winners<\/a> of the Mayor\u2019s Office of Criminal Justice \u201cNext Verse: Voices for Change\u201d poetry contest, earning a $500 prize for his response to the prompt, \u201cWho benefited when I changed?\u201d <\/p>\nThe citywide contest invited New Yorkers to reflect on public safety, healing and personal transformation through poetry.\n<\/p>\n
For Laracuente, the answer was deeply personal.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMy writing has become a way for me to explore that transformation, as well as my own identity and my human capacity to change,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The contest itself was born from a similar story of transformation. Mayor\u2019s Office of Criminal Justice Programs Manager Ian Manuel, who conceived \u201cNext Verse,\u201d spent 26 years in prison\u2014nearly two decades of it in solitary confinement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPoetry saved my life,\u201d Manuel said in a statement.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what inspired me to help create MOCJ\u2019s Next Verse poetry contest \u2014 to be a conduit for New Yorkers to not only express their creativity but share their ideas about safety and the change they want to see in our city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like Manuel, Laracuente hopes his writing offers a window into what life can look like after incarceration.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that a person shouldn\u2019t be defined by one single moment in their lives,\u201d he said. \u201cI expressed that through the power of writing\u2026 to show redemption and what\u2019s possible if you believe in second chances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Soundview, Laracuente said he came from humble beginnings. At 25, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder.<\/p>\n
Although he had always enjoyed writing, Laracuente said higher education helped him sharpen his voice. Inspired by writers such as Nelson Mandela and Che Guevara, he came to see writing as more than creative expression\u2014it could also challenge injustice and reshape public perception.<\/p>\n
Among the books that most influenced him were Tom Wicker\u2019s \u201cA Time to Die\u201d about the Attica prison uprising, and Michelle Alexander\u2019s \u201cThe New Jim Crow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of molded and shaped how I wanted to come out and attack the system from the outside in,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
While incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility, Laracuente paid for correspondence courses using wages he earned through Corcraft and financial support from his family. After transferring to Sing Sing Correctional Facility, he enrolled in the Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison program, where he earned an associate degree in science in 2019 and a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology in 2020.<\/p>\n
The coursework matched the rigor of classes offered to students outside prison, he said, but completing it behind bars presented unique challenges. Facility schedules, inmate counts, movement restrictions and limited access to the computer lab often interrupted his studies. Most of his papers were typed on an electric typewriter with only a single line of text visible at a time.<\/p>\n
Still, Laracuente remained focused on the future.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of trying to figure out what that exit plan was going to be, and I started to see that writing became something that was easy to me, and it became a passion of mine,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as you can apply yourself and develop that resiliency, you learn how to keep moving forward despite the obstacles.\u201d<\/p>\n
After returning home in 2021, Laracuente put that education into practice. He now works as a reentry practitioner, helping people returning from incarceration rebuild their lives through workforce development and mentorship. He also writes \u201cFrom Inside to Impact,\u201d a LinkedIn newsletter read not only by formerly incarcerated people, but also by correctional professionals, criminologists and policymakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times I\u2019ve already done a lot of destruction in my community, and now it\u2019s time to create in my community,\u201d he said. \u201cThat comes with modeling and mentorship. I started focusing on the value that I could bring, not only to myself but to others.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Laracuente, writing is more than an art form\u2014it is a way to challenge the stigma surrounding incarceration and offer others hope.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to show people the unique perspective of what life\u2019s like through the lens of someone who\u2019s been incarcerated,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to show what happens after the shame disappears, when you\u2019re able to tell your story in a safe space. For me, that\u2019s through poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While serving a 20-year prison sentence, Wilfredo Laracuente spent his time preparing for the life he hoped to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[112487,128,112488,112489,3777,112490,18186,112491,41230,112492,57017,9,24,63,8098,129,131,130,112493,112494,112495],"class_list":["post-295029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-attica","tag-bronx","tag-che-guevara","tag-corcraft","tag-criminal-justice","tag-from-inside-to-impact","tag-greenville","tag-laracuente","tag-linkedin","tag-mayors-office-of-criminal-justice","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-prison","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-the-new-jim-crow","tag-tom-wicker","tag-wilfredo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}