How a Black Man Went from a 50-year Prison Sentence to Law School
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Bernard McKinley was 16 years old when he was arrested for a gang-related killing. Court records said his friend ordered him to shoot a man in a Chicago park. Three years later, he was found guilty of murder and the use of a firearm to commit murder. A judge sentenced him to 50 years incarceration to each charge, totaling to 100 years in prison.
Fast-forward 20 years later, he’s a free man headed to one of the top ranked law schools in the nation.
How did he do it?
He told ABC News as he rode to the maximum security facility prison, taking in the reality of the future ahead of him, he made a vow to himself to not let this situation define him but catapult him into purpose.
“I promised myself before I got out of that bus that no matter what the outcome was that, you know, I was just going to try to do better for myself. I knew that I wanted to better myself, and I did that,” he told ABC.
The sentence loomed on until 2016 when McKinley’s case became the center of a debate amongst the 7th Circuit Court on whether a U.S. Supreme Court ruling had any relevance to his case, per Courthouse News. In Miller v. Alabama, the Court ruled that a mandatory life imprisonment without possibility of parole for juvenile murder cases is a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
In the end, the circuit court decided McKinley deserved to be resentenced. However, unbeknownst to them, McKinley was already studying to make a case for a new sentence all on his own.
In 2018, Northwestern’s Prison Education Program (PEP) launched, offering him an opportunity to obtain his degree as an incarcerated individual. After being accepted into the program, McKinley achieved an accomplish he’d never seen coming.
Read more from ABC News:
After seeing the financial stress that legal fees were placing on his family, McKinley decided to learn the law and represented himself pro se after obtaining his General Educational Development diploma, or GED, while incarcerated. He also helped those who lacked access or resources to legal aid.
While representing himself in court, McKinley’s sentence was reduced from 100 years to 25, a sentence he served in full. While still incarcerated, he took the LSAT, or Law School Admission Test, and applied to law school.
In December 2023, he was released from prison.
McKinley is headed to be part of Northwestern Law School’s class of 2027 being the first graduate of the school’s Prison Education program to be accepted into a law school period.
All of his hard work merely reflects back the promise he made to himself.
Every day, I strive to better myself than the day before. I value the opportunity to receive a higher education that will allow me to re-enter society as a useful citizen to my community,” he said in a PEP interview.
