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Jojo's Story |
The Walden House part of JoJo’s story starts on B Yard at SATF in 2000. That’s where Jo Jo was, a lifer whom now-COO Vitka Eisen was talking to him about being a Mentor. Being a Mentor seemed like a long shot to JoJo, but then again everything’s a long shot when you’re a lifer, so he was patient for the full year it took to get approval and a transfer to F Yard. The preparation took a long time, but JoJo got totally involved. He completed the Orientation Phase, joined the community CORE group, completed Elder Phase, and moved on to Mentorship. He took classes through Porterville College, was a Walden House Demonstrator, participated in Christian groups, and was a yard tutor.
In early 2003 Jo Jo was granted parole after serving over 12 years, but later denied by Governor Gray Davis, and this is where JoJo truly saw what ‘Family’ means at Walden House, because the Family had his back. Vitka, F Yard Director Allyson Benton, Patti Aiello, Sonia Crites and Wayne Garcia, went to the Board of Prison Terms and testified successfully on Jo Jo’s behalf. When JoJo was leaving Corcoran he was embraced by numerous gang members from all over the state of California: Surenos, Crips, Bloods, Skinheads and Northenos, and just plain criminals. They knew him, they knew his history, and they knew what he had become. A year later he was a counselor at Hill St. in Los Angeles.
JoJo credits a lot of people for helping him get to where he is, and to get where he is took a long time as he entered the justice systems from the mean streets of San Gabriel Valley at the age 9. At Corcoran, “Dennis Brown let me know it was ok to be scared when I began to work on my issues and to know that “change is scary”. He helped me stay focused on the bigger things that were facing my life, and Sonia (Crites) supported my mentorship and family issues in general. John Rios and Wayne Garcia taught me the history of Walden House and the ethic of ‘Family’. They taught me that change was possible, and that I was a good man who had made bad decisions. Vitka thought me the most important things in life, and that was doing the right thing when no one was looking, and how to be a man of integrity. In short, they allowed me to be human again, to be done with the secrets. Wayne really made me believe that my past didn’t have to be my future, and that if I would only trust the process, my life would have an Eternal Change within.” Jojo is happy he decided to stick & stay in treatment.
JoJo is married to the wife of his youth and has 2 beautiful kids and another on the way. He is Director of his own sober living home and is an active minister in his local Church. He mentors high risk teenagers in group homes, and continues to work for Walden House at FOTEP-El Monte. “I will forever have an attitude of gratitude for my Walden House family”