If you have ever woken up, looked in the mirror, and realized that your life isn’t exactly what you had hoped it would be, you may be inspired by the story of Mitchell Cozad. Back in 2007, he saw his self-respect and dreams of finishing a college football career evaporate when he was convicted of assaulting his teammate and incarcerated for nearly three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Now an attorney at the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, Mitchell Cozad has left his criminal history behind him and is working to build a completely different life. He has one message for people who find themselves on a wrong path: starting over – and thriving – is possible.
“When I was pronounced guilty by the jury and led away, I hit rock bottom,” Mitchell Cozad remembers. “Everything in my life changed. Because I had hurt another person, my freedom was gone. College was over. My world shrank to a cell. I also knew that when I did eventually get out, my criminal record was going to go with me everywhere that I went. None of this had been part of my life plan, and I didn’t have a clue how to rebuild.”
Mitchell Cozad reveals that in prison he came face to face with one powerful idea: the seconds were still ticking.
“On the one hand, I had completely screwed up my life,” he says. “My criminal history loomed over me and was never going to change. On the other hand, I still had years to live. What did I want to do with them despite what I had done?”
The answer came to Mitchell Cozad one day as he was exercising in the yard: start over.
This was obviously easier said than done. Mitchell Cozad was still in prison, and his world revolved around a strict schedule he could not control. He was an inmate with very few rights, and he could do nothing about his situation.
“I wanted better for myself, however,” Mitchell Cozad recalls. “Despite everything, despite where I was, there had to be a better life waiting for me. I just had to make it happen.”
Mitchell Cozad says that he set out to build that life for himself and start over while he was still incarcerated. He began reading inspirational articles, learning about the power of positive thinking and manifestation.
“I struggled, of course,” Mitchell Cozad admits. “Your mind really is a battlefield, where you must choose to fight negativity and focus on being productive. I had plenty of days where I couldn’t see my way forward. I kept going, though, because I wanted to improve myself while I was in prison and to lay the groundwork for achieving my dream: becoming an attorney.”
By getting to know other inmates, Mitchell Cozad had become aware that the United States’ criminal justice system focuses more on punishing the individual and less on understanding the underlying issues that contributed to the incarceration. Without intervention, the generational cycles of poverty, addiction, and imprisonment continue.
“I could see my purpose: to help change the system by being an attorney and using my own failures and experiences as insight. I just had to choose to believe every day that I could make it happen even though my past could never change,” Mitchell Cozad says.
Once he was released, he set out to make his dream into a reality. Mitchell Cozad enrolled in college, found the money to attend, and had the self-discipline to show up in class day after day. He studied at night, worked full-time, and received high grades. One semester after the next, he moved closer to attaining his dream of becoming an attorney, and he ultimately earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and Juris Doctor degrees. He says he will never forget being sworn in as an attorney. It was one of the best days of his life.
“My life really is proof that no matter what you have done, you can still turn it around,” Mitchell Cozad emphasizes. “It is simply never too late to get off the wrong track and go in a better direction. All it takes is a belief in yourself and faith in your vision, and you can make anything happen.”
