Augustana prison program ‘groundbreaking’ for former inmate

On August 17, 1993, David Staples was shot in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago. The shooter was never caught.

Instead, that life-changing moment landed him 29 years in prison for a murder his Quad Cities friends and the Illinois Innocence Project say he didn't commit. He left behind four young daughters and a wife.

Thirty-one years later, Mr. Staples is a graduate of Augustana College, thanks in part to his introduction to the Augustana Prison Education Program and APEP Executive Director Sharon Varallo. He is also preparing to begin graduate school this fall at Western Illinois University, just one of many schools that accepted the former Chicago resident and inmate into a master's program in counseling, which he hopes will help him help others caught up in the system.

Despite all he has accomplished since his early release from East Moline Correctional Center in August 2022, Mr. Staples faces difficult and ongoing challenges. Many reformers call it a long list of “permanent punishments” that await inmates — whether guilty or innocent — upon their release from prison. (See related story on page 7.)

Most importantly for Mr. Staples is the very real possibility that, even if he successfully completes his graduate studies, he will not be licensed to practice counseling in the state of Illinois unless his murder conviction is expunged.

That hasn't happened yet, despite the work of the Illinois Innocence Project, which said it launched a comprehensive reinvestigation of his case and found credible witnesses who tell a very different story than the one Chicago police pieced together decades ago to secure his conviction in a Cook County courtroom.

“This is one of the rare cases where we know what really happened that day and who was really involved. And it wasn't David Staples,” Maria de Arteaga of the Illinois Innocence Project told ABC-TV Channel 7's investigative news team in Chicago.

Back in court on August 27

Ms. de Arteaga told the QCBJ that the motion to vacate Mr. Staples' conviction is still pending. “We are back in court in Cook County on August 27th and remain hopeful that the Cook County District Attorney's Office will do the right thing and join or not oppose the motion to vacate David's conviction,” the lead attorney for the Chicago office of the Illinois Innocence Project said in an email.

As Mr. Staples waits for justice and prepares for an uncertain future, he remains optimistic and grateful.

“I'm absolutely dependent on being exonerated because my license requires it,” Staples acknowledged. But, he added, “I'm just going to move forward with the confidence that that's going to happen because it's all about them doing the right thing. I'm going forward with the full expectation that I'm going to be exonerated.”

His faith has also carried him through the past three-plus decades, and Mr. Staples says he shares that faith with other inmates as they envision life outside prison walls.

The difference for him is that thanks to APEP he can do more than just imagine, he said.

“The Augustana program, as I've said many times, was a game changer. I guess you could say that being in that program shaped my goals today,” Mr. Staples said. “It changed my original direction, which was to simply work as a HVAC technician in the service industry. It changed my desire to help people and maybe have an impact on people who are or are in the same situation as me.”

Mr. Staples already does this as a volunteer. “He goes to the Scott County Juvenile Detention Center and visits people there,” Ms. Varallo said of the first graduate of the Augustana program.

Among them is a young man who was already involved in this system at the age of 16.

“He had dropped out of high school. David talked to him about finishing school and getting a job,” she said. “He didn't think he could do it. But David approached five companies in Rock Island on his own and asked them, 'Would you hire a young person who had been involved in the justice system?' They all said 'yes.'”

The young man has a job and talks about finishing school.

Mr. Staples is also involved in volunteer work in his new community. When QCBJ interviewed him by phone, he was collecting bicycles for the Heart of Hope bike drive in Rock Island earlier this summer. The organization has been providing housing and other support to Mr. Staples following his release from prison.

Working to help others

Mr. Staples is also currently interning with the Rock Island Downtown Alliance. This agency was looking for part-time ambassadors to keep the Downtown Special Service Area clean while APEP was simultaneously looking for partners to provide second employment opportunities for its students.

After meeting Mr. Staples and learning about his goals, Jack Cullen, the Alliance's executive director, was convinced that Mr. Staples could reach out to people on the streets with quality of life issues and connect them with helpful resources to get them off the streets and into stable housing.

“David is a great addition to our team and we are proud to have the first APEP graduate wear the Downtown Alliance uniform,” said Mr. Cullen. “He has a strong ability to connect with people from all walks of life and is relentlessly driven to help others get the services they need to succeed. David's work each week helps ensure that downtown Rock Island remains safe and welcoming for all members of the community.”

In addition, Ms. Varallo said, Mr. Staples runs his own business, Staples Heating & Cooling, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning maintenance and repair program, to earn a living.

In these and other ways, she said, “David is already making a difference.” He wants to do more once he gets his master's degree in counseling and psychology. “But without his exoneration, he'll never get licensed,” Ms. Varallo said.

As the case drags on, Mr. Staples refuses to give up.

“I can't benefit from that. If I'm bitter, what do I focus on? What benefit can I get from it?” asked Mr. Staples.

“The system failed me. So systems can be changed, and that's how I've always dealt with it. But the biggest part is my faith. I think that's the most important part of it.”

It also helps him focus on “something much bigger than myself.”

This hope carried him even within the walls of the East Moline Correctional Center.

“When you think about it, in many cases, especially mine, sometimes hope is all you have. There were many days when no one was there and I had hope.”

But did he ever allow himself to believe that one day he would graduate from college? Or that he would be reunited with the four daughters he has never had the pleasure of meeting, their children, and his own brother and sister? Many of them were among the guests at his Augustana graduation in May 2024 and the party afterward at Tony's Pizzeria.

“I didn't. I didn't expect to go into graduate school with the drive and desire to get ahead that I did,” he said. “Sometimes it surprises me. I've always said that I didn't choose this path, this journey that I'm on, it chose me.”

Mr. Staples also stressed that there are many inmates like him in the prison. They have hopes, dreams and can give a lot to their community.

“Most people there are thinking about jobs. They would rather work,” he said.

“The Achilles heel for all of them,” he said, “is that they are there because of poverty and deprivation. I don't have a study for adults, but my studies with youth have shown that in 70 to 80 percent of cases, poverty is the main reason for incarceration.”

In addition to poverty, autism and learning disabilities, challenges such as lack of opportunities have also had an impact.

“The people who are incarcerated in this country are no different from your neighbors, your family, or your stupid kids,” Ms. Varallo added. “That population is the American population.”

AT A GLANCE: Augustana Prison Education Program (APEP)

• Began in 2020 as a volunteer, uncredited effort by Augustana College faculty.
• Starting in fall 2021 as a full-time BA in liberal arts program at East Moline Correctional Center (EMCC).
• The major subject for inmates is American Studies.
• David Staples was Augustana College's first graduate. He is expected to be joined by two other graduates, including fellow APEP board member Tyrone Stone. Mr. Stone interned at Augustana's EDGE Center and in the office of Illinois State Representative Gregg Johnson (D-East Moline).
• Classes consist of 10 students who earn regular Augustana credits that can be transferred to other colleges and universities.
• The program is modeled after the Bard Prison Initiative, which was featured in the 2019 PBS documentary “College Behind Bars.”
• APEP is led by executive director Sharon Varallo, a professor of communications at Augustana University, who was inspired to take action by the arrest of her daughter for a crime she did not commit.
• Since the program began, a total of 30 faculty members have taught at EMCC.
• APEP is privately funded by a $1 million grant and a 10-year commitment from the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation in 2022. It was launched with a seed capital of $225,000 from the foundation.
• Additional support comes from individuals, foundations and companies.
• Students pay no tuition or fees for EMCC courses. Qualified students may contribute to the cost through Pell Grants, but this is not required.

SOURCE: Augustana Prison Education Program