Do Not Let Prison Decide Who You Become

By Dr. David Z. Simpson, h.c.

After spending a decade incarcerated, I learned something that many people outside prison walls do not fully understand: prison is not only a place of punishment; it is an environment that constantly pressures people to give up hope, lose themselves, and accept emotional, mental, and spiritual defeat. And if we are honest, many prisons are built in ways that slowly break people down. Not all at once, but slowly.

A person can enter prison angry and leave emotionally numb. Another can enter hopeful and leave distrustful of everyone. Some men become hardened because survival in harsh environments often requires suppressing fear, emotion, compassion, vulnerability, and sometimes even humanity. Others lose confidence, purpose, family connections, or belief in their future. Some never fully recover from what they experienced while incarcerated.

People outside prison often imagine that once a sentence ends, life simply starts over. That is not reality. For many formerly incarcerated people, the struggle after prison can be just as difficult as the struggle inside prison.

You return home carrying labels, stigma, trauma, fear, and emotional exhaustion. Some people say they support you but disappear when you truly need help. Some employers refuse to give you a chance. Some people look at your past before they ever see you as a human being. Some family relationships never fully heal. Some communities expect you to fail before you even begin rebuilding. After years of surviving prison, many people return home emotionally damaged in ways they cannot explain.

That reality is painful. But it is also important to say something else clearly:

It can still be overcome.

I know because I have seen it happen.

I have seen formerly incarcerated people become business owners, advocates, fathers, mentors, students, spiritual leaders, counselors, workers, organizers, and respected members of their communities.

I have seen people once written off completely rebuild themselves into disciplined, thoughtful, and compassionate human beings.

I have seen people overcome addiction, violence, hopelessness, trauma, and emotional destruction to build meaningful lives.

None of it was easy. Many of us had to rebuild ourselves while carrying emotional scars from prison and the rejection of society. Many of us had to fight against systems, labels, and cultural attitudes that quietly encourage people to believe that formerly incarcerated individuals are less valuable, less trustworthy, or less deserving of opportunity.

That mindset is real.

There is still a deep cultural belief in this country that once a person is labeled a criminal, their suffering matters less. Their humanity matters less. Their future matters less. Because of that mindset, many people remain comfortable with prison conditions that damage human beings emotionally, mentally, and spiritually every single day.

But I want everyone reading this to understand something important:

Don’t let prison decide who you become.

Don’t let your worst moment become your permanent identity.

Yes, prison can be cruel. Yes, society can be harsh after release. Yes, there will be moments when you feel abandoned, judged, overlooked, or defeated. Sometimes

Keep going anyway.

Study. Learn. Read. Ground yourself spiritually. Develop discipline. Learn a trade. Strengthen your mind. Protect your emotional health. Take accountability for any harm you may have caused, while refusing to believe your life has no value.

Some people will expect you to fail.

Prove them wrong quietly through consistency, growth, and discipline.

And when you do make it out, do not simply disappear into silence.

Speak honestly about what prison does to people. Teach others what you survived. Help expose the emotional and psychological harm these environments can cause. Help younger generations avoid the paths that lead to destruction. Fight to make communities healthier and stronger than the ones we inherited.

The truth is that many people outside prison still do not fully understand how damaging incarceration can be because they have never experienced it. Many remain trapped in cultural thinking that normalizes suffering once a person has been labeled a criminal.

That is why your voice matters.

Your survival matters.

Your growth matters.

Your testimony matters.

Because despite everything prison may try to take from you, you still have the ability to become something greater than the environment that tried to break you.

Dr. David Z. Simpson, h.c., is a justice advocate, author, strategist, and co-founder of The Remedy Project and The Criminal Justice Realm. Drawing from more than a decade of lived experience inside federal prison, his work focuses on advocacy, crisis response, mentorship, and challenging the deepest cultural conditions that continue to shape inequality and mass incarceration in the United States. He is the author of The Slavery Mindset: Jim Crow Culture in the United States and continues to work alongside impacted communities nationwide to advance justice, accountability, and human dignity.