"My name is Keith H.
When I was 15 years old, I became a teenage father. I sold drugs to provide for my daughter while fighting rival gang members. My life was out of control and eventually found myself in prison serving a twenty-five to life, third strike sentence. During the early years of my incarceration, I was not a model inmate. I received over 28 rules violations: my last one occurring in 2015 during a prison riot. When my wife was allowed to visit me, she was crying and told me that she didn’t know if I was alive or dead. At that moment I realized I needed to change.
Once I was released back to the mainline in 2016, I walked away from the gang lifestyle and began to enroll in college, anger management, GOGI, Mood Management, Defy Ventures and a host of other self-help courses that allowed me to identify my triggers and character defects. In 2018 I went before the Board of Parole Hearings and was denied parole for 7 years. I saw the Board’s denial as my marching orders. I read the Board’s decision and reached out to Life Support Alliance to help me understand what I was missing. Through the LSA correspondence curriculum I began to connect the dots of my life.
Once done I filed a motion to advance my 2025 suitability hearing in August of 2022 which the Board granted and set my new hearing for April 2022. On April 7, 2022 I was found suitable for parole after serving 28 years in prison. On August 16, 2022 I was released on parole to the Beacon Transitional Housing and found myself immediately surrounded by pro social people who continue to assist me.
I want to thank Life Support Alliance for the gift of my freedom. If it wasn’t for their programs, who knows how long it would have taken me to find my way to this newfound freedom.
Keith is just one story of the many Life Term prisoners who have benefitted from our programs, many of whom are now free. You can partner with our efforts by making a monthly commitment to support the important work that we do every day.