Yusef Wiley

Well, my story is quite a journey. It begins with growing up in the neighborhoods around south central Los Angeles, excelled in sports but abruptly cut off by joining a gang and became immersed inside the gang sub-culture of Los Angeles. By the time I was 19 I was heavily involved in gang activity which would resort in me being arrested and convicted to a life sentence in a California Prison. During this time, I finally got it right, went back to school during my incarceration, took some college courses and vocational trades. Finally, my mission became clear to help others like me. My transformation was received well by warden and prison officials which reached the Capitol. Eventually I was found suitable for parole and released back to the community after 22 years of incarceration. I’ve been accepted as a speaker at the institution that I was released from, which is one of the reasons I was so inspired to pursue the JMT certification program. Now, I need help figuring out how valuable this tool can be to train prison officials and inmates alike. JMT transformation is a need to reform our prison system and so much more related to the criminal justice system.