Throughout his late teens and in his 20s, Donald was in and out of jail for offenses ranging from outstanding traffic tickets to assault with a deadly weapon to terroristic threats. He was married twice during that time and had two daughters from his first marriage and a son from his second.

His addiction to alcohol continued until he was introduced to meth in his mid-30s.

“That was a big shift,” Donald recalls. “I don't know why I did it. I just walked into the room, and my cousin was doing it, and there I went. I now know methamphetamines can really destroy a person’s life in a short period of time.”

He soon became addicted, with tragic consequences for his family.

While under the influence of meth, Donald offered to drive his mother and aunt to run errands. His best friend came along. On the way back, just a half mile from their home, Donald hit a concrete barrier.

“My aunt and my friend passed away on the scene,” Donald says. “And my mom passed away two months later.”

Donald was injured and did not learn until later the devastating outcome of the crash.

“Words can't describe how my heart was feeling at that time,” he says.

Donald now found himself facing a long prison sentence for intoxicated manslaughter. His aunt spoke out in court in favor of his incarceration.

When he arrived at Gurney Transfer Facility at the age of 38, he remembered his stepdad’s own time in prison and the advice he’d given Donald: “It's the old saying that ‘you’ve got to be a man when in prison,’” he says.

Although Donald thought he was ready to face a long sentence in prison, he was about to find out what God would require of him.

SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE

Donald saw God at work in his life. He applied to a one-time Christian retreat for incarcerated men called Kairos and was quickly accepted.

He looked forward to experiencing more of God there and was not disappointed.

“It was in Kairos when I decided that I was going to give 100%,” Donald recalls.

Donald was ready to accept responsibility for his actions instead of blaming others. He began to see the perspective of his aunt who had denounced him in court. She had lost two sisters in one day, and he had been too self-absorbed to notice her grief.

He wrote her, asking for her forgiveness, and months later, she replied, extending forgiveness to him.

An important part of Donald’s healing was strengthening his relationship with his children. Donald had always had a close relationship with his two daughters from his first marriage, who were in their early teens at the time of his incarceration. So when he learned about Prison Fellowship^® Angel Tree in 2016, he was grateful to be able to send his girls a note at Christmastime, knowing they would receive Christmas gifts.

Members of a local church delivered the gifts. When Donald’s daughters told him about it, he was surprised that the church hadn’t presented the gifts in its own name, but in Donald’s. Having the gifts delivered in his name allowed Donald to feel connected and involved in his family’s Christmas.

Donald says, “That made me feel good, but it really made me feel better when I heard the reaction from my kids. They were really excited and really surprised.”

When his daughters visited him in prison, they continued to speak about the gifts they had received from him.

“That was the first gift they got from me in two years,” he says. “To see the smiles on their faces was amazing.”

"That was the first gift they got from me in two years."

FINDING COMMUNITY

Donald heard from a friend about a faith-based unit called the Carol Vance Unit where the Prison Fellowship Academy was offered. He prayed about applying to move there and felt God was directing him to take part in the yearlong program built on biblical values.

“I knew it was going to be a long shot because it’s a small unit, and at the time, that was the only unit in Texas that had the program,” Donald recalls.

He was accepted within a week, a sign to Donald that this was indeed where God wanted him. He was ready to grow deeper in his faith and in community. When Donald arrived at the Carol Vance Unit, he was surprised to see that he would not be living in a dormitory-style area as he had been used to in his previous unit.

“That was kind of a hit,” he admits. “Getting back into a cell was kind of nerve-wracking. But I knew it was all for a purpose.”

Once he adjusted to the routine of his new unit, Donald realized why God had placed him there.

At the Academy, Donald—whose addictions had previously thrived in isolation and who had encountered Christ on his own—now was learning and growing within a community.

While participating in the Academy, Donald was impacted greatly by church services offered at the unit several times per week. Donald also benefited in other ways, from working with Prison Fellowship program staff who encouraged him and offered him direction, to the genuine friendship he experienced.

“The classes really helped me out a lot,” he says, “and so did the love that was shared inside the program. Just the fact that Prison Fellowship cares that much about you, helping you not go back to the way you were before—says a lot.”

After Donald’s release, his family helped him find work at a local furniture store, and he lived with his daughter. Although Donald secured work and housing quickly, he knows this isn’t the case for most men and women returning to their communities from prison. He hopes at some point to open a halfway home for anyone needing reentry support and direction.

Donald also began serving at a church pastored by his son-in-law shortly after his release. He was ordained as a minster and became a leader of the church’s recovery group. Now overseeing the church’s outreach program, Donald also manages its prison ministry, street ministry, outreach to children, and food pantry.

Donald plans to return to prison—this time to minister the Word of God.

“I want to pour out the love that was poured out to me when I was in there,” he says. “That’s one of my biggest goals right there is to reach out to inmates. You’re looking in Texas at 140,000 inmates.”

Since his release, Donald has gotten married; he and his wife are now proud grandparents of three grandchildren.  Family remains an important part of Donald’s life. Although he and his son lost contact while Donald was incarcerated, his son was there to see him walk out at his release, and they remain close today. Reconciliation with his family has been gradual but consistent. Donald senses that God is guiding his family toward mending what was broken.

“He's still not done yet,” Donald says. “He is still working. The old saying is, ‘He’s not done with you as long as you're still breathing.’”