ONCE UPON A CRIME

ONCE UPON A CRIME

From the Streets of Corpus Christi to the Texas Penitentiary-and Back

At eighteen years old, Lewis Castro was sentenced to twenty years in the Texas prison system.

But his education had begun long before he ever entered a classroom with a purpose.

Growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, an ordinary childhood gradually gave way to rebellion, drugs, burglary, juvenile detention, escapes, addiction, and an escalating cycle of crime. Before Lewis was old enough to fully understand the consequences of his choices, he had already become familiar with police stations, juvenile institutions, courtrooms, and confinement.

Each second chance seemed to lead him back to the same road.

Eventually, that road ended at the gates of the Texas prison system.

Prison became an education of a different kind.

Lewis learned about violence, survival, isolation, and the unforgiving realities of incarceration. But over time, he began learning something harder: how to confront himself.

He had to reckon with the crimes he committed, the people he hurt, the opportunities he threw away, and the uncomfortable truth that changing his circumstances would require changing the man he had become.

Transformation did not happen overnight.

There were fights. Disciplinary cases. Setbacks. Anger. Regret. And moments when the person he had been collided with the man he was trying to become.

Then the direction of his life began to change.

Education became an opportunity. Faith became an anchor. Responsibility began replacing excuses.

After years behind bars, Lewis walked out of prison determined not simply to stay free, but to build a life he once could not have imagined.

He pursued higher education, earned college degrees-including an MBA-and built a career as a litigation paralegal, entering the legal world from an entirely different side of the courtroom. He later published the first volume of Texas Civil Litigation Through the Lens of a Paralegal: An Exhaustive Paralegal's Bible, a reference guide for plaintiff-side paralegals. As of this writing, he continues to work on the remaining volumes.

ONCE UPON A CRIME: From the Streets of Corpus Christi to the Texas Penitentiary-and Back

is an unflinching memoir about the road into crime, the reality of incarceration, and the difficult journey back.

It is not a story about pretending the past never happened.

It is about taking responsibility for it-and refusing to let it write the final chapter.

The streets educated the boy.
Prison educated the convict.
Education helped transform the man.