The Second Chance Chronicles w/ Chaddrick Thomas

  Part 6 of the Second Chance Chronicles By Chaddrick Thomas They look at my record and think they know who I am. 40 years in the state. 51 more in the feds. Murder. 2002. Colorado. That’s all some people need to stop listening. But here’s what they don’t see: I’m a military veteran. I’m a father of four. I’m the CEO of a successful e-commerce brand, Global Hair 4U. I’ve spent over two decades behind bars building, healing, growing. And I am not my charges. They Gave Me a Number. I Built a Name. They sentenced me to 40 years—and then added 51 more like I was disposable. But even inside, I refused to be invisible. While the system tried to bury me, I was creating a future from the concrete. Global Hair 4U didn’t come from privilege. It came from purpose. From vision. From long nights strategizing when I could’ve given up. Because I knew my life wasn’t over. Because I knew my story had more chapters. “I’m fighting every day to rebuild my brand, my legacy, ...

  You don’t just do time alone. You do time as somebody’s son. Somebody’s brother. Somebody’s father. And in a country where Black men are targeted by a system that cages us before we’re crowned, fatherhood becomes a battlefield. It’s not just about being present—it’s about fighting to be allowed to exist in your child’s life. This isn’t a story about absent dads. This is a story about stolen fatherhood. ⸻ “They Locked Me Up, But I Never Left My Kids” “My son was three when I got locked up. Every visit, he’d cry when he had to leave. They tell you to ‘do your time and come home,’ but time doesn’t stop for them. They grow up. They get angry. They ask why. And you gotta figure out how to father through concrete and steel.” — Terrell, 42, did 7 years The system doesn’t just incarcerate men—it incarcerates families. Visits get denied. Letters get lost. Calls cost dollars per minute. And still, we try. We call. We write. We draw pictures. We teach from the inside. Becau...