SCI PHOENIX ALUMNI

Alumni Network

Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. All alumni of the Villanova Program at SCI Phoenix are part of the Villanova alumni community. Graduates have access to SCI Phoenix Alumni Career and Professional Development Resources as well as networking and career services through the Career Center, and there is a SCI Phoenix chapter in VUAA with its own board of alumni—creating a shared space for graduates of the program even during their incarceration.

Alumni Stories

John Pace ’13

Sentenced to life in prison at the age of 17, John Pace served 31 years before he was subsequently resentenced and paroled following a few relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Since returning home in 2017, John has been supporting other men and women who were children when they too were given life sentences. He has been featured in the Nation Magazine, CBS Morning News, and NPR for his work supporting former Juvenile Lifers in their transition back to the community. He was named the first-ever recipient of the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition’s Raymond Pace Alexander Reentry Star of the Year Award in June 2018, in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments since returning home from prison. His documentary film Disrupted: Injustice, Trauma, and Healing is a portrait of Philadelphia through the lens of race, class and incarceration. John sees community building and policy as a way towards healing for system impacted individuals. While incarcerated, John earned an Associate Degree and Bachelor of Arts Degree from Villanova University, with minors in Criminal Justice and Sociology.

Eduardo (Eddie) Ramirez ’16

In 2023, Eddie Ramirez’s conviction was vacated because the court found that his constitutional rights had been violated during the criminal proceedings and because new DNA evidence demonstrated his innocence. He had been wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years.

Eddie is an advocate and an artist. While incarcerated, he successfully completed a paralegal certificate course and earned a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from Villanova University. He has been a spokesperson for the wrongly convicted and the Latinx community throughout his incarceration and upon his reentry to Philadelphia. While incarcerated, his work was exhibited through Art for Justice, an organization that has displayed prisoner artwork at public venues and events, using art to reveal the humanity behind bars. He has cultivated a long-term relationship with Mural Arts Philadelphia through which he had his works of art displayed in an exhibition at the Barnes Foundation. He has participated in the construction of over two dozen murals in Philadelphia, including a city-wide poster project to raise awareness for wrongful convictions.

Felix Rosado ’16

In 1996, at age 18, Felix Rosado was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after following the advice of an attorney and pleading guilty to first degree murder when he should have pled guilty to third degree murder. His sentence of life without parole was commuted in 2022 in a unanimous vote by the state pardons board. While in prison, Felix served as a program coordinator in the Alternatives to Violence Project, where he helped facilitate conflict resolution workshops for fellow inmates. He also co-founded the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI), earned a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from Villanova University, and served in leadership of the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program. Additionally, he was involved in Just Listening, a program that helps participants strengthen their communication skills as a tool to promote personal, organizational and social change.

He is co-founder of Let’s Circle Up, a nonprofit that aims to create a culture of connection through restorative justice education and practice rooted in community, healing, and active accountability. He is also the author of Justice from the Inside Up: A Restorative Justice Education Facilitator’s Manual (Living Justice Press 2024).

Malik Bandy ’11

Malik Bandy was incarcerated for more than 20 years during which he completed his Bachelor of Liberal Arts through the Villanova Program at SCI Graterford (the Villanova Program has continued at SCI Phoenix since Graterford’s closure). Upon release, Malik was hired as the Community Engagement and Communications Coordinator for the City of Philadelphia where he helped administer the MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge, led by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice and Public Safety. The Emmy award winning film A New Way of Thinking tells the story of how Malik was able to find transformation upon his return to everyday life through the help of People Advancing Reintegration (PAR) Recycle Works. PAR provides wraparound services while introducing practices and cultivating capacities that prepare young men to come home. As an electronics recycler organization, it provides transitional employment, job skill training and permanent job placement to people returning from prison.

Luis “Suave” Gonzalez ’14

Luis "Suave" Gonzalez is an artist and activist who was sentenced to life without parole at age 17. He was released from prison in 2017 on lifetime parole, after a Supreme Court ruling that banned life sentences for juveniles. Gonzalez served as president of LACEO, an organization which provides scholarships funded by incarcerated people, who are paid as little as 19 cents per hour.

The podcast Suave, which recounts his re-entry story, won an International Documentary Association Award for Best Multi-Part Audio Documentary or Series and a Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting in 2022. The official Pulitzer announcement called Suave, "a brutally honest and immersive profile of a man reentering society after serving more than 30 years in prison.” He recently authored the book From Prison To The Pulitzer Prizes. In collaboration with other artists, he painted a mural called Healing Walls in SCI Graterford that was later installed in Philadelphia. After his release, Gonzalez participated in the 2018 Reimagining Reentry Fellowship run by Mural Arts Philadelphia.

Cody Stuhltrager ’20

After 20 years of being incarcerated, Cody Stuhltrager was released from prison in 2021. In 2013, while incarcerated, he began to work with the Guild Program in the Restorative Justice Department of Mural Arts Philadelphia. He also studied and practiced selfcare, songwriting, drawing, and painting. In 2020, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University, graduating summa cum laude with a 3.99 GPA. Today, he is a freelance artist, proficient in multiple artistic disciplines and currently working in various capacities with Mural Arts Philadelphia.