LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- From the prison yard to a college campus, a Louisville man is proving it’s never too late to start over.
Just days after serving 11 years behind bars, Demario Powell traded his prison uniform for a backpack — and walked the steps of Simmons College of Kentucky, determined to finish what he started while incarcerated.
“Whenever I was 18 years old, I hung out with some negative influences, which led me to getting 20 years in prison,” Powell said. “I gave up all chances of getting out. I just knew I was never gonna make it home. I knew I was never gonna be able to see my family again.”
Demario Powell took advantage of the Second Chances program through Simmons College of Kentucky while in prison. (WDRB photo)
But while serving his sentence at Northpoint Training Center, hope found him.
“Simmons College came to North Point when I was there, and they gave me the opportunity to enroll in college,” Powell said. “I always knew that was my lane.”
Powell jumped at the chance.
“I ran to the school and said, ‘Hey, can I get on this list?’” he said. “They put my name at the top, and I was the first one enrolled in Simmons.”
While still behind bars, Powell earned his associate degree, and now, just days after his release, he’s one class away from completing his bachelor’s degree in business and entrepreneurship.
“I was released on Wednesday,” he said. “The next day, I immediately went straight to my college. I said, ‘I need to finish my degree.’ It was an overwhelming feeling because this is what I longed for.”
Now, through the Second Chance Pell Program, Simmons is extending that same mission beyond its campus walls — into Kentucky’s prisons.
“We just wanted to perform wrap-around services for him so that he could continue his degree,” said Rev. Dr. G. Martin Young, executive director of prison education at Simmons College. “If you look at the national average, 48% of prisoners will get out of prison and go right back in. But if they have a bachelor’s degree, it goes down to 4%.”
Dr. Young said Simmons now teaches nearly 200 incarcerated students across three prisons: Northpoint Training Center, Luther Luckett and the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women.
“We wanted to come off the wall and reach people in the world,” Young said. “And this young man is a perfect example of what happens when they come to school while they’re incarcerated.”
Powell said earning his degree has been more than a dream come true — it’s been redemption.
“Being a felon, I already have the odds against me,” he said. “But me getting a degree is the equalizer. There’s a lot of people just like me — they just need the opportunity, the same way Simmons gave me the opportunity.”
He hopes his story inspires others to choose education over desperation.
“Inmates are so often forgotten about,” Powell said. “Simmons gave us the opportunity and said, ‘Don’t give up.’”
Later this month, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is expected to visit Simmons College to help present Powell with his degree — a powerful symbol of a life rebuilt through faith, education and second chances.
“This is what I longed for,” Powell said. “Eight years ago, I thought I was never coming home. Now, I’m graduating.”
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