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Leon, Kyle, and Ben entered prison at different times and for different crimes. But once inside, they seemed to share a similar outlook.

“At my lowest point during my incarceration, life felt meaningless,” said Leon, who entered prison in 2000. “I walked around with no aim and purpose, and no hope for the future.”

Kyle, who entered prison in 2017, felt similar. “I was afraid that a large portion of my life was going to be meaningless; that my time spent incarcerated was going to be wasted.”

The confines to their lives seemed as real as the bars on their cell doors and the 20-foot-tall fencing surrounding their prison yard.

From hopeless to full of purpose

But now in 2026, step inside the fences at Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan, and you’ll find the three mentoring, tutoring, and helping mediate differences among their peers. Their lives are now marked by purpose. 

So, how did the three get started on this path? Each points to a moment of unexpected invitation.

“There was a poster on the dayroom wall advertising the CPI program,” said Kyle.

“I was on the phone at Chippewa Correctional Facility and right next to this phone was a flyer for the 17c������� CPI program,” said Leon. “So, here I am waiting on the operator to proceed through her automated prompts so that my call can go through. In between her prompts and waiting for my call to be accepted, I started reading the flyer.”

“My sister researched ways by which she could ensure the safety of her little brother inside prison,” said Ben. “Through her efforts, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, she became informed about the CPI program.”

An unexpected greeting

All three applied and were accepted into the 17c������� Prison Initiative (CPI) program – a five-year program that provides a Christian liberal arts education to incarcerated individuals. In July 2021, they were transported to Handlon Correctional Facility where the program is administered and received an unexpected greeting.

“The greeting was so profound that I had to step backward because there was such an influx of CPI students wanting to greet me,” said Ben.

“I noticed a difference in the inmates immediately,” said Leon. “No one stood around watching me suspiciously, instead several inmates greeted me with the words, ‘Welcome to Handlon Campus, 17c������� Knight!’”

“It was a humanizing moment. I began to see myself as being worthy of being treated like a person again,” said Kyle.

That original reception was just a foretaste of what the three would experience over the next five years.

Discovering a renewed identity

“The faculty members were unfazed by the fact that they were walking into a prison. They saw us as human beings ready and willing to learn, and from that very moment, they treated us as students,” said Leon.

Through the program, they developed skills they now use as peer mentors and tutors. Which is possible because they began to see themselves differently.

“I began to see myself as a person that was smart, capable of doing anything that I put my mind to, and a leader worthy of a second chance,” said Leon.

Seeing others in a new light

There would indeed be ripple effects to this new realization. Kyle, Leon, and Ben were starting to see others in a new light and starting to realize their responsibility to promote human flourishing within their community.

“I understand that I am to be a light on a hill. Jesus showed us how to live, but he’s not here holding our hands. We have to do what he showed us, and that is what I have experienced from others at many times during this program and how I now strive to live my life,” said Kyle.

“With this education my responsibility to others arose. Living my life is not just about I and me, rather it is about we and us … Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perichoresis with one another, we too are called to be in relationship with God and others,” said Ben. “My life behind bars involves not only being cognizant of opportunities to serve others, but also looking for places where God is working so that I can insert myself and share the knowledge, wisdom, and skills CPI has provided with others.”

Serving on the inside

On Thursday, May 21, Kyle, Leon, and Ben joined more than 100 individuals who have now completed bachelor’s degrees through the 17c������� Prison Initiative. They also join a growing network of graduates serving their communities from within.

“I realized my life has meaning, purpose, and direction,” said Ben. “That is, to be an agent of renewal serving both God and others.”
 
Ben serves as a facilitator and peer mentor in Breaking the Chains – a substance abuse program, where he is using skills learned in theology, pastoral care, social work, and psychology to support, encourage, and assist others who are struggling with a variety of debilitating issues. 

Leon is using his time and what he’s learned in the program to serve his community through mentoring, tutoring, and mediating conflicts between peers.

Kyle is using active listening and maintaining a stance of not-knowing – skills he learned in his social work classes – to help him become a better tutor in the welding program in Handlon’s Vocational Village and peer mentor in Breaking the Chains.