Charles L HinsleyCharles L. Hinsley was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1957, but grew up in Asheville, North Carolina from the age of nine months old. His early childhood was shaped by a Jim Crow segregated way of life, which was drastically punctuated in 1970 when the chool system in Asheville integrated. Many clashes between white and black students took place in Asheville during those turbulent times, and this period had a profound impression upon Hinsley's life, as reflected in his writings. Hinsley attended Asheville Buncombe Technical Institute (AB-Tech) the following two years and graduated with honors (Cum Laude) with a bachelor's degree in Psychology in 1982 from Winston-Salem State University, a Historically Black College and University. He attended graduate school in 1983 at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, earning a master's degree in 1991 in Special Education and Correctional Education, and was hired by the Illinois Department of Corrections in 1985 as a correctional counselor, eventually rising to the rank of Warden. He retired from the IDOC in December 2004 and subsequently worked in the private sector as a Program Administrator for an employment training and job placement agency in Georgia and Program Manager for Goodwill Industries in North Carolina. In 2011, he was hired by the North Carolina Department of Corrections in their Community Corrections Division, serving as a Judicial Services Coordinator and a Judicial Services Specialist until 2021 when he retired for a second time. Read More Read Less