AUGUSTA, Ga. - He joined a gang when he was only 12. Raised by a single parent, he says he felt like he didn't have a family. But it was his mother who stepped in and found a way to save her son.

“Jail didn’t scare me. I was ready for it,” said former gang member.

That’s exactly what this 14 year old says he was looking for when he was first approached about joining the Gangster Disciples gang. NBC Augusta 26 News chose to conceal his identity to protect him and his family from any retaliation from his former gang.

Gangster Disciples is a branch off from a group called Folk Nation. Their presence is spray painted on street signs and abandoned buildings throughout Augusta.

“We were on Windsor Spring Road and everywhere past Willis Foreman, but up until the eastside of Willis Foreman. That was the Blood Territory.”

The teen was raised by a single mom with no father figure around.

“Around the seventh grade they offered me the chance and I started, because around by house, I didn’t see us as a family,” said former gang member.

So he found a new family on the streets.

“I got jumped for six minutes,” he said.

Then he was accepted into the gang at the age of 12.

Although he wouldn’t go into what he did as a gang member, the teen says it was not until his mother found out that he realized he needed to get out.

“I remember I had to clean up his room and that’s when I found knives hidden under his mattress and his dresser drawers. He said it was for his protection. I asked him what he was protecting himself from. He told me about the gang activity. The knives weren’t just for his, but for our protection," said his mother.

She says she knew she had to save her son. She started home schooling him. She also turned to this man, Devon Harris, the founder of Full Circle Refuge - an organization that reaches out to troubled teens who traveled down the wrong path.

“Gangs are a rite of passage on the streets. That’s what the OGs are offering, a rite of passage, but it’s negative,” said Harris.

A rite of passage that Harris says he tries to give each child he works with. Harris says he plays an active role in these trouble teens lives, working with them on short and long term goals to keep them off the streets and out of jail.

After months of working with our teens, Harris says he’s changed but the work's not over.

As for this former gang member, he has one message for parents.

“Nowadays, in school with sports on the basketball team, most of them are gang members. Be more active with your kids. Keep them doing something spend time with you kids,” said former gang member.

This former gang member wants to be a Christian Rap artist and write children's books hoping to keep kids off the streets.