{"id":6281,"date":"2024-11-17T15:16:44","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T20:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/?page_id=6281"},"modified":"2025-02-05T22:42:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T03:42:05","slug":"corey-johnson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.restorejustice.org\/corey-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Corey Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Home<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p> <\/div>\n\n \n

\n \n Corey Johnson\n <\/h1>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n

Corey Johnson received two natural life sentences for an offense committed at age 16. After spending over two decades in prison, he is working hard to achieve his professional and personal goals.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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\u201cI am not my actions at 16 and I do deserve another chance to live in a free society! In the Supreme Court’s words, I’m not \u2018permanently incorrigible.\u2019 I want to be the walking embodiment of a youth’s capacity to change for the better.\u201d – Corey Johnson <\/h3>\n \n \n
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After more than two decades in prison, Corey Johnson is back home. He strongly believes that his carceral experience will not be an impediment to the realization of his dreams, which include owning a business and helping inspire younger generations. He honed this positive mindset throughout his time behind bars: \u201cI made the decision just to wake up everyday, to strive to better myself, and to live my life as if I was getting out the next day regardless of my sentence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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An Unstable Environment<\/h5>\n

Corey was born in East St Louis and raised on the South Side of Chicago. His childhood was not peaceful, but rather marked by years of physical and mental abuse. When given the option to move to his grandfather\u2019s house, he decided to stay in the unstable and unsafe environment of his home in order to protect his siblings, a decision that would change the trajectory of his life forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

In retrospect, he thinks he should not have been allowed to make such a major decision as a child. Stressed and overburdened by these tumultuous living conditions, Corey can now see his state of constant mental and emotional agitation considerably hindered his education. \u201cThe only time I could really get some peace and some sleep was during class, and that caused disruptions, and actually, problems at school,\u201d he recalls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To escape the chaos at home, Corey hung out with the wrong crowd, kept late hours, and got entangled in the incessant rivalries between projects and neighborhoods. He remembers how in the grim world of public housing, events quickly spiraled out of control. As a result, he became engulfed in his neighborhood\u2019s growing wave of violence and frequently found himself at odds with the criminal legal system.<\/span><\/p>\n

Corey had just turned 16 when he was arrested for a violent crime. Although he acknowledges he was no stranger to the system, he describes this as his \u201cfirst serious offense.\u201d He talks about his arrest as an overwhelming and traumatizing experience; not only because of the gravity of the situation and the great number of police officers involved, but also because of their demeanor during the custodial interrogation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I refused to talk, they would pretty much pressure me, yell, slap tables and things of that nature trying to pretty much intimidate me,\u201d Corey remembers. He adds that the absence of a parent or concerned adult \u201cgave police officers the green light to do whatever they wanted, because there were no cameras to show the use of coercive tactics.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After his arrest, Corey spent several months in a juvenile detention center. Immediately following his 17th birthday, he was taken to the St. Clair County Jail and remained there until the end of his trial. In 2001, at age 20, he was sentenced to life without parole and sent to Menard Correctional Center, the largest of Illinois\u2019 maximum-security prisons for adult males, located approximately 300 miles from Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n

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The only time I could really get some peace and some sleep was during class, and that caused disruptions, and actually, problems at school.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n

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Corey Johnson<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n\n \n \n

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