Jeffrey “JD” Davidson, who was born in Pearl City and raised in ‘Aiea, said that from a young age, school had been challenging.
He got kicked out of Pearl City High School his freshman year, then again as a sophomore at ‘Aiea High School for “fighting, smoking weed and partying,” Davidson said, adding that one silver lining was obtaining his GED at age 18.
“It was just a big mess,” he told Aloha State Daily. “School wasn’t for me, so I decided I was just going to run around and make trouble with my friends.”
Most of his upbringing was spent with his mother, brother and grandpa. As he matured, his family moved from the Islands for different reasons, while Davidson stayed with his grandpa until he eventually moved, too.
“I didn’t have no plan whatsoever. I was pretty much by myself in Hawaiʻi,” he said.
Davidson said he tried to hold down a job but was "forced onto the streets" in his early 20s. Five years after that, he entered the prison system for the first time for attempting to cash a fake check, he said.
He got out on probation and then “went on the run,” he said, and in 2019, was “busted for even bigger fraud charges,” at 29 years old.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he began "slowly reinventing himself.” But it wan't until he learned his grandpa was dying, that he “truly found a light.”
The last thing he told him was: “Grandpa, I love you. I just want you to know, don’t worry, I’m gonna be alright.”
In 2022, Davidson was sentenced for a maximum term of 10 years, with a minimum of just over five. “I had already done over two years by then, so doing a couple more wasn’t too bad,” he recalled.
It was a friend who told him about Chaminade University’s Prison Education Program at the Hālawa Correctional Facility. The program provides cohort-based learning and support staff, allowing incarcerated students to earn an associate’s degree in business administration.
Despite being in the Wāiawa Correctional Facility at the time, Davidson was able to transfer to Hālawa on good behavior and start the program.
“I took that as a sign from God; I was like, 'if this is what you want me to do, this is what you want me to do,'” he said. “I started to see the change [in myself], and I know I’m changing because I’m not worrying about anything but my schoolwork.”
He never thought he’d find God while in prison. “It makes you really have faith that things will get better … I think that [time] showed me there is a higher power, someone watching over me, and to keep going.”
The remaining time did pass quickly, he said, and "by God’s grace they let me out." In total, his second prison sentence was more than six years.
Davidson and eight others with similar stories became the second cohort to graduate from Chaminade with an AA in business in May 2025.
“I’ve been on campus since,” he said, adding that he expects to receive a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology, by May 2027.
He noted that the Prison Education Program taught him to transition well. “It just set me up to be the way I am in everyday life, to be persistent, consistent and dependable.”
“My ultimate goal is to work in the prison and be able to give back – whether that’s reentry, through education, counseling — any way I can to help an individual who’s incarcerated coming out, trying to better themselves. … The mindset to want to do better is what helped me. The family at Chaminade, they helped me to have a smooth transition. They provided me more than I could ask for.”
He’s also currently a part-time student worker focused on expanding the Prison Education Program. Program manager Rylie Hager and Janet Davidson, vice provost for Academic Affairs, are a couple of names he expressed gratitude for. “And shout out to my fellow inmates — thank you!” he added.
Looking ahead, Davidson aims to pursue his master’s in criminal justice to further assist others, especially those in prison reacclimatizing back into their communities.
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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
