After Stints in Prison, U of I 爱达荷瀑布 Grad Focuses on Future

当约翰·布拉什8岁的儿子来访时，他正在监狱服第二次刑期.

两人拥抱在一起——只允许短暂的接触——在监狱自助餐厅式的探视室里，他们和布拉什当时的妻子坐在一张方桌的两侧, 希瑟·萨克斯顿.

其他囚犯也坐在类似的桌子旁，与坐在他们对面的访客交谈.

旁边是苏打水和糖果机，还有孩子们玩的玩具. 卫兵站岗放哨.

刷 talked with his son, Kayson, and the two caught up. Kayson told 刷 how much he missed and loved him.

然后他告诉布拉什他想进监狱，就像他父亲一样.

“I was in shock when he first told me. 这让我对过去所做的一切感到内疚，”35岁的刷说. “And that was pretty much the end of it. That’s when I said ‘no more.’”

刷, with multiple felonies checkering a long criminal record, decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree. 阿蒙居民, 2008年出狱后，他开始在大学广场上课.

He wanted to provide better lives for himself and his children.

“当我在监狱的时候，有很多父亲和儿子在那里做了10次, 20年(在一起). And I didn’t want to be that person,布拉什说. “I put myself in school to show my son there’s another way.”

Growing up, 刷 didn’t care about school; his highest GPA in high school was a 1.3. Outside of the classroom, he fell into bad habits.

In 1999, 当时18岁的他和17岁的女友在一个派对上被警方查获，被指控犯有法定强奸罪. The relationship was consensual; he didn’t have to register as a sex offender, but he was put on probation.

And he was drinking heavily and using drugs. In 2003, 刷 broke probation with possession of methamphetamine. 他被判10年监禁，在库纳的爱达荷州立惩教中心度过了两年.

Not a chip off the old block

约翰的父亲, 加里刷, 是当时在波卡特洛工作的著名爱达荷州警官吗.

“我因持有毒品被捕的那天，他正在为他的工作获奖，”刷说.

加里的警察身份使他和儿子之间产生了摩擦.

“Every parent wants the best 为ir kids, 当事情发生时, it hurts them as much as it hurts the person. Some people make good decisions and some bad, and even the good people make bad decisions sometimes,加里说。.

After beginning his first sentence, John learned that his father played a part in getting him arrested.

“I was mad at him for a long time. 在我入狱六个月后，我们开始交谈，并且越来越亲密。”约翰说.

In prison, John married Saxton. Divorced now, the two share custody of four children. 在监狱里，约翰还因为和其他女人生了两个孩子而收到了亲子鉴定文件.

After being released from prison in 2005, he started drinking again. 他因违反假释被判在爱达荷州惩教所服刑两年.

“这很令人沮丧。. I knew I was going back before it happened; I’d drive down the road thinking ‘You screwed up,’”约翰说。. “I was actually glad to be back. It gave me enough time to focus on what I wanted to do. And when my son visited, it kind of changed everything.”

温馨的环境

After being released again in 2008, 约翰不得不避开许多与他过去生活有关的人. At times he was almost scared to leave his house.

“在我的成长过程中，我一直在努力向别人证明自己, so I made a lot of bad choices. And after I got out those people weren’t really around; they didn’t support me. So I was done, I got tired of screwing myself,” John said.

He moved in with his mother, Cindy Hronek-刷, in 爱达荷瀑布. 作为爱达荷州立大学的一名员工，她鼓励约翰在大学广场注册课程.

大学的地方, because of its proximity to John’s other children, was the only option available for him to earn a bachelor’s degree.

He transferred to the University of Idaho in 2013.

经过九年的大学兼职学习，约翰在今年春天获得了工业技术学士学位.

黛比粥汤, undergraduate academic advisor for UI’s 爱达荷瀑布 campus, worked closely with John while he took classes.

“He’s an excellent student, and I couldn’t ask for a better advisee — he’s always positive,考德说。.

Father-son reconciliation

除了上课和抚养孩子，约翰还在国际滑联的咨询台工作. His first day there, he found out his wife was pregnant with twins. 不到五个月后，她不得不紧急分娩，孩子们不得不在医院里生活，其中一个住了一年多.

尽管他工作并定期飞往犹他州和博伊西的医院，他的女儿在那里度过了她的生命之初, 刷 managed to stay on top of his schedule and maintain a 3.5平均绩点. 他在化学和物理等高难度课程上取得了优异的成绩，但仍有挣扎. 刷 is trying to move on from his past, but it takes time. He said he’s cut out almost all drinking.

“他学会了看到自己行为的后果，并改变了自己的思维方式，”加里说. “他完成了我在学校和工作中永远无法完成的事情. 我很惊讶. 我是一个骄傲的父亲.”

在约翰第二次出狱后，加里是他的另一个重要支持. The two used to go on daily morning walks in Pocatello. After John separated from his wife, 加里第一个打电话给约翰，给他一个周末住的地方.

Nowadays Gary visits John in Ammon, and the two eat at Papa Tom’s Pizza, or bring John’s kids to the park.

“在我的生命中，我从来没有像现在这样感激过一个人，”约翰说. “It felt crappy to do that to him, to go into the stuff he was trying to prevent, but he’s always been supportive, 是好是坏. He makes me more of who I want to be.”

克服过去

尽管约翰有学位，但他的犯罪记录是他找工作的障碍.

“但仅仅有重罪并不意味着你注定要做汉堡包. We have people who work in high-paying fields and do very well,丹·齐格勒说, 爱达荷州惩教署的成人重罪缓刑监事.

“If it’s someone who’s done their time, 为他们的罪恶付出代价, a lot of employers are looking to give people second chances. And if you’ve had success after a conviction, that means a lot. A lot of people who’ve been through the system can’t say that.”

考德和365滚球官网洛杉矶分校的副院长李·奥斯特罗姆一直在寻找一名公益律师，以消除约翰记录中的一些指控. 他们还写了支持信，帮助他参加招聘会.

After finishing school, John had to quit his job at ISU. 从那时起, 他递交了简历，并参加了制造业/工业部门安全主管工作的面试, though he hasn’t heard back yet.

这是约翰成年以来最长的一段时间他没有工作, even counting his time incarcerated.

“I’ll feel better once I have a job. 但每次我填写简历，写上我有学士学位的时候, that feels pretty phenomenal,布拉什说. “I don’t regret my experiences, and I don’t regret prison. I don’t know if I’d still be here today if not for prison.”

• This article was written by 凯文Trevellyan 为 爱达荷瀑布 Post Register. It published on June 20, 2016. It has been edited from its original version. Read the full article here.

关于照片

约翰·布拉什说，他获得学士学位的最大灵感来自他的孩子们, including his 7-year-old twins Adyn, center, 和艾迪生·布拉什. “我想告诉他们，即使人们犯了错误，你也可以回来. And I wanted something better. I didn’t want to live paycheck-to-paycheck; I just wanted to be able to take care of my family and myself.” Photography by Pat Sutphin of the 爱达荷瀑布 Post Register.