ERNST FENELON JR. is an international author, inspirational public speaker, moderator, life coach, performer, and poet. His talk is developed from his personal lived experience, including 33 years with the California and global incarceration systems (formerly incarcerated for 14 1/2 years; released 18 years ago). Ernst has facilitated classes, lectured, or performed globally in prisons and universities in London, Scotland, Uganda, Texas, and throughout California. Ernst has created a self-empowerment curriculum based on his first book, focusing on personal development during incarceration, social reintegration, and self-empowerment for “success.” Ernst works with the Dancing through Prison, Walls, Prison Education Project, Reintegration Academy, and other organizations to serve currently and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. Ernst continues to use his platforms to address legal/social systems injustices and inequalities.

The Formerly Incarcerated Speaker Series is a biweekly program on Alcatraz Island that lifts up and highlights the voices of people who have spent time inside of jails and prisons. The National Park Service believes in parks as platforms for dialogue, and Alcatraz Island, being one of the only NPS sites that interprets mass incarceration, works directly with people who have been affected in order to give them a platform to showcase their stories.

For more information on the Formerly Incarcerated Speaker Series,or other community outreach initiatives (including ranger-led programs), please contact park ranger Ashley Borrego (ashley_borrego@nps.gov). If you are a community leader working with the formerly incarcerated community and you would like to bring a group to an upcoming program in the series, please email Oliver. If you have any accessibility needs such as ASL translation, please contact goga_accessibility@nps.gov at least 5 days in advance.