AUTHOR
Contract Parole was written by John W. Eddings
John’s qualifications to pen this piece come through his years of experience first as an incarcerated person, and then later as one who has worked steadily to help people who are incarcerated, people who are getting out of prison and starting all over, and also working with the families of prisoners.
· John spent four of his years as a teen in and out of juvenile homes, reform schools, jails, and boys’ ranches.
· Shortly before his 19th birthday, John was arrested for armed robbery, and then was sentenced to 15 years in prison. During his time in prison John escaped from prison twice, and for the escapes and related crimes his sentences grew to a convoluted mixture of concurrent and consecutive terms between Florida and California totaling 904 years plus three life sentences.
· John was paroled from his Florida sentences on November 10, 2009, and then transferred to California for his consecutive sentence there; on February 13, 2013, John was paroled from his California sentence. John served a total of 38 years, seven months, and thirteen days toward these sentences. His parole supervision in California terminated thirteen months after he was released, and his Florida parole was terminated on January 9, 2019. He just celebrated his tenth year of productive freedom.
· During his last four years of incarceration in Florida, John participated in the Dr. Regina B. Shearn Corrections Transition Program at Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami, Florida, the only program of its kind anywhere and one that has incomparable success numbers. Since he returned to Florida on parole in 2014, he has served as a steady volunteer with this program. He also worked five years as a secretary for Alpha Phi Sigma the Criminal Justice Honor Society, and for the past four years he has served as the Director of Anchor House, a Christian Residential Transition Program for men returning to society following incarceration. He is the President of two 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations: Ephesians 4:28 Ministries & At the Cross.* The former focuses on reentry housing, prison ministry, and ministering to the families of prisoners; the latter’s goal is to establish a home for troubled-yet-gifted children named Roseland.
· It has been said that anyone working in a field for twenty years becomes an expert in that area. From childhood to today, both as one incarcerated and as a free man, John’s time in this field covers 52-plus years. His wisdom on this subject should be given serious consideration.
*We are in the process of changing the legal name of Ephesians 4:28 Ministries to Anchor House Outreach, which will provide a more definitive name to our overall work, and a visit to that website will supply an easy understanding of why this name change is important. Likewise, we are in the process of changing the legal name of At the Cross to The Roseland Project.
