Portraits of a New Beginning: Carlos Cervantes

«There is an automatic connection with people coming out of prison. I am proof that you can rebuild your dreams and go on with your life. You can be successful.»

Carlos Cervantes says he faced an unfamiliar world after spending 10 years and eight months in prison. “I went in when I was 16, and I got out when I was 27. I had never had a driver’s license, a car or paid rent. At 27, I had to start doing all that, which is a huge responsibility.” In 2012, Stanford Law School attorney Michael Romano and other friends asked him to help start a program to people coming out of prison, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC). Many lose with family and friends after long sentences, he says, and need logistical and moral upon release to reintegrate into the community and be productive. “I tell them I like to work, and I work hard so I can my family, buy a car, buy a house,” Carlos says. “And when they see that you are proof of that, they talk to you differently — they act differently. Their self- esteem goes up; they start to believe that they can do it too.” Since its inception, the ARC has served more than 500 people. “The moment we start treating them as people,” he adds, “and not as a number, they change — they start rehabilitating themselves, and they know they can do it.”

^{* The testimonies in "Portraits of a New Beginning" were collected and edited by Ana María Carrano, María Gabriela Méndez, Olivia Liendo and Tamoa Calzadilla, under the coordination of Olivia Liendo and Ana María Carrano.}

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