From Prison at 12 to PhD: Ryan Rising's Education Mission

Ryan Rising was 12 years old when he was first incarcerated, beginning a cycle that would repeat for the next 20 years. But a 2013 hunger strike in California's prison system changed everything.

Rising was one of 30,000 incarcerated people across 30 prisons who refused food for 33 days to protest living conditions. The strike succeeded in winning new opportunities, including access to college courses by mail through a local community college.

Rising enrolled immediately, starting with a pharmacology class where he researched 12 drugs he had personally abused. He earned two A+ grades that first term and never used drugs again. "I became addicted to achieving A+ results and I fell in love with knowledge," he says.

When Rising left prison in 2015 with $200 in his pocket, he arrived in San Diego at 2 a.m. to a neighborhood filled with people sleeping in tents and using drugs. He was offered drugs immediately but kept walking, eventually falling asleep on a bench outside San Diego City College.

He woke up and decided to enroll. That decision transformed his life completely.

At San Diego City College, Rising met other formerly incarcerated students and created the Urban Scholars Union to lobby for institutional support. That student-led initiative grew into the Rising Scholars Network, now active at more than 90 community colleges across California.

Rising went on to earn his bachelor's degree in sociology at UC Santa Barbara, where he created the Gaucho Underground Scholars programme. He secured $4 million in funding to expand it across the entire University of California system, helping formerly incarcerated students access education and support services.

The Ripple Effect

Rising's work has opened doors for thousands of people who faced the same challenges he did. The programmes he built provide not just education, but mentorship, housing support, and career development opportunities that address the actual barriers to successful reintegration.

Now pursuing his PhD in criminology at UC Irvine, Rising is researching which strategies work best to prevent people from returning to prison. He's documenting the career paths and challenges faced by formerly incarcerated individuals who participated in various support programmes.

"We're not monsters; we're credible messengers and can be agents for change in our communities," Rising explains. His work focuses on erasing the stigma that follows people long after they leave prison.

Rising received the Michael D. Young Engaged Scholar Award for using his knowledge to create positive change. He represents a growing movement of credible messengers with lived experience who are transforming the justice system from the inside.

His vision is simple but revolutionary: replace the school-to-prison pipeline with a prison-to-PhD pipeline that gives people real second chances.