Special Guests

Carl T. Kraley

By day, Carl T. Kraley works in the insurance industry. By night he is a speaker, mentor, writer, and criminal justice reform advocate. 

He was born and raised in Shelby, Michigan - a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. After graduating high school, he went off to college with dreams of being a High School History teacher and football coach, but all of that changed during his Sophomore year of college. 

In a matter of days, he went from a dean's list student at Michigan State University to a prisoner in the Michigan Department of Corrections as he began to serve a two-year sentence.

Carl was back at MSU within days of being released and graduated within a few years of his release.

It took Carl almost 15 years to come to terms with the impact that his time in prison had on him.

Through discovering the works of Shaka Senghor and Piper Kerman, Carl realized that formerly incarcerated people were using their voices and experiences to help others understand that the criminal justice system is causing lasting damage to those who have been through it. Carl began using his voice and sharing his perspective, speaking to groups since 2017. 

He has been a part of the Healing Broken Circles community since 2017 and has mentored men at Chillicothe Correctional Institute with Life Builders/Welcome Home for Life Network. 

Carl met his wife while at MSU, and they were married in 2010. Together they have a 9 yr old son and 7 yr old daughter.

Christina Ray

Christina Ray (C. Ray) is a Master of Social Work Student at The Ohio State University, born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Having been incarcerated for three years in an Ohio women’s prison, she witnessed first-hand the injustice and inequalities within the American legal system. This is also where she learned that her passion and purpose are in prison advocacy and reform. Upon her release in 2018, she enrolled in The Ohio State University and obtained her Bachelor's in Social Work in 2022.

She is involved with the local non-profit, Healing Broken Circles (HBC). HBC works with currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, offering programming and a platform to share their voices and talents. Ray is involved with The Returning Artist Guild (RAG; follow them on Instagram @thereturningartistsguild) which is a group of current and former justice-involved artists using their art to promote advocacy and social justice. In addition to this she is on the board at The Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP.) OPEEP offers college level courses for credit inside of some of Ohio's Prisons. Similar to other Inside-Out Programs.  Ray is currently interning with ARCH Reentry, a reentry program located in central Ohio.