A Way Up: Economic Development Post Incarceration Workbook

By Patrick Young

The first thought after any arrest is usually how long it will take to get out. Whether in jail or prison, your sole focus is getting out. Recent statistics show that three out of every four persons incarcerated always end up returning behind bars within the first three years of release. A large percentage of these people are from low-income communities where access to financial capital, education, and job opportunities is limited, and the family ends up getting stuck in a deep cycle of poverty that they found extremely difficult to break out from. Arrested for crimes often sponsored by poverty and the dire economic conditions that defined them, they are taken through a criminal justice system that is far more interested in keeping them in the poverty-incarceration cycle than rehabilitating them and giving them a better chance at life. With no income and criminal history after release, they are unable to pay for food, housing, and health needs.

And what happens eventually? They slip back into a life of crime, and the cycle continues.

It is high time we nullify this poverty-incarceration two-feeder system. How? By dealing with the root, which is poverty. So how do you break the cycle of poverty? You may want to get out of jail or prison, but are you ready to get out of poverty? How?

The answers are found here in learning how to experience your own economic development post-incarceration.

Do you feel stuck? Are you tired of going in and out of jail? Or are you an ex-offender who has found it difficult to progress because of barriers associated with your criminal history? This workbook is the clear road map to creating generational wealth and living the kind of life you deserve. This workbook is the guide to finding a way up, not just a way out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662472954

Book preview

Chapter 1

Is Success after Prison Possible?

If you think you can you’re right, and if you think you can’t you’re also right.

—Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company

Case Study

Jeff Henderson, born in South Central Los Angeles, grew up in an inner-city neighborhood marred by incessant poverty, abandoned homes, and hardcore drug dealers on every corner. Trying to figure out how to help his mother, who was a single parent; how to survive in the world out there; how to keep food on the table; how to go to school; and how to figure out what his dream was were what led to his early life as a drug dealer and subsequent sentence to prison on federal drug trafficking charges. After being arrested for theft at fifteen years old, he soon started selling marijuana and crack cocaine. By the time he was twenty-one years of age, he was one of the biggest drug dealers in town, making up to $35,000 a week. In 1987, federal agents raided his home. He was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to nineteen years for drug trafficking and conspiracy.

It was a part of his life he was not proud of, but it was those dark days in prison that ignited his passion to change his life. It was there where he learned to cook and found a new dream: to overcome his criminal past and become a chef. A few decades later, this same man had gone from being a drug-dealing felon to nationally renowned chef. He had gone to build a fine culinary career for himself, becoming the first African American named "chef de cuisine" at Caesars Palace and the first African American executive chef at the Bellagio. He became a celebrity chef on his own television shows and also wrote a best-selling autobiography.

So how was an uneducated ex-prisoner who had never been to culinary school, and had a criminal record, go from the bottom to the top? How did he turn lemons into lemonade, sometimes without the water?

This story began in incarceration according to Henderson. The path he took in becoming a nationally renowned culinary sensation was anything but smooth sailing. As revealed during the Oprah Winfrey Show back in 2007, Henderson said, "From a young child, I always wanted to be somebody. In prison, I was being praised for my food. That was the driving force for me. I said to myself that I want to be a chef someday. While in prison, he learned how to cook, read his first book, and earned his GED. Where many others in prisons got overwhelmed by the ugly circumstances that drove them behind bars and failed to see a light at the end of the tunnel or create a picture of a compelling post-incarceration future in their minds, Henderson used the situation he found himself in to change the trajectory of his life and map out his entire future. He used prison as a catalyst for change. He found a passion that he could bury himself completely in and came out at the other end a success story and a living legend. In his words according to a follow-up interview for Oprah, he said: The power of food became that vehicle for me to be who I naturally am."

By the time the gates finally opened for him back into the real world, he has already settled his destiny. He has decided who and what he is going to become, and nothing whatsoever was going to stand in the way of his passion, dreams, and the expression of his potentials. He was convinced of his ability to create a prosperous future for himself in a world where the reality of recidivism hangs in the air like a black, sinister raven waiting to prey. He was certain of his place in a modern America where class and skin color still play a yeoman’s role in determining your place in life’s lot. In a place where many dreams die and many forget themselves, Henderson reinvented himself. He may have lost the freedom to hold a woman after a glass of wine on a Sunday evening, hug friends and family over good news, walk into Starbucks and sip a cup, or visit the mountains of Hawaii. But he hasn’t lost the most important thing in life—belief and confidence in his ability to change his own life, most importantly, by himself, if he decides to and is committed to seeing it happen.

Henderson’s passion was so fiery that even the gates could no longer hold all that he has become and have for the world beyond the bars. Upon release after serving nine years of his sentence, he wasted no time trying to break into the food industry. His secret was to learn as much as possible from anybody he could profile as a subject matter expert along the lines of his gifts. Even though he’s had his culinary introduction while in prison, he knew that to create value from that gift in the outside world and become successful with it, he needed to learn so hard. He said to himself that he was going to give it all it takes. He would get a job as a dishwasher, knock out his dishes as fast as possible, and then just observe everyone around him, learning how they did their different cooking jobs. Then, when someone called in sick, he’d volunteer to jump on the station, and people would be impressed with how he already knew how to do everything! He prioritized learning everything about the topic and industry and knew so much that he eventually became the head cook and baker in several kitchens. He ordered books and learned all the terminology and the different cuts of meat, sauces, vegetables, and stuff he’d never heard in his life. He reeducated himself about global cuisine.

As at that time, the top Black chefs in the country were Marcus Samuelsson, Patrick Clark, and Robert Gadsby. Once he got out, he made his way to Gadsby’s in Beverly Hills. At that point, he never used a sauté pan in his life, never used knives, and didn’t know any culinary terminology—until Robert Gadsby allowed him in his restaurant. After working for Gadsby, Henderson made his foray into the hotel business. From there, his ambition brought him to Vegas where he made a name for himself and found great culinary success. Later, he would start the pop-up reentry school called Felon University where he takes his message and boot camp all across the country and the world to help train formerly incarcerated individuals. He remembers back in the days when he was young and the younger Black boys looked up to him as a successful drug dealer for inspiration. Now, as a true role model, he goes around inspiring them with a far different message, saying, "I’m living the American dream, and so can you."

Comprehend

Jeff Henderson represents, among many others, a group of ex-offenders who are refusing to let their criminal records interfere with their dreams! He is among thousands of examples of ordinary people all over America who have put their criminal histories behind them and do something meaningful with their lives post-incarceration. They are the ones showing others with a criminal background how to rise above the stigma associated with their convictions and create a clear path to economic prosperity.

What led young Jeff to a life of stealing and drugs trafficking?

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At what point do you think Jeff Henderson realized he could turn his life around?

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What core conviction do you think drove him right through from childhood which helped him become, first, a successful drug trafficker and then a widely celebrated chef post-prison?

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Name two characters that inspired Jeff Henderson at different points in his life to become who he is today? Describe their key roles in a sentence each.

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What do you think Jeff did differently while in prison compared to others which formed the bedrock of his post-incarceration success?

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What are the core lessons you picked from Jeff Henderson’s life? (Mention three.)

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Learn

Is success possible post-incarceration?

Yes.

The cardinal problem with most inmates is they forget that the system of the world they left behind and coming back to is not designed to make their lives better in any way. Many criminals come from poor neighborhoods, and the only thing they grew up to see is the drug economy. When they get caught and sentenced to prison, and later released, what do you think they naturally return to? Selling drugs of course! And when they return to it, what happens again in most cases? They get caught and sent back to prison.

This is why inmates that focus on just getting out of jail will likely end up joining the statistically proven four out of every ten who get rearrested and sentenced again. The focus should be on getting up and not just getting out. The focus should be on how you can take charge of your life, break the poverty cycle by developing yourself economically, create value, and get wealthy from it. I’m talking about doing something with your life that you and your family and friends will be eternally proud of. I’m talking about becoming the best version of yourself and achieving success with the gifts, skills, and abilities you have or developed and creating economic value out of it. I’m talking about taking personal responsibility for your life and all that happened to you and telling yourself that you’re the only person, not the government, to create the best version of your life and conditions.

According to the criminal justice system, as many as two-thirds of the more than 650,000 ex-offenders released from US prisons and jails each year will be arrested for a new crime within three years. It’s general knowledge that ex-cons find it nearly impossible to get a job, and with no income and few work options, they return to crime. For many, after decades of incarceration, the world would have changed immensely in so many ways since they left, with the evolution of technology being the biggest difference. Some could get out of prison today and never knew a certain Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.

While debacle persists with strong statistical data to back it up, we also have a growing number of former inmates who are addressing the problem by launching start-ups and excelling in different fields of life, and some are specifically creating jobs for other ex-cons.

There are people who used prison as a launching pad and stepping-stone to becoming really, really successful in America today. They recognized an opportunity in the darkest of places and circumstances. Being of poor or disadvantaged background, you would expect that most of