Prison inmates gathered together to help a high school student who could not afford to pay tuition fees.
Sy Newson Green was a high school freshman at the Palma School, a private all-boys Catholic high school then his life started to get rough when his dad needed a heart transplant and his mom got into a mishap that compromised her vision.
Fortunately, a group of inmates at California’s Soledad Prison collected all their income from working jobs as prisoners and they raised most of Green’s tuition to get him all through his sophomore year graduation.
The generous act was all inspired by a book club and the inmates managed to collect $32,000.
Jim Micheletti, an English and theology teacher at Palma School launched a reading program at Soledad Prison seven years ago called Exercises in Empathy. He never imagined that it will cause a positive impact on the prisoners.
The program includes the Palma students and teachers meeting regularly inside the prison to discuss books with the prisoners. It gave an opportunity to change the student’s outlook about the inmates and offered the prisoners a chance to step out of those labels.
“They go in thinking “monster” and they come out thinking “a man, a human being,” Micheletti told CNN. “They’ve done bad things, but there are no throwaway people here.”
In 2016, Miracle On The River Kwai by Ernest Gordon was the perfect book to change lives. The story narrates the transformation of a group of prisoners of war from a mindset of “survival of the fittest” to unity with one another and self-sacrifice.
Jason Bryant, who was sentenced to 26 years for an armed robbery finished reading the book and got so inspired by the story.
He and fellow inmate Ted Gray started to follow the book’s example: “a small group of men made a different decision, and they decide to look out for each other.”
Bryant and Gray also started to focus on creating a scholarship fund for a deserving Palma student and Sy Green who excelled at his studies and sports got the scholarship.
Bryant and Gray worked behind prison walls to gather donations to fund Green’s education for three years. Most of the donations were small but with a stable contribution, it all paid off.
Sy Newson green who is now 19 years old, got his Palma diploma last year and currently a student at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.
After serving 20 years, Bryant was granted clemency and now serves as the Director of Restorative Programs at CROP, a non-profit that aims on lowering the recidivism rate by means of training, career development, and stable housing.
In a system where being an inmate makes you a monster with a cycle of crime and punishment, Bryant found a lasting change by helping others.
He embraces his second chance with a full heart.
“I don’t know about redemption,” Bryant told Washington Post. “I can say this, I know that those of us who have truly transformed our lives are committed to adding value in any way that we possibly can.”