The Story of Malachai DeBruce

From Inmate to Architect of Justice — The Birth of COLA

Malachai DeBruce wasn’t born into privilege.
He was born into a system that was stacked against him before he could even speak. A system that targeted him, tracked him, and tried to erase him — not just physically, but intellectually, spiritually, and generationally.

By the time he was 19, Malachai had already become a statistic. Arrested. Charged. Convicted. Labeled. He entered prison with nothing but a broken past — and a burning mind that refused to go numb.
While others were giving up, Malachai was waking up.

In a prison law library with outdated books and a cold metal desk, he began studying. Not just his case. Not just the statutes. But the entire machine. The court structures, the procedural traps, the loopholes used by lawyers to win — and to lose — without accountability. He read cases by candlelight when the lights went out. He rewrote motions from scratch because no one would help him. He became what the system feared most: an educated man who refused to stay in chains.

And he didn’t just fight for himself.
He started writing motions for others. Mapping cases. Teaching inmates how to read their dockets and demand due process. When he walked out of prison, he didn’t walk out bitter — he walked out built.

But what the streets call “freedom” still came with locked doors.
Jobs wouldn’t call back. Degrees meant debt, not opportunity. And even with all the legal knowledge he had, he couldn’t call himself a lawyer. The system saw his mind as a threat.
So he built his own system.

That system became Criminal Offenders Legal Academy — COLA.

Not a law firm. Not a hustle.
But a structured, strategic, powerful academy designed for system survivors — the ones who didn’t get the fancy degrees, but still understood the law better than most public defenders.
COLA became a home for returning citizens, document preparers, family advocates, and anyone tired of begging attorneys to care.

Through COLA, Malachai turned legal trauma into legal transformation.
He wrote four books. He built legal templates used by hundreds.
He created a movement where justice became a skill set — not a price tag.

Now, COLA is not just a course.
It’s a movement. A weapon. A whisper turned war cry.
It’s what happens when a man who lost everything decides to take back power, profit, and purpose — and teach others to do the same.

From inmate to instructor.
From convict to curriculum.
From caged to certified.

This is Malachai DeBruce.
And this is the legacy of Criminal Offenders Legal Academy.

Circulate the Power.
We don’t wait for justice. We create it.