The Feeling of a Diploma in My Hands

The story of my first graduation

May 03, 2025

From the Lockerbox

This time next week, I’ll be preparing to deliver a commencement speech to the 2025 graduating class of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in the Superdome. I was humbled to learn I’ll also receive an honorary law degree from Loyola that day.

Some moments make me stop and consider how many twists and turns my life has taken. This is one of them. To stand among a group of our city’s finest law graduates and accept a degree alongside them is something a young Calvin Duncan could only have dreamed of.

To mark the occasion, I want to share a story about my very first graduation: from the paralegal studies program at Northwest Missouri Community College, during my seventh year of incarceration at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola.

Holding my diploma alongside my friend and fellow graduate, Alvin Abbott (1994).

It was 1994, and I was among the first students accepted into the long-distance education program, which was being offered at the prison for the first time. I studied for two years—my first formal legal education—learning everything from family law to probate and estates. Many of my friends in Legal Programs graduated in that same class. Some of us still work together to this day.

The program from my graduation ceremony, and a copy of my transcript (1994).

A reporter from The Baton Rouge Advocate covered our graduation and interviewed me for the paper. As I told him then, finishing the program and graduating with honors was a true achievement.

My time with Northwest Missouri Community College gave me a taste of what a university education might be like. That experience planted a seed that continued to grow. And once I was released in 2011, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: get my degree.

While working full-time, I enrolled in Tulane University’s SoPA program to earn my Bachelor of Arts in General Legal Studies. After six years of part-time study, I graduated. And guess who was there to cheer me on?

Me and Alvin at my Tulane graduation (2017).

Looking back, it’s amazing that we—men sentenced to die behind bars—had the chance to develop our skills and our minds through a formal education. In the years that followed, such opportunities became extremely rare, even frowned upon by politicians who said we didn’t deserve those resources. In 1994, soon after I graduated, President Bill Clinton signed a law that eliminated Pell Grants for incarcerated students. Alvin and I were among the lucky few who made it through before the program was taken away.

I will always be grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to get my education in this life. For kids who grew up like I did, it was never promised.

I can’t wait to watch a new generation of lawyers take the stage next Saturday and hold their diploma in their hands. I know what it means to them—and what it will mean to our community when they use their degrees in service of those still fighting for their chance.

Save the Date: July 10, 2025

I would be honored if you would join Sophie and me on July 10, 2025 for the official launch of our book, The Jailhouse Lawyer. We’re excited to celebrate with Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking (which is coming out as a graphic novel this fall), as well as all of you—our friends and supporters. It will be a night of good storytelling and good trouble. I can’t wait.

I will send more details in the weeks to come. For now, please add it to your calendars.

Books to Prisons Update

Thank you to everyone who has joined our Books to Prisons initiative to send copies of The Jailhouse Lawyer into prisons and jails. Your generosity has blown me away, especially when I see how many of you are donating copies to readers who might otherwise have trouble participating.

I’ve seen civil rights lawyers donating books to high school students, nonprofits buying copies for community organizations, and even people overseas pre-ordering for international family and friends.

I’m deeply grateful. Thanks for all you’re doing to support this work and get the word out. I hope you’ll help me keep pushing to meet our goal of 2,000 copies by June 24.