Search for redemption

Situated on a cold concrete floor, a young man sits atop a rickety bunk staring at four walls and wondering how he wound up in such a God-forsaken place.

He has no identity ? that was stripped away when he became a ward of the state. He is a nobody, just another number in the California Penal System.

On the outside, he used to be Mike Barrett, a promising football star with a bright future. Now, he’s just a convict.

Unlike most criminals wallowing in state prison, Barrett doesn’t claim his innocence. On the contrary, he has forced himself to accept the realization that he is the sole reason why he sits behind bars, cut off from the world he once knew.

It is because of his own terrible mistake that he has hijacked his future, this dreams, his existence.

That was Barrett’s mindset after being incarcerated in 2001.

“I had to understand in my own mind that I put myself in the situation,” said Barrett, a 1996 Burroughs High graduate who will be a sophomore at Glendale Community College. “I did something horrible, I did it to myself, and this is my life now.

“Even sitting in prison, I couldn’t be mad at anybody for putting me there. It was all on me.”

Barrett, 28, was locked up after being involved in a horrendous car accident on Dec. 15, 2000. Police said he was coming home from a company Christmas party in his 1999 Camaro Z28, driving 55 to 60 mph, when he ran a red light at the intersection of Verdugo and Pass avenues and broadsided a 1997 Dodge van.

Channa Samarasena, who was driving the minivan, suffered six broken ribs, a fractured skull and liver and lung damage. His wife Hyacinth, 35, suffered a broken nose and brain damage. Channa Samarasena’s mother-in-law, Soma Wijesuriya, 68, sustained a broken neck. The couple’s children, Charith, 8, and Hashi, 10, had minor injuries.

According to police reports, Barrett’s blood-alcohol level was .22%, almost three times the legal limit of .08%.

Barrett pleaded guilty on April 25, 2001 in Pasadena Superior Court to one count of felony driving under the influence and three counts of causing bodily injury to three victims.

Barrett said the remorse and guilt he felt for causing the accident and the injuries to an innocent family was almost unbearable. That’s why he chose not to fight the charges against him.

He was subsequently sentenced to five years in state prison and was ordered to pay more than $30,000 to the victims.

“I did something that was terrible, and I know I had to pay for it,” Barrett said. “Six people had their lives altered. I’m just grateful that no one died in the accident. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”