From One Classroom to the Next: Roy Blackmon’s Path to Wayne State

For Roy Blackmon, earning a college degree while incarcerated was never meant to be the end of his education.

After spending 27 years in prison, Blackmon was exonerated in March 2026. He wanted to continue toward a bachelor's degree at Wayne State University and eventually become a social worker. But moving from a college program inside prison to a traditional university campus came with a new set of questions: How would his credits transfer? What would navigating campus be like? And what kind of support would he need to make the transition?

At Wayne State, student success coach Benita Robinson-Betts has seen firsthand how much support that transition can require.

Students may arrive with college credits, academic experience and a clear desire to continue their education. But they may also need help navigating financial aid, transferring credits, finding housing and transportation, securing employment, accessing technology and simply learning how to be a college student on a traditional campus.

“You have to treat everyone as an individual,” Robinson-Betts said. “We cannot apply a one-size-fits-all method to this whole population. Everyone needs something different, and everyone needs different levels of support.”

For Blackmon, the first challenge was determining how his previous education would carry forward.

While incarcerated, he earned an associate degree through Calvin University's prison education program. After his release, he applied to Wayne State, but initially faced questions about how many of his Calvin credits the university would accept.

Robinson-Betts connected him with an advisor who advocated for the transfer of additional coursework, allowing him to receive more credit than the university had initially accepted.

The process took some time, and Blackmon registered for classes only a week before the semester began. He was frustrated, Robinson-Betts said, but he stayed with it.

“He wanted his degree,” she said. “He was very motivated.”

Then came his first day.

Robinson-Betts was on campus when Blackmon called with a simple question: Where do I park?

She met him and walked with him to his classes, helping him find his way around campus on a 90-degree day. After his second class, they continued walking around campus and took photos. Blackmon had received a Wayne State sociology shirt from the department chair and wore it for his first day on campus.

Robinson-Betts remembers watching his excitement as he began to see himself not simply as someone returning from prison, but as a Wayne State student. “I was like a proud mom,” she said. “The pride was so infectious.”

For a student who has spent years away from a traditional college campus, even ordinary parts of student life can be unfamiliar.

A student who has spent a decade or more incarcerated may have little experience with technology that has become routine in higher education, including creating and navigating email, bookmarking websites, using a smartphone or submitting an assignment through a learning management system.

Wayne State has connected students with its librarians for support with digital literacy, research and academic skills such as APA formatting. The university is also helping students navigate less tangible challenges, including time management, classroom dynamics and the anxiety that can accompany entering a campus environment for the first time.

Students may also have questions about how to talk about their past. They may wonder how to explain a gap in their résumé or how much of their experience they want to disclose in a classroom discussion.

For Robinson-Betts, there is no single way to navigate those questions. “You have to treat everyone as an individual,” she said.

Her work with students can begin before release and continue after they return to their communities. She communicates with contacts inside Michigan Department of Corrections facilities, helps students understand the application process and talks through questions about credits and what comes next.

After his first week at Wayne State, Blackmon told Robinson-Betts that he would not have made it to campus without her. There are not many people, he told her, who would “hold your hand” through the process and field all of his questions.

For Robinson-Betts, that moment reinforced why the work matters. “This matters,” she said. “To see someone like him having access to this opportunity is worth all of the challenges.”

For Blackmon, the path from a college classroom inside prison to a university classroom after release was a continuation of something he had already begun.

The degree he earned at Calvin was not the end of his education. It was part of a journey that continued when he arrived at Wayne State, where the next step sometimes meant navigating a transfer-credit question, learning a new system or simply figuring out where to park.

And sometimes, having someone walk with you to class can make all the difference.