Change Agents The Podcast
Reparations Media & Juneteenth Productions
Are YOU a “Change Agent”? Organizer. Activist. Educator. Policy maker. Block club leader. Nonprofit founder. Religious leader. Business owner. Voter. Neighbor.
Change Agents is a documentary series revealing the power of community-driven activism told by those in the fight. These are the stories you aren’t hearing — told by and for communities of color and other marginalized communities that have long been overlooked, misrepresented and maligned.
Headquartered in Chicago and produced across the Midwest, we highlight authentic, actionable, grassroots solutions to society’s most pressing problems — including reentry after incarceration, homeownership disparities, anti-Blackness, the mental health crisis, and more.
Produced by a team made up of BIPOC, female, queer and disabled journalists, for Reparations Media, with support from Juneteenth Productions.
Executive Producers: Judith McCray and Maurice Bisaillon. Senior Producer: Mary Hall. Operations & Digital Manager: Nicole Nir. Head of Development: Alina Panek. Sound Design: Erisa Apantaku & Will Jarvis.
Follow us wherever you get podcasts, or at changeagentsthepodcast.com. Subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/change_agents_newsletter.
Change Agents The Podcast
Wendell Robinson: Life Sentence to Reentry Reform
Sentenced to life in prison at just 19 years old, Wendell Robinson drew his own map to freedom. Now, through his work at Restore Justice, Robinson uses his experience and knowledge to help other formerly incarcerated people navigate the reentry system and find their place in society.
Produced by Skylah Martinez, Bing Wang, and Eliza Westhusing for Reparations Media NFP | In collaboration with Wendell Robinson and Restore Justice Foundation
Donate to Reparations Media & Change Agents Production Lab
Reparationsmedia.org changeagentsthepodcast.com
changeagents@reparationsmedia.org
You don't have to be afraid of people that have served extended periods of time in prison. We can come home with the right, you know, support. We can come home and adjust and contribute. Sometimes a person just needs a chance, a fair shake at whatever it is that they want to do. And having a fair shake can be the difference in, you know, a person really making it.
SPEAKER_01:That's Wendell Robinson, Executive Director of Restore Justice. I'm Skyla Martinez with an interview with Wendell Robinson alongside co-producers Bing Wong and Eliza Westhusing, and this is Change Agents, the podcast. In 1992, Robinson was just 17 when he was arrested for the murder of two men. He was then charged and sentenced to life without possibility of parole. He remembers the judge saying, I wouldn't give it to you if I didn't have to, but I have to because this is what the statute reads.
SPEAKER_00:I was 19 years old. I ended up in probably one of the tougher maximum security prisons in the country at the time, being Stateville.
SPEAKER_01:Robinson denies firing the gun that killed the men. Under Illinois law of accountability, He was considered guilty even if he didn't pull the trigger. The law states that a person is responsible for another's crime, including murder, if they knowingly aided, abetted, or attempted to aid in the planning of it. Despite his sentence, Robinson never gave up hope that he would one day be a free man. He was offered a chance to grow through a mentor he met at Stateville Correctional Center.
SPEAKER_00:When I got to prison, it was an older guy. I had knew his brother, you know, prior to me coming to prison. He was someone that was pretty much established. People respected him or whatever, right? He and I had a conversation. So his thing was, while you here, I'm gonna put some fat on your head. Meaning like, I'm gonna teach you something while you here. He started me to just like, or just giving me books. Like, okay, read this and we'll talk about them, right? It became a habit of me, you know, having that. thirst for knowledge. His biggest thing was, everything that I've done for you, I just want you to do it for someone else. That's where the pay it forward came from with me.
SPEAKER_01:In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court case, Miller v. Alabama, ruled that mandatory life without parole sentences for minors under 18 was unconstitutional. Robinson decided to pursue a resentencing under Miller in January of 2018. His faith was rewarded and he was released from prison that year. After decades of incarceration, he knew the transition would be hard. His success would hinge on finding work.
SPEAKER_00:I obtained a CDL, but I had a background. It was so many recruiters, so many companies that didn't want to give me a chance. And then I did finally find work with a particular company. They just treated me so bad. They treated me so bad. It was so bad that I had to change. I had to do something different.
SPEAKER_01:After eight months of driving trucks... different became working in prison advocacy. Robinson was introduced to advocacy while at Menard Correctional Center. It was there that he met Joby Cates, executive director of the nonprofit organization Restore Justice. The program was at the prison helping people prepare for life after incarceration. When Robinson decided to leave trucking for advocacy work in May 2019, he reached out to Cates, looking for a space where his skills and passion would be appreciated.
SPEAKER_00:But by me having an existing relationship with the organization, I was able to tell her the position that I was in. And she came up with the idea that I'm going to make you my apprentice. I'm going to teach you what it is that I know about, you know, just this nonprofit space. Everything is going to be hands-on.
SPEAKER_01:Robinson never forgot the promise he made to his former mentor to pay it forward.
SPEAKER_00:And I think from me having that opportunity to grow with her, to learn from her, learn her management style, it kind of just developed into the next thing. The next thing was I wanted to create an opportunity like I had been given coming into Restore Justice for other system impacted people.
SPEAKER_01:After starting as an apprentice, Robinson rose to executive director in just five years. In that time, he founded the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program, or FLAP. FLAP mentors formerly incarcerated people who possess a deep commitment to social justice. Robinson knew that for the program to succeed, it would need to address the most immediate needs of its mentees.
SPEAKER_00:You know, people need to be stabilized, and oftentimes stabilization comes by way of a wage, a livable wage. So we wanted to give that to people. We wanted people to come in, and we were going to pay them to learn. But also, we wanted to give people the idea or the concept of what a healthy benefit packet looked like. I mean, to come home and have access to health, dental, vision. And then even we also took it a step Flap
SPEAKER_01:is specifically designed to equip system-impacted individuals with the skills needed to become prison reform advocates. Robinson used his own experience as a roadmap.
SPEAKER_00:We felt like let's bring people in and train them up so people directly affected by our carceral system and then now having the opportunity to come home and be a part of an organization like Restore Justice and really kind of learn the landscape. The idea is, you know, after the apprenticeship program, a person will have all the skill set if they want to start their own nonprofit.
UNKNOWN:you
SPEAKER_00:So I think the thing about the apprenticeship program that I am really proud of is just we've created something unique, something to help stabilize people. We don't have the luxury of squandering opportunities. I liken the Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program to that of a launching pad. Utilize, restore justice to catapult you into being a part of this social justice movement.
SPEAKER_01:Robinson is also proud of the work Restore Justice does to improve prison conditions.
SPEAKER_00:We have a piece of legislation that we just got passed. We want the Illinois Department of Corrections to report quarterly how it is that they use solitary confinement. When you think about international standards, anyone that serves more than 10 days in isolation, that is considered torture. But in Illinois, you have people that have indeterminate sentences. I know people that have been in solitary of confinement for 20, 25, 30 years.
SPEAKER_01:He also strives to improve the lives of those exiting prison with parole reform. Without parole, those incarcerated are forced to serve their entire sentence with no possibility of early release.
SPEAKER_00:One of the things that we are really proud of at Restore Justice is our youthful parole bill that we were able to pass in 2019. So with this piece of legislation, we were able to bring back parole opportunities for people who were charged and convicted before their 21st birthday.
SPEAKER_01:Robinson continues to use his story to inspire anyone who is systems impacted, including current and formerly incarcerated people, as well as their families and friends.
SPEAKER_00:We are going totally against what people like to think about our carceral system, it being a landfill. Those places, gold mines, like seriously, gold mines. I can say for a fact that I'm not an exception. I'm definitely an example because there's so many people that's still there that if they get the opportunity, we'll do some amazing, I mean, some really amazing stuff.
SPEAKER_01:For more information about Wendell Robinson and Restored Justice, visit restoredjustice.org.