S1E5 | From Prison To Purpose

Note: Joshua J. Smith served as Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the time this interview was recorded.

On episode 5 of Transparency Talks, Damon West sits down with former Deputy Director Smith to explore a hard truth with a hopeful answer: change is possible when people have tools, purpose, and support. After receiving a sentence of 65 years, an older inmate taught Damon the coffee bean mindset. Fear was real; so was the choice to change. The conversation further explores why staff wellness is mission-critical: divorce, suicide, and burnout batter the people who keep facilities safe. 

Transcript

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Meet Damon West & The Coffee Bean

Smith 0:09

Welcome to another episode of Transparency Talks. I'll tell you, I've been having a great time talking to many of the different uh leaders and people, some in our agency, some outside of our agency. And today we have a very special guest, uh, Damon West. You know, you have your author. You're a speaker. I see you traveling all over the country, uh speaking to very powerful groups, sports teams, corporations, uh, and and things like that. Uh thanks for being here today. Appreciate you coming on and uh doing this podcast. Uh so who is Damon West?

Damon 0:53

Well, Debbie Rare Smith, first of all, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I am honored to be in this building, and we'll hear for the conversation, just how incredible it is to be in a room like this with you today, especially with you. Um, yeah, you you hit the nail on the head. I've I've I wear a lot of different hats. One of them is I'm a speaker. I go around the world sharing my story and the mesh of the coffee bean. The coffee bean is basically the allegory about life, that life is a pot of boiling water. You have three choices. You can be like a carrot that goes in hard but becomes softened by the water, an egg that becomes hardened on the inside by the water, like a hard-boiled egg. Your heart can become hardened. Or you can be like a coffee bean that changes the pot of boiling water into a pot of coffee. And the coffee bean is about being the change agent, right? The power is inside the coffee bean to change the water on the coffee. It's one of the coolest allegories I've ever heard. And that's what I go around sharing that message. I do this as a writer, I do it as a speaker. I, you know, like you said, sports teams, corporations, and just all kinds of neat rooms I get to go into now. Um I was a professor for three years of criminal justice. I got a master's in criminal justice, and for three years I've held a class at the University of Houston called Prisons in America. And like, you know, so there's a lot of stuff in my life that goes around the world of corrections, but my main thing is I want to go out there and bring people hope. I want to show them that what the possibilities are in our life, because that's the one thing every human being has to have, Director Smith. They've got to have hope.

Smith 2:19

So I know that you speak in prisons. You speak at uh, I mean, top sporting events, the corporate events and things. What's tell me one of the most interesting ones, or maybe the most impactful ones, uh events that you've spoken at?

Damon 2:34

You know, I I would tell people what the people ask me with the sports stuff, right? Around all these championship coaches and championship

Speaking To Champions And The House Of Lords

Damon 2:40

teams. What's my favorite team? And I had to go back to Clemson, man. Clemson, uh, Dabo swingy and I become really close friends at Clemson. And and Dabo was really the first coach to bring me in and share the mesh of the coffee. And then Dabo really gravitated towards it. And Dabo was the guy that connected me all the sports world uh out there, you know, Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Lincoln Riley, these guys started bringing me in. He introduced me to a guy named John Gordon. And John Gordon is uh one of the biggest speakers and authors in America. And it's through that relationship, because relationships are everything. That's one of the things we'll talk about today. Relationships are everything. And those relationships have allowed me to go in some of the most amazing places, you know, domestically, some of the places I go into, I prisons are always really high on my list, a place to go into, you know, and I don't get paid anything to go into a prison, but it you get paid in a different way. And um, internationally, one of the coolest things I've ever got to do, I got to speak to the the House of Lords in London. And just to know that I got to go to London in the first place to do this and share the message of the coffee bean. Over there, uh, they wanted to hear what we were doing with criminal justice over here in America. There was a I have a my foundation does a lot of stuff with children incarcerated and inmates. And uh they were very interested in that. So it's great to go share the coffee bean message across the pond. The book, The Coffee Bean that I wrote, is is in every language in the world. So it's like it's a message that's spreading all over the world, and opportunities come up more and more to go in these different

Steve Harvey Visit And Impactful Moments

Damon 4:05

places.

Smith 4:05

You know, I heard about you actually through uh one of our wardens. Okay, so I was touring, I think it was my first week here, and uh one of the wardens talked about it was getting you in as difficult, they tried to, and then they got you in. And and uh what was interesting, the very next day I got a call from Brian Collier, the head of uh Texas Department of Corrections, good friend of mine. And he goes, Hey Josh, this was Saturday morning. The very next morning after this warden mentioned it to me, he said, Hey, I need to tell you about this guy, Damon West. And uh he said, You need him in your prisons. You'd you gotta you gotta talk to this guy. And then you and I connected uh very quickly after. And then since uh you were able to go into a prison uh of ours. And a lot of people don't know you were the one that helped bring Steve Harvey into our prison system there in Atlanta. In Atlanta. And you know, a lot of people all across the country, why didn't, you know, why Atlanta? And they were, you know, it Facebook and the comments are great here. You know, you get to see all kinds of.

Damon 5:04

I've read some of the comments that were asking, how much did you pay Steve Harvey? Steve did it for free.

Smith 5:09

They opened, hey, you should pay in there, you shouldn't put money here. You know, some just gonna be negative no matter what. But I tell you, you you you you did it, and uh and and you spoke that day as well. Very powerful story. I was I was very impressed just to see your passion, and I can see why people have you travel all over the country and speak. Uh Steve Harvey is pretty good too, wasn't he?

Damon 5:30

Well, uh neat to sit there with a professional comedian and watch him work the room. And I mean, n and direct director Smith, I mean, like the guy had a different message for the staff, then he had for the inmates, and he had them all there for an hour. And it's one of the original kings of comedy. Yeah. I learned a lot that day by communication.

Smith 5:46

And I tell you, it just is candidness, straightforward. I I it was it was great. And it was an impactful day. There was a time before all of this that you were not speaking with teams and celebrities and those things. Uh and you've developed a story. You know, they say there's no testimony without a test. And uh and so why who is Damon before

From Life Sentence To Coffee Bean Mindset

Smith 6:10

the soul of this world, all this life?

Damon 6:12

Good question. So the reason why Brian Collier, the former director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, got in touch with you about me is because I know Brian Collier back from whenever I was an inmate, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. My inmate number is 158-5689. And in fact, I learned the story of the coffee bean in 2009 after a jury in Dallas had just sentenced me to life in prison, 65 years. In Texas, 65 years was life. I got sentenced to life in prison for engaged in organized criminal activity, a RICO case. I was the ringleader of a bunch of other meth addicts breaking in the houses all over Dallas. And, you know, my background was uh, you know, I came from a great family in Texas, a Division I college quarterback, had the best jobs, worked here in the United States Congress in Washington, worked on Wall Street. And then when I was a broker in 2004 in Dallas, uh, another broker introduced me to methamphetabies. And with 18 months, I was living on the streets of Dallas. I was homeless and I committed committing crimes all over Dallas to feed my methabit. And then I put together this crew of other meth addicts and we were breaking into houses. And this is a big deal uh because when I broke into people's houses, I didn't just steal the property. I stole my victim's sense of security. And I can't give that back. There's nothing I can do to fix the damage I did with that. But uh, you know, angels were sent to me in 2008 to pull me out of the world. The angels would be the Dallas SWAT tea. And they didn't just arrest me that day on July 30, 2008, they rescued me that day. So they arrest they arrest me in 2008. I go to trial in 2009, the trial lasts six days, the jury's gone for 10 minutes of deliberation. Like I knew I was in trouble with a 10-minute deliberation, but I didn't know how much. The judge read out my sentence, life in prison. So in the meet in the time before I went to went to prison for county jail, this old inmate named Mohammed shared with me the story of the coffee fee. He told me prison was gonna be like a pot of one water. And he told me the three choices be like a carrot, an egg, or a coffee. And I remember hearing that message the first time, and I thought to myself, man, this puts some power back in me. And I and I was so scared about the world I was going into. You know, a Texas level five prison. But the coffee being let me know that there was still a choice I had. I have choice every single day of how I was gonna see that world, right? I could let it beat me down, I could let it make me hard, or I could change the world around me. And that's what I did, John. I went to prison, I got to work on myself, and I started first transforming myself every day, spiritually, mentally, physically. I learned a lot from the volunteers that used to come in prison. Volunteers are so big in China prison. I think it's one of the biggest things we have that we have these people from the communities around the prisons that want to come in. And volunteers have different backgrounds. Some of them, some of their backgrounds are kind of shady, like my background is, you know, they've got some stuff in their past, but that's why they're such a good messenger. That's why they're so devoted to serving inside of a prison. And it was one of these chapel volunteers that told me about servant leadership. And I was telling them I was struggling with trying to change this prison to a positive place, trying to make coffee, trying to make these people change from being negative carrots and eggs and to being coffee beans. He said, try servant leadership. He said, servant leadership is helping other people reach their goals of life, helping to raise other people to a different station of life. He said, When we help other people grow, we grow. That was it. I went back into my pod, I figured out what my gift was. And I think everybody in life has to figure out what their gift is at life. When you find your gift, you find your purpose, you start living your purpose. My gift was that I had education. I had a bachelor to be willing to prison. Most of the guys in prison, education stopped somewhere in junior high, maybe early high school. So I opened a free tribune service in prison. I started teaching guys how to read and write. I got them right for the GED test. So if they ever got out of prison, they'd be a better husband, better father. And in turn, those guys learned how to serve by my service example, and they start to disturb at each other. And the parole board took notice of this. And in seven years into this sentence in 2015, the parole forward in Texas visits me and uh they let me go. They let me go after seven years on a 65-year sentence. Now, when I walk out of prison in 2015, I'm not a free man because I've got to carry the rest of that time to balance on parole. So I'm I'm on parole in Texas until the year 2073. So I got a little more time of don't parole. But it's the whole idea

Servant Leadership Inside Prison

Damon 10:15

about being a coffee, you know, now I've got a train, I've got to take my life outside prison. And being an ex-con, man, it it's it's tough, man, because there's a lot of ex-cons that have come before me that are burned to breach the ground. It's tough adjusting back out. You understand this too, as a full and incarcerated person. But I got out there and I started serving other people out there. I started going around speaking in like a local community, thinking I could just make a small change in the community where I lived in. And I was introduced to Dabo one night. We met one night. Dabo was the guy that brought me in speak. And then obviously the world became a pot of boiling water in 2020 with COVID, and the book, The Coffee Bean, had already come out. And that's when my life kind of took off in this world where people needed the inspiration, people needed a message of hope. And that's what my voice became around the country. And, you know, since then, did the warden you were talking about is David Paul. David Paul was the warden and uh prison in Kentucky, the FCI election. He was the guy that brought me into the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The one time I got to go, because as a guy that's on parole for the rest of his life, you know, the DOJ doesn't want a bunch of people that are on pre on paper inside their facilities. So I I tried for the last four or five years, you know, to get into federal prisons. I couldn't get in. But when I heard your name and and we got introduced to each other through Brian Cawrier, I knew this was a sign. This was a something of a big shift. And here's what I think. I think that the coffee bean message, it came from a prison and it belongs back into prison, but it didn't just belong to the inmates. It belongs to the staff, too.

Smith 11:45

You know, let's let's talk about that because uh I I can uh it's funny. Uh Warden Paul has just retired, like within a day or two ago. I'm pretty sure as I was talking to him, uh he was just trying to get to know me, and and I think he might have just brought you in. I I don't know if it got approved. I I don't know how all it went, right? Uh because you're right. A lot of times it is uh it is very difficult, very challenging for somebody who has a history or especially on paper uh to be able to get back in. It was him that mentioned you, Brian Collier that mentioned you. Uh we've been working a lot to bring in leadership development things to our staff, right? To really invest in our staff. You're one of the few voices, also like mine, who is committed to working with staff. We work with inmates as well. We try to to do those things. And so you having this recommendation that you did from the staff, I didn't hear it from inmates, hey, get this guy in. It was it was staff. Uh what a lot of our viewers don't know is you actually donated, uh a really big donation to this bureau here recently, uh, an investment in training. And you even sent a team out to MSTC, filmed it. It's going to be coming out to some of our leaders soon. We spent a couple of days with our wardens out there. So tell me, why do you care? I mean, you're this former inmate. I mean, I'm sure you've just like me, you've got stories of of bad staff, right? But why do you care? Why do you make the investment in staff the way that you do across the country?

Damon 13:15

Yeah, great question. And here's the answer to it is Damon West, the guy you see

Parole, Reentry, And Finding Purpose

Damon 13:20

in front of you today, right now, watching this video, the guy that goes all over the world sharing this message and has this incredible life where I have this impact of philanthropist, a professor, a husband, a stepfather, you know, a sober guy. Damon West didn't get rid of this home. Damon West got here because whenever he was in prison, there were COs that made sure I could get to the chapel programs I needed to transform myself and become a better man. Because I believe that really real rehabilitation is possible and it can be real. Uh, the inmate has to do the work. But, you know, most guys I did time with, and I'm sure the same way with you, most people just want to do their time and be safe. Deaf required a lot of COs that were dedicated to the mission of corrections to making sure I was safe, you know. So that was there. When I needed to see a counselor, I need to go to medical, or I needed, you know, anything I needed inside that prison, there were always people on the staff there that made sure I got what I needed. And without that, I'm not the man, I'm not sitting here today because I can have all this idea by being at the coffee bean. But if if I don't, if there's not dedicated staff to make sure all that happens, none of this, what you see in front of you today is happening. So one of the things I I like to do when I go in and talk to staff, and I've never been able to do BOP until now, I've done other states. But first thing I do is I thank, I thank them because I can't go out and find the old staff that that watched over me and worked in the prison where I was, but I could thank them and I can show them the example of someone that got it right. The rehabilitation didn't work because it lets them know their job is important because their job is important. I I believe prison is a triangle, Debbie Richard Smith. The triangle is this. You have staff over here on one point of the triangle, you have the inmates at another point of the triangle, and over here you have the family members. And I'm not just talking about family of inmates, but family of staff. These staff that work in these prisons, man, you know this from doing time, man. They're in there almost as long as we are.

Why Investing In Staff Matters

Damon 15:10

They come home and they get to sleep in the free world, but they come back in this world, and that world is tough, man. That the world inside of corrections. And I believe that the tools I use to transform myself, and I talk about for all these corporations and sports teams, these people that pay a lot of money to bring me in to teach the morals and principles of being a coffee bean, I believe that's something that the staff can use to. I know it's something the staff can use spiritually, mentally, physically, how they can work on themselves every single day, how they could not let this job that they have that's so important take home to their families. You know, one of the things I saw we did that training, the leadership training, and it blew my mind, was when Dr. Gable asked the room, how many people in this room have been doing divorce? You know, almost every hand went up. How many people in this room know somebody that has taken their own life? Any corrections? Almost the whole room, maybe the whole room raised their hands through those questions. And was the question he asked the room where he said, or not the question, but the statement he made, he said, we do all this training, all this time in corrections to prepare ourselves for if another inmate assaults us or kills us. What in reality is the person that looks back in the mirror is more likely to kill us than another inmate. And I'm like, whoa, that was earth-shattered. Why yeah, because that's sight of Fumba. Yeah, because you know, corrections doesn't get the attention that other law enforcement jobs get. Let's be honest, man. I'm like, can I, you know, when something happens to a law enforcement officer out there in the world, you know, a police officer, it makes the news. But when something happens at the correction officer, it does make the news. But my passion is in the world with corrections. And I am in a position right now in life that God has put me in, that I have the resources available to me to go around and speak as much as the BOP will let me speak. I travel the I traveled the country all month long. I'm on the road 20, 25 days of every month speaking somewhere in America. And now that BOP, now that you and Director Marshall have opened up the gates for me, I get to couple my trips and go into BOP facilities and share this message of resilience, of wellness with the staff, with the inmates too. Because in the truth is, is if I can get the inmates on board with the presentation of them and I can get them to change the way they, I can't change somebody. Let's be honest about that. We can't, nobody can change another person. But if I can get you to think a different way, you can change yourself. And that's what I want to do when I go inside these facilities. First, I want to, I'm there primarily to focus on the staff because I don't think the staff has ever gotten something like this that's come to this guy that that goes around and speaking for a living and writes these books. I'm there to speak, I'm there to give away books, I'm there to give away hope and hopefully resilience and a wellness mindset. But I also want to go in there and talk to the inmates and tell them my story because everybody needs hope. You know this from doing time. Hope is the big thing. If you don't have hope, negative negativity, even when Darton still is the boy to pope. And so that's what I think my purpose is right now. Yeah.

Smith 18:12

So, you know, I I got to hear you talk in front of the uh inmates or uh staff, which uh which was great. Uh and uh, you know, I've done a lot of speaking around inmates and traveled the country, the world. And uh, you know, you you have a really effective message. Why

Wellness, Trauma, And Corrections Reality

Smith 18:30

is it uh we talked about staff, what what impact have you seen be made in inmates? I mean, now we're just coming into a season where it's okay for people like yourself or myself to be able to get back into prisons, to be able to do these things, to have this impact, to have these conversations. What impact have you seen as you've traveled the country speaking of prisons with the inmates then being able to hear your story?

Damon 18:54

The inmates, that's primarily what I've been able to do in state prisons around the country whenever get to go in. First thing I see from the inmates is a belief. They have a belief that they could do something different with their life because it's almost like touching the dream. I believe every human being has to be able to touch their dream. And if I if I can get into these facilities, they can touch the dream. I am the dream. You are the dream for someone that's been incarcerated. Let's be honest with you. I mean, President Trump giving you this opportunity in life elevated you to a place that as an ex con, even with the world, the life I have, I never dreamed Satalia would be possible that the number two person in the BOB would be someone that has done time before. Anything is possible. And that's what I think the message is that these inmates get when they see Damon West. You know, frequently they'll say stuff to me like, hey man, I don't speak as well as you. I don't have the same support you have. You know, my mom and my dad, you know, aren't they out behind me like your parents were? I didn't have two parents, I didn't have money, I didn't, but my message then was all the same. Like, be where you are right now, make the change in here. And one of the things that they understand is it empowers them. Like everybody wants to talk about building your brand. And everybody wants to feel like they have a purpose in life. And I tell these inmates, man, you're a brand. Work on building your brand right now. And be honest, like if if you if what who you are right now is not something you would like follow as a brand, then work on it right now. Build that brand, build the person you want to be. I believe the successful re-entry begins the day you get to prison. And if it doesn't happen the first day, then let it start today. And that's one of the main messages. And it gives of hope, you know. And I think that's the thing that everybody needs. And these inmates to hear the story, the coffee being really resonates with them, and they know that it came from inside of institution. But the main thing is, and you know this from whatever you've ever talked to, uh, any any inmate, man, they see if you could do it, I could do it.

Smith 20:48

Yeah. No, it's a big, you know, I would tell you, one of the things that I appreciate about President Trump and Attorney General Bondi is uh, for one, being tough on crime. Yeah. I uh it surprises some people when I hear them say it, you know, uh they ask me if I'm pro-inmate or, you know, pro uh staff, pro the I tell you what I'm pro for more than anything is my family. What I'm stuff pro. I I'm pro my neighborhood, the family, where my family, where my kids, where my grandkids live. Uh that's what I'm pro before I am anything. And and so

Hope For Incarcerated People

Smith 21:20

public safety is important to me. I was one that violated that public safety years ago as a young man and deserved to be removed from the society and and and and uh uh set away. What I also like about the president and uh aging body is they also understand the intentionality it takes because people aren't doing life in prison. Some some have lost their right to ever live among society friends, but others haven't. And you know, it's that intentionality that we have to have to be able to return people back to our communities better than we received them. It's why I think that corrections is the most noble profession. In all of our government. I think it's the most important role in public safety. I say it all the time. I really believe it. It's why I like to invest in staff. It's why I mean the mission of corrections, I believe, is the most noble mission in all of our government. It's a big deal. And uh and so you, you know, the your message and is you've challenged some of these inmates. Many people say that, man, there's never change. One of the things I get a lot is they'll go, well, Josh, you're the few that can change, you know. You're probably a pretty good guy, you know, ahead of time and and uh and and all of this. Oh well, what have you found to be the case? I mean, you've been at the you've spent time at the highest levels. Now you've traveled around to the highest levels. I mean, Texas lets you come in everywhere. They want you speaking at all the different prisons. What do you say when they say, I man, some of these most of these will never change?

Damon 22:52

Yeah, the first thing I would say is like, um, I I throw out a number to them, and it's a number I learned whenever I was getting my master's of criminal justice. And I went back and got the master's degree because I wanted people to take me more serious than uh a guy that just gotten out of prison. I knew I had a lot to offer, but you know, how do I get my how do I get this message out there? And it's like, okay, I had a bachelor's degree already. So I went and got the master's. One of the things I learned in there, it was an eye-opening statistic. The number was 95%. That number represents the number of people that get out of prison. 95% of all the people incarcerated in America and all the state prisons and all the federal prisons are gonna get out. They're gonna get out and they're gonna be walking on your street one day. They're gonna be pumping gas next to you, they're gonna be in the line of Walmart next to your family. You talk about your family and neighborhood and safety and and tough over. I'm the same way. I can't imagine someone doing to me what I did to all my victims when I broke this the social contract and I broke into people's home. Like I can't imagine if someone did that in my home with my family. You know, it would be devastating. And I know that 95% of these people are going to get out one day. I'm with you. It's the most noble profession there is to work in corrections.

Public Safety, Redemption, And Change Rates

Damon 24:00

And let's be honest, man, corrections, it's such a big deal because if 95% of these people are getting out, we want them to have the best opportunity for them to change themselves while they're in there. And that requires all of us. This is an all of us problem. Corrections is, I don't even think corrections is part of the criminal justice system. I think the criminal justice system, you want to really get down to it. Criminal justice system is the criminal on the street, the criminal defender courtroom, it's the judges, it's the DAs, it's the law enforcement on the streets, it's the legislatures that write the laws. That's the criminal justice system. Corrections, we get people after they've been dealt with by the criminal justice system. And corrections is its own system. And I think I wish America, and that's one of the things I want to do in life, is to bring more attention to it. And I've got this platform now that I've grown in and given that I want to bring more attention to corrections because I believe it's a system worthy of people's attention and resources. More resources need to be added to corrections. And I think that once we start breaking this thing away from the criminal justice system and show people, hey, look, we're a very important cog in the wheel of American society. And if we don't have a healthy, you're if we don't have a healthy staff in these in these prisons, we're not going to have a healthy society because 95% of these people getting out. That's the number I focus on. And that's the number I tell people.

Smith 25:14

You know, there was uh obviously me getting this job. You know, there's all kinds of mixed feelings, right? For our first week in the role, you know, you had all social media and it had been rumored for quite a while.

Damon 25:24

Can I say something real quick about what you said in Atlanta that that I thought was so good when you talk to the staff that day and you always make it a point, like, hey, Daniel, whenever you go in these prisons, let's talk to the staff first. They don't ever get this kind of stuff, right? So I'm following your lead on that. Great lead, too. But you said something to the staff, you know, and you're like, hey, look, everybody knows I've been to prison before. We understand the backstory. And you, you know, you you told them something like I hear the chatter that people think I'm it's here for the inmates. You said, let's assume that I'm really just here to make the inmates' lives better. Let's just say that that was even true,

Corrections As Its Own System

Damon 26:00

which is not. If I'm just here to make the in my inmates' lives better, that would make your life better too. Because the inmates would be happier and you have less staff problems, staff assaults, you know, it's less less country man coming in.

Smith 26:12

Well, what I tell them is, even if that was the the ultimate thing, I know that it won't be successful unless we invest in our staff. Exactly. Uh I mean it doesn't ha it doesn't happen.

Damon 26:23

But it was great, man, because you got you you you got the room like buying in. Uh I saw the heads nodding, people's body language. You know how to read body language well. I know how to read April. Well, anybody in staff knows how to read body language and their body language relaxed.

Smith 26:35

Yeah. Well, there was a staff member that came up to me. He was, I think he worked in IT and and uh you know, you had all kinds of chatter buzzing around uh when I first got here. It's still a little bit now, but uh he said, Hey boss, I just want to tell you forget what all these other people are saying. He said, I've been here 20, I think, three years. He said, I take pride in you being able to be here because I feel like I helped make that happen.

Damon 27:00

Boom.

Smith 27:01

As a staff member of BLP, I feel like I, you know, get got to make that happen. So while you have some other voices, everybody feels different ways. Uh it it it's it's been interesting and and exciting to talk to the staff that say they take pride in being able to see somebody. It's a really a full serpent moment. And if the prisoners are doing their job, that's what we're creating, right? We're creating more Damon West and and those things. And so I I want to just I want to wrap and I want to say thank you for the investment that you've been willing to make into the BLP.

Damon 27:31

Thank you I mean, thank you, man. I mean, you opened up a door that I didn't even think would ever be open. But I mean anything anything is possible, but thank you for this opportunity. I get to now I get to travel the country and you know, and spread this message throughout all the BLP facilities with the staff, with the inmates. Uh thank you.

Smith 27:50

Yeah, well, I appreciate that. But I'll tell you, you you paid the investment, you showed up, you you've invested in our staff in a big way. I mean, Steve Harvey came in, got Sierra staff, you you just invested

Staff Buy‑In And Cultural Shift

Smith 28:00

in our wardens, all the new wardens. People can call them and ask them. You know, you you were out there and invested quite a lot of time. You've already made some other donations uh to the Bureau of Prisons. Uh we've got outside stakeholders now that have already committed a lot of money for the first time ever into the BOPD. And uh and so I think it's a it's a great new time. But but again, thanks for your heart as you go around. Thanks for your investment into our staff, especially. Uh thanks for the investment into the inmate population. And uh I'm just really excited that we've been able to get connected through this. I'm so glad uh Director Collier and and uh even our warden Paul uh suggested you. So I'm looking forward to some exciting days to hearing our staff get to hear you as you travel around uh the country. So thank you very much.

Damon 28:46

Thank you, and I'm very grateful. And you know, it's like the first conversation you have when you said, Dang man, I really love your message and I really think it could help, but I don't have your money for you. And I said, Man, you you remember I told you you you can't pay me for what I what I want to do in the BOP, man, because that's a different way to get paid on the spiritual level. And I and I I practice what I preach, you know, Deputy Director Smith. I really think that servant leadership is the secret to life. And this is my way to help other people reach their goals in life, help to raise, you know, the staff and corrections up to a different level in life. Because again, when we help other people grow, we grow. So thanks for opportunity.

Smith 29:19

Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you.