It’s common to see people say that an ex-convict would never be up to any good. The stigma of incarceration stays on permanently like a birthmark on the forehead.
People are repulsive towards ex-convicts and refuse to employ them or develop meaningful relationships with them for the fear that they would be harmed or cheated. However, one man has managed to change the narrative.
His name is Frederick Hutson and he is founder and CEO of Pigeonly. Frederick was imprisoned after he helped his friends devise an efficient means of trafficking marijuana with the use of shipping containers and vacuum-sealed everything.
At 23, he was arrested by the Police and was sentenced to a 4-year jail term in 2007. During Hutson’s days in prison, he took cognizance of the underdeveloped prison system and how many processes were far behind in terms of technology.
Communication between inmates and their families is usually hampered by the lack of internet and delayed mail delivery in prison, especially where relatives live digitalized and find it difficult composing handwritten letters or making long distance and expensive phone calls to their loved ones in jail.
Hutson, who ran a successful and profitable business at 19 and served the U.S Air Force before his incarceration, found an underserved market, based on his personal experience in jail and focused on creating a solution for it. He spent his jail time writing business plans and proposals, which have become Pigeonly today – a $3million dollar business.
Pigeonly centralizes information about inmates in different locations, making it easier for lawyers, friends and family to find them. Fotopigeon and Telepigeon, subdivisions of Pigeonly, send digital prints and pictures to inmates and lowers phone call rates to inmates respectively. Pigeonly is making waves in the United States and has prospects of being used worldwide.
It is amazing to discover the undeveloped state of American prisons. However, one man has managed to find a solution. This is a lesson for Nigeria, especially inmates and ex-convicts as well as an inspiration for entrepreneurs and VCs.
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By Oyindamola Bamgbola
Photo: Las Vegas Weekly