LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The story of Mike Divicino is far from straightforward to tell.
He’s dealt with a lot in his life, getting involved with crime as a young kid.
“I ended up in the street at a young age with my fighting. Pretty soon that turned into a delinquent behavior and that just continued to escalate,” Divicino said.
The last time Divicino was arrested was in 1990; he was in his 20s.
However, what started as a six-year stint became a life sentence without parole.
“I had to lace my boots up pretty tightly, and here we go. Now I’m in maximum security for the rest of my life,” Divicino said.
A life sentence provides a lot of time for reflection and, in Divicino’s case, rehabilitation.
Not just for himself but for many of the young men in prison with him.
“I was trying to pull the youngest of inmates and gang members out of the gangs. Their nonsense. So they had a shot at life,” Divicino said.
“Still to get out and create a life, have a family, something that I had chalked up by my poor decisions.”
On August 14, 2019, Divicino earned a chance to make up for the poor decisions of his past.
He was released from prison after nearly 30 years behind bars living with the expectation he’d never get out.
Divicino admitted to FOX5 he was terrified when he first got back into the real world, but he found stability in continuing his pursuit of helping the youth.
That’s why he started his own organization called Together It’s Possible.
“It’s to deter at risk youth from going down a very grimy road if you will,” Divicino said.
“We’re trying to empower and enlighten the teens about the perils of rash decision making and when. When we’re young, we’re not always thinking about what could potentially be lifelong consequences attached to those actions.”
A big part of that program is the Letters from Prison books Divicino published, fully comprised of actually letters his fellow inmates wrote him to say thank you his help.
“Dear Joey is the first book in the series. It’s a compilation of letters of all the guys from every race, religion, background sharing, how they got involved with drugs, gangs, crime, bullying,” Divicino said.
“They wrote letters to me basically on the way out of the prison, thanking me for helping them see a better path in their future.”
Divicino’s efforts resonated with people like Andy DePalma, a retired police officer now working with NAMI in the mental health space.
“30 years not being able to do what he wants to do, having that freedom. The first thing this guy does when he comes out is start worrying about how do I stop getting kids to go do what I did,” DePalma said.
“This is a guy we need to trust. This is a guy that we have to say this is what it’s like inside and this is why we shouldn’t let our kids get in there.”
Together It’s Possible is currently trying to expand into juvenile detention centers and behavioral schools in the valley to reach as many kids and teens as possible with Divicino’s story.
“Younger people that still have a shot at life that maybe haven’t had anybody to pour into them to love on them, to tell them good job. The simple things that could mold the kids. They could shape the kids entire life,” Divicino said.
“It’s extremely fulfilling. It’s the torch that I was long meant to carry.”
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