The United States locks up more people than any other nation. 2.3 million people are currently in our prison system. Joining us to discuss Prison Reform is David Durocher, who has been to prison four times for a total of fifteen years and is now the Managing Director of The Other Side Academy. Watch his story below.
David will be joined by his colleagues, Lola Zagey and Allen Fahringer. Read more about our guests below.
David Durocher
Dave Durocher was arrested for the first time at the age of thirteen. By the time he was 38, he had been to prison four times for a total of fifteen years. Dave was arrested yet again, and this time he was facing a twenty-nine year prison sentence. In what the Judge called “the chance of a lifetime” he afforded Dave the opportunity to go to Delancey Street instead of prison but reminded Dave in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t complete his commitment at Delancey Street he would be spending the rest of his life in prison.
Not only did Dave complete his initial two year commitment, he stayed for a total of eight years and became the Managing Director of Delancey’s Los Angeles facility for five of those years, overseeing two hundred and fifty residents and a multitude of vocational training school businesses that funded the operation and provided the training ground for residents to learn how to live a constructive and meaningful life. Dave oversaw a 300% increase in revenue during his tenure over the facility.
Dave is tenacious, interpersonally skilled, a good manager and an inspiring public speaker. He had helped countless others regain their
dignity and their lives before he moved on to enjoy his own success as the person he had become.
Now Dave has moved on to the next chapter in his life as the Managing Director of The Other Side Academy, in Salt Lake City, a two-year Life Skills Academy similar to Delancey Street, where men and women can come to learn about honesty, accountability, integrity hard work and self-respect. All the traits that will insulate them from a life like the one Dave had and enable them to become the kind of person Dave is today.
LOLA ZAGEY
Lola has always dreamed of making a difference in the world. Her progress was stopped dead in its tracks twenty years ago when she developed an all-consuming addiction to heroin. This new path took Lola down to a place where all drug dependent people go… to rehabs, jails, and prisons. She was stuck in hopeless desperation and after being arrested one more time, she knew she had to try something different. Lola had heard about Delancey Street Foundation and wondered if the judge would give her a chance to try this program. The judges quickly agreed to two years in Delancey Street or do five years in prison. He gave Lola a stern warning. He said he would offer this deal to her but he recommended she do the prison time. He has seen addicts like Lola before and at this point, he believed she would fail the program and end up in prison anyway. Lola had a different idea. With gratitude for this opportunity, Lola excelled at Delancey Street. She worked her way up to the finance department where she learned skills in accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping with an emphasis in rehabilitation management. Lola’s two year sentence in Delancey Street turned into a five year life changing stay. Once graduated, Lola quickly found work in the medical field as well as property management and the sky was the limit. The only thing missing was her desire to help other addicts still suffering. Enter The Other Side Academy. Now Lola can live her dream of making a difference in the world.
ALAN FAHRINGER
Alan began using marijuana and other drugs in his early teens. He spent his adult life as a “functioning addict” until he was introduced to methamphetamine. That began a thirteen year downward spiral of multiple arrests, lost marriages, lost careers and eventually homelessness. Alan’s troubles culminated in his being arrested three times in a span of eleven months for manufacturing meth. Facing many years in prison, Alan says he was rescued from himself by an empathetic Judge who allowed him to go to Delancey Street instead of prison. That most fortunate occurrence, as he calls it, saved his life, he says. He stayed two years as required by his plea bargain and another four years voluntarily to help others experience the redemption and renewal he had found. While at Delancey Street Alan worked in Corporate Development, Finance. Retail Sales and eventually found his niche in Community Relations. Alan was responsible for advocating Delancey Street as a sentencing alternative to the Judicial and Legal communities. He was a natural. He is articulate, persuasive and living proof that the process can work. Alan has done speaking engagements throughout New Mexico and southern California enthusiastically advocating for just the type of therapeutic community that he will now help foster in Salt Lake City at The Other Side Academy. “I’m so blessed. I get to help build a place just like the one that saved my life. What could possibly be more gratifying than that?
