Coding, Crochet, and Cultivating Hope: Thailee Nguon’s Story

From fleeing genocide in Cambodia to facing a life sentence without parole, Thailee Nguon’s story is a journey of struggle and redemption. Thailee shares how crochet, coding, and community helped him rebuild his life from the inside out.

Cambodia to California: A Childhood With Little Hope

Thailee Nguon’s story begins with his family fleeing genocide in Cambodia and arriving in America in 1980. With limited resources and little community support, the Nguon family drifted until settling in Long Beach, California — a place with the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia, but also one defined by volatility and exclusion.

“Our community wasn’t all that welcome,” Thailee recalled in a recent interview. “It was rough going.”

By the age of 15, hope for a better life was already scarce. Thailee couldn’t envision a future beyond high school, much less one filled with possibilities. “My immediate concerns were getting through the next day,” Thailee recounted. “Eventually, I ended up joining a gang because I felt safe in that context.”

At 16, Thailee entered juvenile incarceration for the first time. One year into gang life, Thailee entered prison and would not leave the cycle of incarceration for 2 decades.

A Life Without Parole: Hopelessness in a Level 4 Yard

At the age of 19, Thailee Nguon received a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The state sent him to a Level 4, 180-yard prison, typically reserved for people coming out of solitary confinement or those with serious repeated infractions. For Thailee, it was a place where dreams died.

“They sent me to the highest level of institution that they could… a yard full of grown men who had lived that lifestyle for years.”

There were no education programs. No vocational training. No self-help groups. For people sentenced to life without parole, investing in transformation was seen as a “waste of resources.”

“I remained uneducated or the first 10 years. I didn’t have access to programs, and I didn’t know any other lifestyle in prison than the one I was taught at 19.”

In a level 4 prison yard, even discussing a better future was taboo. “People ridiculed or even threatened anyone who talked about going home with physical violence.” “When people talked about wanting to go home, the tables would turn on them so badly. They’d get mocked, pushed to shut up — or else.”

A Policy Change Sparks a Shift Towards Hope

In 2012, a new prison policy allowed individuals with life sentences without parole to transfer to lower-level facilities. After 10 years of incarceration, Thailee qualified. He transferred to a Level 3 yard, and everything changed.

“Going to a Level 3 prison opened up my world. It gave me hope I never thought I’d have.” Thailee told us. “Suddenly, I met lifers who were talking about going home, with tangible plans for their futures. Level three was a different world. Different conversations. Different mindset.”

Thailee began attending school and mentoring others, and finally saw a reason to believe in something bigger than survival. “I found purpose and community,” He recalled. “I had finally found hope.”

Then came another pivotal moment: his sentence changed from life without parole to 50-to-life. For Thailee, this was cause for celebration.

“I was celebrating getting 50-to-life, and the other guys were confused. But to me, it was the first real chance I’d ever had to get out.”

Building Discipline And Service Through Crochet

During this time, Thailee Nguon began to crochet. What started as a simple hobby became something much deeper—a meditative ritual and a way to serve others. He made scarves and hats and donated them to unhoused communities, often organizing others inside to join the effort.

For Thailee, crochet became a tool for personal transformation. After years of existing in survival mode, where violence and fear shaped every decision, he was finally developing discipline, emotional awareness, and a sense of purpose beyond himself.

He described this change as a shift from reacting to his environment, to taking ownership of how he moved through the world. His thinking evolved: instead of asking, “What do I need to survive today?”, he began asking, “How can I grow? How can I give back?”

This internal realignment was only possible because of the environment around him — an environment that offered opportunity instead of punishment.

“All of my growth at that time was the result of access, exposure, and opportunity — the very things I had been denied in Level 4.”

Amplifying Hope In The Last Mile

In 2018, after years of steadily programming and lowering his classification score, Thailee Nguon transferred to Pelican Bay State Prison, a Level 2 facility in Crescent City, California.

Known for its stark contrast to its high-security counterpart just yards away, Level 2 at Pelican offered something Thailee hadn’t seen in over a decade — opportunity.

Thailee had spent nearly twenty years in prisons that locked out people with life sentences from educational or vocational programs. But now, for the first time, he could apply to The Last Mile, a technology training program that teaches web development and media production inside correctional facilities.

“The first day I walked into a TLM classroom, I was blown away. I saw people who looked like me, who had been through what I’ve been through, and they were thriving.”

For the first time in his incarceration, Thailee found himself surrounded by structure— not the kind of structure related to control and punishment, but the structure of opportunity. Formerly incarcerated instructors led the TLM classroom, delivering rigorous lessons and setting high expectations that modeled the potential for transformation.

“It was the most hope I had ever experienced in prison,” Thailee recalled. “I could finally imagine a life after incarceration. I was learning who I could become in that classroom.”

The curriculum pushed him, and the community held him accountable. TLM’s instructors reminded him that he wasn’t alone—that others had walked this road and made it out.

“I saw graduates come back and speak to us — people who had gotten jobs in tech. It made it real. For the first time, I believed it could be me.”

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Walking Out Of Prison With Purpose

In 2021, Thailee Nguon was released from prison — nearly two decades after being sentenced to life without parole. The news came unexpectedly.

“When I got the call, I was in shock. I had been prepared to die inside. But suddenly I had to prepare for life.”

On the outside, Thailee joined Project Rebound, a reentry program supporting formerly incarcerated students as they pursue college degrees. There, he connected with JC Cavitt, another justice-impacted leader and TLM Alumni, and stepped into a new chapter of mentorship and community service.

In those early months, Thailee concentrated on learning how to navigate life outside of incarceration and how to assist others in doing the same. He began speaking, mentoring, and sharing the lessons of his transformation with anyone willing to listen.

“I started walking alongside people who were just beginning their journeys. I didn’t have all the answers, but I knew how to show up.”

Ultimately, Thailee’s path led him back to The Last Mile as an Academic Success Representative. The organization that had helped him discover his future now became the platform where he would shape the lives of others.

Back Through the Gates: Returning to Pelican Bay

When Thailee Nguon stepped back onto the yard at Pelican Bay, it was a homecoming — not to where he belonged, but to where he had begun.

Years earlier, Pelican Bay had been a place of confinement and education. It was where he had studied in a TLM classroom, learned to code, and allowed himself to believe in the possibility of change. Now, he walked back through those same gates as a symbol of hope.

“Walking back in through the gates of Pelican Bay, it hit me hard. I was standing in the same place I once stood — but now as a teacher. As someone bringing hope.”

Thailee’s presence was profound for the students inside. He had been exactly where they were, and now he successfully worked on the outside for an organization they all respect.

Hope Is Just The Beginning Of Rehabilitation

Thailee Nguon is living proof that hope is a force of positive change and transformation.

In every classroom Thailee enters, in every student he mentors, Thailee carries that hope forward. The Last Mile’s work is grounded in that same belief: that hope is essential for rehabilitation. The road to healing begins the moment someone believes a better future is still possible.

For Thailee, that belief made all the difference. Now, he’s making sure others get the same chance.

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By Robert Roche, VP of Marketing at The Last Mile.

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