Man Serving 90-Year Weed Crime Sentence Released From Prison December 16, 2020
On Tuesday, December 8th, Richard DeLisi walked out of South Bay Correctional Facility after serving 31 long years.
While the 71-year-old was held away in prison – his wife died, his son overdosed, and his daughter was paralyzed in a brutal car accident. A stripped life and a broken family, all stemming from a grossly inflated cannabis conviction.
The Longest-Serving Nonviolent Cannabis Prisoner
In September of 1988, Richard was caught in the middle of a reverse-sting operation led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as numerous other agencies. In agreeing to help smuggle 1,500 pounds of cannabis from Colombia to Florida, he was arrested and charged with Trafficking in Cannabis and Conspiracy to Traffic in Cannabis.
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Richard DeLisi, the longest-serving marijuana crimes convict in the U.S., was freed ahead of his scheduled June 2022 release.
According to multiple reports, DeLisi walked out of the South Bay Correctional Facility in Palm Beach County, Florida, Tuesday morning and for the first time in 31 years, he will spend Christmas with family.
“It actually feels like 10 times better than wonderful,” DeLisi, aged 71, speaking of his release, told the [Lakeland, FL] Ledger.
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While imprisoned for marijuana-dealing, DeLisi lost his wife, his 23-year-old son and his parents. In addition, he never met his two granddaughters, thereby losing a “lifetime of memories,” CBS News reported.
The Ledger
LAKELAND, Fla. – For the first time in more than 31 years, Richard DeLisi will be able to spend Christmas with family members.
DeLisi, described as the longest-serving inmate for nonviolent marijuana crimes in the nation, walked out of South Bay Correctional Facility in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Tuesday morning as a free man.
Sentenced in 1989 to a 90-year term in a Polk County courtroom, DeLisi left prison ahead of his scheduled June 2022 release.
“It actually feels like 10 times better than wonderful,” DeLisi, 71, told The (Lakeland, Fla.) Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. “It was so unjust what they did to me. I just hope that I can help other people that are in the same situation.”