A Journey of Redemption and Renewal: How I Stayed Out of Prison, Changed My Life, and Rebuilt The Community I Once Helped Destroy.

Friday, March 6th, 2026. On the steps of Columbia University's Teacher's College after facilitating a talk titled "Meeting Yourself and Clarifying Your Vision" for their 2nd Annual Collaborative Student's Organization Event, rightfully called "Your Vision To Social Impact. Your Story Can Change The World"

On Friday, March 9th, 2007, I walked out of Queensborough Correctional Facility a free man. I wasn't innocent. I wasn't perfect. And I damn sure wasn't healed. But I was free. And I knew even then that that would be enough. I learned something important then.

That when the gates open, you don't just walk out free, you walk out into the responsibility of who you are going to become next.

That can be scary, and it can be heavy. It takes courage and strength to accept that responsibility. And to be successful? To remain free? That takes being conscious and setting an intention. This is where so many lack. They walk out of prison free, but they haven't set a concrete intention for their lives. More on that later.

Anyway, today marks 19 years since that day. 19 years of staying free. 19 years of rewiring my brain and taking control of my mind. 19 years of actively rebuilding the community I once helped destroy. Where I come from, this kind of transformation is rare. It's rare not because people can't change, and not because people don't want to change. It's rare because the systems that are in place, along with the environments and habits that lead people to prison, often pull them right back in. But me? I refused to go back. Not once. I didn't want that to be my story. Over the last 19 years, I realized something very important. And that's staying out of prison is a mindset, a commitment, a way of living, and sometimes a little bit of protection from your angels, ancestors, and ascended masters, as well as your deities, orishas, neteru, and your saints.

Through this article, I'm going to briefly lay out how I did it.

1. I Literally Changed My Mind Before Changing My Life.

The most dangerous prison isn't the one made of steel bars and concrete. No. The most dangerous prison is the one in your mind.

Even before my release I knew something simple, but powerful: if I kept thinking the way I've always thought, I would live the same life, and eventually get the same results, if not worse. So I began doing the hardest work a human can do. I rewired my thinking.

• I will talk more about this in the book next year, because my journey wasn't perfect. I did make some questionable decisions during the first 18 months of my release, the whole time I was on post release supervision. My sustained freedom definitely had some angels guiding me and protecting me even from my own stinking thinking and foolish behaviors. Praise God!

I deepened my studies on psychology, spirituality, neuroscience, philosophy, and personal development. I really picked apart my life. I observed my own actions and my environment through a different lens. I learned how trauma shapes behavior. How environment shapes identity. And how belief and perspective shapes destiny. I literally became obsessed with understanding the mind. I knew for a fact that if I could change my mind, I could change my life.

April, 2024. In Queensbridge during the launch of Connected Chef's Sliding Scale Urban Farm Stand. The first of its kind in public housing.

2. I Took Radical Responsibility.

In all reality, I could have blamed many things. I could've blamed the system. I could've blamed my environment. I could've blamed my trauma. I could've blamed my mother. Heck, I could've even blamed my father for passing away when he did. And you know what? At some point in my younger years, I did blame all those entities. Some of those things were very real. The systems suck, my father died when I needed him most, my environment was insane, and my mother had many issues. All of that is very real. But I knew that blaming them wouldn't allow me to build the future I wanted for myself. So I made a decision. I decided to take full responsibility for every single action I had made up to that point, and every single action I would make going forward.

I once heard someone say, "The situation you are born into is not your fault. But how your life ends up is your responsibility."

I would often hear people say, "You gotta take responsibility for your actions", and I attributed that to punishment. I've since learned that taking responsibility isn't punishment, but rather, it is a great form of power. To be accountable and responsible for my choices, my habits, my energy, and my direction is indeed powerful. The opposite would mean that others are in control of my life. That I was powerless. I wasn't with that. The moment I took full responsibility for my life was the moment I became capable of transforming it.

3. I Built A New Identity

A lot of people try to change their life while still holding onto their old identity. That rarely works. But I get it. You are who you've always been. It's hard to let go of a version of yourself you've been for a long time, especially when you are popular, known and loved by many. It's hard. But it's necessary. For me, I stopped seeing myself as a slave, a drug dealer, and someone who couldn't accomplish certain things because my dad had died. I stopped seeing myself as incapable because of my anger, or because I had a GED and was a college drop-out.

I took the shackles off my mind. I started asking myself a very direct question: Who do I want to become?

January 2026. Queensbridge Park. Photoshoot with my brother Naiqui of One Eye Shutt Photography.

That question led me down a path of purpose. It led me back to my youth in South Jamaica Queens. It led me to myself. And so I became a speaker, an activist, an organizer, a coach, a mentor, an artist, a community builder, a teacher, and so much more. I was becoming very different than how I had been for so long. I was becoming someone I had never been before. I was becoming someone new. I was becoming World Healer.

4. I Committed To Service

I remember hearing or reading something like, "The most powerful way to transform your life is to lose yourself in service to others." I can attest to this wisdom. I realized that I had taken so much from my community, I had extracted so much from my people, and it was time I began giving back. So I joined organizations. I attended meetings and community events. I expressed my concerns about things, whether it was impacting my local community, the city, the state, the country, or the world at large, every chance I could get. I created programs. I launched initiatives. I led workshops. I mentored young people. I supported my elders. And I built spaces for healing and expression.

The same neighborhood I once caused so much harm in became the place I committed to uplifting most.

And here's something extremely valuable that I learned in the process; service heals the person who serves, just as much as much as it does the person/people being served.

5. I Stayed Disciplined When Nobody Was Watching

Please fully understand, overstand, and innerstand that transformation isn't built in public. It damn sure ain't performative. It happens in the quiet moments. It happens in the early mornings and during the late nights. It happens when you are faced with difficult choices. It happens when you resist temptation. It happens when you let go of habits that no longer serve you, and begin repeating habits that are aligned with who you want to become. It happens when there are no cameras, no journalists, and no applause. It happens when it's just you and your destiny, when it's just you and discipline.

Innerstand that for 19 years now I've stayed committed to the hardest work a human can do, and that's the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual work on myself. It's as if I surgically repaired every aspect of my being. And in some regards, that's exactly what I did.

I realize now that freedom isn't just something you achieve when you walk out of prison, no. It's something you practice every single day.

The Bigger Mission

Over the last 19 years, my journey has grown bigger than just me staying out of prison. It's become my mission. The mission that I knew in my soul I was here to fulfill since I was as young as 7 years of age. To heal the world and make it a better place for you and for me, and the entire human race. Through my work with Lashawn Marston Enterprises, the NeuroSoul Liberation Method, and my vision for Continuum, A Platform For Becoming, which is a platform dedicated to human transformation, I've committed my life to helping people rewire their brains and rebuild their lives.

You see, what I know firsthand is this: Humans can change. Not just slightly either. Radically!

Looking Toward Year 20

March 9th, 2027 will mark 20 years since my release from prison. For someone with my background, from where I come from, that milestone means something. Not just for me. But for every single person that believes their past, their circumstances, and their trauma determines their future. This article serves as a reflection. And a soft guide. But it's also the beginning of something much, much bigger. Over the next year, I'll be expanding this into some form of book about transformation, redemption, and rebuilding life after being in prison. I really want to help my friends, and the many incarcerated, and formerly incarcerated people out there.

If my story proves one thing, it's this: Your past may shape you, but it damn sure doesn't have to sentence you.

19 years ago I walked out of prison. But the real journey began afterward. The journey of becoming. And the reality is, I'm still on that journey of becoming. It is indeed continuous...

Probably the most profound lesson I've learned over the last 19 years is that freedom isn't the day you leave prison, it's the life you build afterward.

Thank you for reading this article. If you are a formerly incarcerated individual, I want you to know that you can still create any life you desire. If you know a formerly incarcerated individual, please share this article with them. The same unyielding faith I have in myself, is the same unyielding faith I have in you, and in all of us. Change is possible. We just have to want it bad enough. And it helps to be in environments that support your transformation. Above all else, believe in yourself, and believe in the beauty of your dreams.

Let's stay free!

In Service and Solidarity,

Lashawn "Suga Ray" Marston,

Founder - Lashawn Marston Enterprises and Continuum, A Platform For Becoming

Friday, March 6th, 2026. During my "Meeting Yourself and Clarifying Your Vision" talk at Columbia University's Teacher's College for their 2nd Annual Collaborative Student's Organization Event, rightfully called "Your Vision To Social Impact. Your Story Can Change The World"