Trying to right your wrongs isn’t easy, Rex Ball has learned, especially when years of wrongdoings were fueled by cocaine and methamphetamine.
Drug use, theft and bad checks finally caught up with Ball in 2009 when he was sent to Lansing Correctional Facility for two and a half years for violating his probation.
Before he got in deep, Ball said, he had a successful heating and cooling business in Olathe and a wife and kids.
Induced by meth, the cycle of days without sleep followed by days of nothing but sleep took its toll on his psyche, as well as his family. Ball’s drug use led to stealing, sometimes from people he knew, and his marriage ended in divorce.
“When you’re hell bent on destruction, nothing’s going to stop you,” Ball said.
Two years later, he was sent to Lansing.
Life behind bars
“Most guys in there are figuring out how to do bad things, but to do it better without getting caught,” Ball said.
But for Ball, Lansing is where his life turned around. He was accepted into InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), a voluntary values-based program that introduces inmates to the teachings of Christ.
“I couldn’t have thought of any better way to do my time,” he said.
Through faith, inmates learn about integrity, honesty, accountability and fellowship, but the bigger goal is to help them re-enter society and stay out of prison. With America’s recidivism rates at 40 percent, programs like IFI, now Brothers in Blue, aim to help released inmates reconcile with their families and become contributing members of society, according to the Brothers in Blue website.
“I really found my significance,” Ball said.
Philip Slater of Osawatomie, who also went through the IFI program at Lansing, said learning accountability was the most influential lesson of the program for him. He has to be accountable for his actions, as well as to his friends and family, which includes Ball, who he’s known for years.
Maintaining contact with other IFI members after release is an integral aspect of the program, and one that’s easily accomplished for Ball and Slater. They live four houses away.
“There’s a bond with us,” Slater said. “It’s good to have somebody close who understands your walk.”
Both Slater and Ball are working to become strong role models in the community to lead young people away from the lifestyle they once lived.
“It’s encouraging to see other men you were locked up with doing good,” Slater said.
After release from prison, doing good and making right by those they wronged were important steps for both Slater and Ball. But it isn’t always an easy road to walk.
Readjusting
Ball was home for Christmas this year. He helped his mom, Sandy, put up the yard decorations that had been absent for several years. Sandy said she didn’t put them up while he was away, because it was a tradition they shared.
Ball bought his daughter her Christmas dress, another tradition, and he saw their faces light up when they opened their gifts.
In the two months he’s been out, Ball has spent a lot of time getting to know his two children again. They were 3 and 9 when he went to prison, although he prefers they call it the time “when dad was gone.”
“It’s shame more than anything,” he said. “But things are different now. I don’t let the past define who I am.”
After a decade of drug use, Ball is clean. He doesn’t even smoke or drink coffee. His relationship with his ex-wife has improved, he said, and his family is happy to have him home.
Ball is trying to repair relationships that didn’t fare as well as those with his family. He made his first apology while he was still in prison, and it’s been a humbling journey, he said.
“You feel that someone’s not going to accept it,” he said. “But no one’s expecting it, and it makes their day.”
As Ball is trying to get back on his feet, he’s also upholding the values he learned in prison, he said. He wants to be a role model for children and has even volunteered with WatchD.O.G.S., at his children’s schools.
Both Slater and Ball agreed that adjusting to life outside of bars can be a shock, and although IFI helps prepare them for the transition, persistence is the key to succeeding after release.
“IFI helped me,” Ball said, “but you’ve got to want things for yourself.”
