Rev. Reggie Longcrier has been the Chaplain of Catawba Correctional Center in Newton, N.C. For 22 years, and it’s hard to believe that one of the most respected community leaders in this area spent 25 years going in and out of prison while addicted to heroin and cocaine. In “From Disgrace to Dignity” his journey begins on the street corners of Atlantic City, N.J. where he began his life of crime as a young boy with purse snatching, shoplifting, and breaking and entering. He began serving time in reformatories at age eleven and graduated as an adult to some of the roughest prisons in the country including Rahway and Rikers Island.
Rosa Bryant a native of Raleigh N.C. Her parents moved to Baltimore Maryland when she was eleven years old, and there is where she graduated from high school. \
As a high school student she started hanging with the wrong crowd and indulging in alcohol and drugs. As a young adult, she moved back to Raleigh and continued to affiliate with negative people. Later she began using hard drugs which brought about criminal behavior and that landed her in jail more times than I care to count. Prisons and jails became her second home. I became a revolving door to prison, with no direction. She lost focus on what was important in life (herself, living, morals, values, etc…). Her unhealthy choices were high prices to pay.
Along with his notable book, “Campaign 4 Change Testimonials”, Otis Lyons composed a new curriculum,
“Street Life Education” on DVD. His prevention and intervention methods have been used throughout the state educating audiences on gang awareness.
Alexander Miller is a native of Richmond Virginia. In 1981 he was sentenced to four life terms by the state of North Carolina. While incarcerated, Mr. Miller was instrumental in starting a crime deterrent program for youth called “Think Smart” in Central prison in 1983.
Wonis spent most of his childhood and impressionable years in Brooklyn, New York. His outgoing nature and the desire to have the “finer” things in life were instrumental in his decision to earn some “fast” money as a drug dealer.
