The Real Second Chances in My Life

Graffiti artwork captures the spirit of hope and transformation for Karen Brown, who has been incarcerated since 1986 in Kentucky and is now seeking a commutation for a chance at freedom.

In 2025 and again this year, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed a Proclamation for April to be the month of second chances. In this document, it states “every person is endowed with dignity and value; and redemption and second chances are American values;” and that “the designation of April as Second Chance Month contributes to increased public awareness about the need for closure for those who have paid their debt, as well as opportunities for individuals, employers, congregations, and communities to extend second chances.”

While I beg, plead and pray for a second chance most every day, I realize today as I read that proclamation that I have overlooked the second chances I have received. Yes, I want the Governor to commute my sentence to something where I can one day see freedom with family and help the youth out there. Yet, as every opportunity on the list above has given me a second chance, many congregations across the state and even nationally have supported me. Many churches & congregations are still praying for my second chance. Thousands in communities across Kentucky and the nation….school teachers, professors, coaches, lawyers, advocates, friends and family have stuck with me for 40+ years of incarceration. Now groups like Prison Radio, ACLU, FAMM, Prisoner’s Hope, Reimagine Justice, ABLE, Smart Justice, KFTC and more have given my fight a voice and an opportunity to show people I have the dignity and value that our Governor spoke of in his Proclamation of Second Chances. I wait, I pray and wait on him as an individual to take notice of the redemption, the transformation and rehabilitation and give me a second chance.

I have never asked anyone to erase my mistakes. I have not spoken about all the things I have survived in the last 40+ years, yet I get up and serve others even after a serve-out to die here. I show up for others when I am empty, smile when I want to cry, at times carry pain in silence a lot, still love others even though I have been given a shattered heart. I am not healed but still here in faith, believing for that second chance.

Even through attacks on my life, I think about the mistakes I made to put me here and know there is a reason for all the trials. There are a gift and purpose in them, a call on my life with divine assignments just like sharing today.

When people have heard bad for years, it spreads like wildfire, lies told in the news, on sensationalized crime shows, etc. When they hear good things, they keep quiet. Sometimes, nothing gets heard for awhile so they make things up. I can’t control what others say or believe. I have to focus on being the best version of myself. For the past 40+ years, my life actions have spoken for themselves. Will you give me a second chance and see my character and integrity?

Growth and change are painful, but nothing is as painful as being stuck here to die after working so hard to earn a second chance. I try to be like steel forged in a fire and have become strong through the trials and pressure. I have not let life, even in prison, become stagnated or have regrets, because I wanted to pay my debt to others. I have not just endured pain, I accepted the pain I caused, repented and invested in something greater.

Heaven and hell are not just places; they are results of the path we choose so I have chosen wisely. I choose to say thank you to the people who have the Courage to give me that second chance. I choose to share as a way of fighting back against the choice I made as a 21-year-old kid. Then I chose drugs, to being manipulated and the likes that put tragedy in other’s lives and mine. For over 4 decades now, I have chosen to honor the fight for a second chance. Please see me and others who are incarcerated who have also shared in this fight for second chances.