Lee Chapelle

My life experience with the justice/penal system began at the age of fifteen. My first incarceration came two weeks following my sixteenth birthday at the Toronto East Detention Center, for property offences.

I spent two months locked up in the East and upon release felt empowered, ‘tough’ and no longer fearful - of my parents, school, the police and jail. I possessed a newly found sense of self-esteem, and, a telephone book filled with names and phone numbers of many ‘new friends’. I bought fully into the anti-establishment views, eventually leading to a federal sentence of twenty years.

In my early thirties, while inside I began genuinely questioning the direction of my life, realizing I needed to make fundamental changes, praying it was not too late. I began University courses in Addictions and Pyschology, via correspondence, and embarked upon a determined introspective quest to find ‘the answers’. I bought into a whole new concept centered on accountability, ownership and ‘walking in the light’.

I started advocacy work for inmates from within the system, and served numerous years in various prisons as an Inmate Committee Chairman, lobbying relentlessly for prisoner and human rights.

Following release from prison and successful completion of my sentence, I was drawn to service in the area I was most familiar with; assisting those facing incarceration, and their families. Realizing that over the years, I had gained specialized knowledge and expertise that, if put to good use, would allow others to avoid many of the challenges and difficulties I myself had faced earlier in life.

I also work actively with young people. In these endeavors I work consistently towards removing any sense of glamour or coolness attached to perceptions of the criminal world, or ‘thug culture’. The message simple; true strength and true toughness comes from overcoming adversities, staying the course and walking in the light. Reinforcing the significance and empowerment derived from doing the right thing, ‘even when everyone is watching’.

I've collaborated with media on stories offering insights on subjects such as policy changes and what they represent to inmates, prison management and the larger impact on society in general. I have worked with numerous authors and people in the entertainment industry, providing real insight into the world of crime and prisons for various creative projects.