John Pace, Associate Director of Reentry and Engagement
As one of the worst snowstorms in years bore down on Philadelphia and much of the country, I found myself meeting with a friend who, like me, had once been sentenced to die in prison for a crime committed as a child. The air was bitterly cold, the streets already quieting in anticipation of the storm. I decided to pick him up as he walked through the freezing cold. He shared with me that he was coming straight from a job—repairing something in someone’s home. In that moment, a deep sense of reflection and gratitude washed over me.
That gratitude was rooted in a single decision—the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana. By holding that Miller v. Alabama must be applied retroactively, the Court recognized that children are different from adults and capable of growth and transformation. In doing so, it opened the door for thousands of us—once condemned to die in prison—to be resentenced and, in many cases, to come home.