When James Extreme arrived at West Virginia College in 2012, he had one factor on his thoughts: soccer. “I went to a fairly standard prep faculty in North Jersey—Don Bosco Prep—massive soccer faculty,” he remembers. “However you hit some extent the place you get practical. Like, I’m not LeBron. I’m not going to the league. So, I figured, possibly I’d be an agent. Nonetheless keep near the sport.”
That dream derailed when he was 19 and bought caught with a pound of weed. No weapons. No money. Simply marijuana in a state that solely just lately legalized leisure use.
“I used to be a sophomore in school,” he says. “And in West Virginia, that was sufficient to get me two years.”
James takes full duty for the error that led to his first incarceration. “I put myself in that place. I personal that,” he says. “Ought to I’ve been in jail for that lengthy? No. You realize, did it matter that I used to be from New York? I used to be Black? In all probability. Almost certainly.”
After serving his time, James got here house decided to rebuild. He enrolled at Nassau Neighborhood Faculty, made the dean’s listing, and even made the junior school’s soccer squad. Whereas it was clear the league wasn’t within the playing cards, he had a plan in place to pursue a profession in sports activities enterprise. He landed his dream internship at a sports activities company in New Jersey and picked up an in a single day job at Morton Williams grocery store and a barback gig in Instances Sq..
By late 2019, he transferred to the Metropolis Faculty of New York to check psychology, balancing courses, two jobs, and an internship. “I used to be rolling,” he says. “Maintaining with every thing. Simply doing my factor… I used to be set to graduate in spring.”
That momentum got here to a screeching halt in December, three days earlier than his birthday. Pulled over for dashing on his solution to work, James was blindsided when officers informed him there was a fugitive warrant out for his arrest. The rationale? A clerical error.
“My parole officer had retired throughout COVID,” he explains. “We have been doing telephone check-ins, and I used to be nonetheless calling, answering the prompts, altering my tackle after I wanted to. I had no thought nobody was monitoring it.”
Nobody contacted him to comply with up. No warning. Simply jail.
“I’m on parole. I’m principally the most effective candidate to be on parole, you already know, truthfully. You couldn’t actually paint a greater image with what I used to be doing and like what I used to be reaching whereas on parole. I used to be type of like in shock. I felt like—like my life simply—simply dropped.”
As a result of nobody was monitoring his check-ins, James was accused of absconding. “They handled me like I’d disappeared,” he says. “However I used to be a full-time pupil, working two jobs, interning. I wasn’t hiding. I used to be proper there.”
Even after studying that his officer had quietly retired, and a brand new officer had solely simply found the case, there was no correction. No reversal. No apology. When James appeared earlier than the parole board, New York parole didn’t even present up.
He ended up spending over 5 months incarcerated, first at Rikers Island, then in West Virginia. “I sat in Rikers for about over a month… I wasn’t housed for like the primary, like, two, three days after I bought there. Like, sleeping on the ground… I don’t know the way I coped, as I’m speaking about it proper now. I actually don’t. I type of, like, misplaced myself.”
“I used to be discovered responsible based mostly on a sheet of paper,” he says. “No one ever took duty. Someday, I simply bought an e-mail that stated, ‘You’re off parole.’ That was it.”
Launched with no fanfare and no restitution, James needed to begin over from scratch. “It felt like I needed to rebuild my whole life—once more,” he says. “However I wasn’t going to let it break me.”
His sister, Tracy, related him to a nonprofit digital media program for previously incarcerated individuals. He accomplished the coaching, picked up new abilities, and heard in regards to the Roc Nation College. “That was my final shot,” he says. “I used to be 32, going again to highschool, and barely had sufficient cash to complete. However I stated, both I’m gonna work on this enterprise or I’m not.”
James enrolled within the Sports activities Administration program and saved pushing. He interned at Roc Nation’s TV & Movie division, the place he ultimately landed a full-time position. Right this moment, he’s a producer on the Joe and Jada podcast hosted by Fats Joe and Jadakiss.
“To take a seat in a room with them each week and have my voice revered?” he says. “They respect me much more as soon as they discover out what I’ve been via. Which means one thing.”
Whereas he was enrolled on the Roc Nation College, he had an opportunity encounter that introduced every thing full circle. “Michael Rubin was one of many first friends who got here to the college,” James says. “And I used to be capable of share my story, say thanks to them and, you already know, every thing. And now we hand in hand at Roc Nation. It’s cool.”
That second marked the start of his relationship with Reform Alliance, the felony justice advocacy group based by Rubin, Jay-Z, and Meek Mill.
“They gave me a voice,” he says. “I used to be capable of settle for my previous and attempt to progress from it.”
Now, James is a part of a rising community of changemakers, utilizing lived expertise to battle for smarter insurance policies and second possibilities. And he’s not afraid to share what he’s been via as a result of he is aware of it’d assist another person discover their means ahead.
Along with Roc Nation, Reform Alliance, and the nonprofit storytelling platform The Moth, the place he additionally interned, Extreme credit his boss, Lori York, with serving to him keep the course. “She caught her neck out for me,” he says. “She treats me like household.”
This previous spring, James walked throughout the stage on the Roc Nation College and accepted his diploma. His son, Jade, turns two this fall.
“To have the ability to do all this and make him proud? That’s what issues,” he says. “I did it the great distance. However I did it the correct means. I actually labored for this.”
Not everybody will get a second likelihood. Even fewer get one other after that.
James Extreme did—and he earned it. He’s constructing a future not only for himself, however for his son, as properly. With each transfer, he’s proving he’s not simply again on monitor, he’s precisely the place he belongs.
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