CARLISLE, Ind.

Charles Walls stood inthe cold rain on theday before Thanks-giving, staring at the

row of chain-link prison fencesbefore him.

After a few minutes of wait-ing nervously, he spotted his18-year-old son, Brent Walls,on the other side of the fences.An emotional man, he began to cry.

“This place,” Charles said quietly, hisglasses speckled with raindrops, “it saved myson’s life. It really did.”

He went on to explain what he meant.“What would have happened if he hadn’t

been caught with that loaded gun?” Charlessaid. “Something horrible could have hap-

pened, and we wouldn’t bestanding here today. This placesaved him. And now he has anopportunity for a new start. Hehas another chance. But it’s upto him.”

The rain poured harder asBrent made his way through onegate, and then another. Finally,carrying a clear garbage bagfilled with his belongings, Brent

stepped through the last gate and into free-dom for the first time in one year and fourdays.

Charles grabbed him and hugged hard, sohard that he lifted his son off the ground. Inthat moment, both father and son said later,

DANESE KENON / The Star

Brent Walls, holding a bag of possessions, reunites with his dad, Charles, outside Wabash Valley Cor-rectional Facility. “I’ve been locked up for one thing or another my whole teenage life,” Brent said.

BrentWalls is out of prison and ready for a fresh start.But at 18, he’s also a convicted felonwith no high school diploma.

» See Tully, Page A17

MatthewTullyCOMMENTARY

OURCHILDRENOURCITYThe Manual Project

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» See Gaffes, Page A16

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they were hoping a youngman’s lifetime of mistakeswas finally behind him.

“I love you,” they toldeach other.

“It’s over,” Charles said.“It’s you and me now.”

The road to that day be-gan Nov. 20, 2009. As otherstudents at Manual HighSchool looked forward tothe Thanksgiving break,Brent walked into thebuilding with a bad atti-tude, a bag of pot and aloaded handgun. He wasbusted during a third-pe-riod drug deal and sent tothe county juvenile facility,a place where he had rou-tinely served time duringhis teen years. This inci-dent, though, was different.Within two months, hewas charged with a fire-arms felony, found guilty inadult court and sentencedto a stint in the maximum-security Wabash ValleyCorrectional Facility insouthwest Indiana.

Brent spent Christmas,the night of his high schoolprom and his 18th birthdaybehind bars. Along theway, he learned to navigatea sometimes-violent worldfilled with men years olderthan him. He lived in atiny cell with a roommateinside a compound sur-rounded by razor wire andguard towers.

He emerged late lastmonth a convicted felon onparole with no high schooldiploma. He has challengesthe size of a mountain infront of him.

But he also has anotherchance.

Brent faces the same ob-stacles that haunt the other5,000 prisoners releasedinto Marion County eachyear. Even those with thebest intentions find it diffi-cult to get a job, resisttemptation and adjust tolife on the outside. It’s oneof the biggest threats fac-ing Indianapolis. Whetherpeople like Brent can findredemption and a new lifewill shape not only theirlives but also the quality oflife for others in the city.

With the prison gatesclosed behind him, Brentclimbed into his father’spickup truck. He reachedinto the back seat to hughis 12-year-old sister,Megan, and then turnedhis attention to Gracie, his2-year-old niece.

“Hey, baby,” he said,tickling Gracie’s side andsmiling at her. “She’s beau-tiful. Just beautiful. Imissed you, baby. Can yousay Uncle Brent?”

Brent played with Graciethroughout the two-hourdrive home to Indianapo-lis’ Southside, remarkingoften about how much ofher life he’d missed andhow big she’d grown sincehe’d last seen her. You missa lot when you’re lockedup. And for a string ofcrimes, Brent has beenlocked up often in recentyears.

Rain continued to fall asCharles drove north toTerre Haute and thenmerged onto I-70 towardIndianapolis. The familytalked about their plans forthe day, which includedtrips to a Ponderosa res-taurant and then church,and their plans for the fu-ture. They hope to move toPittsboro to get away fromthe rough neighborhoodwhere Brent grew up.They also hope to build abusiness. At one point,Charles handed his son ashirt for his lawn-careservice.

“Brent: crew leader,” itread.

Shortly into the drive,Charles’ mobile phonerang. Brent’s older brother

was on the line.“We’re on the road, and

I’m free,” Brent said aftertaking the call. “I’ve beenwaiting for this day. Inever thought it wouldcome.”

A few minutes later, af-ter Brent shook his headand said how strange it feltto be riding in a car, Iasked what he’d learned inprison.

“The things I alreadyknew, but I now know theyare more serious,” he said.“It’s not play. It’s not juve-nile lockup anymore. It’sstraight to prison fromnow on. I have to get myhead straight and start fo-cusing on my new life. I’vebeen locked up for onething or another my wholeteenage life. It’s time to putthat behind me. I missedso much.”

Brent sounded more ma-ture and more optimisticthan in March, when I hadlast interviewed him. Heacknowledged his mistakes,his need to keep workingto control his anger, and tostay away from the friendsand drugs that contributedto his problems. He said hewanted to work with hisdad, find a way to earn ahigh school diploma andspend as much time aspossible with his siblingsand niece.

“I had to go there to getbetter,” Brent said ofprison. “It opened my eyes.But I don’t want to spendmy life in there. There’s somany old guys in there.They’ve done years andstill got more years to go. Ican’t do that. It’s too much.I don’t want my life to turnout like that.”

That’s exactly the senti-ment his family wanted tohear, and Brent soundedsincere. Of course, ifthere’s ever a time whensomeone will say the rightthings, it’s the day he getsout of prison. The questionfor Brent is whether hecan do the right things asthe weeks and monthspass.

Brent has an advantageover many ex-offenders be-cause his family is stickingtight behind him. His lackof an education, however,will hurt him. He has fewhigh school credits and,because of a fight inprison, he was excludedfrom its GED program.That’s his fault. But theidea that an education isconsidered a luxury in thestate’s prisons, and not arequirement for release, isabsurd.

During his ride home,Brent said he was holdingon to his dream of one dayjoining the military butunderstands that could bemerely a fantasy because ofhis felony conviction. Ifthat doesn’t work out, hehopes to get a job fixing

cars. Whatever happens,he said, he wants a normallife.

A free one.As he sat in the front

seat, playing with his nieceand watching the milespass by, it seemed possiblethat Brent had grownenough in the past year tofinally take advantage ofthe opportunities life of-fers.

In March, when I askedBrent about Manual HighSchool, he offered littlesympathy for the problemshe’d caused there over the

years, including assaultinga teacher and attacking hisfather during a meeting atthe school. It was hearten-ing, then, to hear his re-gretful answer this timewhen I asked what he’dlike to say to the studentsand staff at Manual.

“I would apologize forall the trouble I caused,”he said. “I caused a lot oftrouble there. I owe them alot of apologies. Almostevery teacher there wasnice, and I was one ofthose kids who was sittingthere making their jobs

hard.”The rain let up just as

the Downtown Indianapo-lis skyline appeared in thedistance. Brent smiledwhen we passed Lucas OilStadium, and he said hewas excited about the ideaof watching his belovedColts play that Sunday. Ac-tually, he said, he was ex-cited about everything —from eating his dad’s friedchicken to watching amovie with his sister toworking on a cleanup jobhis dad was arranging. Hesaid he even looked for-

ward to the challenges,such as telling old friendsthat he can’t be a part oftheir world again.

Toward the end of thedrive, Brent pulled a Mi-chael Jackson CD out of acase. He slipped it in theplayer and turned up thevolume on “You Are NotAlone,” a sappy balladabout sticking by a friendwhile separated.

“This is my favoritesong,” he said.

“I listened to this everyday you were gone,”Charles said.

Brent, Charles andMegan sang along as thesong played.

Charles cried, as heoften does.

“I’m happy,” he said.“It’s just good to have youback. It’s good to have anew beginning.”

It was the beginning ofwhat will be a long story.How that story ultimatelyunfolds, with redemptionor failure, is in the handsof an 18-year-old manwho’s already lived thehard edges of life and mustdecide if he truly wantssomething better.✭ Reach Matthew Tully at (317)444-6033 or via e-mail atmatthew.tully@indystar.com.

Tully» Brent plans to avoidold friends and drugs.

From A1

DANESE KENON / The Star

Brent Walls, 18, a former Manual High School student, is released from prison after one yearand four days. He was convicted of a firearms felony after bringing a gun to school.

“This place, it saved my son’s life. It really did,” Charles Wallssaid as his son, Brent, was released from prison.

“I had to gothere to get

better. It openedmy eyes. But Idon’t want to

spend my life inthere. There’s somany old guys inthere. They’vedone years andstill got moreyears to go. I

can’t do that. It’stoo much. I don’twant my life toturn out like

that.”BrentWalls

‘OUR CHILDREN,OUR CITY’The Indianapolis Star is joiningour readers and the commu-nity to improve the lives ofchildren and education in ourcity. The Star has set threegoals for the project, includingincreasing the number of vol-unteers in the community by10,000. If you would like moreinformation or want to arrangefor someone from The Star tospeak to your organizationabout this effort, call (317)444-KIDS — (317) 444-5437 —or e-mail us at ourchildren@indystar.com.

The Manual ProjectIn a series of columns, Mat-thew Tully chronicled life atManual High School during the2009-10 school year throughthe eyes of teachers, adminis-trators, students and parents.+ ONLINE: For more aboutthis series, visit IndyStar.com/ourchildren.

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