Someone You Should Know: Omar Yamini
(CBS) – He spent years in prison and now he works at showing kids exactly why they need to stay out of prison.
CBS 2's Harry Porterfield says Omar Yamini is someone you should know.
The former convict spends time talking with young people about the hardships of prison life. He talked with ninth-graders at the Thornridge School in Dolton during a recent assembly, making a presentation in a mockup of a 10-by-10 cell.
"You got bathrooms and closets at home bigger than this," Yamini, who spent more than a decade in prison, tells the youngsters.
"I built this prison cell to give a visual to our young people that they know and understand that this is not what you are thinking," he says.
While hanging out with friends, someone in the group fired a gun that took a life. Though he was not the shooter, Yamini was charged with complicity.
After serving 15 years he wrote a book about the experience to help protect young lives entitled "What's Wrong with You!"
Students said he made an impression on them. Principal James M. Walton says that is the point.
"There's a lot of young people that were sitting here today that may think again about the associations that they make," he says.