Michael Baldwin Senior is a Modesto Community Advocate and paralegal. This article is the first in a series on the challenges faced by current and former convicts in their quest to successfully reenter society. It’s written in collaboration with Tom Portwood. 

​

I’m a former convict. I don’t consider the term a label but a source of strength. I am also blessed to be living in the Valley, working as a paralegal for a highly respected law firm, and advocating for other former convicts and many others who are still incarcerated.

​

It’s been a long road to this point in my life where I can proudly say I’m contributing in meaningful ways to my community. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that we are all in this together.

​

I walked out of Corcoran State Prison thirty months ago and into society for the first time in nearly twenty-seven years. It was an amazing feeling, almost scary.

​

It was also a hard-won moment after many years of soul-searching and rehabilitation. And I didn’t do it alone — no, I received a lot of help from many of my fellow inmates along the way. Rehabilitation — that’s the word — the concept itself is greatly misunderstood by society.