Jose Burgos’ childhood was idyllic: he loved exploring nature in the backyards of Detroit and going to school. But everything changed when his mother passed away when he was just 13 years old. Suddenly, Jose — who never knew his father — couldn’t concentrate at school and lost interest in the things that used to fascinate him. He dropped out of school in the 7th grade, and looking for a place to fit in, he turned to gangs.
Instead of learning about insects and reading books in libraries, he now learned about violence in the street.
Jose was 16 years old when he attempted to swindle twin brothers in a drug deal by filling a bag with rags instead of marijuana. He was in the back seat of the men’s car when one suggested they check what was inside of the bag. He saw one moving around in the seat in front of him and thought they may be reaching for a weapon. Jose panicked and shot both men, killing one and leaving the other paralyzed from the neck down.
Jose was just 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison. He said it took years for him to understand the gravity of the harm he had caused, but once he did, it transformed him. He wanted to spend the rest of his life to make amends for it, even though he had been told he would never come home from prison. And that meant he had no room for despair.
“I always wanted to keep my mind healthy,” he said. “Keeping my mind healthy was always having some type of hope.”
Following a 2016 Supreme Court ruling that ordered juvenile life sentences be reviewed, Jose was released in 2018 after serving 27 years.
Today, he works for the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office helping incarcerated people before and after their sentences end with reentry.
“If they need help, I don’t know where I’m going to find it, but I’m going to find it for them,” Jose said.
The guilt from his actions at 16 will never go away. However, Jose uses his past as motivation to help others today.
“It never goes away, it’s something that, for me, is something that drives me,” he said. “I wanted something good to come out of such a bad situation.”
