REBROADCAST: Second Chances - Darnell Epps '19 (original air date: 6/26/19)

Since last episode was all about the criminal justice system, we thought it appropriate to follow it up with this episode from season 1. Featuring Darnell Epps, a recent grad who, after spending almost two decades in prison turned his life around and earned his degree from Cornell. Originally aired June 26, 2019. Enjoy!

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From the Brooklyn housing projects, to private Catholic School, to a near 17-year incarceration at Five Points Correctional Facility, to Cornell University, Darnell Epps '19 is not your typical Cornell Senior.

Hear Darnell's fascinating and inspirational story about taking the wrong path in life, lessons learned, and coming out the other side.

“One thing that struck me deep was seeing the pain… When I walked in the courtroom and I would see a packed courtroom and I would see families on both sides, feeling pain. I would see the tears in my mother’s eyes, the embarrassment that I caused her, the shame that I brought. She was a New York City Police Officer, but yet had to explain to her colleagues that her two sons were incarcerated for murder. And she was at trial every day. She stuck by me. She came up on the visit practically every month to see Darrell and I. It was that. It was witnessing that. It was seeing that. That really brought me face-to-face with the need to ultimately become a responsible adult and to break out of this way of thinking that seemed to dominate my teenage years.”

Check out Darnell's Op Ed in the New York Times.

Read the episode transcript.

Hosted by Lou Diamond '92.
Created and produced by Amanda Massa.
Music by Kia Albertson-Rogers '13, koa3@cornell.edu.
Artwork by Chris Kelly.
Episode transcribed by Cait Collins.

*The views expressed by Fresh from the Hill hosts and guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Cornell University.