“My grandfather went to Sing Sing. My father, my uncle, my brother went to Sing Sing. I went to Sing Sing." 

Poor schools. Violent neighborhoods. Easy drugs.  No jobs. No support. No options. In the disadvantaged communities of urban America, the cradle-to-prison pipeline locks young men out of opportunity long before it locks them up.

Meet 15 men doing something about it—15 men who got an education inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility, and used it to break out of the cycle. Today, they are role models for young men in their communities. And they are here to put a human face on effective solutions to ending the epidemic of mass incarceration in America today.

By: Babita Patel