Time: Doing It, Living in It, Learning from It

The Fortune Society

BUILDING PEOPLE, NOT PRISONS

THE FORTUNE NEWS VOLUME LVI • FALL 2023

TIME DOING IT, LIVING IN IT, LEARNING FROM IT

THE FORTUNE SOCIETY MISSION

CONTACT US

The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.

We do this by: BELIEVING in the power of individuals to change BUILDING LIVES through service programs shaped by the needs and experiences of our participants CHANGING MINDS through education and advocacy to promote the creation of a fair, humane, and truly rehabilitative correctional system

SERVICES AND PROGRAMS Alternatives to Incarceration & Court Advocacy Benefits Access Creative Arts Digital Literacy Education

Housing Mental Health Treatment Policy and Advocacy (The David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy) Recovery Center (the NEST)

Employment Services

Research (Center for Research, Inquiry, and Social Justice)

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info@fortunesociety.org 212.691.7554 The Fortune Society 29-76 Northern Blvd.

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VOLUME LVI · FALL 2023

THE FORTUNE NEWS TABLE OF CONTENTS

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EYE ON FORTUNE KEY EVENTS IN 2023

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TAKING AHOLD OF YOUR TIME

By Angelena Jackson

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR— CAREER SUCCESS

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LESSONS IN TIME

By Mithrellas Curtis

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FACES OF FORTUNE

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ODE TO TIME

By Leo Cardez

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IT’S ABOUT TIME

By David Rothenberg

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A CEO’S GOODBYE

By JoAnne Page

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

TIME AND PRISON: ARE THEY MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE?

By Marvin Wade

The Fortune News is a publication from The Fortune Society, printed twice per year to inform the public of the work and impact of Fortune’s reentry services, advocacy efforts and research work. ©2023 The Fortune Society, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Kendall Shepard ASSISTANT EDITOR AND WRITER Madelyn Fink MANAGING EDITORS Brian Robinson Jane McCarthy Carl Dukes Samuel Davis DESIGNER Background Stories WRITERS AND EDITORS Samantha Donndelinger Claire Greenburger

EYE ON FORTUNE See your writing in the next edition of the Fortune News!

IN THE NEXT ISSUE: Are you an incarcerated woman with a story? What are some unique issues women face in prison?

What do you wish you knew about being incarcerated? What advice can you give? Tell us about your experiences.

Send written (800 words or less) or visual art responses to:

PRESIDENT AND CEO JOANNE PAGE RETIRING AFTER 34 YEARS President and CEO JoAnne Page’s long and transformative journey with The Fortune Society began with a life-changing summer internship that introduced her to what would later become her life’s work. 34 years later, she is now stepping down as the President and CEO of Fortune. Although her time at Fortune is nearing its end, she remains fiercely committed to our mission and community. Fortune is honored to have had such an extraordinary leader serve the organization. 

development@ fortunesociety.org or mail them to: Fortune News Editors c/o The Fortune Society 29-76 Northern Boulevard Long Island City, NY 11101

$17 MILLION CUT FROM DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS JAIL-BASED SERVICES In May 2023, The Fortune Society was one of several nonprofit organizations to learn that the city budget for fiscal year 2024 would cut $17 million in funding for jail-based services, leaving individuals detained in city jails without necessary programming to assist with reentry.

Fortune previously offered these services for decades, providing behavioral counseling, wellness programs and other beneficial services that DOC now controls

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in-house. With these services eliminated, we were thankfully able to rehire 16 Fortune staff members in other departments within the

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organization, as well as support others in finding new positions elsewhere. 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR – CAREER SUCCESS

BY STEVEN P. ARTHUR Tucson, Arizona

When I was arrested 15 years ago, I thought my life was over. I knew I was going to do some time, but when I was handed a life sentence without parole almost everything that I knew of as my “identity” died.

My dreams of working in medicine, raising my children, and living some kind of “normal” life were over. But I refused to give up. I still wanted to live and do something meaningful with my life. And I wasn’t disappointed. My drive and perseverance have paid off.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity and blaming others for my mistakes, I chose to start taking any courses that the prison offered and seeking education through books and correspondence. I quickly picked up new skills and explored new facets of myself that I never knew existed.

I learned to crochet, paint with watercolors and discovered I have a knack for writing and mentorship.

I found my calling when I joined the Challenge Program, a 500-hour

residential cognitive behavioral published in Spotlight on Recovery program. Not only did I graduate and Psychology Tomorrow. ––all of from the program, but I was asked this from a man who hated reading to stay and mentor other men while and writing in school. they participated in the program. I When or if I am released, I will have since continued my education at have several career opportunities in Rio Salado College, working on my counseling. And while it may not degree in Substance Use Disorder be what I had in mind before my Counseling. I also became the incarceration, I am still proud to be Mentor overseeing helping people the “Challenger” –– I may very newsletter that well be saving is published on “I discovered someone else’s life TRULINCS for that my words while saving my the [currently meant something own. Of course, incarcerated] my options don’t and that others population, and stop there. I staff in other wanted to read recently enrolled facilities. what I had to say.” in a Culinary Through my Arts program. I newly discovered am going to learn love for writing, to cook and bake I discovered that my words meant proper meals. If counseling doesn’t something and that others wanted work out for me, I think Chef Arthur to read what I had to say. I have had has a nice ring to it, don’t you?  several short stories published in Rain Shadow Review, Trajectory and Inmate Shopper. I also have articles

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FACES OF FORTUNE MARCO WHITTAKER

Fortune has impacted me greatly since I started my journey in 2019.

I began as a resident of the Castle and an Employment Services participant, where I first completed a three-week job training workshop.

I was then hired for a permanent position, and later applied for the Fortune Fellowship at Bloomberg.

The Fortune Fellowship provided me not only with relevant experience, but with more confidence in myself.

I now own my own business, and I’m going back to college. I’ve come so far, and I hope people will look at me and see that growth.

I am so grateful to Fortune for their impact on my life, and I want to continue giving back however I can. Last year, I ran in the NYC marathon as a part of the Fortune Flyers, and plan to do it again this year! I love being a part of the Fortune community. Even though I’ve now moved out, I still attend weekly meetings at the Castle. 

CLEMESE JACK

When I first came to Fortune, I didn’t consider myself a performer.

It wasn’t until I was encouraged by a friend that I finally started exploring my creative side, and I fell in love with writing poetry. I found that the words came easily to me, thinking about my life as a Black woman in recovery.

I recently graduated from NYU with a bachelor’s in political science and a minor in social work. I’m currently an intern at Fortune with Court Advocacy, and in the spring, I interned with Transitional Services: Reentry for Individual Success & Elevation program. Since interning at Fortune, I’ve gained valuable experience that has impacted where I see myself in the future.

I’m considering attending graduate school, and I must express my gratitude to Court Advocacy at Fortune for affirming my passion for working in the legal system. I’m able to observe court hearings, conduct screenings and work very closely with participants in the program.

I didn’t think I would audition to be an actor in The Tempest until the audition day came. I hadn’t prepared anything, but I let the words come to me in the moment. I was so excited when I got the call that I was cast!

I spent this past summer in rehearsal for The Tempest for Shakespeare in the Park with Public Works. As opening night approached, I was ready to get on that stage in Central Park and show all of New York City what I had been working towards. I now know that someone is never too old to learn, and you’re never too old to grasp your dreams and believe in yourself.  Photo by Jennifer Young

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EMILY DICKS

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Before interning at Fortune, I had a basic understanding of the criminal justice system. In my time here so far, I’ve learned so much more about the obstacles people face in finding housing after they are released from prison, mental health struggles, and other continually pressing issues. I’m grateful to have learned so much, and I know my experience will guide me as I move forward in my career. 

IT’S ABOUT TIME

Attica prison uprising took place in 1971, the local and national press found their way to our door. We were the only game in town.

BY DAVID ROTHENBERG Fortune Founder

For people coming to The Fortune Society, time mostly represents the days, months and years they spent incarcerated. One of the questions most often asked is “How much time did you do?’”as if the period of encagement could be set apart from life.

At this juncture in my life, time is more about memories than what lies ahead.

Time at The Fortune Society in 1967: There was nothing there, and we made it happen, like Shakespeare approaching an empty page, and miracles are the result. We were in one room, all volunteers. Three of us (me, Kenny Jackson and Mel Rivers) became paid staff in 1970.

Those early days were an exciting time. We were being heard. The formerly incarcerated were largely a silenced population but Fortune produced people who could share their life stories. We put a face on those who had been invisible to the greater society. When the historic

After nearly 20 years, I knew my work as an advocate was established, and it was time for Fortune to grow in other directions beyond my capacity to navigate. I first met JoAnne Page when she was a determined law student interning at Fortune. Later that year, we were invited to participate in a criminal justice conference at Yale Law School, one of dozens of similar confabs which, at last, was heeding the experiences of people who had done time. The Yale conference was unique.

“Who put this together?” I asked and was pointed to a woman whom I recognized as our recent intern.

I liked to think that the weeks she had summered at Fortune had some influence.

When JoAnne began as CEO at Fortune, I saw how she made time work for her. Fortune grew and fulfilled my dream when the Fortune Academy (the Castle), the first residence, opened; five more followed. In my eyes, JoAnne has revealed herself as one of the most successful people in NYC history in creating housing for previously homeless populations.

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In 2001, when I became a full-time retiree, I also became a full-time volunteer at Fortune. JoAnne set the bar high, challenging me to run a group for young people in the Alternatives to Incarceration program. That was a rich learning experience for me. She also invited me to sit in on the Castle’s Thursday night community meetings – which I’ve only missed a handful in 20 years – to witness the slow majesty of people reclaiming their life.

I have felt proud to be part of a team that has a profound healing one. It continued with Ms. Page at the helm.

When I was there in 1967, we were determined, and our vision was to get through the day and have a hand extended to help the next person walking through our door.

In time, we have become a healing community, unafraid to use its voice.

We always caution new residents at the Castle, many of whom come out of prison running, trying to make up for lost time. We urge them to move slowly. Time will catch up to them if they handle it wisely. 

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A CEO’S GOODBYE seen. We had long conversations about clarifying our roles. As the founder, he was like a grandparent and could play with the child, feed the child, and then go home. I was responsible for the care, diapering, and decisions that a CEO needs to make, as well as the overwhelming burden of fundraising and working with the government. We share stories and challenges in a way only somebody with our shared experience can know.

BY JOANNE PAGE President & CEO, The Fortune Society

After 34 years as President and CEO of The Fortune Society, I plan to retire at the close of this year. It has been the honor and pleasure of my life to be head of The Fortune Society for this three-and-a-halfdecade term.

When I came to Fortune in 1989, I deeply loved the organization. I was a summer intern during my law school journey. I was moved by the commitment and love of the people who worked at Fortune and by the courage of the people who came to change their lives. When I returned to head the agency, I felt I was taking on a sacred trust. Fortune is unique in my experience. We try to live by that commitment. As we work with the people who come to us hoping to build a better life, we treat them like our loved ones seeking help.

Fortune’s first housing program was the beds of its volunteers, and we continue to strive to keep that way of ensuring that people get what they need without the delays and hoopjumping of bureaucracy.

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I tried to retire twice before.

The first time, I was not ready to leave Fortune and the work and community that I love, and I still had much that I wished to accomplish as CEO. The second time, I stayed because I needed to bring Fortune safely through the worst of the pandemic and the healing afterward.

Fortune is also magical for its diversity, not just age, race, and the usual diversity measures, but true diversity in life experience. From its founding, when David Rothenberg, Kenny Jackson, Mel Rivers and others started Fortune, it was a collaboration of people from outside Now I will be retiring just before my the system committed to social 70th birthday. I want my retirement justice and to fighting inhumane to be like David’s: connected to the methods, alongside people formerly organization and community I love incarcerated who had that same and the work commitment. that changes Fortune has a dual people’s mission: service “Working with the lives and and advocacy. leaders, staff, and our barbaric We provide the criminal legal participants at services and tools system. to have people Fortune has been the build a better life What I have privilege of my life.” after the trauma learned at of incarceration, Fortune is and we seek how beautiful to address the people are when systemic issues that brutalize justicethey first find hope. I have seen how impacted people and trap them into a people who have come through cycle of damage to themselves, their hellholes like Rikers Island can grow families, and their communities. and thrive and find their wings in a caring and supportive environment.

David Rothenberg came to me Working with the leaders, staff, and several years into my tenure, and participants at Fortune has been the we developed the sweetest example privilege of my life. I am endlessly of Founder’s Syndrome I have ever

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“What we do at Fortune, through our services, advocacy, love, and role modeling of people who have changed their lives after incarceration, is let people have the tools and hope to build other roads and futures.”

inspired by the courage it takes to change one’s life so that the future is not a mere repetition of the past.

came in, they said they had the same map for their future and did not question its inevitability.

I started this work at eighteen as a volunteer at Green Haven Correctional Facility. I was running groups that taught decision-making skills. On one memorable occasion, as we waited for more group members to join us, a group member said something I’ve carried through my decades at Fortune. He said, “Growing up, I was told you would either end up dead or in prison. I ended up in prison, and most of my friends ended up locked up or dead.”

I was stunned by that prediction of the future. When the other people

What we do at Fortune, through our services, advocacy, love, and role modeling of people who have changed their lives after incarceration, is let people have the tools and hope to build other roads and futures.

I will not leave this work when I retire at the end of this calendar year.

I want to emulate David Rothenberg in my relationship with Fortune after my retirement and continue my special love: creating housing for justice-impacted homeless people

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and fighting the systemic barriers people face after incarceration. The work that I have done at Fortune is work that I will do for the rest of my life. So, as I leave the responsibilities of Fortune’s CEO, I will not be a stranger to the Fortune community and the larger service and advocacy community that I have been privileged to be a part of.

I want to thank the readers of the Fortune News for your support of the organization through the decades and for letting me be a part of your world. 

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TIME AND PRISON: ARE THEY MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE? Time on the other hand is your friend. It’s Controlled by no one.

Time is there for you to do within it as you please, allowing you the room to breathe and find that Peace, Power and Control within. It’s the “space” within a “place.” Any place. And for 25 years, prison was the place, where time for me held space.

BY MARVIN WADE Fortune participant and writer

A friend of mine who was formerly incarcerated expressed to me one day that, “Prison was the best thing to happen to him.” This opinion of his made me think of my own incarceration. His words made me think, “Was prison the best thing to happen to me?” And I would have to say Emphatically Not! To me there’s “prison”, And then there’s “time.” Prison is a dark, cold, and unforgiving place. Controlled by a racist system that wants nothing more than to break you Mentally, Spiritually and Physically. The prison system doesn’t promote health and healing. Or growth and development.

Prison promotes pain and suffering.

Violence and self destruction. Prison wants to keep you in the darkness.

Not release you into the light.

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Making travel to see me more of a harrowing adventure than a simple visit. Once at the prison to visit me, my Mother, friends and family were always subjected to delays in getting in or threatened with the possibility of not getting in due to subjective rules and regulations like not having on the proper clothing or failing a hand wand that supposedly I want to share with you a short detects controlled substance residue example of what Time allowed for on the palms. Really? Prison also me to do. And what prison tried to charged my Mother, family and keep, give and take away from me. friends astronomical phone prices for every time I would call home. These Time allowed for me to build a systematic tactics were and still are stronger relationship with my used to discourage loved ones from Mother. I was a hard headed kid. staying connected. And in so many Always in trouble. Constantly cases, unfortunately, it has worked in worrying her every time I stepped their favor. Blessedly For myself, my out of the house.

Mother, family Time brought us and friends, we closer. Giving made it through me a greater “Once you realize it all…free…and appreciation of that TIME is your still…together. my Mother and

friend, you’ll begin everything she In closing, this to make decisions did in trying to dispatch on give my siblings in those pivotal Prison and Time and I a better life. was written with moments of your She knew my all those in the life that reflect your worth, even when struggle in mind.

I chose to devalue respect for your But specifically myself. We cried for the youth friend, your life and together on the of this Country. the life of others.” visit floor when I I want young confessed to her people to know about the crime that they don’t I was convicted have to go to of. We’d reminisce about the past. prison to discover their true self. I And give hope to one another for the gave away and took away so much future. This is what time gave us. to become the Man I am today. It Prison tried to destroy this new bond that we built by keeping us apart by sending me 7 to 8 hours away.

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was an unfair exchange. I didn’t have to make the hasty choices that led me on a path to prison. I had TIME. Once you realize that TIME

REENTRY CHECKLIST: □ Keep your photo ID and all release paperwork □ Get a driver’s license or non-driver identification card □ Obtain arrest, jail, and court records □ Obtain education records from your time in prison

is your friend, you’ll begin to make decisions in those pivotal moments of your life that reflect your respect for your friend, your life and the life of others. We’ve been systematically brainwashed as black people to believe that we don’t have TIME. They tell us constantly about our life expectancy compared to other races. They tell us everyone else has TIME, but us and we believe it. And so we live that way. Our conflict resolutions reflect this thought. The way we eat reflects this thought. The way we shop reflects this thought.

The amount of respect we have for one another reflects this thought.

But I’m here to tell you that you do have TIME. TIME exists in the neighborhood. At home with family.

With your friends in the park or on the web. At your job. At your school.

It exists for us all. We just have to believe in it, believe in ourselves, and believe in one another. Please, take advantage of your TIME. I fought through so much while in prison for 25 years, to achieve the things that would have taken less blood, sweat and tears to achieve

had I just taken that same amount of TIME while I was home! Prison isn’t here to save you. It wasn’t PRISON that saved me! I am the Man I am today in spite of PRISON! It was TIME that saved me. I finally took advantage of my TIME. 

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Marvin is a Spiritual Activist.

Following his release from prison after 25 years, he worked as an intern at The Fortune Society, and soon after joined their writing group. Thankfully, Fortune and the writing class were there to assist in his transition. Marvin is also part of the Re/Creation, a Brooklyn-based writing group. You can read more of his work at reslashcreation. com. Look for many great things literary and Spiritually to come from Mr. Marvin Wade in the near future.

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□ Obtain social security card □ Obtain birth certificate □ Get a library card □ Get a public transportation card □ Get a cell phone and phone number and set up your voicemail □ Get a postal mailing address □ Create an email address

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TAKING AHOLD OF YOUR TIME

BY ANGELENA JACKSON Ladies Empowerment and Action Program Ambassador and former graduate

What exactly is time, and how do we measure it? And why is it so important to so many people? Well, let’s see what some of our experts say time is: Google defines time as a measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues.

Merriam Webster defines time as the point or period when something occurs. The Bible defines it as a moment or vapor that is here one minute and gone the next. Time cannot be held or captured. It cannot be dictated, yet it dictates. Always demanding us to stop or hurry to pay attention to it. Why does each person view it so differently?

Consider the incarcerated person: for them, time stands still. Frozen in the moment we were captured, while everything and everyone moved steadily forward. All too often, we can’t seem to move beyond

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our past, causing those who love us have learned to appreciate it. With to be locked into the same pattern. time, I have gained experiences that Children grow up, our spouse finds no other can obtain without having another, maybe not. We lose people it under their belt. As time passes, to life, death or some other matter. things around us change. The leaves In retrospect, we on a tree turn from gain as well. I, like green to browns many others, have and oranges. An “We cannot lost a great deal over individual’s hair change what time. It is time that turns gray. transpired has enabled us to Another lesson I heal and seek out yesterday. Now, learned is that once a solution to bring all that is before it is gone, you can’t health and wellness get it back. Any time us is today and to those of us we waste, it’s just left behind. we must make that: wasted time. the most of it.”

Time has been a We cannot change season for me to what transpired learn and appreciate yesterday. Now, all the things I have that is before us is and want. Time to reflect on the today and we must make the most of things that must be accomplished it. We must grab the bull by its horns for the future. Time is as precious and ride it with tenacity. We must be as the most valuable gemstone. I unmoved by the things that come up,

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we must be willing to overcome and achieve our desired goals.

Next comes the future, a time in which each of us is left clueless and aimlessly searching in the dark. We all want to know what is going to occur. A pregnant mother wants to know what her baby will look like, what their sex will be, and most importantly, whether it will be born healthy. Families worry about their future, if they will be able to provide for their children.

For me, time has presented many obstacles straight from the womb.

But somehow, I have managed to survive. I have done lots of time in

every system known to man, from foster care to mental institutions to prison. Life for me as I had known it was changing drastically. Time was indeed passing by swiftly. During these periods, I had the opportunity to gain knowledge that turned into experiences. I had to figure out where I was and how to operate within a system that was designed to cause me to fail or falter.

I would not allow my past to predict my future. Everything I had gone through in childhood was just that: childhood experiences. But it was up to me to change my present and my future. 

LADIES EMPOWERMENT AND ACTION PROGRAM Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP) is the only nonprofit agency in Florida to focus on women in prison using a holistic entrepreneurship model.

LEAP runs a one-of-a-kind prison re-entry program for women combining essential employability and life skills, entrepreneurship, self-love, and mentorship.

Find out more at: Leapforladies.org 786-401-2070 info@leapforladies.org

Residing in Miami, Angelena Jackson is a mother of three grown children. She is a proud survivor of alcohol and drug addiction, sexual violence, domestic abuse, molestation, mental health issues, and imprisonment. She is a prolific speaker (Miami’s 1st Budget Hearing ’21, Power of the Purse, More Than Collection, LEAP Graduation ’24).

She was also featured in Forbes Magazine. She is also a licensed cosmetologist, a certified food handler and manager with a PC support certificate. Angelena sets the bar high, accomplishes her goals and sets new ones. She continues to thrive after her prison release in June 2021. She has managed to encourage, inspire and uplift all those around her.

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LESSONS IN TIME

BY MITHRELLAS CURTIS

Time is such a funny thing.

Immersed in its flow, we hardly give it thought. Even in prison, today slides by, leaving a stream of yesterdays in its wake, and we trust in the promise of innumerable tomorrows. But sometimes tomorrow isn’t what we expect.

Sometimes the tomorrow we hope for doesn’t come at all.

Today, I’m thinking of my father, who recently passed. I’m trying to remember the all-too-brief yesterdays I shared with him to balance mourning all the tomorrows we’ll never have.

The yesterdays of my childhood were filled with my daddy’s largerthan-life presence. He was the sun around which I orbited. Daddy was a storyteller and a jokester, and he could talk to anyone, traits he passed on to me – traits I honed performing for him and his friends. I sang, danced, and told jokes and stories, anything to earn a smile or laugh from him. I lived for his approval, and as children do, I thought those days I spent highlighted in his bright gaze would be endless.

my childhood took on a bitter cast as they slowly gave way to adulthood, and I made a lot of choices that reinforced our estrangement. In the foolish certainty of youth, I trusted that there would be time for reconciliation later. I thought there would always be tomorrow.

Then came my arrest in 2008, and time seemed to stop. For the first time in many years, I didn’t have alcohol and drugs to numb the pain of all my yesterdays, and I stared bleakly into the uncertainty of a thousand tomorrows, bounded by concrete and razor wire, stretching away into the interminable future.

The child in me cried out for her daddy, for a yesterday that was simpler, despite its own hidden threats. I tried in vain to reconnect with my father, every unanswered

Today, I know that the tomorrow I envisioned will never come.

Sitting here, I wonder, how many tomorrows would I give to have one word, one smile, one hug from my dad today? But I know the futility of letting those thoughts keep me from living the days that I have.

I can’t take back all the yesterdays I squandered. All I can do is cherish the yesterdays we did have and carry my father’s memory, his legacy of living and laughing, with me every day until I, too, run out of tomorrows. 

Mithrellas Curtis is a writer, who strives to transform her life from one of pain to one with purpose. As a peer recovery specialist, she seeks to use her experiences to help others on their own journey to recovery and wellness. She is incarcerated in Virginia.

Those days were cut short when my siblings and I were taken into foster care and then moved to another state when our mother regained custody. The shining yesterdays of

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letter drove another shard of ice into my battered heart. But I held on to hope, for by then I knew I wouldn’t die in prison. I looked forward to my freedom and the chance to reunite with him – tomorrow.

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ODE TO TIME

BY LEO CARDEZ

Time is the only constant in the universe ceasing for no one.

So ubiquitous we forget we are losing more and more every day.

And we will never get it back.

An alarm bell rings another day at work.

Count lights flicker another night of TV binging.

Then.

Then we look in the mirror and fail to recognize our reflection.

Wonder when the wrinkles set in or gray started to appear.

Where did our 20s go: our 30s?

What have we done with our lives Can we even call it life?

But. There is Hope.

Every sunrise is the dawning of opportunity we can reverse course.

Hope. Pray. Love. Give. Change.

Lean in and ride this crazy roller coaster.

Time’s constraints will keep us moored · to the safety of routine if we let it.

Embrace the darkness of the unknown with a brave heart.

Look Time in the eye dare it to catch you.

Leo Cardez is an award-winning inmate writer. Cardez is a Pushcart Press Prize and Best essays in America nominated essayist and journalist. Mr. Cardez is a winner of the prestigious PEN America Drama Award and will be published in a print anthology later this year.

His work has been published in Under the Sun, The Abolitionist/ Critical Resistance newspaper, N.A.R.S.O.L newsletter, Minutes Before Six online magazine, Poete Madit Literary Review, Yard Out newspaper, Prison Journalism Project, Prisoner Express, America Prison Writing Archive and was a finalist for the New Press anthology, What We Know. He is the editor of the Dixon Digest (prison newspaper) and regular contributor to Prison Health News, where he also serves on the Advisory Board. L.C. had worked as a prison GED tutor, COVID-19 quarantine wing sanitation specialist, and currently works as a clerk at the prison eye lab. He volunteers as a yoga instructor for special needs inmates and translator for Spanish speaking offenders.

Mr. Cardez is a decorated veteran, devout Christian, and is passionate about using his voice to bring awareness of criminal justice issues.

He can be reached at Leo. Cardez.Writer@gmail.com.

See your spirit grow, mind expand, legend grow then then we have lived.

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