Growing up in North Philadelphia, normal life for Mark Chappell was anything but normal. Dominated by the inner-city street life, he started smoking dope during recess and spent most of his school days high. In and out of boarding schools that did little more than prepare him for prison, by the time he was 21 his was headed to prison for homicide. Listen in how he describes that experience including a long time in 23 hour lockdown and how that experience brought him to himself and with the help of a prison guard helped him realize that he wanted something drastically different. It is nothing short of a miracle that today he lives a good life free of drugs and crime working to help others from his neighborhood and everywhere choose better.


Sponsors & Partners
The Other Side Academy - theothersideacademy.com
My Story Matters / Captain Your Story - mystorymatters.org
The Peaceful Prisons Project - peacefulprisonsproject.com 


00:00:00 Mark Chappell
00:01:23 Sponsors
00:02:09 His Upbringing & Juvenile Boarding Schools
00:08:00 Communal Standards & Norms
00:15:30 Rewind to Juvie “This place is preparing you for adult prison”
00:19:00 Admitting Addiction
00:22:30 Learning the Hard Way
00:23:19 Back to Prison
00:28:00 Navigating Inmate Politics
00:30:10 Point of Self Reflection — “Belly of the Beast”
00:31:30 The prison guard that took Mark under his wing.
00:38:00 Changing on the Inside Despite A Hellish Environment
00:44:10 Finding Purpose & Resilience