Madison Shelburg

English 2010

Collin Hull

April 17, 2017

Profile on Zack Farr: The Road to Rehabilitation

Zack Farr at age 18, 180 pounds, outcast, convicted felon, substance abuser, violent

offender, thief, and an overall threat to society. Given my interest in prison rehabilitation I asked

Zack to tell me his story, take aways and thoughts, on first hand rehabilitation methods. It is easy

to label someone who has been through the prison system, and even easier to cast them away into

darkness in our modern society. But when you really look deeper into the people that are in

prison, many of them are not too different from you and me.

I sat down with Zack and interviewed him on his experiences with prison and prison

rehabilitation. He started his story by describing what his younger years were like and what he

believed was the cause of his learned violent behavior. From a young age, Zack spent a lot of

time alone which caused many problems. He went without adult supervision most of the time,

and when his parents were there, they were too intoxicated to care for him. The times his parents

werent around, they were spent with his older siblings who abused him sexually, physically, and

mentally. They first introduced him to marijuana and alcohol at the young age of 9. According to

the National Institute of Drug Abuse, when adolescents are introduced to drugs, sex and alcohol

it can increase the likelihood of addiction. Additionally, the lack of guidance and supervision

started Zack down a violent angry road that quickly spiraled out of control.
 The constant abuse and influence of drugs and violence caused Zack to have extremely

poor self-esteem. He began acting on internal self-destructive feelings which formulated a drug

addiction that quickly entered Zack into the juvenile detention system. He was on probation for

the majority of his teen years and spent roughly 4 years in court ordered treatment facilities that

proved to be ineffective due to years of repeated offenses.

Picture above is of Zack Farr high on ecstasy at age 17

At the age of 18, Zack went to prison for the first time. Being an angry young soul, Zack went on

a drinking and drug binge for a few days that resulted in a crime spree. The spree began with

petty theft of credit cards and a thirty pack of beer. After drinking a few too many, and still being

under the influence of klonopin and mushrooms, he spotted a bullet bike sitting in a parking lot

at an apartment complex in Pleasant Grove, Utah. He started the motorcycle and quickly took off

but only made it a few miles outside of the apartment complex before he crashed into a wall.

There happened to be two police officers who saw the accident and pulled up next to Zack as he
started to walk down the sidewalk. With a concerned look on his face, one of the officers got out

of the car and asked, Is everything here okay? Zack ignored the officer and continued walking.

The second officer approached and said, sir, we need you to stop we have some questions.

with a stern look on his face. Finally the officer attempted to restrain him, Zack returned with a

blow that was followed by devastating consequences.

Because of the crimes he committed his sentence resulted in a 26 month long sentence.

During this time in prison, Zack was forced to participate in the Hope Program, which is

described as follows: during this program, we commit to come alongside these individuals and

assist them in navigating the challenges they might face during the reintegration process. In

doing so, we help to create positive reference points for them where reference points may have

never existed. The hope program is based on being responsible for keeping others in line which

he claimed was ineffective due to the fact that it was forced. Eventually the program got to the

point where it was causing more harm than help. He quit the program and opted to spend time in

a maximum security prison where he was allowed 15 minutes every other day to take a shower.

Besides the shower, he had no other inmate contact. The one highlight during the time spent in

max was he completed his high school diploma, however he dryly said he didnt learn anything

because the quality of education is terrible and the prisons main focus is to get you to graduate

so they hand out credits like free samples. While there was an education system in place the

quality was not present.

For the next ten years the cycle of violence continued on. The last visit he took to prison

was for a DUI during the time he was on parole for the previous offenses. This last prison

sentence, Zack stated the most effective form of rehabilitation was a substance abuse program
they asked everyone to do written assignments. For Zack these proved to be the most effective. A

particular counselor asked inmates to write 20 pages on the impact of what they had done on

themselves. His ended up being 150 pages for the sole fact that he did it for himself. It was

focused in depth on the negative actions, behaviors, and what impact your actions have had on

your life. The second assignment was to reflect on what impact your actions had on others. Zack

reflected that this was one of the most painful things he has ever done because of the realization

for the pain he inflicted on other people.

While in prison, heavy drug use was exchanged for heavy alcohol abuse. Once Zack was

released on probation, the pain had not been dealt with and the behavior continued. He

discovered a healing program based in Lehi, Utah called Love Lighthouse. Love Lighthouse is a

movement to add love and light to the world. The planet has a collective energy and we need to

take responsibility for what we are creating. This program was started by a woman named

Jennifer Suliafu, her program is broken down into six months each month she focuses on a

different level of healing. Her entire program focuses on mindfulness and connecting to your

higher self. She dives deep within each individual and uses a series of meditations and powerful

affirmation tools to teach her students to retrain their thoughts. Zack started her program when he

came to the conclusion that he wanted the negative cycle to end and begin living a positive

meaningful life. Throughout her program, he discovered mindfulness as the cure for his

addiction.

Zack Farr: Age 28, weighs 180 pounds, a loving boyfriend, proud father, talented artist,

substance abuse counselor and mental health advisor, musically gifted, extremely giving,

ambitious, hard working, and a best friend to all. He denied all of the labels and accomplished
defeating addiction. Zack Farr, no longer uses substances of any kind. He discovered through

finding self love and forgiveness that for him, substances only bring problems. He is now a

father to a beautiful baby boy, and is working for Valley Mental Health as a counselor. He hopes

to reach those who are in pain and those who are seeking for help and want change in their lives.

Zack celebrating baby Zepplins life.