SECOND CHANCE KINGS
YOU ARE NOT DOING
THIS ALONE.
This site is for two people. The man who is coming home, and the woman who is reading this at eleven at night because he gets out in six weeks and nobody has told her anything useful.
Nothing here is inspirational. It is the order of operations — who to report to first, which document unlocks the others, how to answer the record question in an interview, what a landlord is actually looking at. Written plainly, because the paperwork is hard enough without the language being hard too.
It will not be easy. You will not be doing it alone.
What this is
Second Chance Kings works with young men reentering society after incarceration in South Carolina. It is the flagship program under Kingdom Alliance, which is Ben Lovro's service work.
The shape of it is small on purpose: one person who commits to a year of showing up, one sequence for the first ninety days, and a handful of employers and tradesmen who have agreed in advance to take a look. There is no fee, no dues and nothing to sign up for before you can read a word of this.
Ben served five years in prison and was released in 2014. On this subject he is not an expert by study. He is a few years further down the same road, and the only thing that qualifies him is that he still remembers what week one actually felt like.
The plain promise
Nobody here is going to tell you it will be easy, because it will not be, and anybody promising otherwise is selling you something at the worst possible moment to be sold to.
No job is guaranteed. No housing is guaranteed. No outcome is guaranteed. What is on offer is narrower and worth more than a promise: somebody in your phone who picks up, who knows which office issues what, who will tell you the truth when you are about to do something expensive, and who will still be there in month nine when the novelty of your release has worn off everywhere else.
Start with coming home if you are in the first days, or the first 90 days if you want the sequence laid out in order. If you are a mother, wife or sister, for families was written for you.
This is one piece of a bigger picture; Cash Property Offers has the rest.
Not affiliated with SCDC or any state agency
This needs saying up front, because the names are close enough to cause real confusion. The South Carolina Department of Corrections runs its own, separately named Second Chance Program. SCDC and the Department of Employment and Workforce also operate joint reentry and workforce efforts.
Second Chance Kings is not that program. It is independent, and it is not affiliated with SCDC, the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, the Department of Employment and Workforce, or any other state or federal agency. Nobody here has authority over your case, reports on you to anyone, or speaks for any agency.
That cuts both ways and it is worth understanding. It means your supervision agent's instructions always outrank anything you read here or anything a mentor suggests. It also means nothing you say to a mentor is a report to the state. Programs run by the agencies are worth using — SC Works career centers are genuinely useful — and pointing you at one is a referral to a public service, not a partnership being claimed.
Everything on this site
The 9 pages that make up Second Chance Kings
The Program
How Second Chance Kings actually works: the first conversation, the mentor match, the ninety-day sequence, what is expected of you and what this is not.
Coming Home
What the first days out actually feel like, the disorientation nobody prepares you for, and the handful of early decisions that matter more than the rest.
First 90 Days
A practical sequence for the first ninety days after release: supervision, documents, phone, transport, income and housing, in the order that actually works.
ID & Documents
The paperwork wall explained: birth certificate, Social Security card and South Carolina ID, why each one needs the others, and the order to attack them in.
Finding Work
How to look for work with a record in South Carolina, how to answer the record question in an interview, and the hiring incentives you can fairly mention.
Housing
Housing is the hardest problem in reentry. Why landlords say no, what usually works in the first months, and how to build a rental history from nothing.
Expungement & Pardons
A plain orientation to South Carolina expungement and pardons: where to apply, what may qualify, waiting periods and stated fees. Not legal advice.
Money & First Job
Bank accounts, check cashers, fines and restitution, child support arrears and building a small buffer. General orientation, not financial or legal advice.
For Families
For mothers, wives, sisters and fathers: what actually helps when he comes home, what accidentally hurts, and boundaries that are loving rather than cold.
Pillar
Faith and Purpose
Second chances, identity and the service work. Ben's own story, the rooms he speaks in, and the Kingdom Alliance reentry work.
The other sites under this pillar: Speaking, Ben's Story, Kingdom Alliance.
South Carolina markets
Where this work actually happens
Cash Property Offers buys across South Carolina. These are the Midlands markets covered in depth.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Who is Second Chance Kings for?
Young men coming home after incarceration in South Carolina, and the families around them. Very often the first person to reach out is a mother, a wife or a sister, and that is completely normal.
What does it cost?
Nothing. No fee, no dues, and nobody will ask you for money at any point.
Do I have to be religious?
No. Ben's faith is the reason this work exists and he says so plainly, but it is not a condition. You will not be asked what you believe, you will not be required to attend anything, and nothing you receive depends on professing anything.
Is this the SCDC Second Chance Program?
No. The South Carolina Department of Corrections runs a separately named program of its own. Second Chance Kings is independent and unaffiliated with SCDC or any state agency.
Will anyone find out I reached out?
No names, photographs, ages, offenses or outcomes are published anywhere, and nothing you say is reported to an agency. Many men here are under supervision, and privacy is treated as a hard rule rather than a preference.
Can someone reach out before release?
Yes, and earlier is better. Six weeks out is enough time to get documents moving and to have a plan for the first Friday, which is usually the day that matters most.
Is anything on this site legal advice?
No. Expungement, pardons, supervision conditions, fines and family court are matters for the Solicitor's office in your county, South Carolina Legal Services, SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, or your own attorney. These pages orient you. They do not advise you.
Make your next move
A year from now, what will you be glad you started today?
You don't need another promise that everything will be easy. You need something useful to learn — and a next step you're willing to take.