After his release, he continued armed robbery, extortion, and selling drugs, this time for the Nation of Islam organization. He was caught and sent back to prison for violating his parole.
But he got lucky and his second time in prison was only nine months.
He resumed his education, first inside the prison using Pell grants available to inmates and then on a day-release program to attend college.
“I was going to learn my way out of the lifestyle that I was living in the things that I was doing and that I was going to give education and opportunity to change my life.”
The next generations
Miller co-wrote his book with his daughter Laila Lacy. She gave him a second chance as a father. When Lacy was in college, her mother died. Miller didn’t make it to the funeral. She would have welcomed the support.
“He told me he just couldn’t face it,” Lacy says. “Once he said it, I understood that it was just too painful for him to come to grips with the fact that she was gone.”
She says of her father, “We all deserve a second chance. Now, there is no one that I meet, ever, that I think is unredeemable.”
