When Brandon began serving his twenty-five-year sentence, he felt utterly alone. The path that had led him to that prison cell was painful—both emotionally and physically. On a September night in 2010, Brandon was hanging out with his girlfriend and two other friends....
Vernon sat on his bunk in the psychiatric ward of Cook County Jail, alone and afraid. “I was lost and just wanted to die,” Vernon remembered. His suicidal intentions had placed him in the psych dorm. “I knew my crime was going to take me to prison. The thought of...
When Gregory began serving his life sentence, he was disillusioned with religion. “I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church at a time when ugly scandals were coming to light about that organization,” he said. “Eventually, I left, looked at other kinds of...
Most people, when receiving a prison sentence, would likely react with sadness, frustration, or even anger. Marcus had a surprisingly different reaction: happiness. “I was happy because I knew God heard my prayers,” he explained. Marcus grew up attending church...
Curtis has spent the last seven years studying the Bible through Crossroads. For the last four years, he has received consistent spiritual guidance and personal encouragement from his Tier 2 mentor, John. In 2021, he began his first Tier 3 course, with John still by...
