When Prison Becomes Your University: David Carrillo’s 31-Year Journey from Life Without Parole to Freedom

Last night I stayed up until 1:30 AM reading a book. My wife rolled over and asked what I was doing, and honestly, I had no idea except that I couldn’t put the damn thing down. The book was “Kiko: Life Without Parole to Life With Purpose” by David Carrillo, and it took me on a ride that left me thinking about the power of the human spirit long after I closed it.

David’s story isn’t just another prison memoir. It’s a masterclass in what happens when someone refuses to let their worst circumstances define their future.

A Childhood That Felt Normal (But Wasn’t)

When David talks about his childhood, there’s something that hits you right in the gut. Here was a kid trying to do right - running paper routes, shoveling snow, baking cookies with his mom to sell - but every single family member and system around him was pushing him toward the streets.

“The interesting thing, when I reflect on it, I realized the dysfunction and the trauma that I was being exposed to. But at the time, I mean, honestly, it seemed like normal, right? It was, this was life,” David told me during our conversation.

That’s the thing about trauma - when you’re living in it, it doesn’t feel like trauma. It feels like Tuesday.

David’s dad was in and out of prison, telling war stories about life behind bars to a kid who had no real concept of what any of it meant. His parents went through an ugly divorce that landed him and his siblings in foster care when he was just 11 years old. The system that was supposed to protect them became another source of harm.

From Foster Care to Prison Pipeline

The most chilling part of David’s story is how the system prepared him for prison long before he ever committed a crime. After his dad somehow won custody while sitting in jail (don’t ask me how that happened), David ended up at his grandparents’ house in Colorado, where emotional and psychological abuse became the norm.

When David started acting out and running away, they didn’t mess around. They shipped him straight back to California to a place called McLaren Hall - supposedly a social services facility for kids dealing with custody issues.

But McLaren Hall wasn’t a safe shelter. It was prison preparation 101.

David described walking through gates that buzzed open and closed just like a prison. Medical examinations that felt like intake processing. Kids sleeping on cots in the middle of the floor because there wasn’t enough room. This was supposed to be help, but it was really just conditioning a 12-year-old for a life behind bars.

The Power of Changing Your Thinking

Here’s what makes David’s story different from every other prison story you’ve heard: he figured out something that most people never learn, even on the outside.

“When you understand the power that you really have to shape how you see the world… when you really, really, truly understand the power that we have, and you can create a whole new narrative, right? You can create a whole new story,” David explained.

This wasn’t some overnight revelation. David spent 31 years in prison, sentenced to life without parole for complicity in first-degree murder. He wasn’t the trigger man, but he was there. Interestingly, the person who actually pulled the trigger got 35 years while David got life without parole. The system isn’t always fair, but David decided that wasn’t going to define his story.

Becoming a Professor Behind Bars

While serving his life sentence, David did something unprecedented. He didn’t just get his GED or take a few college courses. He earned a bachelor’s degree AND an MBA while incarcerated. But here’s the kicker - he became the first of his kind: an adjunct professor teaching college courses to other inmates while still being an inmate himself. And he got paid as a professor.

Think about that for a second. A man sentenced to die in prison became a college professor while still behind bars.

The Paradigm Shift That Changes Everything

David learned something in prison that they used to teach in those old cognitive programs: “When you start to change the way you think, right? You start to change the way you feel. And when you start to change the way you feel, you start to change the things you do. And when you change the things you do, you start to get different things, right? And I’m proof positive of that concept.”

It sounds simple, but it’s not. Changing your thinking when you’re surrounded by violence, despair, and the daily reality that you’ll likely die behind bars takes a level of mental discipline that most people can’t imagine.

After 31 years, David won clemency and was released. Today, he’s out here doing incredible work, proving that redemption isn’t just possible - it’s powerful.

David’s story challenges everything we think we know about punishment, redemption, and who society allows to change. This isn’t about excuses. It’s about ownership, education, and what happens when someone refuses to let their sentence define their destiny.

Sometimes the worst nightmare becomes the setup for the greatest comeback.