Learning about Restorative Justice is what helped set my life toward truth and authenticity. I have learned to hold myself accountable and welcome other people to hold me accountable as well. My life has always been internally unbalanced after suffering a dysfunctional and violent upbringing. To add to my home challenges, my neighborhood was full of violence and bad role models. Prison was just as dysfunctional and violent as my home and street life. But mentorship, and self-help classes gave me peace and new direction. The concepts of Restorative Justice matched the values of my spiritual journey. This is how I found inner peace, happiness and self-love, in prison. As I started learning about trauma and abuse, and where it comes from, I let go of negative feelings against my family and had compassion on them. Learning about emotional intelligence helped me check my emotions and think before I act. This helped me forgive myself for past actions, and bad decisions. I let it go, along with the fear and shame I had lived with for so long. To make amends I work as a peer support mentor, helping others through the healing process I went through. I have a lifetime of amends to make.

Jeffery A. Garrett