Charles A. Smith Jr.

Charles A. Smith Jr. was 20 years old when he was convicted of a crime that he thought merited at most 18 months of imprisonment. Instead, he received a 21-year sentence.

As a 15-year-old boy, Charles gravitated away from his household, dropped out of high school, and began selling drugs. This series of events led to an eventual prison sentence that was longer than his entire lifespan up to that point.

In prison, Charles acquired his GED, attended the University of the District of Columbia in Lorton Reformatory, married, and had a child. However, soon after these accomplishments and milestones, Charles was extradited to Virginia State jurisdiction, which led to his divorce 4 years later. But Charles again rebounded, this time by “finding God” and, consequently,“finding himself.” He became an editor of a monthly intramural newsletter, a counselor’s aid, a primary facilitator and workshop trainer of Substance Abuse Programs, Youth Outreach Programs and Prevention Recidivism programs, and a Senior Cognitive Coordinator of a Reentry Facility while studying for his Associates in Social Sciences at Germanna Community College. After spending 21 years in prison, Charles was released on May 13th, 2013 at the age of 41, coming home to a strong support system of family and friends and an outside world that could benefit from the skills he gained while incarcerated.

Despite his own accomplishments and his successful reentry, Charles feels that “most prisons do very little to improve social environments,” and that they instead “produce antisocial behavior,” due to the “cages, close quarters, poor food, chains and handcuffs, forced movement, limited rights, and lack of privacy.” Drawing from his experience with the justice system, Charles began working at Project Empowerment, a transitional employment program, before progressing to the field of Workforce Development as a job coach. Charles’ reentry came full-circle when he purchased a home in 2017 and remarried his wife Naz 2 years later, at long last achieving the lifestyle he yearned for behind bars.