The Journey of Tony Gant: From Struggles to Advocacy

Sometimes the hardest lessons come wrapped in the longest sentences, and Tony Gantt learned that truth over 20 years behind bars.

I’ve had the privilege of talking with some extraordinary people on Nightmare Success, but Tony Gantt’s story hit me in a way that’s hard to put into words. My friend Marvin Cotton Jr. told me I had to meet this guy from Michigan who was “doing big things” for formerly incarcerated people. What I discovered was a man who transformed two decades of imprisonment into a blueprint for helping others break down the barriers that society builds around second chances.

Growing Up Behind Bars: From 1995 to 2015

Tony walked into the Michigan Reformatory at just over 20 years old, facing an assault with intent charge that would keep him locked up until 2015. Think about that timeline for a moment - when he went in, there was barely any internet, cell phones were rare, and the world we know today simply didn’t exist.

“I think I was just too young to understand what 20 years is,” Tony told me. “I hadn’t really been on my own long enough to understand what 20 years was.”

The Michigan Reformatory housed young people serving massive sentences - many with life without parole. Tony described hearing guys come in from the yard saying “all day, all day” because everyone was serving so much time. That became his reality: learning to live in a world where violence was common and survival meant finding your place in a very dangerous ecosystem.

Fighting His Case Until the Final Appeal

For the first several years of his sentence, Tony threw himself into legal work. He bought a typewriter, studied law, and held onto hope that he could overturn his conviction. He became a legal clerk, helping other inmates with their cases while working on his own.

But around 2001 or 2002, after his final federal appeal was denied, Tony faced a crushing reality. “There were no other options for me and so I kind of accepted that. Yeah, this is pretty much it,” he explained.

That moment forced a complete mental shift. Tony had to transition from fighting his case to what he calls “doing a bit” - falling into the rhythms and routines of prison life. Sports, exercise, more legal work for others, college classes. He built a life within those walls because those walls weren’t going anywhere.

The Impossible Job Search and Finding His Voice

Getting out in 2015 brought challenges Tony never anticipated. Despite his legal knowledge and education, finding work proved nearly impossible. He tried staffing agencies, applied everywhere, even had what seemed like a perfect interview where he connected with a paralegal over their shared legal background.

“After that criminal background check, that didn’t pan out at all,” Tony said about that promising interview.

Eventually, he found work through Labor Ready, a day labor service where you show up hoping for temporary assignments. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was a start, and Tony couldn’t give up. As he put it: “I know so many brilliant people that are still incarcerated, right? I feel like I need to make a statement as to what we’re throwing away.”

That statement became his life’s work. Today, Tony serves as director of policy and programs operations at Nation Outside, focusing laser-sharp attention on housing discrimination - one of the biggest barriers formerly incarcerated people face.

Tony’s currently mounting a statewide campaign in Michigan to change laws around housing discrimination. It’s work that matters because, as he pointed out, not everyone has the same level of tenacity to handle rejection after rejection. “The work is really about giving opportunities for those people that may not be able to handle those nos, who will probably fail if they can’t get a job the first fourth of this time.”

When I asked Tony for his biggest takeaway from surviving 20 years inside and building a meaningful life afterward, his answer was simple but profound: flexibility and the ability to adapt. Don’t get locked into ideas about who you think you are, because you’re probably more than that.

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