• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay

1

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay

This Startup Teaches Coding and Entrepreneurship to Prisoners

By
Uncubed
Uncubed
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Uncubed
Uncubed
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 22, 2016, 8:00 PM ET
The Last Mile

This piece originally appeared on Uncubed.com.

The Last Mile aims to give inmates a fighting chance at a job after they’re released by teaching students entrepreneurial, business, and web development skills.

“There’s just a revolving door at the front of the prison gate, and for me, that made absolutely no sense,” said The Last Mile co-founder Beverly Parenti, when describing systemic recidivism. “We believe that having a job is the key to successful reentry and breaking the cycle of incarceration.”

By some accounts, 76% of prisoners are rearrested within five years of their release.

In 2010, Parenti, cofounded The Last Mile with her husband, Chris Redlitz. The Last Mile was inspired by the inmates Redlitz met at California’s San Quentin State Prison while he was there to give a speech on business and entrepreneurship. “The questions they asked were so intelligent and so targeted,” Parenti recalled her husband saying. “And some had business plans they wanted to hand to him.”

Redlitz and Parenti had been part of the Silicon Valley startup scene for years and they had previously founded the business accelerator, Kicklabs. When they launched The Last Mile in 2010, they devised a program to mirror the incubators and accelerators found on the outside–including lessons on how to pitch your business, find revenue streams, write a business plan, and develop a marketing strategy. Inmates present their business plans to an audience of business leaders and fellow inmates on demo days.

Parenti and Redlitz have invited CEOs and founders to come in as guest lectures and visitors, including a visit from Mark Zuckerberg last year.

For more on startups, watch this Fortune video:

Duncan Logan, founder and CEO of tech coworking accelerator RocketSpace was another visitor. After watching inmate Chrisfino Kenyatta Leal’s demonstration, Logan offered him a job should he ever find himself on the outside. Thanks, in part, to a change in California’s three-strikes law, Leal is now the manager of campus services at RocketSpace and has hired another former inmate as well. (Leal wrote about his life in and out of prison in a Huffington Post essay.)

“When someone is released from prison, the likelihood of them starting a tech company at day one is highly unlikely,” said Parenti. “So we help them get placed in internships in companies in the tech community so that they would understand how to assimilate and create a culture and also how business works.”

In 2014, the program expanded to add a coding academy to its entrepreneurship program. Students still pitch a business plan, but now they have the skills—including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress—to build a website to go along with it.

“It’s taking the idea from the entrepreneur program and going one level further,” said Parenti.

Of course, prisoners don’t have internet access, so coding is a bit different than at other coding academies. The Last Mile has created a simulated environment by caching all the resources needed in order to teach coding skills. Prisoners have text editors and rendering programs, so they’re able to see if their code is accurate or not, Parenti explained.

Lack of internet access isn’t the only way The Last Mile’s coding academy is different.

“There are people in the program who have never seen the net,” Parenti said. “They’ve been incarcerated that long that they’ve never had an online experience.”

In September, The Last Mile launched in three other California prisons including Folsom Women’s Facility.

“Starting the women’s facility for me is a personal goal that I’ve been working toward since we began,” said Parenti. “I’m so excited about giving the women equal opportunity in technology.”

Read more from Fortune: J.P. Morgan Just Settled a Suit Over Sticking Ex-Cons With Unfair Debit Card Fees

September also marks the launch of The Last Mile Works. Graduates of The Last Mile coding program in San Quentin will be eligible to work on web development services for clients on the outside that hire through the program. Inmates will earn wages and be able to save money while they’re learning skills and building a portfolio of their work.

The Last Mile’s mission has always been to give inmates relevant skills with the hope that landing a job on the outside will help them stay out of prison for good. But Parenti found that inmates were helped too just by the act of going to these classes and learning new skills.

“When they’re in the classroom they forget that they are incarcerated,” said Parenti. “It gives life some meaning in the darkest of places.”

About the Author
By Uncubed
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

What is red light therapy?: Our experts break down the new wellness trend
HealthHealth
What is red light therapy?: Our experts break down the new wellness trend
By Katie MooreMay 21, 2026
3 minutes ago
zohran
PoliticsWorld Cup
Mamdani’s campaign for cheap World Cup tickets delivers 1,000 for city of 8 million
By The Associated PressMay 21, 2026
53 minutes ago
duggan
PoliticsElections
‘In 60 days there’s been a huge change in the attitudes of this country’: Former Detroit mayor says bipartisan approach in governor race is doomed
By Corey Williams and The Associated PressMay 21, 2026
54 minutes ago
malaysia
CybersecuritySocial Media
Malaysia slams ‘grossly offensive, false, menacing and insulting’ TikTok memes about its king
By The Associated PressMay 21, 2026
1 hour ago
Meta laid off 10% of its workforce as Mark Zuckerberg warns that in the AI race ‘success isn’t a given’
AILayoffs
Meta laid off 10% of its workforce as Mark Zuckerberg warns that in the AI race ‘success isn’t a given’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 21, 2026
1 hour ago
reeves
Personal FinanceInflation
British government’s answer to cost-of-living crisis: discounts on theme park tickets, chocolate bars
By Jill Lawless and The Associated PressMay 21, 2026
1 hour ago

Most Popular

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
1 day ago
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
Workplace Culture
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
By Sydney LakeMay 20, 2026
1 day ago
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
Future of Work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who's going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
4 days ago
Dr. Bernice King on why companies that walked back DEI were never truly committed: 'If you retreat that quick…that reveals who you really are'
Workplace Culture
Dr. Bernice King on why companies that walked back DEI were never truly committed: 'If you retreat that quick…that reveals who you really are'
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
2 days ago
A 'proudly autistic' workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
Conferences
A 'proudly autistic' workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
By Tristan BoveMay 20, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.