At just 16 years old, Ty Wade was sentenced to 30 years in prison with no possibility of early release. For the first decade of his sentence, he had little hope of ever coming home.
Then a letter from his mother changed the direction of his life.
In Episode 135 of Workforce Skills, John Morris sits down with Ty to talk about the decisions, discipline, education, and small victories that transformed his life. Ty shares how he went from repeated trouble and 23-hour lockdown to earning a college degree with honors, teaching programs inside prison, helping others through his artwork, and ultimately earning his release five and a half years early.
Today, Ty works at New Freedom, where he teaches framing, carpentry, workforce development, and—more importantly—helps men and women learn to believe in themselves and build a different future.
John and Ty discuss what real rehabilitation looks like, why people sometimes sabotage their own success, the importance of accountability, replacing destructive survival skills with productive ones, and why changing someone’s life takes more than simply teaching them a trade.
They also discuss the power of small victories, becoming 1% better every day, and one simple rule Ty gives his students: decide what you will not do when life gets difficult.
Ty’s final message is equally simple:
Ask for help.
There are people willing to help—but you have to be willing to ask.
🎙️ Workforce Skills with John Morris
Episode 135 | Featuring Ty Wade
[00:00:00:23 - 00:00:28:10]
Speaker 1
Good morning, welcome to Workforce Skills with John Morris, another beautiful day out here in Phoenix, Arizona. Today I've got a special guest on here. I think I've been trying to get him on here for at least eight months, maybe even longer. But I have Ty Wade here, good friend of mine. We became friends because he works at New Freedom and he does a lot of what I do. He's in it for the same reasons. It's about helping these guys, but he's got a bit of a story. You actually spent, you were sentenced for life. Good morning, John.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, well I was sentenced to 30 years with no parole eligibility throughout that 30 years when I was 16 years old.
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Speaker 1
16 and sentenced to life. That's gotta be a shocker to the system.
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Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, it very much was.
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Speaker 2
And I pled guilty, I received a 30 year sentence with no
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Speaker 2
possibility of early release no matter what my behavior was during that 30 years.
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Speaker 2
So if, yeah, I did as prisoners do and I just, with that type of situation, I just let go.
[00:01:09:06 - 00:01:28:09]
Speaker 2
And I was like, well, if this is gonna be my whole life, then I'm gonna live like this. And I had no hope. I just accepted the fate of what was. Yeah, I had no hope for the first 10 years of my sentence. Like almost literally, almost to the day for 10 years, I had no hope and planned on dying in prison at some point.
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Speaker 1
So what happened at that point where you felt like you had hope, you said that was a 10 year point to the day almost, but what changed with?
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Speaker 2
Yeah, so early on,
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Speaker 2
I told myself, well,
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Speaker 2
you should file for clemency at some point, but everybody that comes to prison immediately wants out. And so they file for clemency within the first year or two years and they'll have a 30, 40, 50 year sentence or whatever, and they just immediately want out and they haven't done anything different. And I was like, you know, give it 10 years,
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Speaker 2
file for your clemency, give it some time.
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Speaker 2
Well, 10 years came around and I was sitting in a detention center in 23 hour lockdown. And
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Speaker 2
I was like, wow, there's my 10 year mark. And I don't really deserve to file for clemency. I come to sit in detention once again. I don't deserve that. And so I didn't file for it. And I decided to continue being a prisoner and doing the prison thing at that point. And I was like, well, I just can't get right, you know? And there's no hope for me and there's no chances and there's no parole eligibility. Like this is just it. There's nothing to look forward to other than another day of this and another year and another decade. And at that time,
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Speaker 2
when I realized that, I wrote my mom a letter and it was,
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Speaker 2
I felt like the biggest piece of shit in the world when I got her response. And I said, hey, you know, I keep doing this stuff. I'm always causing you guys grief, but I have to survive in here. So I'm gonna keep doing the things I have to do. And
[00:03:07:09 - 00:03:19:13]
Speaker 2
so just let me go. If I get out, I'll see you then, you know? I didn't wanna keep causing them pain. This perpetual, oh, he's in trouble again. Oh, he's in the hole again. Oh, he's in a riot again. Oh, there's all this stuff going on. And
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Speaker 2
her response was,
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Speaker 2
still makes me emotional today. This was in 2008. I got locked up in 1998.
[00:03:29:04 - 00:03:42:14]
Speaker 2
And she said, if you want me to let go of my one dream of seeing my son get out of prison, then let me know. And I got that response. I was still in the detention center. I was doing about 90 days in detention. And I was like, man.
[00:03:43:21 - 00:03:53:22]
Speaker 2
And so I just felt like the biggest piece of crap in the world, I've been causing her pain with my situations and all the stuff I'm doing and my reactions and all this stuff. And
[00:03:55:17 - 00:04:04:11]
Speaker 2
so I was like, well, I can't do that. I can't now hurt her even worse and hurt my family even worse. So then that's when I was like, okay, well, I have to do some stuff different.
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Speaker 2
Cause
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Speaker 2
I couldn't follow through with that one.
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Speaker 2
And so I started working on myself.
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Speaker 2
At first it was working myself out of the detention center.
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Speaker 2
And then I fought for years to get into college and they always denied me. Now they denied me for about five years of college classes. And
[00:04:26:05 - 00:04:34:11]
Speaker 2
I just kept fighting. I kept writing and I kept fighting and I kept doing the right thing. And throughout the span of the next 14 years,
[00:04:36:10 - 00:04:45:07]
Speaker 2
I had zero writeups after that last writeup in the detention center. I didn't get the smallest and minor infractions or anything, but instead I got
[00:04:46:19 - 00:04:51:13]
Speaker 2
academic scholarships. I got my associate's degree in workforce development community reentry.
[00:04:52:18 - 00:05:17:22]
Speaker 2
I graduated with honors. I took endless courses. I started teaching programs. I worked with publishers and used college courses on self-esteem, leadership, communication, different things that helped me in my own personal development and turn those into self-study courses for people that couldn't get into college and prison because it's just a select few that can really get those opportunities.
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Speaker 2
And then I started working to get myself out of prison. And I
[00:05:27:07 - 00:05:29:08]
Speaker 2
eventually did. I used my
[00:05:31:11 - 00:05:43:08]
Speaker 2
academia in there to create programs and opportunities for others. I became an instructor for a lot of different programs and there was thinking for a change program, just all the different stuff. And then I went on to
[00:05:44:22 - 00:06:14:20]
Speaker 2
use my art as well. I used art to survive in the beginning to get the things I needed because I didn't have money. It came from a poor family and everything else. And then I used my art to help support. It started with victims of terror when ISIS was doing a lot of bombings and stuff. And then it's turned into supporting families of school shootings, mass shootings. And so I would do art and I would send it, I'd do portraits in all different mediums and send them to the families of these victims of terror all over the world and all this. And
[00:06:16:01 - 00:06:27:07]
Speaker 2
one of those victims, well, the victim's family was my former attorney and his wife as a federal judge. And their son was killed by a gunman that came to
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Speaker 2
attack them. And their only son was killed and I drew the portraits and I sent it to them. And so they helped tremendously getting some light on my life, my case and everything. And ultimately through all the hard work I did through all the people that supported me at that point when I started doing something different,
[00:06:52:03 - 00:07:12:03]
Speaker 2
a lot of people fought for me and I went back to court. The judge told me, she said, if this case was heard today, there would have been much different outcome. She ordered DOC to release me the same day with no parole or anything. It was five and a half years early. That was April 6th of 2023. And I've been out just over three and a half years.
[00:07:13:11 - 00:07:22:03]
Speaker 1
So you've been out for three and a half years. I don't know the person you were before. I only know the person I met at New Freedom. Now you didn't go through New Freedom as a member, correct?
[00:07:22:03 - 00:07:40:21]
Speaker 2
No, I was released, I was in Arizona prison for 13 years. I transferred here from New Jersey after a few years in maximum security out there. I transferred here to be by my family. Then I transferred back in 2016 to fight my case. So I again, I'll abandon my family so they couldn't visit me.
[00:07:41:21 - 00:07:51:15]
Speaker 2
And it took seven more years and I was released from New Jersey. My sister came to pick me up and two weeks later I was speaking in front of
[00:07:52:20 - 00:08:07:01]
Speaker 2
representatives of 26 countries in Nairobi, Kenya, on the value of education in prison, rehabilitation and juvenile justice. And at a criminal justice and human rights panel.
[00:08:08:18 - 00:08:18:18]
Speaker 2
Yeah, and then began my journey. And then I ended up serendipitously, one of my old best friends who was a cellmate, just got a job as a therapist at prison.
[00:08:20:01 - 00:08:40:00]
Speaker 2
I ran into another friend at Jiu-Jitsu and he hands me his card as we just passed each other by and he worked at New Freedom. And one of my friends who was a juvenile lifer who was released to New Freedom, I went to visit him and I saw the place and then I got some tours and I was like, there's too much stuff happening that says I should work here.
[00:08:40:00 - 00:08:50:21]
Speaker 1
So that was it. So when you applied there, what was that process like? I mean, were they ready for you at the time? I mean, there really wasn't a framing class at first, was there?
[00:08:50:21 - 00:08:53:10]
Speaker 2
So there wasn't, but when I got there,
[00:08:54:14 - 00:09:02:14]
Speaker 2
just over two years ago, they did have a framing class. United Construction Group would come in and help with that whole program. And
[00:09:04:09 - 00:09:16:12]
Speaker 2
yeah, it was, they didn't have an actual framing instructor. I did teach NCCER framing and carpentry in prison for a few years. So after I did also took those courses and-- So
[00:09:16:12 - 00:09:17:21]
Speaker 1
you're a perfect fit for this then?
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Speaker 2
Yeah.
[00:09:18:12 - 00:09:19:14]
Speaker 1
That's how it teaches class.
[00:09:19:14 - 00:09:32:05]
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I still work with UCG today. They're one of our huge supporters for hiring carpentry students, same as you are for our painting class. And yeah, it's just worked.
[00:09:32:05 - 00:09:38:15]
Speaker 1
No, I love what New Freedom stands for and what it does. It's interesting because
[00:09:40:03 - 00:10:02:16]
Speaker 1
when I first started there, I didn't know what I was getting into. There was no vocational program. It's, we basically, we were the pioneers in it and it's definitely changed since the beginning. Back then it was more of a free for all. We could kind of do whatever we want. And now there's certain rules and regulations with insurance and the way New Freedom's become. It's a lot more corporate, which I think is better.
[00:10:03:18 - 00:10:48:17]
Speaker 1
Yeah. But when we first started, it just, we started with the painting. Then Haskins Electric came in and started the electric class. There was a flooring class, a tile class. I've hired people out, I think, every trade in that place. I'm not looking for the best painter. I'm looking for the best employee. And when I first went in there and they asked me to teach the class, I can teach you how to paint, but how do you teach someone to be a good employee? How do you teach someone to become a good person? It's just like you hitting that point when you're in prison. It's like, where does that change? And nobody can teach you how to be a good person. No one can teach you how to be a good employee. You can put the tools in front of you. You can tell them how to do it, but it's up to them to actually implement it and do it and make it happen. No one could make you change.
[00:10:48:17 - 00:10:51:03]
Speaker 2
You have to want to change. You have to decide.
[00:10:51:03 - 00:11:08:17]
Speaker 1
Yeah, and that's one thing I realized when I went into New Freedom, when I was writing the curriculum for the paint class, because back then it was just the painting class, but I thought, what am I looking for in a good employee? And starting to dive deeper into that, I mean, it took me two, three months just to write the curriculum that I did.
[00:11:09:17 - 00:12:04:08]
Speaker 1
Even though it's a four to five week class, it's really not that long when you think about it on the employability skills, because it's only Monday and Tuesday night for two hours. So how do you cram in everything you need to to teach this person to be a good employee and to be a better person out there? And I think it takes people with the right mindset to be a part of that, because I'm sure you see people in the classes and you're like, oh man, this guy doesn't care. He's just going through the motions. I mean, they're still hanging on. One foot's in the street, one foot's out. And it's hard to get through to those people. And I know in the beginning, things were a lot different there. And I can honestly say, I've seen a lot of people die over the last four or five years that have been through the program, been in and out of prison, off the streets. And for me, what I focus on is I focus on the ones that want it, the ones that want to be successful. And that's where I push my focus to.
[00:12:05:17 - 00:12:10:21]
Speaker 1
And you're probably the same way. It's tough because you want to help everybody. You really do. Right.
[00:12:11:23 - 00:12:36:10]
Speaker 2
I feel like, so I've pushed my focus on in both ways, in different ways. Sometimes when somebody's doing good enough, you think, well, maybe they don't need as much in this other person I need to invest more in that doesn't get it. But we just have to meet everybody where they're at and help them get to the next step. Maybe the next step, they're not ready for every step.
[00:12:38:08 - 00:12:42:01]
Speaker 2
And so just helping them see the next step. Sometimes
[00:12:43:08 - 00:12:51:17]
Speaker 2
the steps to success are super scary for someone who's never been down that path before. And it's all unknown. And
[00:12:54:02 - 00:12:57:11]
Speaker 2
there's a story, and in one of the videos I play in my class about
[00:12:59:19 - 00:13:10:05]
Speaker 2
this boy and he's with some animals and they're like, we have to get through the forest. And I'm not retelling the story good enough, but the gist of it is, is the boy's scared and the horse says to him, well,
[00:13:11:13 - 00:13:20:00]
Speaker 2
the boy says, I can't see the other side. And he said, well, can you see your next step? He says, yes. He goes, take your next step. One step at a time. Yeah. And so
[00:13:21:01 - 00:13:23:05]
Speaker 2
trying to meet people where they're at,
[00:13:24:07 - 00:13:50:15]
Speaker 2
just get them to the next place. If they're ready for it, but they have to be ready for it. And it's hard. Like when I first started working there, I felt like sense of duty and responsibility. And I still foil those things, but that if somebody doesn't make it or somebody doesn't make it just yet, or someone doesn't make it all the way and they only make a few steps, I'm somehow responsible or I failed or, and so, and that's obviously
[00:13:51:18 - 00:13:56:14]
Speaker 2
difficult in behavioral health because those people grow
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Speaker 2
and change and develop and at different places and different times. It's kind of just meeting where they're at. And yeah, like you said, getting the ones that are ready, getting them the tools to get to that next step and the ones that aren't ready, getting them some tools to get closer.
[00:14:13:17 - 00:14:24:07]
Speaker 1
Yeah. You hit a point there about some people are scared of success. I've seen that a lot with some people to where they start doing well. They got a paycheck coming in,
[00:14:25:14 - 00:14:44:13]
Speaker 1
they've got the job, they've got money to spend, they're doing well, they're getting in contact with their family, their friends, they're rebuilding relationships. And something clicks to where I think some people feel like they don't deserve that success. I think that's a problem that I've seen within my own company with the people that I hire, that
[00:14:45:17 - 00:14:56:19]
Speaker 1
they're doing so well and all of a sudden, they're reverting back to that old behavior, whether it's addiction, whether it's something in the streets and it just, they almost self-sabotage sometimes and it's hard to watch. And
[00:14:58:01 - 00:15:13:21]
Speaker 1
I know I'm the type that, I think I've given some people too many chances, but the thing that I've realized is this is not a handout. It's a hand up. You've got to reach up, you've got to grab it because we can't do it for them. Right. You can't make them successful.
[00:15:14:22 - 00:15:41:20]
Speaker 1
What's exciting for me though is after we're done recording here, I want to take you back in the office and I've got a girl working for me that came through Ty's class and the framing class, but we didn't hire her for painting or framing. She's actually, she's got some computer skills and she's doing data entry for us. So she's doing really, really well. She'll be excited to see you. To me, that's one of your success stories. You helped build that person, even though they didn't go into the framing and it's not just about the framing.
[00:15:41:20 - 00:15:43:17]
Speaker 2
No, and that's the thing is,
[00:15:45:01 - 00:15:49:14]
Speaker 2
you hit on a couple of things there and I just want to go to what you said about people not
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Speaker 2
thinking that they deserve it.
[00:15:52:23 - 00:15:53:19]
Speaker 2
People come from
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Speaker 2
a lot of people, not just out of incarceration or addiction, but a lot of people come from
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Speaker 2
backgrounds of trauma, childhood traumas.
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Speaker 2
And so it can be debilitating, can lower self-esteem, can lower self-worth, and lower one's understanding of themselves. And I share this openly with my students that the hardest thing I can do or the hardest thing for me with every class and with every member is truly getting them to believe in themselves.
[00:16:26:14 - 00:16:42:03]
Speaker 2
And that's all I need to do. And most of them did come from, and I'm not trying to say it like, "Oh, woe is me," and it's this bleeding heart thing. It's not that men and women that come through there and succeed, they put in the work. They put in the work. It's not, like you said, it's not a handout.
[00:16:43:10 - 00:17:04:07]
Speaker 2
It's a stripping of old behaviors. It's humility, it's humbling yourself. People that have gang and prison backgrounds and really tough exteriors. And then learning to be humble and learning to be a good listener and learning to take advice and learning that you don't know everything. And I say this stuff because I've had those problems too.
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Speaker 2
And
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Speaker 2
I love learning now more than ever. I used to like learning from books, but not from people. Now I like learning from people and I'll go around and seek advice from people. But yeah, if I can get somebody to believe in themselves, the sky's the limit. So just
[00:17:22:16 - 00:17:32:20]
Speaker 2
showing them you can do it. I don't care. I tell everybody, if you come into this class and you want to learn, you will learn a tape measure. You'll learn the power tools. You'll learn this stuff.
[00:17:32:20 - 00:18:15:09]
Speaker 1
I teach my guys in the class, just become 1% better every day. Just a little bit. If you can improve 1% every day, 100 days, you're 100% better. Now start another 1% every day. Just keep trying to get better every chance you get. One more step into the woods. That's all it is. It's, I think with a lot of people, and one thing I present to my group in the class is, my goal is to change the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you dress, the way you carry yourself. I'm not trying to change you. I'm trying to find the best version of you. And when I've explained that before, I say, "Oh, you're just trying to change everything about me." No, I'm not trying to change you. I'm trying to find the best version of you. The guy that walks into class with his pants hanging down below his
[00:18:16:09 - 00:18:29:03]
Speaker 1
butt cheeks, and the guys that are using the word dog or bro every second, it's like, you can't do that out in the real world. That's a different verbiage. So let's try to change that. You can still use that with your buddies, and
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Speaker 1
find the switch, find a way to change that.
[00:18:33:07 - 00:18:36:03]
Speaker 1
So they have a chance, a better chance.
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Speaker 2
Right.
[00:18:37:23 - 00:18:46:23]
Speaker 2
And I do hit on those topics as well. And I tell them, the way I word it is, I
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Speaker 2
don't want you to be more valuable for a company. I want you to be more valuable to yourself and the people around you. And every time something's a little hard or difficult, I'm saying you're increasing your value to yourself.
[00:19:02:11 - 00:19:28:20]
Speaker 2
Everything you learn, every new skill, every time you improve, every time you decide, I'm gonna take the pain of growing, you're increasing your value to yourself, which means you're increasing your value to everybody around you, to your community, to your employer, to your children, to your parents, to your siblings. You're just increasing your value perpetually. And so for people that felt like they had no social value before, and in a lot of cases had that stripped away,
[00:19:29:22 - 00:19:41:22]
Speaker 2
and it's like, whoa. And then you teach them, hey, you could do that. Hey, you did a good job. And they just realize all I needed was just this opportunity to discover myself, and I could do all kinds of stuff.
[00:19:41:22 - 00:21:20:02]
Speaker 1
Yeah, I think for a lot of them, it's different with us as a company here at PHP Commercial Painting. What we do, it's almost like we're programming still once you've come to work for us. It's just one big, I don't know whether you wanna call it a therapy session, AA meeting, or whatever it is. We're always helping each other, and I think for me, what I've created within my company, and because I'm in a different situation than you, because you teach there, that's your job. I was helping teach there, that's not only volunteering, but this is my real job at work. And it's like, I'm bringing these people in, how can I continue the program and the training and teaching them and keeping them on the right path to be more successful? And to help them continue, we still talk about everything from class. We still talk about how to be a better employee here. We're continuing to grow. It's one big therapy session here. I know it sounds crazy, but it really does help the men and women working for us be more successful. And I think the hard thing is when they do get out of new freedom, and they do get out there and get that first job. I think it's just human nature. It's not just people coming out of addiction or prison, but we overthink shit. We really do. Everybody has a tendency to do that. And it's being able to have someone to talk to, have someone to help you through those situations. Do you have students that have gone through class that still come back to you, reach out and talk to you, follow up and you're able to follow their success or not just that, but help them if they're in a tough position?
[00:21:20:02 - 00:21:21:09]
Speaker 2
Yes, I do.
[00:21:22:12 - 00:21:27:05]
Speaker 2
And again, it's tricky because of behavioral health. So they have to use like my work number, my work stuff. I can't
[00:21:28:06 - 00:21:32:04]
Speaker 2
communicate with them on social media, right? Because of that
[00:21:33:22 - 00:21:37:05]
Speaker 2
professional relationship. However, I have
[00:21:38:19 - 00:21:39:15]
Speaker 2
countless
[00:21:40:15 - 00:21:45:02]
Speaker 2
graduates that come back to speak to the new classes.
[00:21:46:14 - 00:22:44:11]
Speaker 2
And it's one of the coolest things. And not only that, but when I'm with my girlfriend at Fry's or Walmart or somewhere, and we bump into somebody. And it's one of my former students and he's like, hey, how are you doing? I'm doing great. I've got a car, I've got this, I've got that. This is my son. One of them introduced me to his 10 year old son. And he told him, he's like, this was my teacher. And his son's like, really? And I was like, yeah. That's a cool feeling, isn't it? And so, yeah, and so my girlfriend and like the people in my life and in that part of my life see like firsthand this impact. I went to a son's game. One of my old students was working there at the stadium. And he's like, Ty, he's waving to me. And I went over and we did a picture and then we will have people that, and I'll tell them, take my cards, take my cards, email me, this doesn't end when you graduate. Life's not gonna get easy because you graduated. There's
[00:22:45:12 - 00:22:46:20]
Speaker 2
a lot of problems coming in
[00:22:48:03 - 00:23:00:01]
Speaker 2
for the ones that don't reach back, which a lot don't because they don't even think about it. They're embarrassed. They just move on in their life sometimes. And so one thing I try to leave them with is,
[00:23:01:04 - 00:24:04:02]
Speaker 2
you have so many problems coming that you don't know are coming right now. And I don't know how to solve all of those. And I don't know how to tell you that. And it's gonna be hard to find the answers, but I need you to write down, to lock in and focus and just know, don't go past four things and come up with the four things that you will not do to solve your problems. And make that your golden rule. I will not commit a crime to solve my problems. I will not turn to drugs or alcohol abuse to solve my problems. I will not use violence. I mean, mine are right there. I won't go to crime. I won't use substances to solve my problems. I'm locked in now to figure out how to get through it, no matter how hard it is. And it doesn't make it easier, but certainly doing crime or doing drugs and going back to prison is not easier going into homelessness. Just knowing what you won't do, I tell them you'll find the answer. You will find the answer if you know what you won't do.
[00:24:04:02 - 00:25:19:00]
Speaker 1
Yeah. You know, I'm an addict recovered, you know, and even for me, I've put things in place to ensure that I'll never go back down that road. Even though for me, it's not that I quit, it's the fact that that's not who I am anymore. I'll never do that. But even though my wife works with me, we're here all the time, there's days she drives separate. And if I'm leaving the office at home, I'm calling, hey, I'm heading home. I don't have to call her. It's my way to be accountable. So I'm not stopping at the bar. I'm not doing anything stupid. I hold myself accountable for everything. I tell her everything almost to a fault. I'm sure she gets annoyed with it, but it's, you find ways to make sure you don't go back down that path. You know, I've been locked up before. I'm never getting locked up again. It's not happening. It just, zero chance it's gonna happen. I've put too much in place to protect myself, to make sure I'm gonna do the right thing all the time. And it's like, that's one thing I teach you guys. It's like, always do the right thing. Doing the right thing isn't that hard. It's doing the wrong thing is the hardest thing. And they don't think about it. They just, they look for that quick fix, that easy, getting that money, getting the drugs, whatever the case is. But it's doing the right thing is actually easier than you think. Once you start down that path, it's simple.
[00:25:19:00 - 00:25:37:23]
Speaker 2
Well, it's built in, that's where I think it goes back to, and I believe I'm correct in this, but believe in yourself. And so if you've not accomplished much in life and you've had it hard and you've had to survive a certain way, and then I tell you, that's not the way to survive really. That was a way to perpetuate the misery.
[00:25:39:02 - 00:25:50:20]
Speaker 2
We need to take away your survival tools and give you some new ones, replace them, and trust me, it'll work. So that works once they start accomplishing. It worked for me once I started accomplishing.
[00:25:50:20 - 00:25:53:21]
Speaker 1
The first college class- The small successes that you had, right?
[00:25:53:21 - 00:25:59:18]
Speaker 2
I get into college so I could get art paper. I was like, they have better paper over there. I'm gonna get into this college.
[00:26:00:19 - 00:26:10:07]
Speaker 2
And then I started and I liked it. In my first class, I got an A. And I was like, I was never college material. I was a convict. I was a kid that got locked up at 16.
[00:26:11:10 - 00:26:35:23]
Speaker 2
And then I got another A. And then me and my buddy competed and whoever didn't get an A was a loser or whatever. And he was my roommate- But you pushed each other. In prison, and yeah, and we maintained A's. And I graduated from 4.0 because of that. But it was those small victories and understanding the value of that. And so that's one of the things we do at New Freedom is
[00:26:37:00 - 00:26:41:18]
Speaker 2
celebrate your small victories because those add up and they build confidence and belief in oneself.
[00:26:43:06 - 00:26:55:01]
Speaker 1
You can't go back and change the past. You are who you are. Do you think that everything you went through made you a better person today? Are you a better person today because of your past? Because of you would, you went through it? For sure.
[00:26:56:02 - 00:26:56:13]
Speaker 1
How so?
[00:26:58:21 - 00:27:00:03]
Speaker 1
Sorry, making you think a little bit.
[00:27:00:03 - 00:27:03:10]
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, and it's things I've thought about a lot too.
[00:27:04:10 - 00:27:36:14]
Speaker 2
I had to earn everything. Nothing was given to you. I screwed everything up and I had to earn every inch of it. And I think back, if I filed for clemency and they released me at that 10-year mark, I wouldn't have been ready for society. That's the truth. I was still-- You would have screwed up again. Yeah. Yeah. And they released me when I got to that place. I got noticed when I put in the work, when I did enough for people to believe in me. I had a federal judge and a
[00:27:37:17 - 00:27:47:19]
Speaker 2
presiding judge in a county and all kinds of people that basically put their careers on the line for me. I'm accountable to them every day that I live out here. I'm accountable to them.
[00:27:47:19 - 00:27:51:17]
Speaker 1
It's not that you owe them, but you feel like you do in a sense.
[00:27:51:17 - 00:28:12:23]
Speaker 2
I feel like I need to prove them right for the rest of my life. And I also need them to see that they were right so that they can continue to make those decisions and say, "Hey, because what about the next guy? What about the next juvenile that's got a life sentence or a 30-year sentence?" Or, you know, society has been adjusting that a lot.
[00:28:14:04 - 00:28:16:09]
Speaker 2
But what about them? Yeah. So.
[00:28:16:09 - 00:28:29:14]
Speaker 1
Nah, it's good. You know, I'm honored to be your friend. I consider you a friend, not just a coworker because I've been at New Freedom. I'm really impressed with your story, where you've come and what you've accomplished. You know,
[00:28:30:17 - 00:29:08:03]
Speaker 1
you're making a difference in people's lives. You don't even realize the changes that you're making right now for the future for them. Not only have you changed your life, but there's a ripple effect that's happening. It's like throwing a pebble in a pond and the pebble just keeps going and going and going. You don't know when it's gonna stop. You are actually changing the people's lives that are coming through your class, but you're also changing their kids, their grandkids, their great grandkids. You don't know how far this is gonna reach the effect and the changes that you've made in people's lives. And I'm honored to call you a friend and be a part of this with you. Thank you. It was awesome coming in Saturday and speaking to your class a little bit. That was pretty cool.
[00:29:08:03 - 00:29:08:12]
Speaker 4
I appreciate that.
[00:29:08:12 - 00:29:17:11]
Speaker 1
It's funny how we were kind of aligned and you're talking about the same stuff. I brought up stuff. We didn't even have it planned. That's how the universe works. And we know it works.
[00:29:17:11 - 00:29:18:08]
Speaker 2
It does.
[00:29:18:08 - 00:29:21:05]
Speaker 1
Yeah, we know it works. It does.
[00:29:23:01 - 00:29:42:15]
Speaker 1
Guys, if you're out there and you're going through something, if you need help, New Freedom is a great place if you're in a Phoenix area. If you're locked up and you somehow see this recording and you wanna reach out, just reach out to us. We'll find a way to get you in contact. But one last message, if you had something to say to somebody out there that's kind of gone through what you've been through,
[00:29:43:18 - 00:29:47:03]
Speaker 1
they need help, they don't know where to turn, what message would you give to them?
[00:29:51:01 - 00:30:00:19]
Speaker 2
Well, if they needed somewhere to turn, I would say New Freedom. I worked there because I believe in the product. I believe in the results. And the proof is in the success.
[00:30:02:07 - 00:30:20:05]
Speaker 2
But for those people, one of the hardest things I think to do is to ask. It's a three-letter word that especially a lot of guys don't like asking. They don't like showing that vulnerability, especially if you're in hardship, they're embarrassed. Just ask for help. There's so many people that are ready to help you. Yeah.
[00:30:21:10 - 00:30:30:02]
Speaker 1
Guys out there, I guess the message today is ask. Ask for help. Once again, I appreciate you guys joining me. Stay hungry.
[00:30:31:03 - 00:30:31:10]
Speaker 1
Thank you.