Bill Sands
Bill Sands, originally named Wilber Power Sewell, was an influential figure in prison rehabilitation who lived from 1933 to 1967. He is best known for founding the Seventh Step Program, a support initiative designed for former convicts, which aimed to foster meaningful rehabilitation through community engagement. Sands' own experiences in the San Quentin State Prison deeply impacted his views on rehabilitation, leading him to believe that effective programs should be developed by those who have lived through the criminal justice system.
He authored two books, including his memoir, *My Shadow Ran Fast*, published in 1965, which detailed his life and struggles, including his violent upbringing and time in prison. Following his release in 1962, Sands established a pilot rehabilitation program at the Kansas State Penitentiary, drawing inspiration from Alcoholics Anonymous to create a supportive network for ex-offenders. His program emphasized a pledge of mutual support and adherence to seven guiding principles aimed at promoting personal growth and accountability among participants. Although Sands faced health challenges and passed away in 1967, the Seventh Step Program gained traction across the United States and found significant popularity in Canada, where it was formally adopted in 1981. Excerpts of his memoir have also appeared in various inspirational publications.
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Bill Sands
Author
- Born: 1921
- Died: 1967
Biography
Bill Sands wrote two books, My Shadow Ran Fast in 1965 and The Seventh Step in 1967, the year of his death. He is remembered, however, not for his writing but for his work in establishing the Seventh Step Program, a prison rehabilitation program developed and run by former convicts.
My Shadow Ran Fast is Sands’s memoir of his own experiences in San Quentin State Prison. Raised in an upper- middle-class but abusive family, Sands, who was born Wilber Power Sewell, became angry, violent, and embroiled in crime. Although he credited his early capture with halting his path toward more violent crime, his experiences in prison made him realize the need for meaningful rehabilitation programs developed within the community of convicts and former convicts, whose social codes and behaviors differed from those of the mainstream community, including the criminal justice and social workers who usually were involved in rehabilitation efforts.
Upon his release in 1962, Sands began a pilot rehabilitation program at the Kansas State Penitentiary, with help from the Reverend James Post. Modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous, Sands’s Seventh Step Program connected former convicts with each other, requiring them to take a pledge, live by a set of seven principles, and support each other in order to avoid committing additional criminal activity. Sands’s Seven Steps to Freedom spelled out the specific ways in which former convicts must face the truth about themselves and the world around them in order to change their lives and the lives of others.
Sands was in ill health for much of the time after he left prison, and he died in 1967, about the time his program was spreading throughout the United States. The program is exceptionally popular in Canada, where it was first established in Alberta in 1971, although the Alberta charter later expired and the official national Canadian chapter was not chartered until 1981. Excerpts from Sands’s memoir were reprinted in Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit of Hope, Healing, and Forgiveness. (2000).