At the age of 47 I was sent back to prison because of a fight I had at my job. I was on parole at the time from doing a 20 year bid I picked up from a family member stealing money from me. I went to jail in 2001 and came home in 2017 instead of 2018. This was because I received my GED at Pelican Bay prison and then a A.A. degree from Coastline College. I knew prison was not a place for me so I knew I made a regrettable decision that would affect not just me but my family as well. Therefore, going into from day one my plan begin and that was focusing on being a better father, husband, teacher and community leader. Being out of prison I was focused on building up the community that needed my help. I would feed the homeless every month, teach children in our after school program for free and teach Martial Arts to the youth. Before leaving prison I started a nonprofit called Sokoto Services. This vehicle was dealing with half way houses. Houses that was needed for the returning citizens coming back from a long prison term. I had a couple of houses getting ready to open in Stockton, Oakland and Sacramento. Two of the cities were very helpful. I was just waiting for for California Department of Corrections to clear everything. In Stockton I was dealing with the city councilmen which was on board because of the work he seen me doing in his city not just lip service. My company was sending things back into the prison for men and women. I had programs that I designed to help people to prepare to stay out of prison and prepare to come home. Fast forward, in 2019 I came to work and got into a fight which I was days off before getting off parole. I was hit in the face first and therefore pushed the person in the throat to back off of me. There was NO MARKS from any hit in the face but I was charged with a fight. So I would leave the job and try to go home and ended up in a high speed chase. I was given 3 years 8 months in September 20, 2019. Therefore, the life I knew would change and I would once again lose everything I owned. Starting over would be a challenge but back to the game plan that I had stared before would put me back on the right track to success. Now remember this all started from a fight but I was charged wit a high speed chase. Just before I was getting ready to go home I was charged with a three strike case. Now, I was looking at 45 years to life for a fight. I was took back from prison to the county jail to start a new trail as if this was a new case. I had to sell my house which I worked hard to get to pay for my lawyer. I had made my family homeless and the wife I had at the time left with taking the money I have saved up. She didn’t work I was the sole provider of the household. It took eight months and I would end up with seven years more to do. So, the new plan was in effect starting from nothing and doing it by myself as I had did on the last time which I did the 20 year term. Therefore my date to come home now would be 2024. Every time I have put together a release plan while I have been in the inside. Plus I always put three back up plans to reenforce my plans if the first one don’t work. This would ensure me with a plan to return back to society in a good way. This would open opportunities for me and those who came after me. As a justice- impacted person who would want to hire someone like me except for the person who prepared for it. Since 2019, I have worked hard than ever. I am working with an attorney from NYU law school who is teaching me about the law and justice reforms. I have received my AA degree in Sociology, History, Business, Social Behavior, Social Sciences and I am up for three more this semester Psychology, Social Justice Studies. I have two certificates with honor from Blackstone in criminal and civil law. I am attending Colorado state university- Pueblo and trying to receive my B.A. in Criminology. I have over one hundred self-help group certificates and I am a facilitator for a couple of them. I am learning how to write screen plays and do documentaries which I plan to use to help justice- impacted people like myself. These stories need to be told. Therefore, my plans is to come home and work with justice-impacted people and whoever is willing to work with me. I will leave you with a saying through struggle comes success but no work leaves a mess! Look forward to seeing all of you, there is a lot of work that need to be done! Justice to the people! All people! Kifa Muhammad #T45669 PO Box 5248 Corcoran, Ca 93212
