Service and Purpose
On August 13, 2012, I transitioned from a federal prison in Atwater, California, to a halfway house in San Francisco. Soon after, a mutual friend, Scott Budnick, introduced me to Chris Redlitz. Chris is a venture capitalist and a co-founder of The Last Mile, one of the most innovative educational programs serving people in prison.
Having been incarcerated for multiple decades, I knew I had significant ground to cover in learning how technology could support my reentry and future work. Chris encouraged me to meet his friend, Tulio Cardozo. Tulio had taught himself how to work with computers while serving his own prison term, building technical skills that would later become the foundation of his professional success.
I met Tulio within days of completing my sentence. From the beginning, he became an invaluable mentor. He was involved in every stage of my early reentry, helping me understand technology, build websites, and develop the digital infrastructure that supported the launch of Prison Professors and other projects that helped me rebuild my life after release.
Tulio has remained a trusted and essential member of our technology team. His guidance, problem-solving ability, and commitment to excellence have influenced nearly every system we’ve built. He understands both the technical demands of modern platforms and the lived realities of people returning home from prison, which allows him to design solutions that are practical, durable, and accessible.
I invited Tulio to join the Prison Professors Faculty so we could profile his work as a portrait of excellence. His story demonstrates what is possible when a person commits to learning, discipline, and preparation while incarcerated, and continues applying those principles after release. Tulio exemplifies how someone can build a better life during a prison term and emerge more capable, confident, and successful than ever before.
Foundational Contribution
Tulio’s foundational contribution to Prison Professors is inseparable from the organization’s earliest growth. From the beginning, he helped turn an idea into a functioning platform.
Tulio built the first Prison Professors website and went on to design and develop multiple versions as the organization evolved. Each iteration reflected a deeper understanding of how people in prison and their families would actually use the site. His work emphasized clarity, accessibility, and durability rather than complexity or flash.
When we launched the Profiles system, Tulio designed and built the first version. That system became central to our mission, allowing people to document their efforts, organize their work, and create a visible record of preparation. Tulio’s technical decisions helped ensure that the platform could support growth while remaining intuitive and usable.
Just as important, Tulio helped guide the organization toward a sustainable model that prioritized access over revenue. His work supported our transition into a nonprofit platform focused on offering free resources to everyone in our community. By aligning technology with mission, Tulio helped make it possible for Prison Professors to serve people regardless of their ability to pay.
His foundational contribution laid the technical and philosophical groundwork for everything that followed.
Impact Narrative
Tulio’s impact is most visible in the systems we have built together to expand access and scale service without cost to the people we serve.
Working closely with Steve and with me, Tulio helps design and refine the technical infrastructure that allows Prison Professors to reach thousands of people free of charge. Our collaboration focuses on building systems that are reliable, secure, and easy to use, so that individuals can focus on learning, documenting their efforts, and preparing for release rather than navigating technical barriers.
Tulio’s contributions have strengthened our ability to deliver educational resources at scale. By continuously improving the platform’s architecture and performance, he helps ensure that the system can grow alongside the community without compromising accessibility or mission. His work supports the delivery of free tools that help people take responsibility for their preparation and advocate for themselves.
Together, our work has enabled Prison Professors to operate as a non-revenue-generating platform while still expanding its reach. Tulio’s technical leadership has been instrumental in helping us serve more people, more effectively, and without cost, reinforcing our commitment to open access, accountability, and opportunity.
Post-Release Service
After his release, Tulio continued applying the same discipline and commitment to learning that shaped his success while incarcerated. He built a professional career in technology while remaining deeply engaged in service-oriented work that reflects his values and lived experience.
Tulio has remained an active and trusted member of our technology team. He continues to contribute his expertise to the development and maintenance of Prison Professors systems, helping ensure that the platform remains accessible, reliable, and responsive to the needs of people in prison and those preparing for reentry. His work supports the delivery of free educational resources and tools that allow individuals to document their preparation and advocate for themselves.
Tulio’s post-release service reflects a long-term commitment to using technical skill in service of others. He understands firsthand how access to knowledge, structure, and opportunity can change the trajectory of a life. Through his continued involvement, he helps ensure that Prison Professors remain grounded in that understanding as it grows.
His service demonstrates that preparation does not end at release. It evolves into contribution, leadership, and responsibility—principles that Tulio continues to model through his work today.
Teaching Focus
Tulio’s teaching focus centers on helping others use technology as a practical tool for preparation, communication, and problem-solving. His instruction is grounded in lived experience and shaped by a deep understanding of how people learn under constraints.
Within the Prison Professors team, Tulio assists us in thinking through how technology can be used thoughtfully and effectively to serve people at scale. He provides guidance on system design, usability, and sustainability, helping ensure that our tools remain accessible and aligned with the needs of the community.
Tulio also offers feedback to members of our community who are developing skills, building projects, or learning how to use technology as part of their reentry preparation. His feedback is direct and constructive, focused on clarity, discipline, and continuous improvement rather than abstraction or jargon.
Through his teaching, Tulio helps reinforce a core principle of Prison Professors: that learning is not limited by circumstance, and that skills developed during incarceration can translate into meaningful contribution and leadership after release.