Seth Williams: From District Attorney to Advocate for Change
“When God was all I had, God was all I needed.”
Seth Williams has run the full spectrum of the criminal justice system. Georgetown Law graduate. Army JAG officer. Ten and a half years as an assistant district attorney. The first Black elected DA in Philadelphia history. And then federal prison.
When I sat down with Seth, I was struck by how deeply he’s thought about what brought him to that point and what he learned from hitting absolute bottom.
Adopted, Ambitious, Always Leading
Seth was born January 2, 1967, and given up for adoption at birth. He lived in an orphanage and foster care until a wonderful family in Philadelphia adopted him. His father Rufus was a school teacher who worked a second job every evening coaching basketball and running youth programs at a recreation center. His mother was the executive secretary to the commanding officer at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
“My father was the son of an AME minister. He didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t curse,” Seth told me. “After graduating from Penn State and earning his masters, he enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor.”
Seth didn’t find out he was adopted until age 11, right before a trip to Denmark for a youth peace program. His mother, after a few drinks, finally told him the truth. That revelation triggered a deep sense of abandonment and rejection that would follow him for decades.
Despite that, Seth found himself in leadership positions everywhere he went. Fifth grade class president. Student council president in eighth grade. Quarterback of his high school football team. President of the undergraduate student government at Penn State, representing 37,000 students.
“My father would impress upon me every night at dinner that unless you’re willing to be a part of the solution, you forfeit your right to complain,” Seth said.
Making History in Philadelphia
After Georgetown Law and a decade as an assistant DA, Seth set his sights on the top job. He ran against the incumbent in 2007, raising only $150,000 to her million-plus. He got 46 percent of the vote. Four years later, he won with 75 percent.
As DA, Seth oversaw 600 employees and a $55 million annual budget. He prosecuted landmark cases, including the Kermit Gosnell abortion clinic case. He became the first district attorney in American history to prosecute the hierarchy of the Catholic church for shielding pedophile priests.
“No coincidence that I was Catholic,” Seth noted. “And no coincidence that seven of the charges eventually brought against me were related to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.”
The Unraveling
Seth admits he wasn’t emotionally prepared for the job. As a people pleaser, he struggled to say no. As a political candidate, he spent half of every Monday fundraising, building relationships with wealthy donors who he began to see as friends.
“With my predisposition to wanting friends and wanting approval, it was not the best combination,” he said.
His father, his best friend, had passed away in 2001 and never saw the election. Divorced and trying to maintain his lifestyle, Seth began accepting gifts from wealthy friends without reporting them. Trips to San Diego. A used Rolex from his girlfriend. Things that, under Philadelphia rules, were legal to accept but required disclosure.
“As a result of my own hubris, arrogance, laziness, neglect, I didn’t report them,” Seth admitted.
When enemies started dropping dimes to the FBI, an investigation began. What started as allegations of ghost employees turned into a deep dive into every aspect of Seth’s life. Eventually, he was charged with driving his city vehicle for personal use and accepting unreported gifts.
Handcuffed in Court
Seth went to trial. On the eighth day, during the second week, he was offered a plea to one count of violating the Travel Act. He took it, expecting to remain free on bail until sentencing.
Instead, the judge revoked his bail immediately. Seth was handcuffed in court, taken underground, strip-searched, given an orange jumpsuit, and placed in solitary confinement for five months.
“My head was just swimming,” Seth recalled. “How did this happen to me?”
Finding Purpose in Prison
What saved Seth was his military training and his faith. A friend sent him Chuck Colson’s book “Born Again,” about Nixon’s former counsel finding God in prison.
“I was in prison because I had to be there,” Seth read. “An essential step, a price I had to pay to complete the shedding of my old life and to be free to live the new.”
One day in solitary, a Nigerian man with an MBA from Brooklyn approached Seth during the one hour of daily recreation. The man had been about to take his own life after a fight landed him in the hole. But seeing Seth, who had lost everything, still standing with dignity, changed his mind.
“He said, ‘If he can survive, so shall I,’” Seth told me. “He said because of me, his five children still have a father.”
That encounter reframed everything. Seth started seeing himself through the lens of Joseph from Genesis, who was sold into slavery by his brothers but eventually became the second most powerful man in Egypt.
“What others intended for my harm, God is using for good,” Seth said.
Teaching, Learning, Surviving
Over his 34 months in federal prison, Seth learned saxophone and piano. He taught GED classes, and 19 of his students earned their diplomas. He led spin classes. He lifted weights with young guys every morning. He taught classical poetry and workforce development.
“I learned that people I otherwise would not have thought to learn from, some of the wisest men had no education,” Seth reflected. “I also learned that you don’t know what you can survive until you’re forced to survive the worst.”
Coming Home
Today, Seth runs Second Chance Strategies, advising nonprofits and businesses on creating vocational training programs that provide a direct pipeline from returning citizens to careers.
“The majority of men I taught GED to never had problems getting legitimate jobs. They had problems keeping jobs,” Seth explained. “So it’s my goal to create programs that provide not just technical training but life skills, workforce development, the power skills.”
His biggest takeaway from the nightmare? That it was never really his show.
“All things happen for the good of God. It’s all because of Him and for Him and through Him. I just have a role to play for Him.”
Seth can be reached at seth@secondchancestrategies.net.