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Felix Walls was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on December 30th, 1942 to his parents Stephen & L.E. Walls.

Felix Walls has been an entrepreneur since he was 6 years old. Growing up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas Felix would do odd jobs helping the elderly. He never charged them, instead saying “pay what you can”. By the time he moved to Milwaukee at 14, a man and his three sons took over the business he’d started and all four of them together couldn’t keep up with the work. Felix was a hard worker in Milwaukee as well, doing construction by day and driving a Jittney Cab, the first Uber at night. He also changed his age to 18 and he also worked at Badger Byproduct making animal feed and dog food.

Milwaukee moved too slow for Felix, and so he migrated to Detroit and found the fast life. He walked the entire city of Detroit by foot to learn it and never met a stranger. He started off doing odd jobs again, eventually finding himself managing a singing group. After a number of twists and turns, he eventually found himself with one foot in the criminal underbelly of the city and the other still trying his hand at various entrepreneurial ventures. After a few stints in prison, often serving as his own attorney and managing to finagle his way out of charges on the east coast Felix went back to Detroit and started buying commercial property in the city. Eventually straddling the fence caught up with Felix and he was sentenced to thirty years in prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine and money laundering. He appealed and in turn received a life sentence. Felix spent 26.5 years in prison, a marathon of epic proportions fighting for his freedom and the freedom of countless others.

In April of this year facing the COVID 19 pandemic, Felix’s youngest daughter Allegra jumped into action and took the reigns of fighting his uphill battle, unbeknownst to him. She filed a motion for compassion release under The First Step Act and less than a week later on April 24, 2020 Felix was released from serving a life sentence in Forrest City FCI.

Since his release Felix has been working diligently to build his non profit organization, SOD Foundation which stands for Sense of Direction. He is creating a program, in conjunction with local churches in every city, called Adopt-A-Prisoner that will help change the landscape of the American justice system, bringing non violent prisoners back into the community where they will be gainfully employed, receive counseling and be held accountable for giving back to and helping build their communities. Felix is rekindling and creating new relationships with positive members of the community who are supportive of and invested in his mission and vision.