In this episode of They Are Us, host Juliana sits down with two people reshaping what life after prison can look like. Shawn Fox spent 26 years incarcerated, discovering leatherworking as a lifeline and a way to connect with others. After his release, he found new purpose through Past Lives Makerspace — a creative community founded by guest Brandon Morlock to support formerly incarcerated artists and tradespeople. Together, they explore the realities of recovery, the challenges of re-entry, and the belief that no one is beyond redemption. Their stories remind us that creativity, community, and a second chance can transform a life from the inside out.
Takeaways
JULIANA:
Welcome to They Are Us, where we share stories of resilience and hope from people in recovery and insights from those working alongside them. I'm your host, Juliana. In this episode, we're diving into what life looks like after prison and how creativity, community, and a second chance can help people rebuild from the inside out.
You'll hear from Brandon Morlock, founder of Past Lives, a Portland makerspace dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated individuals learn skilled trades, build community, and earn a fair wage. You'll also meet Shawn Fox, a self-taught artist and leather worker who spent over 26 years in prison and found purpose in Past Lives after incarceration. Shawn's story is one of transformation and a powerful reminder that no one is ever beyond redemption.
[MUSIC]
Let's get started. Shawn Fox spent over 26 years in prison where he taught himself leatherworking and quietly started giving away handmade crafts to help comfort others. Today, Shawn is not only a maker at Past Lives, but a teacher, mentor, and proof that rebuilding is possible even after the longest of roads. Welcome to the podcast, Shawn.
SHAWN FOX:
Thank you.
JULIANA:
Tell me about your story.
SHAWN FOX:
I'm the second of eight children. I grew up in poverty. I went through some childhood trauma as a little small boy and that resulted in a lot of self-medicating and starting out with marijuana and that just progressed into whatever came along, you know. And it culminated in a drug robbery in a motel in Salem.
I was just going to go and point the gun and get the drugs and leave and it turned into something else. We fought over the gun, and it discharged a single shot, and I took a life.
JULIANA:
So, Shawn, first of all I just want to say thank you for sharing that. I mean, it takes a lot of courage to talk about things like that, but I will tell you that the whole point of this podcast is talking about stigmas and what's true and what's not true. And what we know is that people with childhood trauma have a really hard time navigating the world. And we need to pay more attention to that as a society. So, thank you for sharing that.
So, now you're in prison and tell me what that was like and let's get to some of the good stuff.
SHAWN FOX:
Well, I have to get through a little bit of the bad stuff first. The first 10 years, I wanted to die. I was smuggling drugs in, I was trying to overdose on heroin, it just wasn't...I was waking up with my cellies breathing in my mouth, performing CPR, and I didn't die. At about 10 years in, I was talking to a superintendent. I said, do you think I need to die in here? And he said, no, but I didn't give you that sentence, Shawn. And he said, you need to stabilize yourself and get on some stable ground and quit going in and out of the hole. And I saw some truth in what he was saying. I saw a little light of hope and I grabbed onto it. And I went to work in the metal shop at the prison. I learned how to weld and I did that for about three and a half years. And I got in the hobby shop. I was drawing before that with pen and ink and it's hard to get up each day and just exist inside there, but once I got into the hobby shop and started learning leather, it gave me something positive to do every day and I started gifting.
JULIANA:
Okay, so let's talk about that. When you say you started gifting to folks, tell me what that means.
SHAWN FOX:
Every morning I would read that Statesman Journal and if I saw whatever, sometimes it would be somebody of prominence, their kid had committed suicide or their husband or spouse had been hit along the road or sometimes it'd just be some obscure kid that drowned in the river and I would look to see their parents and I would make a plaque or a gift or a piggy bank and send it.
JULIANA:
That's remarkable.
SHAWN FOX:
And it was unusual and I took a lot of flack for it inside the prison. People couldn't really understand, why are you doing that? But it led to my release. That gifting, you know connecting with people and changed heart, how it happened. Yeah, my heart changed.
JULIANA:
You've said a couple of things that have really resonated with me. You talked about that moment of hope, even if it was a little kernel.
SHAWN FOX:
Yes, you gotta have hope. If you don't have hope, if you can't get a vision of something more, nothing will happen. So...
JULIANA:
How did you find your way to Central City Concern?
SHAWN FOX:
I found myself down on a trash hauling yard in Corvallis. A guy was employing me to do cleanouts on homes and stuff. And I was living in a trailer there and I was isolated, and they say an addict alone is in bad company. And I was there alone and thinking a lot about suicide and that I didn't belong in the world and on the planet. And I was using. And all of those are, I wasn't committing crimes, but I was self-destructing. And my parole officer down there was actively talking to the parole board about we should just take him back. And they go, no, we're not going to take him back over using. And I came up here to Portland, and I've been here ever since. I went through the mentor program. And I went through drug treatment. And I left drug treatment a week early at the warning of my counselor, don't do that. And I went to some other housing and fell right back into addiction and came back down here and I self-reported to my PO and so I plugged back into treatment and finished and graduated treatment with Central City, under a different counselor, and I've kind of been doing this ever since now.
JULIANA:
I mean, that's another myth that we talk about a lot. It's not always just, okay, I'm fixed. You know, there's some relapses, there's some need to get a second chance, and you did it, man. This is, the thing that always strikes me is how much work and how hard this is for the person in recovery. We just help support, but you're doing all the work.
SHAWN FOX:
My counselor here at Central City, my main counselor, Bobby, said that he believes there's a pathway to recovery for every human being, but it's all over the place. You know, it's like this. People have been through all different kinds of things, you know. So, I had to learn that I was afraid, you know, that I'd lived so long in one definition of myself that they were asking me to write a new story for myself and I didn't know what that looked like, and it was frightening when he said that, that was very true. Yeah. And to admit that I was afraid and I had to ask another man. That makes me emotional right now saying that again. Ask another man.
JULIANA:
Yeah.
SHAWN FOX:
Can you help me?
JULIANA:
Yeah, it's hard.
SHAWN FOX:
That's weird that...that's...that's...that emotional to me. But to this day, you know, I've been muscling through the world by myself for a long time and mostly in incarceration institutions. And I have gotten through it. But..
JULIANA:
But then just the simple thing of asking for help is so hard and you're not alone.
SHAWN FOX:
And I'm not even really a prideful person, I'm not, but, but, but, yeah, don't know. That's weird.
JULIANA:
Well, there's a lot of elements there that we could talk about for hours around society and how people treat other people and so forth. But instead, let's talk about your new story. So, tell me how you discovered Past Lives.
SHAWN FOX:
Past Lives, my, actually the attorney, Venisha Mayhew from Lewis and Clark Law School told me about it. She said, “oh you need to go to Past Lives, and so I went there, and I met Brandon Morlock. He's the founder of it, and he embraced me. That's emotional too. I wasn't expecting that emotion.
JULIANA:
Well, you know when you tell your story it brings up things.
SHAWN FOX:
He embraced me and I was struggling right then, you know, I was in the struggling position and he embraced me right through that and I reconfigured my whole shop when I got clean and today I go down there every day. It's about three in the morning. Three, four in the morning I'll go down there and do that until it's time to go to the...
JULIANA:
Well, tell me some of the things you're creating with leather.
SHAWN FOX:
Everything, you know, book covers and wallets and belts and normal stuff and motorcycle seats and motorcycle accessories, you know, saddlebags and tank bibs and rear fender bibs and anything and everything. And right now, I'm doing a canteen cover for Brandon, and I did his knife sheath.
JULIANA:
What inspires you? How do you get your ideas?
SHAWN FOX:
People do. And if it's for somebody that I care about, then I can meditate on them and focus my love and my emotions and stuff on them and makes it powerful and tangible. Mostly, I don't just make a bunch of stuff to sell to the market. I only make stuff when people actively pursue me and I don't even cut leather until then. I don't like just make a pile of stuff.
JULIANA:
That's incredible.
SHAWN FOX:
I just want to teach. I just want to teach leather.
JULIANA:
Is leather work important to your recovery?
SHAWN FOX:
Yeah, I have to do it.
JULIANA:
So, talk about teaching. Tell me what you meant by that. You want to?
SHAWN FOX:
In prison, I was always talking to my son in my mind. If I could just get back to my son, I would tell him, hold the tool like this a little more. As I was learning it, and a lot of my stuff was self-taught, different things I did, I was telling him, no, you gotta do it like this. It works better because then I would have a whole scenario going where I was talking to my son. I did it all the time, just quietly in my mind, training my son up.
JULIANA:
So what's next in your journey?
SHAWN FOX:
I hope that I'm doing art therapy within Central City Concern. I hope that I am going back to the prison system to help other people navigate out. You know I thought I knew what to do. I did not. I was shocked by what I didn't know. Apparently, there's going to be some treatment provided for inmates 90 days prior to release and that's something I always push for inside the prison system. People need a little hand holding sometimes, you know. I did.
I still do, and people are here to do that with me, get me through those moments where I'm not sure, and where I'm still trying to learn. You know. You go into a prison setting and you stop growing emotionally, and you come out and you get thrown into the world, and it's tough to navigate.
JULIANA:
I imagine there's other people that had the same experience as you that were just didn't know how to ask for help. And having somebody like you there to help them is pretty incredible.
SHAWN FOX:
That would be my dream job right there. So, there's people in there that I know, a lot of them. I know a lot of them that are coming out here and that are transitioning out here and struggling and trying to adapt and just to get through Walmart, you know, just to navigate a phone that they haven't, they don't have any experience with, a computer, you know, so yeah.
JULIANA:
Shawn, thank you so much for being here today. It was a very powerful story. I look forward to hearing whatever happens to you in the future.
SHAWN FOX:
Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it.
[MUSIC]
JULIANA:
Brandon Morlock is the founder of Past Lives Makerspace, a collective of guilds sharing a massive warehouse where people from any background can access tools and machines, learn a trade, and find community. They have a specific intention of supporting formerly incarcerated artists and tradespeople. Morlock had dreamed of creating something like this for his whole life, but it wasn't until he served five years in state prison that he gained the inspiration to bring it to life. Welcome to the podcast, Morlock.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Thank you so much. Hi!
JULIANA:
It’s great to have you. So, tell me, how did Past Lives come about?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Version number one was when I was in college. I tried to convert my apartment into a little makerspace collective thing.
JULIANA:
That's awesome.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
One of my buddies from grade school was houseless and needed a place to be and he alleged to have some construction experience, so I let him move into my house. We built some bunk beds and put an ad on Craigslist that we're starting this whole thing. We're gonna start a small business collective. I got a bunch of tools. I got a little bit of money. Let's start a whole thing. Everybody can move in here. The rent will be super cheap.
JULIANA:
How big was the apartment?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Like a two-bedroom apartment with a big living room. We ended up with like six, seven people living there.
JULIANA:
I bet that was pretty fun.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
It was terrible. It was instantly a failure. After that, it's a long story, but I ended up getting a bunch of money from college. I spent it all on tools that I used for that first attempt and I brought all of that equipment home and moved it into my friend's garage. We were going to try to start another similar thing. And so I...you know, convinced him that we were going to start like some kind of little engineering project, shared space thing. He built out his, his garage exactly as we had discussed and then I immediately flaked on him forever. And eventually he just wanted me to bring it back home. So I did.
JULIANA:
How did you get to this makerspace?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Well, somewhere around the beginnings of attempt number three, I was talking to a new friend group, thinking that I was gonna get started with a small private tutoring business and a new buddy that I'd made was helping me get that organized. And there was just a lot of stuff going on in my family at the time. I was not in a good place mentally. There was some family medical trauma stuff going on, and I was coping the best way that I could with a lot of Adderall and weed and alcohol and nicotine and anything really. And my mom had asked me to go pick up the family van, which was left in California. And I was just supposed to fly down there alone and drive it back up to Washington where we lived. And I thought, you know, I'm losing my mind anyway. I might as well bring a couple of friends and make this into some sort of a road trip. So yeah, two of my friends came with me, sort of girlfriend that I just started seeing and my buddy Ryan, who was trying to help me get this third iteration off the ground.
And we flew down, we picked up the van and we drove up the US 101 the whole way home. But we decided to stop in San Francisco. I'd been there before and wanted to just show them what Golden Gate Park was like. It was a cool scene, a bunch of hippies, blankets full of random crystals and rocks and trinkets and jewelry and stuff. And we set out to barter with them for souvenirs, things to take home. Somebody gave me bunch of LSD. And I got very high on LSD and ultimately caused a car accident after I was very far gone and disconnected from reality. It wasn't just like impaired drinking. It was, I was on another planet on a whole different dimension of what was going on. I had no clue what I was doing. Anyway, I was behind the wheel after a certain point, and I drove off the road at 95 miles an hour and my buddy Ryan died. So, I did five years in state prison in Oregon, which is where the accident happened.
I don't know, like I said, before prison I was already going through a bunch and didn't really have a great command of my mental health. And that all kind of snapped into perspective pretty quick. After the accident, you know, sitting in the hospital thinking about my life. And I just wanted to find out what I, what I could do. How could my life still have meaning after killing a buddy like this?
That was kind of when it came to me that I'd been trying to do the same thing one way or another since I was a kid, and I would do it. And I didn't need to go to college and get an engineering degree or prove anything to my family or nobody. I just had to get through whatever was coming with the law and just do it, just figure it out.
So, I served five years ultimately and got in touch with a nonprofit organization called SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives. They provide mentorship to founders or hopeful founders, people that want to start a business or a nonprofit or do some kind of a thing with themselves. And that help can be business planning, can be helping you get in touch with contacts and whatever industry you're trying to work in. So, basically you tell them what kind of business or thing you're trying to start, and they'll pair you with somebody that worked in and retired from a relevant field.
So, they worked with me for the latter part of my prison sentence. The first two and a half years were just like kind of insane scramblings in my notes of what I wanted to do. They helped me turn that into something a little bit more sensible. But it's free. They were down to do it while I was locked up. So, by the time my second two and a half years went by, I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted to do. And I got out of prison in 2020 in September, and it all just unfolded way faster than I thought it would be possible.
JULIANA:
Yeah, okay, so let's talk about that. I've been to your makerspace and it's a real deal. So, tell me how you did that.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
I found a warehouse space. There was a guy that was doing woodworking there and one person had a metal shop and somebody was like making pianos and whatever. And I just introduced myself to everybody there and told them my story and what I was trying to do. And I was in a great mood. I just got out of prison. And I had a pretty clear plan of what I wanted to do. And I think it spoke to a lot of people. And these are artists. These are people that are pretty plugged in to what's going on. And they wanted to help. Pretty quick we had, I don't know, maybe 10 people volunteering to help me with really whatever I needed.
JULIANA:
So, tell me what is Past Lives Makerspace.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Well now, it's a lot more than a wood shop. It is a collective or alliance of I think like 16 different guilds right now. So, we have a 26,000 square foot warehouse and it's broken up by guild. Each guild oversees a different art form, creative discipline, trade. So, there's a woodworkers guild, a metalworkers guild, textiles, ceramics, glass, jewelers, leather workers, which Shawn Fox is the head of the leather workers guild.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
And each guild has its own space full of equipment. Like there is kind of everything there now.
JULIANA:
Oh, that's great. Are you actively trying to grow that side of what you do in terms of working with folks who have been in the system, in the incarceration system?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
This is my long-term goal. And when it comes to working with people like Shawn, you know, absolutely. I want to create as much opportunity as I can right there.
JULIANA:
So, tell me about Shawn.
RANDON MORLOCK:
Uhhh Shawn, ummm...I think the first day that I met Shawn was actually over the phone. He ended up getting a big old tour of the space and got excited. Another friend who was formerly incarcerated dropped off his tools. He knew he wasn't doing good in his life and he just wanted his tools to be in a safe place so, he gave us his leatherworking stuff.
And Shawn saw that and was like, “Oh you guys have got a little leather working program here” and I was like “we absolutely do not,” we’ve got a little rolling table with a toolbox on it, is what we've got. But he saw it, he recognized the stuff right away. And just a super positive dude all around with a hell of a story and he told me that he wanted to build out the leather working space and was even willing to like pay the rent to like, you know I was like it's not how it works, we just give you a little bit of space and we'll figure it out. Just set it up however you want. And then he ended up bringing in so much equipment that he'd been saving up and purchasing bits of over how long, I don't know, but he ended up just building out this remarkable space. It ended up being beautiful and we said, all right, we'll give you a little bit more space.
And, I think the actual footprint got a little bit bigger, you know, two or three times and each time he was super excited to completely remodel the whole thing and make more room for machines. He never had, you know, an attitude about having to completely rebuild the thing.
JULIANA:
That's great. Well, so let me let me ask you this. Is Shawn a good leather maker?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Shawn is the most exceptional leatherworker I've ever met in my life.
JULIANA:
He's a very humble man. And his work, I believe, is incredible.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
No, his work is amazing. I have him make all of my leather stuff.
JULIANA:
That’s cool. Explain your belief that no one is irredeemable.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Well, whether or not anybody will sort of make use of that potential is kind of up to them and also a function of privilege. But I don't think that just because somebody has done wrong in the past means that they don't deserve to change their life. I think that that's the foundational belief that I hope to challenge in my work and in community. I think it's just about that. That belief.
JULIANA:
Okay, yeah, talk to me about community. You've built something, but I reflect on your seven-year-old you, and your want for community. Are you fulfilling that?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
I think so. We've got a hundred and seventy something people sharing space, sharing tools, sharing, you know, resources and skills. You know, we know each other for the most part or we get to at least the ones that stick around. And over time, we've built a pretty huge group of very skilled individuals that are in many cases trying to make stuff happen together, trying to build a new guild or build a new machine or get battle bots competitions rolling or there's a lot of things happening. There's too many to name.
JULIANA:
What are you hopeful for?
BRANDON MORLOCK:
What am I hopeful for? A bunch of things. One thing that's been on my mind lately is I really want to develop more like scholarship access to the organization. So, I'm hoping to find people that are interested in sponsoring, you know, six months or a year of somebody else's membership so that they can learn and be involved with this community. I really want to partner with other organizations that are providing social and human services to people in marginalized communities.
JULIANA:
Yeah. Okay. Well, I want to thank you so much for being here and sharing your story. It's pretty incredible what you've done. So, thank you for coming today.
BRANDON MORLOCK:
Thank you so much. Cheers.
JULIANA:
Thank you for tuning into They Are Us. Visit centralcityconcern.org to learn more about how CCC supports second chances through employment, housing, and recovery. Email us at podcast@ccconcern.org with questions or suggestions for future topics. Until next time, I'm Juliana.