Bio

Terel Overton grew up in The Bronx River Houses. One of the birthplaces of the Hip Hop culture. Bronx River had its issues, like many housing projects. Drugs, gangs, but, at the same time, it was a community full of life and fun. It was easy to be enlisted into the street life, as Terel would soon find out. There was a regular kid raised by a loving mother, Stoney Overton, and stepfather, Grover Reed. He enjoyed his time playing with his brothers, Grover and Darius and friends. Games like Roundup and Manhunt, sometimes doing young boy mischievous things and getting into trouble for it. He didn’t know his biological father, which was fine by him because his mother and stepfather did well taken care of him and his brothers. 

When Terel was a young teenager, his peripheral started to open, leading him into a behavior that his parents had a hard time controlling. That early behavior became a pattern. He was recruited into the Bloods street gang at 14. Now, a “certified gang member,” he became more involved in the excitement of the street than the excitement of education. Terel came home at 15. He was still a Blood but now a Blood with merit because he did “a bid” at such a young age. In Bronx River, you received more praise and credibility for an incarceration than you did for graduating High School. That bid elevated his status amongst his peers. Now, a drug dealer at 15, selling weed, then crack, then cocaine, Terel caught another case.  Terel wouldn’t see a holiday at home for the next 25 years of his young life. Because of gang-related crimes, he was sent to Spofford Juvenile Detention Center. Then to D.F.Y. (Division for Youth), which is now called O.C.F.S., Office of Children and Family Services. He was seen as a menace to society and became a target for the police. Anything that was crime-related, they came looking for Terel. When Terel was 18, someone was shot and killed. The police wanted Terel off of the streets. He was pinned with the murder while never recovering a weapon and was sent to an adult correctional facility for 22 ½ years to life. No one could see this young thug as a human being. This person that stayed in trouble could not have a soul. In societies eyes, he wasn’t a person. He was defined as a problem. Not as a person who was truly crying out for help. What they saw was a gang member/drug dealer who was wreaking havoc on a community that needed to be locked away…PERIOD. All the while, hiding a well-kept secret from the world. A card trick of deception and shame he carried with him for many years. That thing that was the main reason for his anger and his actions. The further upstate Terel was sent, the lesser number of visits and contact with family had become. The mixture of no contact from family, no support from prison staff, no understanding of inner-city youth, isolation, was a specific and often used cocktail, a recipe for the making of an angry young black man.  And, all the while, hiding his secret.

Terel arrived at Sing Sing (Ossining Correctional Facility, Ossining, New York). In 2008, his mother passed. He wasn’t allowed to attend her funeral. It was out of state. The rules are such that, if any immediate family member passes away out of state, inmates are not allowed to attend. His anger and violent altercations landed him in S.H.U. (solitary confinement) for 18 months. 23 hours a day. Terel felt a sense of depression and loneliness that was beyond anything he had ever felt before. He admits that his anger was about his pride. The passing of his mother, Stoney, was a turning point in his life and how he saw himself. He wanted better for himsef. He wanted to honor her. Terel decides to come to terms with his longtime secret and opened up to a person that actually listened to him. A person that saw him as human. This person showed him empathy and love. He felt safe to share. Arlene Mohammed was the turning point in Terel’s life and for the absolute better. He admitted to her, and for the first time to anyone, that he was illiterate. “I was waiting for the mockery and ridicule to come, but it never came.” The relationship with Ms. Mohammed opened doors that Terel could’ve never imagined.

Terel had been hiding for more than 20 years that he couldn’t read. He couldn’t write. The pain of not having these abilities caused him to hide, distract, and lash out. He was categorized as a “Functional Illiterate.” Terel states emphatically, “Telling anyone, either in these streets or in prison about his secret, it would be perceived as a weakness. It makes you vulnerable. And the last thing you want as a man in these streets, or in prison, to be perceived as weak in any way, shape, or form.”  

During his incarceration, and with the help from many individuals, Terel gained literacy skills and passed his GED. He is now pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at Hudson Link through Mercy University. Because of his outstanding achievements, Terel was released in 2024 after his first time in front of the parole board. He immediately began working as a youth advocate, violence interrupter, and campaigner for criminal justice reform. Terel is the co-founder, along with Mujahideen Muhammad of The Pillars of Promise. An advocacy group of formally incarcerated individuals that speaks anywhere they are asked for the purpose of positive forward motion of every and all people. Terel continues to work as a fervent champion to help pass the Second Look Act proposed by Senator Julia Salazar and Assembly Woman Latrice Walker, while also challenging the erroneous conviction for which he spent so many years incarcerated.

Terel is an amazing public servant who is constantly asked to speak at all types of events. His story, his truth, his life, his ability to get through to people of all ages and backgrounds, is a gift. When you come through life and fall from grace, some don’t have a second chance. Terel’s second chance and what he’s done with that second chance, is a testament to what a moment of sharing and trusting your true self to a person and that person caring enough to embrace your words, your heart, your truth, is dedication, love, care and empathy at it’s highest.