Ray was 20 years old when he was sent to prison for life. The year was 1994. During his 32 years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk, or MCI-Norfolk, scientific evidence suggested that the part of the human brain responsible for rational decision-making and impulse control does not fully develop until around age 25.
Ray committed a terrible crime at a moment when his mind was overwhelmed by immaturity and chaos, when stress stripped away reason and drove him toward reckless choices. Raw emotion, not logic, was in control.
In 2012, informed by this scientific evidence, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment and were unconstitutional. In Massachusetts, the juvenile jurisdiction covered individuals aged 18 and under.
Ray was not eligible for parole. All he could do was continue to internalize the suffering he caused and endured as a young man and serve his time well with good behavior.
Little did he know that a serendipitous Franciscan intervention was coming his way.
When the Supreme Court’s ruling came down, Bro. Paul O’Keeffe, OFM, LCSW, a Franciscan Friar, licensed therapist, and clinical social worker, was with St. Anthony’s Shrine in Boston and running the grant-funded juvenile offender counseling service he’d begun in 2017. This was of no relevance to Ray, but thanks to Bro. Paul’s compassion for others, it soon would be.
“The brother of a client I was counseling in Boston needed a therapist because he was about a year out from his parole hearing,” shares Bro. Paul. “I started with him, and one day he said, ‘There are other guys in here who are looking for someone to talk to.’”
One of the guys was Ray.
“He was not yet eligible for parole because he was 20 when he committed his crime,” explains Bro. Paul, “but he just wanted to work through issues that he had on the outside, such as his trauma from childhood. I took him on conditionally because his case didn’t really fit the program, but I thought, Hey, he’s seeking counseling. Even more, he had an inherent dignity. Long before we started working together, he’d made the decision to work on himself, to be more trusting of others, and to be a better person to his fellow inmates and the prison staff. He was well–respected because he was peaceful toward others and had chosen to rise above his situation.”
When Ray and Bro. Paul started working together, they conducted their sessions online and by phone. Thanks to the program’s grant funding, Ray didn’t have to worry about paying Bro. Paul for their time together—time that proved beneficial for both of them.
“Ray was learning how to process the deep trauma of his past,” says Bro. Paul. “In addition to providing the well-needed service of counseling, I felt that my role as a friar was to be pastoral and to practice one of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy, which is to visit the imprisoned.
Ray and I worked together for 8 years. One of the things that he talked about frequently, to his credit, was that although he’d been in prison for 32 years, prison was not in him. That prevented him from being disrespectful to his fellow prisoners and the guards.”
During all the time that Ray and Bro. Paul worked together, the topic of freedom never came up. Ray didn’t know if he would ever get out of prison. Then, in January of 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Court made a ruling to increase the age for juveniles from 18 to 20, falling in line with 33 other states that had raised the age for juvenile offenders.
As a result, Ray became eligible for parole. By the date of his parole hearing in May of 2025, he’d overcome his mistrust of people and asked Bro. Paul to testify to his work in counseling and suitability for parole.
“I spoke at his hearing, just as I do with all who take part in the program,” shares Bro. Paul. “He was granted parole six months later—and he chose me to get him from prison. He said, ‘You’ve been the most reliable person in my life, and I know I can count on you.’ For me, it was an honor to be able to escort him out of prison on his first day.”
Ray transferred his parole to New York, where he’s originally from—and where Bro. Paul lives at the St. Francis Friary on W. 31st Street and provides counseling to individual clients and those who visit Franciscan 360, an affiliate program of the St. Francis Breadline. At Franciscan 360, Bro. Paul and a welcoming staff help the homeless find permanent housing.
“Now that Ray’s in New York, we’re talking every day. His transition has been very eye-opening,” shares Bro. Paul.
“When he went into prison 32 years ago, people weren’t really using computers—they weren’t part of our daily lives like today. Adjusting to this change has been his greatest challenge.”
He spent quite a bit of time on the street before prison, as he came from a broken home; his parents weren’t together and had their own issues, which prevented them from supporting him. From ages 13 to 20, he was really on his own. His greatest fear was that he would be without support when he got out.”
But Ray is finding support and receiving help in real time.
“He’s getting assistance,” says Bro. Paul. “He’s getting job training. He’s in a wonderful program called “Ready, Willing, and Able,” which is helping him readjust to life on the outside and reenter society. He is also a licensed barber, one of the many things he worked on in prison, and he hopes to work as a barber soon. So, it’s more about connecting him with the resources and services he needs to get on his feet. He is very much a self-starter and very motivated, so he’s finding his own way as well.
Recently, we met downtown, and he was smiling, laughing, and saying hello to everyone he met. He said, ‘I’m just so happy to be alive and to see people.’”
Bro. Paul is hoping to continue and expand the Counseling Program for Juvenile Offenders Seeking Parole, this time with two of his brother friars, Fr. Jay Woods, OFM, LMSW, and Fr. Mario Gomez, OFM, LMSW, both licensed therapists and clinical social workers.
“The criteria will remain the same,” shares Bro. Paul. “I’m still licensed in Massachusetts, so I can work with people up there, but I’m making connections with people in New York to be able to provide the same services.
I don’t know of any other friars who have done this kind of ministry, particularly this way. I know there are other friars who worked in prisons, including Fr. Jay, who worked in the Cook County jails while living in Chicago. It’s a unique opportunity for us as professional therapists to use our skills with the deeply marginalized.”
This ministry also aligns perfectly with a foundational Franciscan value: working with the poorest of the poor.
“If you look at our society, who are the poorest of the poor?” asks Bro. Paul. “The unhoused, yes, but it’s also those who are in prison. Especially people like Ray that have been forgotten—forgotten by their families, forgotten by society, thrown away for life imprisonment. Those are the people that we also have an obligation to support with compassion.
There’s a misconception that people in prison need to be there because of the crimes they’ve committed. I would say people in prison are just like any of us—they’ve just not been able to keep themselves from either getting into lives of crime or committing offenses that put them behind bars.
They just want another chance and not to be judged by the worst thing they’ve done. That’s what Ray and the other inmates I’ve counseled have left me with.”
*Names have been changed to protect privacy.
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