Values and Goals

Welcome to the Course

Welcome to our course: Preparing for Success after Prison. As readers will find in this course, it's never too early, and it's never too late to begin preparing for success after prison.

Why? Lots of reasons, including recidivism rates. No one believes that they will return to prison after release. Unfortunately, statistics show that many people going into the system face enormous hurdles when they get out. From the time of an initial arrest, a person's life changes in unanticipated ways:

• They must interact with criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors, and a judicial system they don't understand.
• If a prison term follows, people get separated from those they love. Friends and family move on, which causes anxiety.
• While living in the system, constant challenges can complicate an adjustment—regardless of security level.
• Upon release, people face challenges finding housing, securing credit, or keeping up with an ever-changing society.

On the other hand, some people leave prison and thrive. Take the case of Weldon Long. His struggles with addiction influenced his behavior as a young man. Weldon participated in armed robberies that led to three separate prison terms. During his first two terms, he adjusted to the culture of confinement. Decisions inside led to further problems outside. After his third conviction, Weldon decided to transform his life. Now he leads a company that provides sales training to major corporations, such as Wells Fargo, Federal Express, Home Depot, and others.

What Made the Difference?

During his third term, Weldon decided he didn't want to live a criminal lifestyle any longer. He chose to prepare for success after prison. Regardless of what went on inside the penitentiary, he could always work toward improving himself by:

• Enhancing his vocabulary
• Improving his writing skills
• Becoming a better verbal communicator
• Evolving his critical-thinking skills
• Developing a self-directed work ethic

Like many other people in prison, Weldon eventually learned that regardless of what went on around him, he bore the responsibility to prepare for success upon release.

Many people in prison believe that while living inside, they should focus on the culture of confinement and forget about the world outside. People who succeed upon release understand that an urgency exists. The sooner they start sowing seeds for success, the more effective they become at opening opportunities.

Course Structure

Our course on Preparing for Success after Prison urges participants to pursue a self-directed strategy. We offer the course in three sections:

Section 1: Lessons 1 through 5 offer an introduction, showing the power that comes from leading a values-based, goal-oriented adjustment.

Section 2: Lessons 6 through 15 provides guidance on how any person in prison can use this strategy to begin sowing seeds for a better outcome.

Section 3: Lessons 16 through 30 offer stand-alone lessons on personal development.

Each lesson should require about one hour to complete. Participants who work through the 30-hour course should engineer a personal release plan that will allow them to:

• Define the best possible outcome
• Create a release plan that will lead to success
• Put priorities in place
• Develop their tools, tactics, and resources
• Create personal accountability metrics
• Motivate them to work relentlessly at executing the plan

Our entire team at Prison Professors believes that anyone can work toward becoming extraordinary and compelling. It all starts with a personal release plan. Iterate the plan over time and document the incremental steps necessary to prepare for success.

Frederick Douglass and the Power of Advocacy

Some participants may know the story of Frederick Douglass, who began his life as an enslaved person. That struggle brought enormous adversity. In time, an opportunity opened for him to escape to freedom. Rather than moving on to enjoy his liberty, Mr. Douglass devoted his life to advocacy, working tirelessly as a force for the abolition of slavery.

To succeed in getting the outcome he wanted, Frederick Douglass understood that he would need to develop new skills:

• He had to learn how to read.
• He had to learn how to write.
• He had to learn how to speak persuasively.
• He had to learn how to build a coalition of influential people.
• He had to work with those influential people to change laws that would lead to the abolition of slavery.

The story of Frederick Douglass gives us an example of excellence. Despite being born into slavery, he adhered to a values-based, goal-oriented strategy to live for good. Millions of other people benefited.

By writing his life story, Frederick Douglass developed the power to influence people he would never meet. Readers began to see a different perspective as they read about his experiences and the resilience of his life. They invited him to participate in public forums, where he would deliver orations and respond to questions from the audience. Through his story, he changed the minds of adversaries.

By changing minds, Frederick Douglass influenced how people voted. He persuaded people to see that slavery was wrong and convinced them to elect candidates who would vote to abolish slavery.

Personal Story

My name is Michael Santos and I'm the founder of Prison Professors. I'm grateful to introduce our series on Preparing for Success after Prison.

For full disclosure, I'm a person who served a lengthy prison term. Since concluding my sentence, in 2013, I've advocated for reforms that would lead to more incentives for people in prison. As participants in this course will find, I'll never ask anyone to do anything I didn't do while going through 9,500 days in prison, and that I'm not still doing today.

Leaders taught me lessons on how to prepare for success upon release. Since those lessons worked for me, others may want to learn from them.

Unfortunately, I didn't begin to learn from leaders like Frederick Douglass until after prosecutors convinced members of a grand jury to indict me. DEA agents arrested me on August 11, 1987, when I was 23. I'd never been incarcerated before that arrest and didn't know what to expect. At that stage in my life, I only wanted liberty.

With that mindset, I willingly listened to people around me who told me what I wanted to hear rather than what I needed to hear. Then, I made more bad decisions.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Looking back, I see how my lack of preparation before sentencing hurt me. Instead of responding deliberately, with an intentional strategy during a pivotal moment, I abdicated all responsibility to prepare.

Frederick Douglas took a different approach. He didn't only think about what he wanted or what would benefit his life. He thought about society and figured out ways he could influence the making of a better community for all. Then, he embarked upon a methodical, deliberate plan. To abolish slavery, he understood that he would have to:

• Define success as the abolition of slavery
• Put a plan together that would advance prospects of abolishing slavery
• Put priorities in place
• Execute the plan
• Hold himself accountable

Preparing for success at any phase in life requires that we begin by defining success. Then, we must set clear and SMART goals that align with our definition of success. If we value success, we need to take the incremental steps that will lead to success.

Whether we like it or not, we must live in the world as it exists and not as we want it to be.