Jose has been involved in the criminal justice system since 1989. Released in 2014 and now employed, Jose recently secured his first one-bedroom apartment with our [The Fortune Society’s] help.

Jose kept his slippers from Rikers Island, and sits them by his bed in his new apartment. They remind him of where he’s come from, and that the path to a fulfilled, healthy life is a journey that he’s still on. “Everybody works on their recovery differently. Mine is complicated. I go to my block, and see my friends [still struggling]. But I’ve already said no [to that life]. I chose ‘no.'” Keeping a tangible reminder of his experience in incarceration affirms that he made the right choice. “It gives me strength,” he says.

Safe outlets, like tattoo art, also provide a source of strength and self-expression. An elaborate tattoo on his arm, which he got after his release, represents pain, death and stress. Another one on his back reads, “What’s Done is Done Been There Done That.” Jose knows: “there’s no reason for me to look back.”

text by David Leon Morgan