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Born from one man’s story and three people’s shared conviction, RCHD exists to stand in that space between release and restoration.
Our History
RCHD began with a man named Henry Dee — a man who spent nearly fifty years behind bars, much of it at Stateville. Inside, Henry carried himself with quiet dignity. He wasn’t affiliated with a gang; he walked alone, and yet everyone knew him. Even officers and administrators spoke his name with respect. Around the year 2000, a young man named Andre Ruddock met him while working as a porter in the segregation unit known as “I House.” Andre, still in his early twenties, admired Henry’s calm presence and unshakable patience. He watched how the old man endured each parole denial without bitterness, how he still encouraged others to keep their dignity intact.
Two decades later, in 2021, Andre would come home from prison himself. Life was beginning to open up again when he learned that Henry Dee had also been released — but was living in a homeless shelter, the news hit hard. Andre couldn’t stop thinking about it: a man who had endured half a century in prison, now sleeping in a shelter. He reached out, reconnected through mutual friends, and went to see Henry in person. The man who once filled a room now sat small and frail, fighting complications from diabetes. It was painful to see, and it stirred something deep in Andre — not just sympathy, but responsibility.
Determined to help, Andre contacted Housing Choice Partners (HCP) to ask if anything could be done. His plea reached their leadership, and within a week, they found Henry an apartment in Midlothian. On March 31, 2022, Henry saw it for the first time. In the days that followed, Andre, his wife Rochelle, and Lori Wilbert, the longtime Lutheran chaplain at Stateville and founder of Hope Behind the Wall, came together to clean, arrange, and furnish every corner. It was a labor of love, a small redemption for years that could never be returned.
​​Henry never got to live there. His health declined quickly and months later he passed away from complications of diabetes. Still, those who had stood beside him felt that something profound had happened — not just for Henry, but for them. They had seen how one man’s struggle revealed a gap that no one else was filling: older men and women coming home after decades away, walking into a world that had moved on without them, and too often into homelessness or despair.
In the days after Henry’s death, Andre, Lori, and Rochelle began talking about what they had witnessed. They agreed that what they did for Henry shouldn’t be a one-time act of kindness. There were others like him, and their reentry needed more than just referrals — it needed care, continuity, and human connection. From that conversation, the vision began to form. That vision became Returning Citizens In Memory of Henry Dee (RCHD). Born from one man’s story and three people’s shared conviction, RCHD exists to stand in that space between release and restoration — to make sure that no one’s second chance begins at a shelter door. It is, at its heart, an act of memory and of faith: that dignity, housing, and compassion can rebuild lives.
Listen to the 2024 This American Life Podcast featuring the Case of Henry Dee, nominated for a Peabody Award.