“In 2015, when Wendell El-Amin James stepped out of California’s Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI), after 27 years and 9 months in the state prison system, he felt ready, as he tells it, “to put boots on the ground.”
“I knew one day I was going home,” James says, “so I knew I was going to have to work and better myself, to be better than when I came in.”
That homecoming preparation was a long journey. At the start of his prison term, James was 35 years old and functionally illiterate. Over time, he taught himself to read and write. He corrected a speech impediment by learning to slow down when he talked. He took classes, and got certified as a drug and alcohol specialist. Under encouragement from his imam, James started a support group at Old Folsom Prison, which he then brought to DVI after his transfer. Gradually he cultivated a vision for his future, to help older formerly incarcerated people— especially those like himself who served long sentences — find their way back into society.”
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