La Floresta is a small juvenile detention facility in Peru. It is smaller than most facilities because it houses only the most violent of young offenders. Most of the boys are between the ages of 13 and 18, and all of them have been convicted of homicide or other...
After cycling in and out of jail for half of his life, Ernesto had finally stopped the cycle—on the wrong side of the bars. “I received my life sentence at the age of twenty-five,” he says. “However, it did not stop me from my gang and criminal mentality.” This...
To some, high school is a place to learn new things and explore new hobbies. To others, it is a place to make friends and socialize. To Jason, it was a place to sell drugs. “By sixteen, I was an accomplished drug dealer, using school for my client base,” he says. “I...
Al Bonilla never thought he would follow his father’s footsteps into ministry. As a pastor’s kid, Al witnessed all the difficulties his father experienced while pouring everything he had into his ministry and raising a family. “I was not interested in ministry. I saw...
Growing up in a Catholic family in the Philippines, Aprubertito served as an altar boy at his family’s church. But he abandoned the church after suffering abuse from one of the priests. “I was traumatized,” he remembers. “My relatives didn’t understand why I stopped...
Crossroads mentor Richard knows how much a letter can mean to someone in prison. Because he’s been there. He’s been on the receiving end of simple acts of kindness from strangers, and now he’s giving back. As a Crossroads mentor, now he is the one writing letters that...
