by Dortell Williams
I was 23 years old when I entered the 
California prison system; ignorant with a capital I! Unfortunately, I was raised in a “disadvantaged” neighborhood where a subpar education was as sure and enduring as the auburn kinks in my hair.
Sitting on a hard bunk in a claustrophobic cell was where I absorbed my first entire book: The Autobiography of Malcolm X. As a former drug dealer, turned murderer, I related closely to the book because Red, as Malcolm was called in the criminal world, offered a mirror to all of the self-destructive behavior that me, and hordes of other neglected, misguided youth like me, were doing to ourselves, to our families, and our communities.
Malcolm showed me how to do time practically, productively, and peacefully. (I have avoided any violence for 33 years!) Malcolm was the mentor, the caring teacher I never had in society. Through his autodidactic example—in prison—I have earned a paralegal certificate, a BA in Communication Studies, and Doctorate in Ministries. Reading got me on track, from misaligned to realigned. But with a life without parole sentence, it’s too late for me. Yet there are scores of others who can still be redeemed. And all it takes is a thought provoking message … in a book!
Dortell Williams is incarcerated in California. Published by Vanguard Incarcerated Press
