text: Kenyatta Leal has something millions of people would give anything for: the ability to bring the cream of Silicon Valley’s executives to their feet. However, unlike most app developers, he learnt about technology not at MIT or at Stanford, but at San Quentin Correctional Facility. He is the first graduate of The Last Mile, the world’s only prison-based tech incubator. Unprecedented: This is Kenyatta Leal, the first graduate of San Quentin's tech program that teaches prisoners who have never experienced the internet how to code and build a business for when they are paroled . Leal was one of 15 prisoners who was selected from about 200 to undergo six months of intensive business training with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to develop their own business plan - while inside San Quentin. MC Hammer acted as one of his numerous mentors. Each prisoner that applies to the scheme must complete an application process, as they would for a job, explaining their history and their ambitions, plus one 'essay question' about their life. Leal was handed a life sentence in 1994 for his third strike, unlawfully possessing a firearm after committing a felony. He was locked up in the country’s oldest men’s prison, which has housed Charles Manson and Bobby Kennedy killer Sirhan Sirhan. But in 2011 he was handed a lifeline: programming. The business program teaches inmates about the internet, a phenomenon invented in the mid-90s after most of them were incarcerated. The aim is for each to develop a business idea to embark on after their release as most struggle to find work 'on the outside’. Now, after being paroled in 2013, Leal is lobbying investors to back the unprecedented method of criminal rehabilitation: teaching cons about technology. 'I’ve been very lucky,' he told DailyMail.com. 'I was completely lost when I was incarcerated. I didn’t know what I was doing. 'Then I started hearing about this thing called the internet. My family started visiting me with these things called smart phones, we would talk about 'the internet' inside. 'I was asking, "What is 'tweeting'? What is a 'blog'? What is 'Google'?" I wanted to know more.' The program was started in 2011 by venture capitalists Chris Redlitz and his wife Beverly Parenti, who were asked to perform a half-hour guest speech to prisoners. But, intrigued by the questions they were asked, they stayed for hours and as they left, vowed to come back. California has a 61 per cent rate of re-offending within the first years - the highest of any state. And criminals cost $47,000 a year. Kenyatta Leal became a star of his class by developing a live version of Fantasy Football called Coach Potato - which will launch after he completes his second degree in business management. Chris Schuhmacher, who is serving a life sentence for stabbing to death a friend that stole a suitcase of marijuana from his apartment 12 years ago, is another star student, now developing a fitness app. Horatio Herts, is currently in Pittsburgh advising state legislators on how to tackle obesity. His business plan was called The Healthy Hearts Foundation. It focuses on ways to help overweight Americans get back in shape. James Houston has built a curriculum to teach under-privileged, inner-city children about technology. As Americans struggle to land jobs, and employers place an increased emphasis on computer literacy, prisoners who have never even seen a computer are sidelined from any tech-related occupations. Leal was one of 15 prisoners who was selected from about 200 to undergo six months of intensive business training with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to develop their own business plan - while inside San Quentin. MC Hammer acted as one of his numerous mentors. Each prisoner that applies to the scheme must complete an application process, as they would for a job, explaining their history and their ambitions, plus one 'essay question' about their life. Gruelling: Once accepted, the students have two meetings a week and feedback sessions with leading entrepreneurs and community leaders, referred to as 'The Shark Tank', after the TV show . Chris Schuhmacher, who is serving a life sentence for stabbing to death a friend that stole a suitcase of marijuana from his apartment 12 years ago, is another star student, now developing a fitness app . Some modules offer the so-called 'employees' the chance to learn coding - and fight for the chance to be awarded 'employee of the month' New leaf: Now paroled, Leal (pictured with Last Mile founder Chris Redlitz) is working to expand the program . Once accepted, they have two meetings a week and feedback sessions with leading entrepreneurs and community leaders, referred to as 'The Shark Tank', after the TV show. Some modules offer the so-called 'employees' the chance to learn coding using a special program produced by Hack Reactor, a coding school in San Francisco. Every four weeks, they fight for the chance to be awarded 'employee of the month'. On ’pitch day’, six months later, they present to a room of potential investors - clad in blue uniforms. Leal became a star of his class by developing a live version of Fantasy Football called Coach Potato - which will launch after he completes his second degree in business management. Chris Schuhmacher, who is serving a life sentence for stabbing to death a friend that stole a suitcase of marijuana from his apartment 12 years ago, is another star student, now developing a fitness app. Like Leal, Shuhmacher completed an Associate Arts degree at Patten University during his time inside, and graduated as valedictorian of his class. Another one of the 'graduates’, Horatio Herts, is currently in Pittsburgh advising state legislators on how to tackle obesity. His business plan was called The Healthy Hearts Foundation. It focuses on ways to help overweight Americans get back in shape. James Houston has built a curriculum to teach under-privileged, inner-city children about technology. Leal said: 'Men in prison, they have an entrepreneurial spirit but it’s misdirected. 'If you start inside it carries on to the outside. I felt like I was on the sidelines and needed a way to start over.' Since technology and the internet are banned in prison, The Last Mile has developed dummy programs that mimic websites such as Twitter, Word Press and Google. The guard tower at San Quentin State Prison, where the program is based. The program was started in 2011 by venture capitalists Chris Redlitz, who was asked to give a half-hour guest speech to prisoners. But, intrigued by the questions he was asked, he stayed for hours . Overlooking: An ex-con and relative cast a glance at San Quentin prison as they  hike in San Francisco . The program has inevitably been a cause for criticism. But none that the prisoners take seriously, they say. 'You do get a few snarky remarks but that comes with the territory because not everybpdy is going to understand what we’re bringing to the table. 'Those are the people we want to talk to.' It seems investors agree. Eric Greenberg, author of Generation We who attends The Last Mile’s pitch day, even says the so-called graduates have an edge over others pitching. 'Someone who comes through this is a highly inspirational human being who has a lot of things to share,' he explains. As the program grows, and sights are set on Falsom Prison for a Last Mile project, it has drawn attention. Award-winning director Ondi Timoner has just completed a documentary on the program, in connection with Wired, which premiered at SXSW Festival in Austin on March 15. San Quentin is the country’s oldest men’s prison, which has housed Charles Manson and  Sirhan Sirhan . As the program grows, sights are set on Falsom Prison for a Last Mile project . Timoner, who has directed documentaries one women’s prisons and on technology, told DailyMail.com: 'We have a prison system that’s just broken. We have the most people incarcerated in the world. 'We need to do something. And imagine the untapped potential in prisons. Criminal behavior and entrepreneurial behavior have a lot of things in common. Entrepreneurs are looking to get things done and quickly and get to the bottom line. Criminals do as well. 'I realized the power of the internet and the democratization that it allows… They can start businesses that are socially good.' Executive producer Rachel Samuels remarks: ’I think this is a new step. 'Kenyatta, for example, is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met and it makes you think: if he can turn his life around, what excuse is there for the rest of us?' The Last Mile documentary is now available to watch  on TheScene.com .
target: Kenyatta Leal was handed life sentence for firearms in 1994 .
  Inside San Quentin he was accepted to unprecedented tech scheme .
  Prisoners who never experienced the internet learn to code .