Prison Inmate Program
One Step Away
We can stop the revolving door of recidivism
Steered Straight believes in the power of transformation and the possibility of redemption. Our prison inmate rehabilitation programs are committed to breaking the cycle of incarceration by providing individuals with the tools and support they need to build a brighter future.
Each of our programs are designed to address the unique challenges faced by individuals within the prison system, focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment. We strive to create a supportive and empowering environment for those seeking a second chance.
Our rehabilitation approach is rooted in empathy, education, and empowerment. We offer a comprehensive set of programs and courses designed to address the mental, and emotional aspects of rehabilitation and to prepare the inmate for re-entry.
Access on Tablets:
Access on Tablets
Michael’s One Step Away prison rehab programs are now available for more than nearly 1 Million prison inmates on tablets in more than 1000 prisons across 47 States. Each course offers videos, lessons and practical exercises. To date, more than 5,000 inmates are moving through the One Step Away courses.
One Step Away Curriculum to Stop the Revolving Door
One Step Away
A 10-Step educational series, where inmates learn Michael’s Ten Principles of Successful Re-Entry into society, gain a better understanding about the nature of substance abuse and addiction and how to journey from addiction to recovery. It includes new strategies to not only plan for re-entry, but how to put those strategies into place upon release.
Impact:
Families & Addiction
A drug prevention course using the film “Son to Son” as its base, focuses on several key themes and topics related to substance abuse prevention and awareness. “Son to Son” is a short film that explores intergenerational trauma and the impact of drug addiction on a family.
Fentanyl: Fake & Fatal
This course lays out the facts about fentanyl and what it is doing to our population, including those incarcerated. The course shows where fentanyl is coming from and how it is lining the pockets of drug cartels and drug dealers with no concern for its effects on the user.
Mended: From Brokenness to Healing
Have you ever been so broken or shattered into a million pieces by the pain of loss, trauma, mental or physical abuse that rocks you to your core and you do not know how to live again? Well, this course takes you on a journey that will show you how to pick up those shattered pieces of you on the floor and put them in a stained-glass stronger, beautiful version of you where the wound is where the light shines through.
Foundation for Recovery
A study guide for building a foundation for Recovery, based on the award-winning documentary, Kids Are Dying. It highlights the drug overdose epidemic and how it is affecting our population–from inner cities to the suburbs. No-one is exempt! While the stories in the film, Kids Are Dying, are from the streets of New Jersey, the same holds true for Anytown, USA.
TEACH YOUR STORY
Your story has meaning. It can be used to change lives. This course will take you through the process that will allow you to not just tell your story, but rather teach your story so that others can learn from it. Saving youth today is all about prevention. Use the lessons you learned from your own journey to help others!
Who Is Michael DeLeon?
Michael is a voice rarely heard by jail and prison inmates, especially while incarcerated. Michael has a personal message to share after spending over 20 years in addiction, gang involvement and criminal activity, 12 years behind the walls of New Jersey State Prisons and its halfway house system and 3 years on parole.
A recovering addict, ex-offender, former gang member and national leader in recidivism reduction, addiction advocacy and criminal justice reform, Michael delivers a dynamic and compelling message of overcoming the barriers of re-entry and tackling the societal stigma of being an ex-offender.
Schedule a One Step Away Prison Presentation
A recovering addict, ex-offender, former gang member and a national leader in recidivism reduction, addiction advocacy and criminal justice reform, Michael delivers a dynamic and compelling message of overcoming the barriers of re-entry and tackling the societal stigma of being an ex-offender. He emphasizes the #1 Success Principle: Taking 100% Responsibility for your Life. He brings real-life tools, motivation and encouragement to a population void of all three.
Michael’s presentation and course provide basic life skills to people currently or formerly incarcerated, on probation, parole or with criminal convictions, enabling them to make life changes so they can become productive members of their communities and lead vastly better lives.
What Makes Michael’s Program Unique
Michael’s 10-lesson Educational Series helps participants understand the Ten Principles of Successful Re-Entry:
- Detoxify Your MIND, Not Just Your Body
- Forgive Yourself
- Clean up your Friends List
- Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life
- Don’t Let Your Past Dictate Your Future
- Stand UP To Yourself
- Discipline Your Emotions and Feelings
- Put as Much Effort into Recovery as you did Getting High
- Elevate Yourself
- Never EVER Give Up!
Especially for Jail and Prison Inmates:
- Powerful, unique messages about the social difficulties of re-acclimation, and a strong message of how to overcome those barriers to reentry coming from someone with real life experience
- Thought provoking material on the success principles of Re-Entry
- An atypical program on why victim-stance is the most damaging and self-defeating mindset for anyone returning to society from jail or prison
- Profound message sharing his vulnerable ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) experiences that literally create a shift, where dealing with trauma becomes a sign of strength rather than a perceived sign of weakness.
The Learning Objectives:
- Participants gain a better understanding about the nature of substance abuse and addiction and how to journey from addiction to Recovery
- Participants gain more knowledge about the origin and process of the current epidemic of opiates and heroin within their communities
- Participants are able to articulate the reasoning behind much of the recidivism and relapsing drug use of those with ties to the criminal justice system, especially their own situations
- Participants learn new strategies to not only plan for their re-entry, but how to put those strategies into place upon release.
What a Facilitator Has to Say:
“You guys need to know that the 15 I have in this class right now are ecstatic. It really makes them think about how they are spending their prison time and how they look at themselves.”
– Dr. Monica Burns-Dunnagan, Treatment Counselors @ Trousdale Turner Correctional Center
What Inmates Have to Say:
He’s comical and relatable. He gets down to the nitty gritty hard to grip details, however the message is amazingly great. He’s inspirational and life-turning. He also gives hope of future ability to tell testimonies to change other lives.
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for sharing your story. Your words are inspiring to me, especially the phrase you kept repeating. I’m paraphrasing but that ‘you may not have committed the crime but were 100% responsible for it.’ That literally made me cry. I hadn’t been able to put into words up until then just how I felt about my crimes. I’ve learned since being here that most people who recidivate are unwilling or unable to take responsibility for their crimes, continually playing the victim or shifting the blame. Your program helped push me from “victim” to survivor. I am now a survivor of my own self-destruction.
The fact that you’ve successfully not only shared your story, but also made multiple documentaries of others’ experiences, and how you’re dedicated, motivated, and have so much hope and you believe wholeheartedly what you are doing can and will change this world. It truly inspires me to follow my dreams. I cannot thank you enough for sharing and showing me and all the others that not only does our past not define us, but we are worth it, our children are worth it, and we can be massively successful.
Thank you for wanting a better life for yourself and standing up and being a part of this organization, because it makes me not be timid and finally wanting to make a decision to be a part of a family of Recovery and continuing every day to choose to be ‘Steered Straight’!
When I came to hear you speak, I wasn’t prepared to have my soul touched.
More than anything it gave me hope. As a recovering addict & felon it is important to see that there is life after the life I’ve led to this point. They are 100% relatable & have been in situations similar to ours & our loved ones. I have a renewed sense of purpose.
By showing people who are incarcerated they can still have impact in the world, Michael DeLeon is changing the world for incarcerated individuals. His presentation impacted me by letting me know I’m not alone. Any story of triumph after incarceration is worth hearing for someone who is incarcerated. Made me wonder if anyone would want to hear my story.
It really spoke to my heart! Made me realize I can make a difference in the world & that I’m not alone! Just because I’m a felon doesn’t mean I’m worthless! Extremely impactful because it’s so important for us to see how not alone we are! So many things are possible!
I heard you speak at Hardeman County. Your testimony and story was very impactful to me and many others. I want to thank you for coming here and giving us hope the way you did and for showing us that there is life after this that can have purpose.
I can’t put into words the impact your words have had on me. After hearing it the first time I went and bawled on the phone to my mother, then my youngest of 3 daughters.
I have been profoundly touched by your program.
He showed me hope and that I can change my way and have a good life at the end of all this. He was someone I’ll never forget. His life was so inspirational and eye-opening. Very impactful. No matter what you do and go through in this life, you can always change your life. It was just very beautiful. Thank you.
Beautiful. I was sad, lonely and needed to be reminded that God loves me. I’m ready to be a mommy again, fight for my daughter and give her mom back.
It made me stop and think about what I’m doing with my life and what I can do to make a difference. This presentation came across as a message that the changes I’m making & implementing in my life are for the better. God has a plan for me and is using me to spread the message to others still suffering. I think their story could open people’s eyes, mind, and heart to the differences they could make if they apply themselves. It let me know that no matter how far I fall I can always pick myself up and keep moving on. God has a plan for me.
I am the prisoner at Hardeman County that video recorded and took photos of y’all presentation. I really enjoyed it, and I want to inform you all that I play the video for the entire 2,000 inmate population and I have been receiving feedback from the inmates that wasn’t able to see it live. You all are welcome to return, because many inmates will also like the opportunity to see it in person.
One Step Further
Recovery Army provides links and referrals to the places recoverees can go to gain the skills, motivation, growth and maturity needed on their road to recovery.
We offer opportunities to access education, support and resources to help people in recovery realize physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, occupational, environmental and financial wellness.
