My name is Lorenzo Harrell and I’m a former juvenile lifer. I now work as a Reentry Specialist at the State Appellate Defender Office (SADO). I was released from prison in February 2019 and completed parole in February 2021. And after nearly eight years of freedom, society constantly reminds me of my past in some way, shape, or form. Of course, telling my story is an important part of my profession, but I share it to educate, to advocate, and to demonstrate that people can change.

I often go into prisons and talk to men and women about returning home. I tell them that reentry requires change. They must leave behind the mindset and behaviors that contributed to their incarceration and begin thinking like a “law-abiding citizen.” Most of them understand that. They accept responsibility and prepare themselves for a different life. But, over the eight years of my freedom, I have noticed that society doesn’t always hold up its end of the deal. People are told to pay their debt but are not treated as if the debt is actually paid. And for many people coming home from prison, it feels like society charges 100% interest on that debt.

We serve our sentences, but the punishment continues. We are punished by being discriminated against in housing, employment, education, and even in our relationships with family and friends. Society will never allow us to overcome our past. And it doesn’t matter how long we have been free. Discrimination is the same, even when our action demonstrates that of a productive member of society. Sometimes these reminders can be as subtle equating your differences to your incarceration. Other times they are as blatant as the employment box “have you ever been convicted of a felony.” Either way, society will never disassociate you from your past once you have a criminal record. This is the struggle for many because rehabilitation itself is the person no longer associating themselves with the person who committed the crime. And it is mentally frustrating to be reminder that you are who you were and not capable of change. And this is just as debilitating as being denied housing and/or employment based on a criminal past.

So, what can be done to change society’s perspective on people coming out of prison?

First, the language used to describe us is important. Terms like “ex-con,” “felon,” “criminal,” and even “returning citizen” reduces us to our conviction and make it difficult to see who we have become. We are citizens, nothing less, and should be identified as such when we conduct ourselves as law-abiding citizens.

Second, judge us for who we are, without the prejudice of our crime. Remember that reentry is a two-way street. The person coming home has a responsibility to change, but society has a responsibility to recognize that change. If society tells people they have paid their debt, then eventually they must stop collecting. Because at some point, the question is no longer whether we have paid our debt. The question becomes whether there was 100% APR on the debt.

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