Our team at Prison Professors is grateful for every opportunity to collaborate with the magnificent team at the Edovo Foundation. Edovo goes a long way toward ending intergenerational cycles of recidivism with its platform that delivers educational content to people in prison.
Education changed my life while I served a 45-Year Prison Sentence. Although I didn’t have access to Edovo when authorities arrested me, on August 11, 1987, I’ve been working closely with the Edovo team since I concluded my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons, in 2013.
When authorities arrested me, I didn’t know what to expect. I was only 23 and I’d never been confined before that day. Over the 26 years, I learned how to think differently, largely because I read the stories of other people who transformed their lives while living in confinement of one type or another. Education can unlock a person’s mind, opening possibilities for resilience and renewal.
To spread awareness, the Edovo Foundation has launched an intiative called Unlock Day, on March 25, 2025. Since education, and Edovo has played such an integral part of my life, I want to share the story with anyone who follows my work.
National Unlock Day presents an opportunity to spread awareness by sharing a single 🔓 emoji. It could make an enormous difference for those currently living behind bars. Funders pledge to make a donation to fund Edovo’s mission for every emoji that people share. National Unlock Day can open more opportunities for people in jail and prison to learn, because Edovo uses those resources to spread more programs.
What is Unlock Day?
Unlock Day is a national campaign that the Edovo Foundation launched. It will take place every year on March 25. The fund-raising initiative will spread awareness and generate resources to expand, providing more educational access to incarcerated individuals who currently don’t have it.
Every time someone posts the unlock emoji (🔓) on social media with hashtags like #UnlockDay and #Edovo, donors will fund a full day of education for one incarcerated person. That means your small action could lead directly to change.
With approximately one million incarcerated individuals in the U.S. lacking access to education, Unlock Day aims to bring awareness to this disparity while providing a clear pathway to solutions.
I know firsthand what happens when people get access to education:
- Reduced Recidivism: Studies show that educational programming lowers the rate of recidivism by 43%. This means fewer people return to prison after release, ending the relentless cycle of incarceration.
- Employment Opportunities: Those who participate in these programs are 13% more likely to find stable, gainful employment post-incarceration.
- Generational Impact: When incarcerated individuals have access to learning, their families, especially their children, benefit. It breaks the cycle of imprisonment passing from one generation to the next.
When I began working with Edovo in 2013 shortly after leaving prison, the organization was just making its start. We shared a vision of bringing education into spaces that too often lacked it. Through our collaboration, we created courses and placed them in prisons, reaching tens of thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands of individuals.
Over the past year, I’ve collaborated with Edovo to raise more than $1 million to fund their platform, and I know we’re having an impact.
Drive Change and Impact
Unlock Day brings awareness to the value of education in prisons. The justice system may not allocate enough resources to motivate personal growth within those facilities. Initiatives like Unlock Day can raise sufficient resources to help.
A quick post on your favorite social media platform, using the 🔓 emoji and the hashtags #UnlockDay and #Edovo, can spark momentum. Each 🔓 shared translates to a meaningful day of education for someone behind bars.
If we fill our feeds with these emojis on March 25, we can inspire state leaders to act. Unlocking education for one person is powerful. Unlocking it for millions? That’s transformational.
Participate
Participating in Unlock Day is simple:
- Mark the date – Circle March 25 on your calendar.
- Post the 🔓 emoji – Share it on your social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) with the hashtags #UnlockDay and #Edovo.
- Spread the word – Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to participate. Share the immense impact education has on reducing recidivism and changing lives.
- Join the Conversation – Talk about Unlock Day. Share what education has meant to you or someone you know if it’s relevant.
Every voice amplifies the movement, making it easier to reach that one more person who might unlock what’s been holding them back.
Unlock Day supports those who strive to bring education into jails and prisons. Together we can be the change we want to see.
Tweet:
Post your unlock emoji on March 25. Together, we can shape a path toward lasting change—one learner, one day, one 🔓 at a time. #UnlockDay and #Edovo
