PHOENIX RISING Transitions has shown me that there are people that care about us once we get released from prison. They have shown me the value of transformation in the ways I think about and respond to things that happen in everyday life. PHOENIX has given me a platform from which I can help the community and help myself at the same time. Without PHOENIX, I feel I would not have the tools or knowledge with which transformation could occur.

I’m just your average guy who spent most of his life incarcerated. Prison, juvenile hall, and other similar places are the types of places I called home. Most of you don’t understand the full story of prison life, so I’d like to explain how I survived all the violence, horror, and sickness that are associated with that environment. When anyone first enters prison he must go through an intake process lasting from one to eight weeks.

My girlfriend is planning on throwing me a party in October to celebrate my being out for a year. It'll be the longest I've been out since I was nine. My last longest time was six months and 13 days. The nice thing about this time is that it will never end. The only illegal thing I've done since I've been out has been to break the speed limit. I have no desire to use drugs, smoke, chew, do snuff or anything else I used to do. The only addiction that I have now is working out, and that's great.

—T.W.

I will be released back into society [soon] this being my third parole from prison, totaling 15 years of incarceration. This will also be the first time being released that I have an opportunity to be part of something that, as a convict, I feel I understand and benefit from - that being PHOENIX RISING Transitions. The training I received while in prison through PHOENIX makes me feel as though I can be a part of society rather than an outcast.