Walter Ball

Walter Ball grew up in a community with limited opportunities, where access to quality education and positive role models were scarce. As he navigated his adolescence, the absence of resources and support created an overwhelming sense of isolation, and Walter often felt trapped in a cycle of hopelessness.

Despite having a basketball scholarship, Walter began making a series of poor decisions. He became drawn to negative role models in his neighborhood and joined a gang. He dropped out of high school during his senior year due to peer pressure and sunk further into the gang lifestyle. At just 18 years old, Walter was convicted of second-degree murder for killing a rival gang member in a drive-by shooting. He was sentenced to 25 years-to-life. Now, after serving over half his life in prison, Walter does not recognize the person he used to be.

Walter’s story is a heartbreaking reminder of how the environment we grow up in can shape our futures—sometimes in ways that are irreversibly devastating. However, Walter chose not to let his background define him. At the outset of his incarceration, he began working towards his own rehabilitation. Starting with his education, Walter received his GED and continued pursuing further education to obtain a college degree. He began reading self-help books and focusing on changing his destructive mentality to be more positive and productive, realizing that “the thing with change is you got to be courageous.” Now he works on helping uplift those around him and educating young people on alternatives to incarceration emphasizing the significance of education and creating a space where they feel heard and valued.

Walter has found a greater purpose in helping others, both inside and outside of the prison walls. Walter, along with fellow incarcerated individuals, Brandon Dennis and David Sell, were members of the Youth Assistance Program (“YAP”) while in Attica Correctional Facility. Through YAP, Walter taught at-risk youth how to develop more positive attitudes and recognize three key “negatives” that lead to incarceration: lack of education, disregard for authority, and involvement in crime. YAP was transformative for Walter because he saw himself in many of the children he mentored. Thus, Walter became even more compelled to steer them in the right direction, so they would not have to spend over half their lives behind bars like he has.

Walter became determined to bring this YAP mentorship into the community. Therefore, Walter co-founded a community-based youth mentoring program, called Change Comes from Within (“CCFW”).

One thing that made Walter realize his true potential was his selection to appear in a 2017 documentary titled “Breaking the Cycle”. The director of Norway’s most humane prison visited American prisons to promote a criminal justice system more focused on rehabilitation than confinement. In the documentary, Walter advocated for reducing excessive sentences and for more humane conditions inside prison facilities. In 2019, Walter participated in an independently organized Ted Talk that took place inside Attica. During the program, Walter discussed the importance of facilitating a connection between those currently incarcerated and those on the outside by sharing ideas on how to transform the perception of incarcerated individuals.

Through his dedication to helping others and all his work with at risk youth, Walter earned a Limited Credit Time Interview wherein he appeared before the parole board six months before his initial appearance date. In November of 2024, Walter was granted parole. He was released in February 2025. Walter gratefully reunited with his family, including his mother, grandmother, his three sisters, his nieces and nephews, and his daughter, Raniya.

Unlike with YAP where the mentoring was limited in time and often ended before the youth were ready, CCFW provided for greater opportunities to consistently mentor youth while also hosting community events to address issues such as gun violence, crime, prison reality and so much more.

In addition, Walter helped organize an event through “I Matter, You Matter,” a nonprofit organization that promotes social change via education, giving scholarships to youth, and support for the homeless and veterans. The event centered around the concept of “change,” where people shared areas in which they have changed throughout their lives. For Walter, his area of change was the people with whom he associated; leaving behind the negative influences of his youth and surrounding himself with positive people who encourage each other.

Walter has spent years planning for his potential release where he has obtained numerous job offers, including an opportunity with “No More Tears,” a nonprofit focused on supporting victims of gun violence. Through Change Comes from Within, Walter envisions expanding the platform, by having individuals impacted by gun violence and medical professionals who treat victims of gun violence share their experiences to foster understanding and healing on this epidemic. He also dreams of establishing a nonprofit dedicated to education, tutoring, and connecting youth with local entrepreneurs. By introducing “credible messengers” — those with lived experiences of incarceration — he aims to inspire young people and broaden their horizons.

At the core of Walter's journey is a profound purpose: to give back to his community and foster positive change. This purpose stems from the deep remorse Walter feels for his victim and the pain he has caused the victim’s family. Walter recognizes that, while he and the victim were part of rival gangs, they both came from the same background and lived with the “street mentality.” Looking back, Walter wishes that he and his victim would have had a conversation instead of resorting to violence. More than anything though, Walter hopes to not be defined by his past, “I am not the worst thing that I did. Not even close.” He lives each day believing that “no matter where we are in life, we should leave it a little better than we came.”

While Walter was released before the passage of the Fair and Timely Parole Bill or the Elder Parole Bill, he strongly advocates for their passage, as there are still so many of his fellow incarcerated individuals, like Brandon Dennis and David Sell whose only hope at release is through these bills.