Richard DeLisi

Man Who Was Serving 90-Year Sentence for Marijuana Released


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While serving a 90-year prison sentence for selling marijuana, Richard DeLisi's wife died, as did his 23-year-old son and both his parents. His adult daughter was in a horrific car accident and suffered a paralyzing stroke as a result. He never met two granddaughters — a lifetime of missed memories.

Yet, 71-year-old DeLisi walked out of a Florida prison Tuesday morning grateful and unresentful as he hugged his tearful family. After serving 31 years, he said he's just eager to restore the lost time. DeLisi was believed to be the longest-serving nonviolent cannabis prisoner, according to the The Last Prisoner Project which championed his release.


“I’m a blessed human being, a survivor,” DeLisi said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday while he was in the parking lot of his favorite hamburger joint as he watched his granddaughters laugh and bounce a ball.


He prefers not to dwell on lost memories and time he'll never get back. He's not angry, and instead takes every opportunity to express gratitude and hope.





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

The family has spent over $250,000 on attorneys' fees and over $80,000 on long-distance international collect calls over the past few decades, but it's not money they want back.

Rick DeLisi was only 11-years-old when he sat in the courtroom and said goodbye to his father. Now, he's a successful business owner with a wife and three children living in Amsterdam. He can't wait to bring his father overseas and to their vacation home in Hawaii.



Every moment, even the little ones, are milestones.


But it's bittersweet thinking about the lost time, the waste.

For what, his son asks?


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



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

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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