Phillip Miller. By Sana Cheema, Julia Clark, Grace…
By: Julia Clark
Tags: Prison Reform

By Sana Cheema, Julia Clark, Grace Crotts, Mohan Jauhar, Hayden Martz, Mira Sundar

It appeared that Phillip Miller was on track for having a successful and fulfilling life. Born in suburban Long Island, at the age of 17, he completed high school graduating with a 4.0 GPA and attended college for two years. However, his life took a turn for the worse when he was incarcerated at Suffolk County Jail. At the age of 19, he was charged with multiple robberies and criminal possession of weapons. After the Suffolk County facility, he spent 16 years in numerous New York state prisons: Five Points, Sullivan, Sing Sing, Southport, and finally to Auburn, where he was released in 2016.

Once entering prison, Miller thought he could get nowhere else in life. He decided that he would surround himself with more experienced criminals, absorbing any new information that he could use to enhance his criminal expertise. About a year and a half into his prison sentence, Miller decided to finally turn his life around. He started focusing more on his education so that he could become a more successful person. He started to spend less time in the prison yard, instead, immersing himself in books and the many programs provided by the prisons.

He worked in the prison libraries during his 16 year incarceration, mainly in the law sections. Miller said that working with the youth assistance program and participating in some of the theater programs helped him get through life in prison. He also helped advocate for other prisoners, working with them to challenge their sentences. He tried to attend as many programs as possible but realized that many of them were outdated. Consequently, he sought out ways to compensate for outdated information. He started playing handball with the other inmates and enjoyed it so much that he continues to play it to this day. By the time he was released, he’d earned an associate degree from Mercy College. Growing up, he was influenced by his parents’ religious beliefs: his father was a Baptist and his mother a Catholic. However, during his time in prison, he stopped being a believer.

Today, Miller, now 39, is employed at The Correctional Association of New York and has been working there since February of this year. The Correctional Association is the only independent citizens’ organization with the legislative authority to monitor prison conditions. Since the organization is so small, he is one of just six people in the state with this authority. He interviews inmates at some of the same prisons where he was locked up, monitoring prison conditions.” After his release, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business and Corporate Communications from Baruch College. In his free time he enjoys tango and salsa dancing. He speaks four languages: Spanish, Italian, French, and English.

While he was still incarcerated his family had either moved away from New York or died. Consequently, he sought out a nearby homeless shelter, but after seeing the horrible living conditions, he decided he did not want to stay there. Miller found a high school friend to stay with for about a month eventually taking a job as a paralegal at the Legal Action Center in New York City. Though he was on his own, he says, he did not have a hard time transitioning to life after his release.

Unlike so many newly released inmates, he describes feeling as if he had always been free. “Like I never left.”