away perceived "bad people." 

Temujin was blessed to have such an amazing woman by his side for 22 years.  A'miko Kensu spent her Christmases with Temujin in various prisons around the state as she fought for his freedom for each of those twenty-two years.  Then, sadly and tragically, A'miko lost her battle to ovarian cancer in November 2012, shortly before Christmas.  For the next seven Christmases, Temujin would spend Christmas alone behind bars without a loved one fighting for his freedom.  This meant no "I love you" phone calls on Christmas Eve, and no Christmas Day visits. 

On Christmas Day, December of 2019, Temujin walked into the visiting room  to meet with Nolan Finley, editor of the Detroit News.  Nolan had interviewed Temujin in the past over the phone, and was shocked that he was still in prison, wrongfully convicted.  This was the first time that Temujin had a visit on Christmas Day since his last visit with A'miko in December of 2011.  Little did Temujin know, it was Nolan's Christmas article that would be published just a few days later, that would capture the attention of the next Ms. Kensu, who soon reach out to check in on Temujin.

I cannot tell you what it is like to be wrongfully convicted and behind bars for a crime that I didn't commit.  Nor can I express the deep depression that spending a holiday behind bars for a crime I didn't commit brings.  Temujin might share that with us one day after his healing begins.   Shortly AFTER Christmas in 2020, Temujin's clemency application had been pending with Governor Whitmer for over a year.  We had so many amazing supporters reach out to the Governor to ask her to grant clemency and correct this horrible nightmare, as much as something this bad could  be corrected.  In fact, a group of over 160 high school students from Clarkston, MI had recently sent Christmas cards and letters to Attorney General Dana Nessel and Governor Whitmer calling for his release.  But in early January 2021, Temujin was called to the Warden's office to pick up "legal mail." This was unusual to pick it up from the Warden's office, so he had a sense of fleeting hope. Why was this different?  Why wasn't he called to pick up his legal mail in the usual way?  Why the warden's office?  Was this the Christmas miracle we had all been praying for?  Sadly, it was not.  As he walked into the Warden's office, he was met with a grimacing warden telling him that he had news from the Governor's office.  It was a letter formally responding to his request for clemency.  But why was the warden expressing what appeared to be happiness?  Plain and simple: evil. 

Contempt for a man who had sued the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) for civil rights violations including lack of medical care which he won .  The warden laughed as he handed Temujin the letter that stated the Governor would not be granting clemency to Temujin.  I don't know any further details - that is all that Temujin would share.  I do know it is about a 5 minute walk back to his prison cell from the Warden's office.  Five minutes to process what happened and to try to contain the emotions (despair, frustration, depression, anger, defeat, disgust) all while passing by officers of the state paid to imprison and suppress his freedom.  What did he feel as he walked passed the  American flag waving in the yard?  Could he see past the razor wire gate into the field overlooking the prison and did he see any glimpse of hope for a life outside that fence?  Not on that day.  On that day, he didn't know how many more Christmases he would spend wrongfully incarcerated.   That was a bad day. 

This YouTube Video features the voice of Temujin Kensu creatively changing the words to "God Bless Ye Merry Gentlemen" asking Governor Whitmer to Free the Innocent by Christmas.