Brighten Your Day

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Spent Six Months With Youth Inmates To Change Their Lives Forever

August 20, 2015

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson attended a graduation ceremony for a six-month inmate boot camp program run by the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department.

Johnson worked with these incarcerated men every day for six months so they could "become better men," and to, hopefully, keep them from returning to prison once they get out.

Dwyane Johnson / Instagram

"[Six] months ago these youth offenders all faced prison time anywhere from [five years] to life for a variety of crimes ranging from armed robbery to attempted murder," Johnson wrote in an Instagram post. "In front of the judge on the day of their sentencing they accepted to be placed in an extremely hardcore one of kind bootcamp. I gave them my word on their first night that [they] would be broken down in ways they never knew imaginable... but if they stuck with it and didn't quit, they'd be built back up to become better men. That was 6 months ago. TODAY, in front of their families, drill instructors and judges they graduate and become free men. Stronger men. Better men."

Dwyane Johnson / Instagram

In another post, Johnson compares America's high recidivism rate, which is over 75 percent, to this program's recidivism rate, which is less than 10 percent.

"[O]ver 70% of inmates released from prison will commit a crime and return back to prison," he wrote. "Staggering. Here in Miami, we have one of the most hard core and unrelenting bootcamp prisons in the world. And our rate of recidivism is 8%. EIGHT PERCENT. I told these young men 6 months ago when they first arrived that the life they once knew, was over. That they would get broken down to their core - physically and mentally in ways they never imagined - but I also told them they would never break. Big difference. They never broke and today they graduate and become free men. Better men. Very proud of this program, its staff and the impact it has on our prison system and more importantly, caring about young lives that matter."

"When I was 13 or 14, I started getting arrested, doing a lot of things I shouldn't have been doing," he added. "And I wanted them to know that life does go on and they're going to have another opportunity."

(h/t) attn.com.