Craig Whilby appreciates the guidance he received as a child growing up in Detroit.
Craig’s mother died when he was an infant, but his father met another woman when he was eight years old, and she did her best to fill the role. His father was not much of a disciplinarian, but his stepmother was. She did a good job making sure Craig felt loved while pushing him to keep up with his grades and stay out of trouble.
Then, when Craig was 17 his father and stepmother split up. Craig lost his stepmother’s guidance.
One night, some of Craig’s friends picked him up and told him they planned to commit a robbery. Craig agreed to enter a home and help break into a safe. However, they were surprised to find that someone was home. One of the teens Craig was with killed the resident.
When Craig was arrested, he took responsibility for the role he played in the robbery but explained that he didn’t kill anybody. He was told he could be charged with murder because he participated in a felony that led to a person being killed, a possibility he couldn’t wrap his head around.
“I don’t think at 17 you really understand that concept,” Craig said. “You think ‘Well, I didn’t do the murder, how am I being charged with murder?’… You don’t really understand the laws.”
Instead of taking a plea deal, Craig decided to go to trial. He thought a group of 13 jurors would have more understanding for his case than a judge. But he was wrong, the jury convicted Craig and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Craig never gave up hope that one day he would be free. He waited for his appeals and anxiously watched news stories about law changes, hoping something would apply to his case.
Through his 31.5 years of incarceration, Craig stayed hopeful. He found hope in just about everything, from positive interactions with corrections officers to building bonds with other incarcerated people to seeing his family when they visited.
“In order to survive the 31 years of incarceration, [you] have to have hope,” Craig said. “Every day you’ll wake up in a negative environment and could succumb to that negative environment.”
Finally, in 2019 Craig was released after a Supreme Court ruling that ordered all juvenile life sentences be reexamined.
Craig considers himself lucky because he had a friend who immediately offered him a job at his transportation company. With this job, Craig was able to provide for himself and with his friend’s guidance, eventually start his own transportation company.
Craig is working to make sure others have resources when they are released from prison as well. He helped start and co-directs a nonprofit called Friends of Returning Citizens (FORC) on a volunteer basis. FORC helps people with overturned juvenile life sentences return to living independently.
“Whenever we see a chance to help one another, we’re throwing it out there,” Craig said. “I think that support is so, so vital.”
He continued to say that many of the people who had juvenile life sentences overturned share his desire to use their remaining years helping others.
“We’re in our 50s… we might have 20 years left,” Craig said. “We’ve got to make our mark and do something positive.”
