life has changed drastically in recent years. Not only due to technological advances, increasingly advanced and influenced by artificial intelligence, but also in the architecture of cities and the way in which people communicate with each other. Something you noticed drastically Joe Ligonan American man who spent the last 68 years in prisoneven before reaching the age of majority.
It was 1953 when a young Ligon, Even at the age of 15, he decided to join a youth band who was dedicated to violently robbing people to buy alcohol. However, in one of these robberies, the American was involved in a series of stabbings that ended the lives of two civiliansCharles Pitts and Jackson Hamm, as well as six other injured people.
Ligon declared having participated in these stabbings, he assured that he had not killed anyone. In an interview with the American media “CBS”, he assured that the only thing he was guilty of was “being in the wrong place, at the wrong time“. Despite this, and being a minor, the judge sentenced him to life sentence without the possibility of enjoying parole.
Ligon dedicated his years in prison to educating himself and training boxing
Since then, the American spent 68 years in the Pennsylvania detention center, where He learned to read, write and started boxing training.. Likewise, he began to acquire healthier routines, improving his social and cleaning skills. As he explained in the interview, “They locked me up, yes, but they didn’t lock my mind“. Which shows that the reintegration of prisoners is possible.
With this mentality he decided to refuse the parole offered to him in the 70’s decadeeven though the rest of her classmates decided to accept her. Continuing in the Pennsylvania prison until 2021, when he was released and declared by the American press as “America’s oldest juvenile delinquent“.
His release came, in part, thanks to a 2012 US Supreme Court ruling, in which declared unconstitutional impose life imprisonment on a minor, and a 2016 sentence that added its retroactive nature. For this reason, all people who were in his situation were offered the probation. Something he rejected again.
After almost seven decades in prison, Ligon was surprised by the changes in his city
Finally, at the age of 83 and with 68 years of sentence behind him, his lawyers managed to get him to give his sentence served and they will grant him full freedom. The first thing he did when he went outside for the first time in so long was smile. “I almost cried, but I did it with a big smile on my face.“, he explained. Then came his first time in the city, after almost 7 decades, and that was when he finally realized how much life had changed.
“I looked around and saw all these tall buildings, but I was expecting it“, he assured. But he was surprised to see the buses, which did not exist before, since they had to pass through the tram lines. However, his intention is to move forward, learning from all the changes and improving his life. “I don’t stay stuck in the past. I can’t do anything about what happened, but I hope to have a better future.“.
Something similar happened with Otis Johnsona US citizen who was imprisoned in 1970 and released 44 years later. Although, in the case of Otis, he did was more surprised when observing all the technological advances that had been lost while in prison. According to him, one of the things that surprised him the most were the advertising screens and the widespread use of headphones, which he associated with CIA agents.
All these stories, in addition to demonstrating that prisons are a place in which to provide the possibility for prisoners to educate themselves and be able to reintegrate in society, demonstrate the speed with which technological advances are changing life and the world around us. The important thing is not to stay stuck in the past and learn to adapt to new times.