"The day was May 5, 1993, and I had been in and out of jail 30-something times for aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, prostitution, and drugs. Mostly drugs. I was going to court expecting to get 3 years probation for a drug charge, but I was high on marijuana and lying on the stand, so Judge Joe Brown (yes, the TV judge) gave me an indefinite sentence. That meant there was no release date. You get out when the judge decides to let you out. It's at his discretion. I had four daughters, and Judge Brown talked about how my daughters needed me, how they were going to grow up to be prostitutes, and how people would use the same lies and deceit on my girls as I had used on women. He said that I might be doing time physically, but they were doing time too.
"I was at the Shelby County Correctional Center when my youngest girl came with her mother for a visit. She wasn't even a year old yet and this was the first time I had ever seen her walk. She was a Daddy's girl. Wherever I would go, she wanted to follow me. When visiting time was over and I had to go back in, she didn't want me to leave. She cried and tried to follow me. That's when the judge's words really hit me; they were true. My girls needed me, and I wanted to be there for them. I went back to my cell and cried. I just knew I didn't ever want to leave them again. 'Shock incarceration' is what they call it when you think you're getting probation and you get an indefinite sentence. It worked for me. It truly worked.
"That was 21 years ago. Once I was released, I never went back to jail. My life is completely different now. This December I'll graduate from the University of Memphis with my B.A. in Human Services. I've been with HopeWorks for 13 years now, teaching classes and trying to help guys who are in the same position I was in."
"I was at the Shelby County Correctional Center when my youngest girl came with her mother for a visit. She wasn't even a year old yet and this was the first time I had ever seen her walk. She was a Daddy's girl. Wherever I would go, she wanted to follow me. When visiting time was over and I had to go back in, she didn't want me to leave. She cried and tried to follow me. That's when the judge's words really hit me; they were true. My girls needed me, and I wanted to be there for them. I went back to my cell and cried. I just knew I didn't ever want to leave them again. 'Shock incarceration' is what they call it when you think you're getting probation and you get an indefinite sentence. It worked for me. It truly worked.
"That was 21 years ago. Once I was released, I never went back to jail. My life is completely different now. This December I'll graduate from the University of Memphis with my B.A. in Human Services. I've been with HopeWorks for 13 years now, teaching classes and trying to help guys who are in the same position I was in."
Antonio Owens, graduate of Hopeworks and now a teacher with the program, is pictured with the daughter who visited him in jail that day in 1993. Hopeworks is a non-profit organization serving the under-resourced in the Memphis area, striving to "break the cycle of crime, addiction, and generational poverty" through education, counseling, and career training.
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