Tracey’s only memory of his father is the two weeks they spent incarcerated at the same time at Graterford Prison. Tracey was 19 years old and facing a mandatory life without parole sentence for a crime committed when he was 17. This was his first encounter with the prison system, and his father’s advice was to be tough to survive. Following that advice, Tracey assaulted a corrections officer, earning him an additional life sentence. 

“A sophomore in high school. A sister. A daughter. Still maturing and growing as a person.”

That’s how YSRP client-partner Christina would have described herself at 16 years old. The legal system saw her differently, trying and charging Christina with felony murder and changing the trajectory of her future significantly.

Marcus was only a teen when he first met Marcedes in the early 2000s. When she thinks about the story of her and Marcus’s life together, her face lights up. “We’ve written a long book,” Marcedes says. “Actually, there are volumes.”

On April 9, 2019, Juan walked out of prison after 29 years. He calls that Chapter 1. It started when he was incarcerated at 17 years old. Sentenced to die in prison as a child, his father’s deep faith sustained him. “My father told me he prayed. The Lord said to him, ‘I got him there and I'll get him out.'"

In some ways, family is complicated. Through fights and forgiveness, through trauma and healing, through separation and reunification, Nina and her son, Sadiq, have remained deeply connected to each other. Their love has been consistent. Permanent.

Zakair describes himself as determined. He’s that and more. When faced with an opportunity or a chance to reach one of his goals, Zakair pursues it as much as possible. Zakair possesses something special that belies his young age (now 22): he can see the life he wants for himself, and he’s working hard to manifest it. He embodies determination.

Dara Ingram, along with her mother Ruby, always knew that incarceration was not the end of her brother Shariff’s story. Shariff left prison in September 2020 after nearly 23 years of incarceration. That moment was profound for Shariff and for Dara.

Imean loves to learn about things he can’t physically see. His mind soars into other dimensions, in spite of the roadblocks he’s faced. At 15, Imean was arrested, for the first time in his life and charged as an adult. Almost as soon as YSRP engaged with him and his attorney, Imean’s case was decertified, or moved to the juvenile justice system. And, after spending a year in adult jail, Imean came home this Spring.