NAMPA — Five years ago would have marked the release from prison for Luis Granados following a criminal felony conviction. Instead, it marked his third year as executive director for Breaking Chains Academy, a community-based nonprofit organization serving at-risk youth.
In 2008, 19-year-old Granados was convicted of a criminal conspiracy felony charge in connection to a bank robbery in Boise.
While Granados could have faced up to 15 years in prison for the felony charge, Judge Deborah Bail from Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District saw potential in the young teen and ordered that he serve one year in the Canyon County jail with 10 years of supervised probation, which turned into seven years because of Granados’ good behavior and compliance.
“She saw something in me, and she showed me some compassion,” Granados said. “She gave me a second shot.”
Nearly 20 years later, the violent criminal felony charge has been pardoned by Gov. Brad Little, making it part of the rare number of pardons issued by the governor during his nearly eight years in office.
State law defines a criminal conspiracy charge as two or people conspiring to commit a crime; each person will be punished in the same manner and extent for the crimes intended to be committed.
This means because the man who committed the crime was charged with both criminal conspiracy and robbery, which can carry up to a life sentence, Granados’ charges carried the same weight, making the only person who could pardon the conviction, the governor.
And while Granados said he had never considered applying for a pardon, the unique opportunity has brought him a sense of closure.
“To me, it’s much bigger than me,” Granados said. “Yes, for me it means accountability, growth and redemption, but I’m a product of this program.”
Breaking Chains Academy provides at-risk youth with tools and resources needed to deter them from criminal and gang activity while helping them transition into adulthood through education, work-skills training and mentorship, according to the organization’s website.
The program offers tutoring for youth ages 16 to 18 in a small classroom environment to take GED or HSE exams on-site or at local testing centers. It currently serves 20 students, with 15 students on a waitlist. High-risk youth are prioritized on the waitlist if they fit the criteria of being on probation, are impacted by gangs or are in the foster care system.
“I want the highest-need kids in the classroom, and so through community support; through our mission, through people rallying behind us, is how we’re thriving today,” Granados said.
PRODUCT OF THE PROGRAMBefore Breaking Chains Academy’s rebrand in 2016, Granados was part of the Original Gangster’s Basic Academy of Delinquency (OG’s BAD) when he was 15 years old after being surrounded by a challenging environment of gangs and violence.
And although he went to a jail two years after graduating from the program, Granados said that his reflections during his one-year sentence were reminders of what he had learned from a program of mentors who believed in him, which eventually allowed him to believe in himself.
“This place taught me skills; it taught me that I could lean on people; it taught me that I could ask for help, and I had that inside of me, right?” Granados said. “And so, I knew that I could do better if I really wanted to because I had the support. They instilled in me that I was important, (and) that I did belong to the community.”
It was the same place he first visited as soon as he was out of jail. He found the support was still waiting for him on the other side of the door where he was greeted with hugs and tears from everyone in the program.
“This is where I found hope, and this is where I found my community,” Granados said.
At 24, Granados was invited to serve as a mentor and tutor to students who were in the same position he was in not long ago, which allowed him to find his uncovered passion of serving at-risk youth.
“I want to be a teacher, but to this specific group of kids — the kids that get pushed aside, overlooked and demonized,” Granados said he remembered thinking after starting in the role. “That’s who I want to be with because I was one of those kids, and I know what it did for me, and so I was like, this is who I want to help.”
In the span of 10 years, Granados went from being a convicted felon, to being named the executive director of a program that changed his life. Now he uses his story and the support of the community to eliminate obstacles for at-risk youth and create opportunities for them.
BEHIND THE PARDONWhile many community members spoke positively about Granados at his hearing for a pardon in front of the Commission of Pardons and Parole, his application had to be denied because the conviction had a life sentence behind it that could only be pardoned by the governor.
Because Granados had never considered asking for a pardon despite his positive impact in the community, the disappointment of not being able to receive did not affect him much.
“I was like, ‘Oh well, nothing changes; I’m still the same person with or without this pardon,’” Granados said. “Nothing changes. I’m still doing this wonderful work; I still have a beautiful life; I still get to be me ... this was just going to be like a little stamp at the end of that chapter.”
But the community’s support behind getting Granados a pardon continued, including letters and phone calls made to the governor’s office on his behalf.
“That was really heartwarming that the community rallied around me and did that for me — that was a beautiful thing,” Granados said.
But then adrenaline hit after he was made aware that Little had signed the pardon, something that is rarely done, according to the governor’s communications director.
He was acknowledged at the Oct. 19 Nampa City Council meeting, where Granados said he was hit with a wave of emotions after he began to reflect on how different the past 20 years of his life would have looked like if it were not for the Breaking Chains program.
“Just the reality of what this place has done for me, it’s what I want to do for every single kid that walks through my door,” Granados said. “And I really believe if the community rallies behind every single kid that’s in my classroom, we will get the same outcomes as me.”
Granados hopes his story serves as a reminder of what a community looks like that did not give up on him but instead decided to invest in him and the program.
“I want them to see me and know that I am a product of them” Granados said.