“My name is Ron and I am excited to share my journey as a member of the advisory board for the Minnesota model jail practices project. At 45 years old, I have traveled a long and challenging road. My childhood was marked by trauma. I grew up in an abusive and dysfunctional home. At five, I was abandoned by my mother at a social services center in Duluth, leading to a difficult journey through the foster care system. By the age of 13, I found myself in trouble with the law, beginning a tumultuous period of incarceration in a juvenile facility that lasted three years.
After my release, I moved to another foster home and experienced the hardships of living on my own by 17. Unfortunately, I also began experimenting with drugs and spiraling down a dark path. With no direction or motivation, my life became a series of run-ins with the law, punctuated by periods of incarceration and substance abuse. At 21, a fateful night led me to a bar fight where I made a decision that would drastically change my life. I ended up in prison for 51 months due to a violent encounter.
Two weeks into my sentence, I received the news that I was going to be a father. I didn’t see my daughter Haylee until she was three and a half years old—a painful reminder of my choices and their consequences. I managed to stay sober for a time after my release, motivated by fatherhood. However, the grip of addiction tightened again, leading to ten years of chaotic living marked by addiction and petty crimes. I got married, divorced, and had another child, a son, and then in 2014, I welcomed a daughter. In 2016, I faced a near-fatal overdose that resulted in a federal indictment and a 100-month sentence in the Bureau of Prisons. Three years into my sentence, I decided to get sober on March 20, 2020, making a conscious effort to steer my life in a more positive and productive direction."
Learn more about Ron’s story.
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