Former Texas prison officer pursues law degree after retirement
DALLAS – January often inspires many people to pursue passions in the New Year.
Darren Wallace shows that age shouldn't stop dreams from becoming a reality. At 54 years old, he is in his second semester of law school at the University of North Texas at Dallas, class of 2028.
He's tackling this goliath of a goal later in life, yet still in perfect timing.
"What am I going to regret if I don't do it?" Wallace said. "Going to law school is something that has always been in my mind."
His ambition is criminal defense, more specifically prison reform because he's already familiar with life behind bars.
"I had so many experiences in prison," he said.
Wallace retired after working within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 28 years.
He began his career on death row at 20 years old as a correctional officer and retired in 2020 as a senior warden, where he oversaw 3,000 of Texas's highest-profile criminals.
"My experience in the criminal justice system might be a little unusual to want to go into criminal defense," he said. "Lock people up and throw away the key works good as a slogan, but that really doesn't work well for improving communities, reducing crime, stopping the generational cycle of incarceration. Everybody deserves to have an advocate."
Scratches on his worn name tag reflect the callousness of the prison system. Wallace saw through the bars and saw the person.
One former inmate even wrote him a letter of recommendation for law school. It reads in part:
"It was Warden Wallace who, during my incarceration, saw beyond the mistakes I had made…Four words every human needs to hear from another person: "I believe in you."'
Those same words are Wallace's motivation today.
"Yes, I'm proud of myself, I guess," Wallace said. "A dream or a goal without action stays a dream. I chose a new path. It took humility for me to step into classrooms with 22- and 23-year-olds. Do I belong here? Well, I think the answer is I do, belong here."
Wallace added that traditional retirement is not his path, and he will always be a lifelong learner.