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MCLEANSVILLE — In 1994, Victor Vincent had just been released from a Maryland prison and found himself at his breaking point.

He was 26 and had been in and out of the system since age 10.

A self-described “career criminal,” he knew that under the law, with one more mistake — the state would put him away for a very long time. At wit’s end, he wrote the mayor of Baltimore to ask for help.

“I asked him what I was supposed to do because no one would hire me,” Vincent said.

“It was fear, total fear. You find yourself thinking of ways to make an income. The fastest way to achieve that income is break the law by selling drugs and robbing folks.” 

The mayor helped get him into a re-entry program that taught him how to get a job, find housing and overcome the hurdles that convicted criminals face once they leave prison.

It changed his life forever, and now he is passing that help along by assisting inmates through a class at Guilford College. 

A criminal justice major, Vincent, 40, is one of 13 students enrolled in ReEntry to Society, a new course this semester.

The course pairs students with inmates set to be released this year from the Guilford Correctional Center in McLeansville, a minimum-security prison for nonviolent offenders, to make them into success stories, too. 

Criminal justice professor Lois Fuchs started the course after taking students on a tour of the prison. The students questioned inmates about how they could help them. 

“(The inmates) asked us to teach a course on how they could survive once they get out of here,” Fuchs said.

As part of the class, which meets every Monday night at the prison, students working in pairs are assigned an obstacle that inmates will face when they are released.

Those obstacles are finding employment, housing, maintaining safety and health, coping with families, and creating a civic identity and community capacity.

“We are finding it hard to help them find employment while they are still incarcerated,” said Kathleen Winkler, who with Vincent, tackles preparing inmates for the employment obstacle.

“Most (employers) don’t want to go through the training the state requires to employ an inmate. Most keep telling us that when 'they are released, tell them to come see me.’”

Winkler said she has given one of the inmates a laminated sheet of paper with the layout of a keyboard to practice typing and a commercial driver’s license handbook to assist him to become a tractor-trailer driver.

These are things she hopes will motivate him to set goals for the outside, and with her support, achieve them.

“He’ll be starting his new life and will be excited to have a job,” she said. “He’s going to be more hard-working and dedicated to keeping that job (than some nonoffenders.)” 

Inmates say the program has been a success, giving them mentors to look up to and someone to lean on to discuss their concerns about life on the outside.

“My biggest fear is not succeeding,” said Larry Curtis, 27, of Greensboro, who is set to be released in July after serving seven-year sentence on an  armed robbery conviction.

“I’ve learned there are people out there willing to lend a hand and help. Hopefully, I’ll see a difference on the outside.”

For the students, it’s showing the inmates that a good life is achievable — it’s just a matter of knowing how to succeed.

“I longed for the American dream and a normal life, but I didn’t know how to do it,” said Vincent, who has a job with the city of Greensboro and a comfortable family life.

 “I’m showing them what I did, step by step, that got me to the point I’m at now.

“If you are willing to work hard, you can achieve anything.”
 

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com