{"id":5254,"date":"2024-06-04T15:18:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T15:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/?page_id=5254"},"modified":"2025-02-05T22:49:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T03:49:05","slug":"michael-wages","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/michael-wages\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Wages"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Home<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p> <\/div>\n\n \n

\n \n Michael Wages\n <\/h1>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n

Michael Wages was incarcerated from the age of 15 until he was\u00a0 42. In prison, he never expected to have the life he leads now, but he\u2019s learning to embrace the joys and challenges of reentry<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\u201cI have yet to learn where I’m going. I just take each day step by step, not trying to run through it; try to learn and take some from each day and each person I meet. If I fumble, I fumble, but I did learn something along the way.\u201d – Michael Wages <\/h3>\n \n \n
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Michael sees an enormous difference between the person he was at 15 and the person he is today. \u201cYoung Michael, he was the drug dealer, the fast money,\u201d he says, \u201cbut he was also vulnerable.\u201d Today, he is more mature and measured, but the trauma and unpredictability of incarceration left their marks. \u201cIf you drop a dime or penny, or your shoe\u2019s untied, or your nail breaks, I’m paying attention to it just because I don’t know what’s next to come,\u201d he explains. As Michael adjusts to life on the outside, he\u2019s finding the balance between healing and thriving.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI Didn\u2019t Care Much About Life Before I Got Locked Up\u201d<\/h5>\n

Michael\u2019s childhood was \u201ca piece of work.\u201d He grew up on the South Side of Chicago in the Ida B. Wells Homes, a now-demolished public housing project in the Bronzeville neighborhood. As a child, he often felt singled out due to colorism within his family. \u201cI\u2019m the only dark-skinned child my mother had compared to all my brothers and sisters,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I felt like I was the black sheep of the whole family \u2026 it was eight of us in the house, but I was the one that was basically walked over a lot.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, Michael spent a lot of time outside of the home. \u201cI started selling drugs when I was 10 years old,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know how you want all the stuff you see other people wearing and all that? My mother told me if I wanted it, I had to go get it.\u201d He joined a gang at 10 and climbed the ranks. \u201cAt 12, all hell broke loose,\u201d he explains. \u201cI would fight tooth and nail with anyone. My mother couldn\u2019t control me.\u201d He was kicked out of high school at 14 \u201cfor fighting another rival organization, out on the street, me and about seven of my friends,\u201d he explains. \u201cThen I never went back to school.\u201d In part, Michael sees his early teens as a period of self-destructive and self-harming behaviors. \u201cI didn\u2019t care much about life out there before I got locked up,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n

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You know how you want all the stuff you see other people wearing and all that? My mother told me if I wanted it, I had to go get it. … At 12, all hell broke loose.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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Michael Wages<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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Photo: Michael Wages, 12 years old, at his elementary school graduation<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n \n \n

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