William M. Palmer, II
In March of 2019, William “Tariq” Palmer was released from CSP-Solano after serving 31 years, 23 years were ruled by the California Supreme Court as constitutional excessive punishment. He immediately assumed the position as a leader by advocating for social reforms, and mentoring youth both in the community and college students at the University of San Francisco as part of the PACE program. Requests began to pour in for William to share his story of becoming a self-advocate for his freedom and opening the door for thousands of youth offenders (The American parole system is an endless trap —
In March of 2019, William “Tariq” Palmer was released from CSP-Solano after serving 31 years, 23 years were ruled by the California Supreme Court as constitutional excessive punishment. He immediately assumed the position as a leader by advocating for social reforms, and mentoring youth both in the community and college students at the University of San Francisco as part of the PACE program. Requests began to pour in for William to share his story of becoming a self-advocate for his freedom and opening the door for thousands of youth offenders (The American parole system is an endless trap — and a moral outrage - The Washington Post) with major journals, law enforcement, and teen groups. William had his own challenges with reentry, his housing at GEO was like jail: and his parole officer arrested him for the appearance of violating his myriad of conditions, feeling that he “cheated his way out.” William Palmer was appointed to the San Francisco Reentry Council on the Sentencing Commission. He decided in 2021 that it was time to bring to life his system-impacted organization, Life After Next, to create the flagship of reentry in San Francisco and the Bay Area. William has added to his portfolio an investment company, Studio 3³ to empower start-ups with micro-lending seed money and to purchase property to provide holistic reentry transitional housing. He’s a member of HipHopForChange.org, The Adachi Project, United Playaz, Marin Shakespeare’s Returning Citizen Theater Troupe, and on the board of the Peace Resource Center (San Diego). After completing the Freedman Policy/Communication Fellowship, he worked on the Thea Selby CA Assembly campaign. He's the Editor of the East County North Star newspaper. He credits living in San Francisco and being appointed to the Reentry Council’s Sentencing Commission and Sheriff Department Oversight Board for providing the opportunity to exercise his civic duties.