Brooke Pryor
FORTY-FIVE MILES south of Pittsburgh, a person will click on on the TV in his room simply after 8 p.m. Thursday to look at the Pittsburgh Steelers tackle the Cincinnati Bengals in a prime-time divisional matchup.
It is a scene not not like 1000's unfolding throughout Western Pennsylvania, although there are variations. He will not be carrying a black and gold jersey or twirling a Horrible Towel. These aren't allowed right here. That is as a result of this man is watching from his cell at State Correctional Institute-Fayette, a most safety jail that at the moment homes 1,991 incarcerated males from throughout the commonwealth.
In contrast to most of the males at SCI-Fayette, who watch the evening video games of their cells or collect for Sunday afternoon kickoffs within the day rooms, this man just isn't a lifelong Steelers fan, however he does have a lifelong bond with one of many gamers suiting up for Pittsburgh this season.
Wayne Smith, the older brother of Steelers tight finish Jonnu Smith, might be intently watching Thursday's sport, relishing the chance to look at his little brother reside out his goals on the most important stage. For many of his 10-year stint on the jail, following his conviction in 2015 of third-degree homicide and different expenses, Wayne has watched Jonnu in solely a handful of video games, most of them prime-time nationwide broadcasts.
However this yr, coincidentally his final yr of incarceration, Wayne has been capable of watch each single one in every of Jonnu's video games, together with the Thursday evening sport for the primary time because the video games moved to Amazon in 2022. That is as a result of the jail is within the Steelers' native broadcast market, which implies that not solely does Wayne get entry to Sunday video games, however he may also watch the simulcast of the Thursday evening sport on native tv.
It is a second Wayne, 35, began imagining since studying that Jonnu, 5 years his junior, was being traded to the Steelers from the Miami Dolphins over the summer time.
“It was God shifting the chessboard,” stated Karen Smith, Wayne and Jonnu's mother, who spoke with ESPN this week. “I used to be surprised. And all of us simply talked about it, your complete household, we couldn't imagine it, as a result of they will be in the identical state now. How ironic is that? And so they'll have the ability to see one another extra. He'll have the ability to watch his brother play. And even Wayne stated that, ‘I get to see him play your complete sport, not simply the highlights.'”
Per week in the past, one other second the 2 brothers envisioned got here to fruition, too, when Jonnu introduced a gaggle of six Steelers teammates to the jail not solely to go to with Wayne, but in addition to fulfill with greater than 100 inmates, take heed to their tales and introduce them to sources that might assist with their reentry to society after launch. For the brothers, the go to wasn't nearly their household, it was additionally the continuation of a dedication to service and second possibilities that Jonnu has embodied and prioritized all through his life, and it set a basis for unprecedented outreach by the Steelers group to the customarily underserved and stigmatized jail communities.
“His coronary heart desires to assist folks,” Karen stated of Jonnu. “Naturally, he has that in him. A few of our methods are simply innate. We're simply born with it. Jonnu has a coronary heart to assist others. He'll do outreaches for everybody. When he did this, I knew he and Wayne talked about it. And I do know that it was one thing that they needed to do, however it was not only for Wayne. Jonnu is all for folks evolving for the higher.”
THE PAST NINE months of Jonnu's life have been punctuated by two telephone calls.
The primary got here in January as Jonnu performed in his first Professional Bowl Video games. He was in Orlando, Florida, when he obtained the decision that Wayne's sentence was eligible to be decreased.
“It simply clearly made the weekend much better than I ever imagined,” Jonnu stated.
Convicted in 2015 of third-degree homicide and expenses of aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime and carrying a firearm on public streets stemming from his function in a 2010 avenue battle that resulted in deadly gunshot wounds to David Dial, Wayne was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in 2015 after the primary trial led to a hung jury and the second in a conviction. Although Jonnu was taking part in faculty soccer at FIU through the second trial and embarking on his NFL profession as a 2017 third-round decide as Wayne started his sentence, Jonnu labored tirelessly to provide his brother a second likelihood. He discovered and paid for attorneys higher outfitted than public defenders to file appeals and coated his brother's bills in jail.
Then, because of the Conviction Integrity Unit launched by Philadelphia district legal professional Larry Krasner, Wayne was granted the suitable to a brand new trial due to beforehand undisclosed proof. As a substitute of relitigating the case, Wayne accepted a brand new sentence of 16 to 32 years. As a result of he already served 15 years — 10 at SCI Fayette and 5 in county jail throughout his trials — he's now set to be launched in July 2026.
That first name was the fruits of years of labor by Jonnu to get Wayne a second likelihood, whether or not by a decreased sentence or a brand new trial. As soon as shielded by his older brother from the tough realities of rising up in North Philadelphia, Jonnu reversed their roles and fought for his brother all through Wayne's incarceration.
“[Jonnu] spearheaded main these attorneys to doing this, and that is how my son will get to come back residence subsequent July,” Karen stated. “And that is how that occurred. His brother did change into [Wayne's] guardian. [Jonnu] grew to become the one serving to him and guiding him.”
When the boys have been rising up, Wayne embraced guiding Jonnu as Karen labored a number of jobs to offer for her two sons and 4 daughters after a tow truck accident killed her husband, Wayne Sr., when Jonnu was 4. Karen knew the bond between her boys was particular from the second 5-year-old Wayne Jr. held his new child child brother.
“You know the way children have a look at their little siblings, and so they simply love them? I noticed that from day one,” Karen stated. “All they did was play on a regular basis. Wayne was like Jonnu's protector.”
When Wayne “began to study what the streets needed to supply,” Karen stated, that is when the 2 brothers grew to become a bit distant. Even so, Wayne nonetheless seemed out for Jonnu.
“[Wayne] all the time despatched his brother residence,” Karen stated. “He all the time made positive [Jonnu] did not do what he did. They have been happening two totally different paths, however [Wayne] was nonetheless making an attempt. [Wayne]'s doing improper issues, however he was nonetheless ensuring his brother didn't.”
Their paths forked when Wayne was arrested in June 2010 following the deadly avenue battle. Two days later, Jonnu was on a aircraft to Ocala, Florida, to reside together with his aunt. He stayed together with her by highschool, attending West Port Excessive Faculty earlier than incomes a scholarship to FIU.
“I've to ship Jonnu away as a result of these streets will swallow him up,” Karen remembered telling her sister in a panicked telephone name. “They'll chew you up and spit you out.”
“I despatched him to my sister's, and his path went in course.”
THOUGH THE BROTHERS' paths diverged as Wayne served his sentence and Jonnu pursued a soccer profession, the 2 talked almost every single day in Wayne's 15-minute allotments. Separated by 1000's of miles and residing worlds aside, Jonnu leaned on Wayne for recommendation as he obtained married, had two children and performed for 4 NFL franchises. On the identical time, Wayne labored to raised himself so he can be prepared for the subsequent section of his life, each time it arrived.
“All the things occurs for a motive,” Jonnu stated. “We are saying this, and we actually imagine this, however [Wayne's downfall] made him a greater man, and altered his life in a means the place it modified my life. And if issues did not occur the best way they did for his life, I in all probability would not be the place I am at this time.”
Finally, their paths converged once more when Jonnu obtained his second life-changing telephone name of 2025.
Jonnu discovered in late June that he was going to be traded from the Dolphins to the Steelers, reuniting him with Pittsburgh's Arthur Smith, his place coach and offensive coordinator from the staff that drafted him, the Tennessee Titans, and in addition with the Atlanta Falcons. Extra importantly, the commerce positioned him an hour's drive from Wayne throughout his brother's last yr of incarceration.
“When Omar [Khan] and Mike [Tomlin] introduced it as much as me, the potential of [the trade], I advised them so much about him and about our historical past, and I did deliver it up,” Smith stated. “I advised them about his brother. Jonnu and I had talked about it, and it is form of a novel full circle in life, the timing that he is up there. I do know which means so much to in all probability his brother. I've by no means met his brother, however I really feel like I do know him by Jonnu.”
When Wayne referred to as for his or her each day chat on June 30 — the day of the commerce — Jonnu gave him the information.
“He simply could not imagine it,” Jonnu stated. “He was like, ‘Wow, are you kidding me?' As males of religion, we positively imagine that this was a God-ordained second.”
Now not would Jonnu have to attend till the offseason to fly to Philadelphia after which drive hours throughout the state together with his household to go to Wayne. Now, he may go to extra ceaselessly, although the Steelers' off day is Tuesday and SCI-Fayette does not permit guests on Tuesdays.
The proximity to Wayne gave Jonnu one other thought: What if he and a few of his Steelers teammates and members of the group visited the jail and held an outreach occasion with the inmates? In August, he approached Blayre Holmes Davis, the Steelers senior director of group relations, and directors at SCI-Fayette to inquire in regards to the risk.
“In 26 years of service within the Division of Corrections, I've by no means had a participant himself attain out,” stated SCI-Fayette Superintendent Tina Walker. “… When high-profile athletes just like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jonnu Smith request to come back to the jail and converse with inmates, it exhibits a dedication from them for group engagement and rehabilitation.
“It sends a message to our inmate inhabitants about second possibilities and private progress and accountability and selections that you simply make possibly do not all the time outline your future.”
The go to got here collectively on Oct. 7, when Steelers gamers Pat Freiermuth, Connor Heyward, Corliss Waitman, Matt Sokol and Calvin Anderson met Jonnu on the jail on their break day following their Week 5 bye.
“Jonnu invited a few of us, and I could not not go to that,” Heyward stated. “I noticed how a lot it meant to him, and he advised us it meant so much once we obtained there, and even prior, earlier than going, he was similar to, that is very near his coronary heart. So anytime any person has one thing like that, particularly together with his brother in that state of affairs, it was simply particular although being there and having the ability to take that every one in.”
The six Steelers gamers first met with a small group of 12 inmates, together with Wayne, for half an hour. Every incarcerated particular person shared his story and what he'd executed to rehabilitate himself for entry again into society. Then, the gamers went into the jail's gymnasium for a bigger program attended by 100 inmates. Neighborhood Kitchen, a Pittsburgh nonprofit that assists in meals providers coaching packages and alternatives for folks with employment limitations, gave a presentation on its providers, and the gamers answered questions posed by inmates about matters like how they overcome adversity, how they keep centered and what different methods they're giving again locally.
“Our mission was to come back to encourage, however finally we have been those that have been impressed,” Jonnu stated. “… Exterior of me being traded, there hadn't been a Pittsburgh Steeler to step foot in that jail. And people guys, it modified their day and a few lives and the way they see issues and the way they have a look at issues. However for us, the guests, the outlook that we obtained on life was that, man, your state of affairs does not should outline you.”
Anderson, a six-year NFL journeyman, has executed jail outreach work all through his profession. He has seen the challenges to reaching an typically underserved group, and he has grown to grasp the worth within the work.
“There's plenty of crimson tape concerned with getting in, however then there's additionally a stigma round folks which are in jail,” Anderson stated. “And I believe usually, I attempt to have a look at folks as people, and one unhealthy mistake can result in fairly vital modifications in your life experiences. And so I believe you must form of take away the judgment while you stroll into settings like that and simply attempt to see folks for the people that they're.
“Any of us could make unhealthy selections that result in considerably unhealthy outcomes. The aim is to attempt to see if you need to use a few of the stuff you've discovered in life to provide folks inspiration in order that they'll make higher selections and so they can see life totally different and hopefully not find yourself in these conditions.”
Walker, who has been the superintendent at SCI-Fayette since 2023, has obtained constructive suggestions from inmates within the week because the go to from the Steelers and the particular program.
“I've obtained thank-you request slips from our inmate inhabitants and in particular person on my rounds, thanking me for permitting such a program to be made out there to the incarcerated people as a result of it meant so much to them,” she stated, including that she hopes to proceed a relationship with the Steelers group for extra programming sooner or later.
Karen, too, obtained a glowing overview of Jonnu's go to from her older son.
“[The players] in all probability assume, ‘Oh, it was nothing,' however they actually do not know what it's that they did for another person. Or possibly they do, however it was greater in all probability than they'll think about,” she stated.
“Wayne talked about it for days afterwards. He is nonetheless speaking about it. He stated, ‘Mother, that was the perfect day of all the times that I've spent in jail. That was the perfect day. That was it. These males, the Steelers coming, my brother and people gamers coming as much as speak to us, Mother, it was such day.'”
JONNU DOESN'T NEED to circle the date on the calendar for a visible reminder that it is on the horizon. On July 18, 2026, Wayne is scheduled to be launched after 16 years of incarceration.
Jonnu is underneath contract in Pittsburgh by the 2026 season, however as a result of he is turning 31 years previous on Aug. 22 with a $10.8 million cap hit, his future in Pittsburgh past this season is something however sure. In 5 video games this season, Jonnu has 17 catches on 20 targets and one landing.
What is definite, nonetheless, is that he'll be alongside his brother each step of the best way as Wayne transitions to the subsequent section of life. However that does not imply Jonnu goes to go away the jail group behind. Jonnu envisions persevering with to work within the prison-reform area together with his brother and thru his nonprofit, the Nu Household Basis.
“July 18th, 2026 goes to be, up till that time, the happiest day of my life,” Jonnu stated. “He is obtained his complete life forward of him. … He went to jail when he was 20 years previous. He was a child and needed to form of change into a person on his personal.
“And I am happy with the person that he is change into, as a result of the person that he is change into impacted this man proper right here.”
