High School Student Goes To Prison, Then Inmates Start Planning

Syon Green (right) was a hardworking high school student facing a ton of pressure. His parents wanted to keep him out of the local public school, which had issues with gangs, drugs, and fighting, so Sy was enrolled in an elite high school, Palma School, which cost $1,200 per month to attend. There, students participated in a program you don’t find at other schools.

With Palma’s high status as an elite school, anyone would be surprised to learn about their ties with prison inmates at California’s Soledad State Prison. It was a shock and, for some, a terror, but for the high schoolers, it was always an eye-opening experience.

The Salinas high school created a partnership with the Soledad State Prison’s Correctional Training Facility to put together a reading group for both inmates and high school students. While it may seem controversial to allow young students to be so close to incarcerated prisoners, the reading group turned out to be a huge success.

The two populations joined together to develop greater understanding of one another. One side was filled with inexperienced youth, eager to learn and grow. The others were older folks who admitted their choices were wrong and were also hoping to learn and grow. This program was another step in making sure kids stayed on the right path.

For six months, Syon Green studied hard to remain at Palma School, an elite prep school for boys, and hoped to make his parents’ hefty investment into private school pay off. But halfway through the school year, his entire future was put in jeopardy when his father, Frank Green, fell into difficult circumstances.

Frank was the breadwinner of the Green household, and his earnings, in addition to financial aid, were what kept Syon at Palma. When he started facing heart problems, however, he couldn’t work like he used to. Frank needed surgery, which would cost him more than just money.

Because the heart surgery left Frank unable to work for some time, Sy’s education at Palma was unaffordable. Financial aid alone wasn’t enough to cover the lofty tuition, and if Sy wanted to stay in his classes — surrounded by his friends and top-of-the-line educators — he was going to have to find ulterior income streams.

At this point in time, when his life seemed on the verge of falling apart, Sy wasn’t a part of the program connecting the youth and inmates, though he wasn’t unfamiliar with the impact his classmates had at the prison. He was, however, in the dark as to just how much the high school meant to the prisoners.

Meanwhile, Sy, his fellow students, and prisoners became close, and the wholesome exchange made such an impact on Soledad’s inmates; they wanted to do something to pay it forward and give back to people in their community. After all, they had time to think in prison, and they’d decided to make up for past misdeeds.

A number of prisoners chose reform, to do good throughout their lives. With society’s unfortunate assumptions and fears directed at both current and former inmates, it takes a strong will to make it outside those bars. At Soledad, former inmates like Jason Bryant were working hard to make a difference, for lost prisoners and innocent students alike.

He knew Sy was special. His family “brought him into the prison to receive mentorship, to participate in groups with us, to share his goals and visions, and to really have accountability conversations with men in blue — men who had made terrible choices,” Jason said. “They put in an incredible amount of not only gratitude and appreciation, but also trust in us to help mentor their son. And that was remarkable.”

And, as the director for Restorative Work at the organization Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP), Jason helped formerly incarcerated people put their lives back together to make a difference in their communities. Before he ever met Sy, his continued ties with Soledad State Prison led him to Palma.

Jason had reconnected with his former partner in crime, Ted Gray, who had a particular idea to help pay it forward to Palma Prep. Ted believed that starting a scholarship for the high school would be a great gift. Jason wholeheartedly agreed. “Regardless of the poor choices that people make, most people want to take part in something good,” he said. “Guys were eager to do it.”

Because the men in the reading group cared for the young students who visited them, and they didn’t want any of the Palma Prep students to go down the same path as they did, they were honored to be role models for kids. Role models made impacts, and they weren’t going to skirt that responsibility. But, there were huge obstacles.

The biggest obstacle being you can’t exactly give away a scholarship if you don’t have any money. Prison wasn’t full of high-paying jobs that could support meaningful scholarships (minimum wage in the slammer was $.08). Every cent the prisoners made, they needed, and put to use for supplies and small luxuries. How could they raise money for kids?

In spite of their limited earning capabilities, the prisoners were determined to pool together enough of their earnings to create a scholarship for a lucky student. This scholarship was their way of doing some good in the world, after all. The length that inmates went to so they could participate was awe-inspiring.

Some who had no money to donate hustled to sell possessions or even food so they could be a part of the scholarship campaign. One inmate, Reggie, donated his entire monthly paycheck of $100 to the cause. Everyone chipped in to help out, and the money they pooled kept growing.

With so many of the inmates working hard to raise the funds for their Palma Prep scholarship, they reached $30,000! The scholarship money collected, the inmates couldn’t help but celebrate: that was a life-changing amount of money. As a group, they were ecstatic to arrange a meeting with the English and Theology teacher at Palma that created the student-inmate program.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” said the teacher, Jim Michellet. “They said, ‘We value you guys coming in. We’d like to do something for your school … can you find us a student on campus who needs some money to attend Palma?” He knew a student whose father just had heart surgery…

In the end the money went to a student who was close to saying goodbye to Palma: Syon Green. Thanks to all of the inmates’ hard work, Syon was able to graduate from Palma Prep — despite having once been on the verge of completely dropping out! The Green family was shocked and grateful.

Syon’s father was brought to tears from the incredibly generousity. “It brought me to tears,” Frank said. “At that particular time, it was a truly a blessing. It was unheard of.” The family began to visit the inmates who made a most honorable sacrifice, and four former inmates even attended Sy’s graduation. They all look forward to Syon’s bright future.

Sy soon began to attend college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he plays basketball and studies sports broadcasting. Wherever his future leads him, he will never forget the impact that the inmates, now called “the boys in blue,” had on him. In fact, he plans to keep visiting them.

“That’s only the right thing to do. Beyond the scholarship, the knowledge that they pour into you, that’s, that’s the best thing,” Sy said. “They definitely take my future serious and they genuinely do care about me as a person. As for the inmates? They have a message for the world.

“I don’t feel like myself or my team or the guys who contributed to this incredible gift for Sy are special. We’re just people who want to do good things,” said Jason Bryant. “If more people just decided to do good things, this world would be a better palace.” He pointed to a prison in Eastern New York to show what inmates are capable of.