Man serving 90-year sentence for marijuana released

While serving a 90-year prison sentence for selling marijuana, Richard DeLisi’s wife died, as did their 23-year-old son and his parents. His adult daughter was in a terrible car accident and as a result suffered a stroke that paralyzed him. He never met two granddaughters, a lifetime of lost memories.

Yet DeLisi, 71, emerged from a Florida prison Tuesday morning grateful and without resentment as he hugged his tearful family. After turning 31, he said he is eager to restore lost time. DeLisi was believed to be the longest-serving non-violent cannabis prisoner, according to The Last Prisoner Project, which defended his release.

DeLisi also finally met her 11 and 1-year-old granddaughters for the first time this week.

“I am a blessed human being, a survivor,” DeLisi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday as he stood in the parking lot of his favorite burger joint as he watched his granddaughters laugh and bounce a ball.

DeLisi was sentenced to 90 years for marijuana trafficking in 1989 at the age of 40 even though the typical sentence was only 12 to 17 years. He believes that he was attacked with the long sentence because the judge mistakenly thought he was part of organized crime because he was an Italian from New York. DeLisi said that he had opportunities, but that he never had any desire for that life.

He prefers not to dwell on lost memories and time he will never get back. You are not angry and instead take every opportunity to express gratitude and hope.

“Prison changed me. I never really knew who God was and now I do and it changed the way I speak and treat people,” said DeLisi, who became a mentor to younger inmates. “For me, being there so long, I was able to take gang members from gangs to gentlemen.”

When the 40-year-old hipster with the thick Italian accent first entered prison, he was illiterate, but taught himself to read and write.

Now, he wants to “make the most of every piece of my time” by fighting for the release of other prisoners through his organization FreeDeLisi.com.

“The system needs to change and I’m going to do everything I can to be an activist,” he said.

Chiara Juster, a former Florida prosecutor who handled the pro bono case for The Last Prisoner Project, criticized DeLisi’s lengthy sentence as “a sick accusation of our nation.”

The family has spent more than $ 250,000 on attorneys’ fees and more than $ 80,000 on international long distance collect calls over the past decades, but it is not money they want to get back.

Rick DeLisi was only 11 years old when he sat in the courtroom and said goodbye to his father. Now, he is a successful businessman with a wife and three children living in Amsterdam. He can’t wait to take his father overseas and to his vacation home in Hawaii.

Those are the memories his father longed to create while he was locked up.

“Taking a bath, lay in the sun, oh so many things, eat at Jack’s Hamburgers,” said the father.

Every moment, even the smallest ones, are milestones.

For years, 43-year-old Rick dreamed of cooking his father’s breakfast like he did Wednesday morning with trays full of eggs, bacon, hot dogs and cookies. She burst into tears just watching her dad eat a bagel and drink a bottle of water that didn’t come from the prison commissary.

But it is bittersweet to think about the wasted time, the waste.

Why, your son asks?

“It’s kind of a torment in the soul for 31 years,” he said. “My whole life was stolen from me, so I appreciate that I can witness it, but on the other hand I feel like there is no one responsible? Is there someone who can answer this?”

Rick DeLisi said his family fell apart after his father’s sentencing. His mother never recovered. His brother overdosed and died, his sister was in a terrible car accident. Rick fled the country at 17 to get away from the pain.

“I can’t believe they did this to my father. I can’t believe they did this to my family,” said the grieving son, describing the meeting as if an old, painful wound was opened.

His voice cracks and his eyes fill with tears as he talks about how grateful he is to finally see his father.

“There is a feeling of who is responsible for this debt in my mind and justice,” said Rick DeLisi. “I don’t mean a debt with money. I mean something more valuable. Time. Something you can never get back.”