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Atkinson went to prison when he was 25 years old and was released when he was 30. He is 38. Atkinson said that he was a "casual" drug user, and athletics was mostly what he clung to to escape pressure and stress, but when he got an injury and couldn't play sports, he turned to drugs more heavily. Then, he started drug dealing to support his habit.

"Drug dealing gave me that same validation that I was lacking inside that I got from sports," Atkinson said. "The prison experience resulted in me really taking a hard look at myself and learning through my faith and other types of self-actualization to be validated from within. Not to let things outside yourself validate you. All those things are fleeting, so I had to find a way to get that validation and feel good from within."

Atkinson enrolled in a drug rehab program before he went prison. There was also a prison substance abuse program. But he said that prison didn't offer much else as far as rehabilitation was concerned. However, he was able to do some introspection.

One day he got into a fight and was put into solitary confinement. "I was back there for 45 days and really looking at my surroundings, and I was like 'Man, I don't want this to be my life,'" Atkinson said. "The Malcolm X light bulb moment – that's where I had mine. I thought 'I really don't want this to be the end of my total life experience.'"

Atkinson said that an "old-timer" in prison told him to "do the time, don't let the time do you." He also met James McConico, a college-educated man who taught himself to do post-conviction relief for his fellow inmates. McConico sparked Atkinson's interest in law.

When he was released, he only had a high school diploma, but he went back to get his associate's degree. Then, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Benedict College, a historically black college and university in Columbia, S.C. It was still hard to get into law school with his criminal record, but he applied to several schools, and the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minn., offered him a full scholarship. He received his J.D. in law in May 2007, and worked as a certified student attorney for the public defender office in Minnesota prior to moving to N.C.

He now works in the office of indigent defense services in Durham as a project coordinator for their systems evaluation project. They provide oversight to how poor people are treated in the court system. He also runs the nonprofit, Lazarus Reentry Initiative, which helps ex-offenders navigate through barriers to reentry.

Atkinson said he decided to share his testimony because "I feel it's my responsibility. I know God delivered me from my conditions to be a voice for all those people I left behind who might never get the chance to talk to people about second chances."

Lynn Burke, an ex-felon who was convicted of fraud after writing bad checks, also shared her testimony. Burke was convicted in 1990 and released in '92 on community service parole. She said she got into trouble because she became depressed after her mother died. Her husband was on drugs, and she was short on money to take care of her children.

Referring to her time in prison she said: "It helped me grieve for my mother. It's the closest thing to dying without really dying, and it gives you a second chance to get yourself together."

Burke is now in her second year at N.C. Central Law School where she is studying to be a criminal defense attorney. "I'm not the criminal, I'm the lawyer," she said.

A friend of hers, Attorney George Kelly, encouraged her to become a lawyer. "He always told me I need to be a lawyer. There's a lot of lawyers that have records. Everybody makes mistake, all you have to prove is that you changed," Burke said.

Dennis Gaddy, who served a five-year, eight-month prison term due to some bad financial choices, founded CSI in May 2004 to help other ex-offenders navigate the barriers to reentry.

In addition to testimonials, the daylong summit also featured grassroots leaders who've begun reentry resource roundtables around the state, employers that have hired ex-offenders, and state and community partners dedicated to reentry work.

Luncheon speaker, Alexander Miller, a part of CSI's Exoffender Speakers' Bureau, related how he spent 25 years in prison – some of those years on death row and solitary confinement – only to be released two years ago. Since then he has self-published a book that he wrote while incarcerated and has started his own publishing company, Red Hawk publishing.

"One of the reasons I never ever gave up is because I believe with every fiber of my being that whatever you conceive you can achieve," Miller said. "Every single one of you in here has talent, skills and potential that you haven't even recognized. If you take it and you learn it and you focus it, you won't believe where you can be five to 10 years from now."

Comments

I am visiting this site, and I know my labor is not in vain. God does give second chances. I am a DOC employee who believes that God has a plan for those who desire a second chance behind the walls. My testimony...I have never been in a physical prison, but I have been in a mental one. God delivered me with a second chance because I desired one, and I cannot turn my back on others. As I mentioned earlier, how do a true Christian work in a prison and go against the grain of making a difference to those who desire a second chance. Thank you. Father for loving us ALL. My labor is not in vain.

Posted on October 5, 2009