My name is Jonathan Rodriguez. At sixteen, I was sentenced to fifteen years and served 11½. I’ve now been home three years, and I’m writing a book called Laced Up for Freedom, centered on one thing: reentry.

Because release is not the finish line.

Too many people come home and get blindsided. In prison we learn how to survive the environment around us, but no one fully prepares us for surviving freedom. The unlearning. The pride. The emotional shifts. The financial pressure. The relationships that feel different. The expectations that don’t match reality. Reentry programs matter and provide important structure and resources, but lived experience carries lessons that workshops can’t always explain.

Part of what inspired this book happened while I was still incarcerated. Even from prison, I tried to guide my younger brother through phone calls, letters, and visits. Month after month and year after year, I shared the lessons I was learning from programs, books, and even my own mistakes. I told him that if I could choose discipline and growth while living inside a prison cell, he could do even more while living with freedom.

Years later, during a visit while I was still incarcerated, my brother walked into the visitation room wearing a blue shirt with the NASA logo on it. That day he told me he had become a mechanical engineer working for NASA. He told me that the guidance, the conversations, and the mentorship I shared with him during those years helped push him in the right direction. It was one of the few times I cried in prison, not from pain, but from pride. That moment reminded me that influence can travel far beyond prison walls.

That experience is one of the reasons this book matters to me. Laced Up for Freedom isn’t just for people who are incarcerated. It’s also for families trying to understand what their loved ones go through during reentry. It’s for young people who may be standing at a crossroads. It’s for communities trying to break cycles and build something better. The goal is to give real insight and guidance so fewer people get blindsided by the realities of freedom.

After three years navigating freedom myself, I know this message can help people on both sides of the gate. I’m raising funds to finish and publish this book so it can reach those who truly need it.

Preparation matters. Understanding matters. Reentry matters.

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