‘My prison cell became my university’: Benard McKinley’s journey to civil rights law
Subject
Benard McKinley, Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law, Civil Rights
Description
In 2004, a judge told then 19-year-old Benard McKinley he would spend his next 97 birthdays behind bars. Last month, however, McKinley turned 39 as a free man and opened a hard-won birthday gift: an acceptance letter from Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law.
With a legal career ahead of him, McKinley wants to give back to the community he once took so much from, he said.
After five years of coursework at Stateville Correctional Center, McKinley graduated in November in the inaugural class of the Northwestern Prison Education Program. According to NPEP Director Jennifer Lackey, it is the first bachelor’s degree-granting program offered to incarcerated students by a top 10 university in the U.S.
McKinley said he dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but growing up in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, “those dreams got thrown out.” Instead of mental health support and legal resources, McKinley said his community had drugs and gangs.
At 16, McKinley was arrested for a gang-related murder. At 19, he was sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole, a sentence later deemed unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. While serving time, he took legal action to reduce his sentence to 25 years, of which he served 22.5 before his release in January.
Creator
Naomi Taxay
Source
Publisher
The Daily Northwestern
File
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