Commencement

It took seven years to get into the college program at this two hundred year old prison. Today I walked across a stage inside these walls in a cap and gown and accepted a degree from Mercy University, earned through Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison.

I’ve written before about what words did for me, how reading was a set of keys that unlocked what had been hidden in plain sight. This degree is the same thing made formal. It’s proof, on paper, of a transformation that started long before any of these photographs were taken.

But the part the paper can’t capture is the brotherhood. The men in this room studied beside me, argued with me, carried me on the days I wanted to quit, and let me carry them on theirs. We came up through this program together.

My graduating class celebrating after the ceremony — My graduating class — the brothers I came up through the program with.

The processional — caps, gowns, and applause inside the facility — The processional. Inside these walls, this is what hope looks like.

A college education in prison is not a given. It exists because Hudson Link fights to make it possible, and because people on the outside believe that who you become matters more than the worst thing you ever did. I am living proof of that belief. So is every man in these pictures.

At the podium during the Mercy University commencement — At the podium — Mercy University commencement.

To everyone who made this possible — Hudson Link, Mercy University, the volunteers, my family, and the brothers in this room — thank you. This is not the end of anything. It’s the foundation for everything that comes next.

More photos from the ceremony are available in the full Flickr collection.