900^th Juvenile Sentenced to Life is Free

Tell me your story: Tell me how you ended up joining CFSY. What all led to that?

Well, I guess my story would start with my incarceration. At the age of 17, I was convicted and found guilty of murder, in the first degree. As a result of that, I was sentenced to the death penalty. Subsequently, I got it overturned to a life sentence and wound up serving 27 and a half years of incarceration. I was released in July of 2018, and I immediately went out and started working in a reentry field and doing some subsequent mentoring and violence interruption in my own city of Philadelphia. And just doing the work and being in proximity of a lot of the things that a lot of people that were coming home were doing, I joined the ICAN advocacy network. 

And after just being a member and continuing to do my work in my field and my city, I think I was uplifted and came to the awareness of the campaign and they brought me on board. And I would be remiss not to mention that, in between working in the reentry field, I worked for the city of Philadelphia Office of Violence Prevention. I worked for Larry Krasner, District Attorney’s Office, in their community engagement unit. I worked for the ACLU as election protection coordinator. I had some prestigious jobs prior to the campaign, but none has been this fulfilling.

Tell me a little bit about that.

I always tell everybody, that while I was on the inside, the campaign was instrumental at keeping me aware of what was going on in the landscape of returning citizens. So coming to work here is coming full circle. And it gives me the opportunity to contribute to possibly help someone else be informed, feeling the euphoria of a new law that can pass, that can benefit them. You know, I know what I felt on the inside, so I wanted to contribute on the outside as well. And not only does it help me help the young kids and men and women that were extremely sentenced, but it also affords me the opportunity to work with those that have been released. So it is like a full circle. It is like a mirror of my life being around and being proximate with men and women that know things that I have handled. 

On that note, it is so clear that you have redefined your life. And while there are plenty of people in the general public who would define previously incarcerated people by their mistake, you have clearly chosen redemption. Can you talk about that journey?

The journey for me was knowing that I can contribute more than what my incarceration was, more than what I was convicted of. And as I grew and matured, it started being evident to me that I had the tools already. I just needed the opportunity to display them. And that’s the beauty of the campaign. We give men and women opportunity, a platform to display their growth, their positivity and to contribute to society. So for me, it was just a case of needing to contribute, needing to show that I was more than what I was given opportunity to do early on in my life.

Let’s shift gears and talk about what you’re working on right now – what’s the significance of the 900^th person being released under the campaign and the Freedom Party coming up next week.

The significance is, it’s an opportunity for many men and women, such as myself, to enjoy their freedom, to acknowledge their freedom. It is an opportunity to highlight to society that these are the children that you threw away and now they are some of the most contributing members of society. This is an opportunity to bring everybody, all our stakeholders together, and celebrate this milestone. And to say that, while we have much more work to do, let us live in the moment as well and understand how far we have come.

OK, educate me a little bit. Tell me about the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network and how that works.

OK, ICAN is the acronym for the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network. And it is an organization that is comprised of children formerly sentenced to extreme sentences. And there is no quote unquote like secret handshake of membership. It is just that were all joined together by the wrongs that were done to us as children. And now we have this opportunity to be in proximity with other men and women around the country that are doing such great things since our release. You have teachers, you have mentors, you have entrepreneurs, you have ministers, you have, you name it, ICAN members run the gamut. And I have the beautiful position of being the hub of the spoke of all of them around the country. So I am constantly in contact with them, I am constantly uplifting what they do, utilizing them. 

And the best part about it is, while they are doing these things, most of it is not for personal gain. And that is one of the easiest selling points when we talk to employers. You know most people come to work for a paycheck, but a majority of our ICAN network, as well as many of the men and women that are ​“second-chance hires,” they are working for a passion, so they become the best employees. They show up early and leave late because they have something to prove, not only to themselves, but to others. Because we know we all look past each other. 

The data shows that second chance hires stay longer, they are more reliable, all the stats that you want in a good employee, those people excel. And in a time where we are in a labor shortage, this seems like a resource!

And that is the thing that baffles me, that not enough employers are having that discussion about this labor. You know, it is not from lack of willingness. I think it is more so not identifying that it exists. You build your resume from having a job, but you get a job from having a resume. 

Switching gears a little, obviously, we are working to end life without parole for juveniles. But as you know, the current climate for all criminal justice reform is pretty tough. What are you doing to keep pushing even in this environment?

Well, we are staying our course. Our whole thing is, our data, our evidence base, our ICAN population. The climate has changed, but we are controlling the narrative that has been put out there with the same rhetoric that sent us down this path before, and we have proven it to be untrue. So our goal is to continue our advocacy work, our legislative work around the country. Our job is staying the same, but most importantly, we are doing it through our ICAN population, because they are tangible proof that second chances are warranted. 

Can you talk about what family reunification means to people when they come home? What are ways that CFSY is working to help folks once they return?

Well, family reunification is very instrumental in the reentry process for someone coming home from incarceration. The reunification process is not a monolith, it has different aspects depending on the individual and the family. Some people come home to a family structure that already provides clothing, shelter, and food. And then you have other elements where people just do not know each other. CFSY’s ​“natural family network,” what we call our NFN, is more of a support group of people who have gone through the process and are more than willing to advocate for resources for their loved ones and others reuniting with families. 

Throughout the campaign, we have been able to develop funds to assist financially. We have our Hire ICAN program, which is LinkedIn so to speak for our ICAN network, for employers to find them and they can highlight their skills that are better than just entry level positions. We do self-care retreats. And most importantly, more than anything else, is just our membership. So we are our best resource for each other.

I want to close with the concept of success. Sometimes it seems like the public may define success of release simply by ​“no new offenses.” Tell me what success really means to you.

For me, I will say in a broader sense, for my ICAN brothers and sisters, success for me is seeing them reach a plateau of happiness. And what their happiness looks like for them, whether it is spiritual or economical, whatever it is, that is their level of success. And something that I have learned having been incarcerated for 27 and a half years, is that you are told so many things. And you start finding yourself trying to fit in the model of what you were told and you do not understand what success might be for you.

My success now is the ability to open a window and stick my head out. My success for me is the ability to walk down the street and not have to walk with uncertainty on certain streets. You know, happiness and success run hand in hand with someone who was a formerly incarcerated child. To sum it up, success will be seeing 100 or so ICAN members at the Freedom Party, laughing and joking, dressed up. This is many of their first proms, their first dates, it is many of their first graduation parties they never attended. That is success. Success is we have made it across the finish line, but we have not lost sight that there is more to come.