Khalil Osiris is an author, college professor, and pastor who spent 20 years of his life in prison. During his incarceration at Norfolk Prison Colony in Massachusetts, he earned a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree from Boston University—aware of the historic significance of the facts that Norfolk was where Malcolm X served time and Boston University was where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., earned his doctoral degree.

While in prison, Khalil organized book clubs to promote literacy, formed prisoners study groups, and created numerous programs based on the principles of restorative justice. His message to fellow prisoners was (and still is) “turn the cell into a classroom and the prison into a university.”

Since his release, Khalil has co-authored two books: Talking Listening with Care: A Communication Guide for Singles and Couples and The Psychology of Incarceration: A Distortion of the State of Belonging – the latter being the name of a course he teaches at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, as well as a reentry program he offers to incarcerated men and women throughout Ohio’s prison. Recognized by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction as an “approved institutional reentry program”, The Psychology of Incarceration© is a groundbreaking eight-part DVD series distributed by GWC, Inc., a leader in the addiction and criminal justice field.

Khalil is currently director of Circle for Recovery Ohio (CFRO) at the Urban Minority Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Outreach Program (UMADAOP, Inc.) in Mansfield, Ohio. CFRO is a statewide reentry initiative focused on community-based relapse prevention, substance abuse treatment, peer-driven education and training, and ongoing after-care support groups for formerly incarcerated individuals and their family members.

A nationally recognized expert on reentry, Khalil is a dynamic speaker and engaging trainer. He conducts seminars, workshops, and faith-based retreats around the country on topics ranging from Jobs Not Jail and Five Steps to Freedom to Self-Imposed Limitations and The Power of Forgiveness. Additionally, Khalil is a columnist for RED!webzine (www.redwebzine.org), an online publication dedicated to reporting stories of transformation in the lives of prisoners and individuals re-entering society, and of innovations in prisons and jails internationally.

As pastor of the Community Church located in Columbus, Ohio, Khalil was called to establish a ministry to assist formerly incarcerated men and women successfully transition from prison to their families and community. His ministry focuses on helping people learn how to develop, nurture and sustain God-centered relationships in every aspect of their lives. Khalil believes “churches are fundamentally social institutions, whose leaders and members have an obligation to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the sick, embrace the stranger, and visit the imprisoned.”