TENNESSEE COLONY (KYTX)-Jason Bourque is serving a life sentence for the 2010 church fires here in East Texas. Today, he sat down exclusively with CBS 19 at the Coffield prison unit.
Four years and eleven months ago, ten churches went up in flames.
After a long investigation, Jason Bourque and Daniel McAllister were arrested and charged with the arsons.
Both of them have been in prison since and today Bourque opened up to us.
“I am very sorry for what I did because I know I did hurt a lot of people and I did cause a lot of people emotional stress and pain and I'm very sorry for that,” Bourque said.
Bourque and his family say that the mix of Chantix, a medication to help people stop smoking, and Prozac caused him to become impulsive and not even remember most of the fires. Now in prison, he's looking for some peace of mind from the people he hurt.
“They need to be forgiving towards their neighbor and realize everyone is human and makes mistakes,” Bourque said.
It's a mistake he says he regrets every day. He says it's helped him grow as a person.
“Over these past 5 years I've learned a lot about the strength of love, the strength of family and the power of forgiveness,” he said.
His family visits him every weekend, something he says keeps him hopeful.
“I don't know if I would be able to handle it without them. It's pretty difficult in here emotionally and them coming every week makes a big difference,” Bourque said.
He's been sentenced to life in prison plus another twenty years.
“I've always been a good kid, I was a state champion in debate and an eagle scout and I make one mistake and they are trying to take my life from me,” he said.
He's beginning to take college courses and wants to study liberal arts because he plans on writing a book about his experience. He says his study as a Christian has showed him that letting the past go is necessary.
“I'm already paying for what I've done but if you don't forgive me you're holding hurt and hatred in your heart that will poison you,” Bourque said.
Jason and his family are looking for lawyers who will work with them to get his sentenced reduced. He's also open to hearing from those he hurt and says he wants to write everyone back.
Jason's co-defendant Daniel McAllister is serving a life sentence in the Alfred Hughes in Gatesville. McAllister and Bourque are not allowed to speak to each other because they are in different units, nor would they want to.
