Having served his time for drugs, Rodney Taitano looks to help people

September is National Recovery Month. It’s a month to increase public awareness surrounding mental health and addiction recovery. KUAM News spoke with one resident who shared his story of getting involved with drugs and how it affected his life. 

Rodney Taitano, the son of master ifit carver Robert Taitano, was sentenced to a decade behind bars in a federal prison to answer to a conspiracy charge. After serving seven years of that ten-year sentence, he’s now back home and reflects on the bad choices he made back then. 

"I try and help as many people as I can, family, friends or just strangers off the street. I know how hard it is dealing with homelessness and disease and all that other stuff and on top of that, having a drug addiction is one thing. Being convicted of a felony on the island level or on the federal level is still the same. You’re still branded that for the rest of your life," he shared.

To make amends for what he did in the past, Taitano now helps others caught up in their drug addiction. He’s also a supporter for more trade programs that should be offered to those serving time in prison.

Taitano added, "More programs in DOC. More apprenticeship programs and trades. I know that they’re involved a little bit with Lighthouse Recovery and after the fact, but I’d like to see that implemented into the actual incarceration time so that they can stay out of trouble to work towards a career after incarceration and just be more well prepared for re-entering society. You want to enter society better than you left it when you went into incarceration, so that’s something I’m a big advocate for."

Taitano also hopes that in the future, companies will give convicted criminals like him a chance to work for them, rather than instantly denying them based on their criminal past.