Freedom Within Project

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Freedom Within Project

We envision a system based not on punishment, but on healing, repairing and thriving

Freedom Within is a non-profit org committed to restoring wholeness to system-impacted individuals & communities through a path of compassion, insight and accountability.

03/20/2026

something is shifting…

There are moments in the life of an organization that don’t announce themselves loudly…but you can sense and feel into them.

A shift. A deepening.An inflection point.

This is one of those moments for us.

Over the past months, we’ve been reflecting on where we’ve been—the lives touched, the stories carried, the quiet transformations that are often failed by the limitations of language.

And at the same time, something new is emerging, through the mycelial network that nourishes “the work”.

This spring, we are expanding our work in ways that feel both exciting, scary and necessary — creating new programs, deepening our curriculum, and widening the circle of who we can reach.

Not because it’s time to grow for growth’s sake — but because the need is real and present.

Because healing is needed.Because accountability is needed.Because people—inside and outside of the carceral state—are asking for something more human, more honest, more whole.

This moment asks something of us.

And it may ask something of you too.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more about where we’re headed—and how you can be part of it.

For now, we just want to say: we feel the turning of this moment, this season…and we’re listening closely.

With deep bows and gratitude to everyone who has walked with us to this point. And with openness to what comes next.

03/06/2026

I had the privilege of sitting down with Zakee Hutchison , a member of the Freedom Within Project board and someone who brings powerful lived experience to this work.

In his current role with GRIP Training Institute , Zakee helps citizens returning from prison navigate their first 90 days after release. He supports people in finding housing, employment, and educational opportunities as they begin rebuilding their lives – a transition he himself successfully navigated just six years ago.
In our conversation, Zakee spoke about something that often gets lost in public conversations about justice.

Many people inside prison are carrying unprocessed trauma and grief that began long before their incarceration, often rooted in what are known as ACEs - Adverse Childhood Experiences.
“They’re not inherently evil,” Zakee shares. “Many were never taught emotional regulation or healthy relationship skills.”
Zakee also spoke about the importance of helping people shift from reaction to reflection – a shift he believes is fundamental to public safety, and one he has experienced in his own life.
“If we want to offer safer communities, we’ve got to invest in the internal transformation of people who will eventually return to society. The question is: do we want them to come back with deeper resentment and untreated trauma, or do we want them to return with the emotional tools and accountability skills needed to become positive and productive citizens?”

Thank you, Zakee, for sharing your story and for helping illuminate how programs like Freedom Within cultivate stronger and safer communities through accountability and healing.
Zakee and I recorded our conversation and we will be sharing it soon in our new monthly newsletter.

👉 you can listen to the full interview here!
https://freedomwithinproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/zakee-full-final.mp3

$This past fall, one of our cohorts went through a moment that could have gone either way.Trust fractured. Old patterns s...$

02/27/2026

This past fall, one of our cohorts went through a moment that could have gone either way.

Trust fractured. Old patterns surfaced. I wasn’t sure where we would land.

And then, slowly, something shifted.

The circle began speaking honestly. Taking responsibility. Holding one another with fierce compassion.

By graduation, one man spoke about rediscovering a sense of belonging he hadn’t felt in years.

THIS is why we do this work.

We’ll be sharing more soon about what it takes to hold these spaces, and what we’re building next…

02/23/2026

Fifteen years ago, I co-founded Freedom Within with my friend and colleague Jay Saber with a dream of creating trauma-informed, restorative healing spaces inside prisons.
This past year was an inflection point.

Not because it was easy, but because it asked us to deepen how we hold challenge.

One of our recent cohorts nearly fractured. Trust wavered. I had to look honestly at my own leadership.

And then something shifted.

By graduation, the men stood together in courage and accountability, and one participant spoke about rediscovering a sense of belonging he hadn’t felt in years.

THIS is the work. THIS is the transformation.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more about what this work looks like from the inside...what we’re learning, and what it takes to steward healing spaces over time.

If you’re thirsty for stories of healing, justice, personal transformation and collective liberation, stay tuned.

12/08/2025

One of the great joys and privileges of doing this restorative, healing work occurs when we have the opportunity to connect with former participants who are now living peaceful, productive lives in their communities. Bearing witness to the power of this transformational work in “real time” is profoundly inspiring. We are about building communities that support not just healing and repairing, but THRIVING. has been in our circles and sat in the fire with us. He’s a powerful example of what is possible when we radically commit to doing the work of finding freedom within.

04/03/2025

This is a statistically significant testament to the work we do in service to the incarcerated community and in service to our collective liberation. A deep bow of gratitude to our community of other Community Based Organizations with whom we stand shoulder to shoulder with on this path.
(Article 🔗 in bio)
“We have a ways to go, but California has done a lot of work to try to improve the quality of life and dignity of people in prison,” Danica Rodarmel, a private consultant on prison issues and legislation, said in response to the CDCR report.
She said the state has allowed more visits by prisoners’ family and friends and free phone calls for inmates, as well as counseling programs sponsored by community organizations that seek to repair the emotional impacts of an inmate’s childhood trauma. Wednesday’s report said inmates who completed such programs and gained a “rehabilitative achievement credit” reoffended at a 25% rate in the three years after release, well below the statewide average.“

02/09/2025

Yesterday was a truly memorable and exquisitely beautiful day of honoring and celebration. We held our graduation ceremony for our FIRST EVER peer-led cohort at CSP-Sac (aka New Folsom Prison). What does that mean, you may be asking? It means that for the first time in the history of our organization, an incarcerated individual facilitated our year long program from commencement to closure. This is a responsibility that asks not only that an individual has a comprehensive understanding of our curriculum but that one embodies the gifts of deep listening, insight, self-awareness and the capacity to “hold the container” and lead with empathy, fierce compassion and an unwavering commitment to radical accountability. Our “inside facilitator”, Terry Pettis holds all of these qualities and values…and so much more.
We are humbled, honored and deeply grateful to have supported Mr. Pettis and the entire cohort. It has been an incredible privilege to bear witness to these souls who have embraced our transformative, collective work of “finding Freedom Within” with courageous truth telling, authenticity and integrity. Over the course of this year, many tears were shed, traumas processed, deep wounds tended to…and community was built.
A deep bow of gratitude and heartfelt congratulations to our first peer-led cohort!

01/09/2025

A deep bow of gratitude to all those on the front lines of this horrific catastrophe. Incarcerated firefighters are playing a critical role in battling this devastating fire as resources are stretched thin. These brave, marginalized souls are payed what we all know as FAR sub-livable wages while in harms way, protecting life and property. You never know who might save you and or your home from a disastrous fate.

Address

343 Soquel Avenue #77
Santa Cruz, CA
95062

Website

http://freedomwithinproject.org/

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