Rahsaan Thomas knows about endurance. While serving a 55-years-to-life sentence in San Quentin State Prison for a second-degree murder conviction, Thomas figured, “I can’t pay my debt sitting in a cell.” So, he honed his journalism skills writing for the San Quentin News and earned an Asociate Degree. For the past four years, Thomas has been a co-producer and co-host of the podcast “Ear Hustle” (prison slang for eavesdropping).
And he began running, completing his first marathon – 26.2 miles – by running 105 laps around a prison yard. After 23 years in San Quentin, Rahsann’s sentence was commuted. He was subsequently released and re-joined the world in February 2023. Currently, he’s training for the New York City Marathon, which kicks off on November 5th. This Sunday at 8am he will step off with 50,000 runners from all over the world and take his first strides over the Verazzano Bridge and on into Brooklyn. This willl be Thomas’s first marathon as a free man.
Born and raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, his nickname – in and out of San Quentin – is “New York.” Writing for the PEN America website, he says that, as young man, he “experienced trauma and witnessed gun violence committed against my little brother. Through my fears, shame, and insecurities, I chose to let the evil deeds of my enemies make my evil deeds seem fair and became a menace to society.”
Thomas is living proof that rehabilitation is possible when a prisoner is dedicated and receives systemic and individual support. He wants to help other formerly justice-involved persons succeed in finding and maintaining life beyond prison. He’s created a non-profit organization for that very purpose: Empowerment Avenue. Its goal – according to Outside magazine – is “to use art and writing to break cycles of intergenerational incarceration and poverty and achieve public safety without violence.”
Thomas was featured in 26.2 to Life: San Quentin Marathon, a documentary, which received 2023 Santa Barbara International Film Festival Audience Choice Award. He’s a contributing writer to The Marshall Project, a non-profit source of journalism about Criminal Justice.
Want to learn more? Check out his website here.
