Meet Cameron.

My name is Cameron Bryan Dodd, I'm 39 years old and I've been incarcerated going on 13 years. As I approach the end of my mandatory sentence, I find myself finally seeing past my time in, and preparing myself for reentry into a community that has progressed almost two decades without me. I am proud of the fact that I never allowed this system to program me to the point of being “institutionalized" but I am also not naive enough to think I am going to be able to fit right back into the society my choices got me removed from.

To prepare myself to become a “productive member of society" or more honestly, a good neighbor, I know I have to educate myself and expose myself to people and opportunities who operate apart from this system. Pursuing higher education helps in so many more ways than most would consider or think of.

To be able to pursue a degree in here gives us a purpose and quantifiable goals. We have a direction and being in a class setting with teachers and helpers who are free, keeps our minds and conversations expanded beyond our current circumstances.

For those of us who are at the end of our sentence, it gives us a “North Star" that helps us better prepare a plan for finishing our pursuit outside of these walls and presents us with a path to follow as we continue our journey in this life.

Put simply, it gives some of us a release plan, and one that we might've never had thoughts of if not for the opportunity of these classes being offered to us through groups such as CRE. 

I'm beyond grateful and feel very indebted to anyone who offered, not a hand out, but a hand up, to any of us in here who really wanted to do more with their lives and that alone creates an accountability succeed even more.