After spending a little over six years in federal prison, Ben Aldana made the transition from prison to his community at the age of 29. In 2014, he graduated from UVU with a BS in Behavioral Science, a minor in Political Science, and a certificate in Substance Use Disorder Counseling, and is now a third-year law student at Brigham Young University. Ben credits the entirely ‘undeserved help’ that he has been given throughout his process of reentering society (by his family and numerous friends – not from the countless, abysmal failures of the current system of criminal justice in America), with allowing him to succeed where others (just as capable) have unfortunately failed. Because he attributes the opportunities he has had since his release from prison and the life that he currently enjoys to the charity of others, he plans to work as a public defender after he graduates from law school in May 2018.

Dr. H. Westley Clark, MD, JD, MPH, CAS, DFASAM is currently the Dean's Executive Professor of Public Health at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. He is formerly the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, where he led the agency's national effort to provide effective and accessible treatment to all Americans with addictive disorders. Dr. Clark was also the former chief of the Associated Substance Abuse Programs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco, California, and a former associate clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).