Damon West

And I go out there and I earn the respect of all those guys out there.

And then I started transforming myself inside that prison.

And I started serving other men.

I learned about servant leadership.

Servant leadership is when you help other people reach their goals in life.

I start teaching guys how to read and write.

I get guys ready for the GED test so if they ever get out, they can be a better husband or a better father one day.

And I watched these guys learn how to serve each other in there.

And that's what's really got parole's attention when they finally let me go in 2015 on parole for the rest of my life.

When I got out of prison, I found out there were other men waiting to serve me.

Servant leadership, right?

You know, Mick, when I got out, I knew I was sitting on a credible story and a great message.

But the problem was there just weren't a lot of places for me to share that story.

And I found out really quick, you can't go knock on the door of a high school and say, I just got out of prison.

I want to talk to your kids.

I mean, they will chase you down the street.

I didn't have a lot of places to go speak in the very beginning.

And I lived in my parents' spare bedroom for the first two years I was out of prison.

I lived with my parents.

I was grateful to have a spare bedroom.