Mark Goldsmith didn’t expect to go to jail when he volunteered to be “principal for a day” at a New York City school. But after requesting a “tough school,” he was assigned to Horizon Academy, a high school for inmates ages 18 to 24 at Rikers Island prison.
Civic Ventures, a national think tank awarded Mark Goldsmith, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Getting Out and Staying Out, the 2008 Purpose Prize.
If there is anyone who should look and feel out of place in the corridors of Riker’s Island, it is Mark Goldsmith. A retired cosmetics executive who once headed up Yves St. Laurent in the United States, Goldsmith carries himself with an easy going polish and self assurance that seems more appropriate for lunch at the Four Seasons. Yet, Goldsmith has found himself a new home.
In the three years since he started working with Rikers Island inmates, Mark Goldsmith has drastically increased the odds of success for hundreds of newly released young men in danger of slipping right back into jail.