News

One Man Traces His Path From Solitary Confinement to Magna Cum Laude

Posted on

“A year ago, Kyle L. Gathers, a gang member and longtime drug dealer, was sitting in prison. On Saturday, he was sitting on the stage for his graduation from vocational school, where he was the student commencement speaker. ‘I lived in a neighborhood where hope didn’t exist, where potential didn’t matter,’ he told his 200 fellow graduates at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology here. ‘And when you heard you had it, it saddened you, because you couldn’t fathom a future.’ Mr. Gathers, 31, spent 10 years in and out of prison on convictions for shootings, extortion and selling cocaine and marijuana. He was in solitary confinement for two of those years.”

« Back to News