Gerald Merrell knew about prison from a young age. The youngest of 14 siblings, he was only about 9 when one of his older brothers was sentenced to prison, where he later died under questionable circumstances.
His family already reeling from that loss, Gerald struggled as a youth. At 17, he and his friends were hanging out at a woman’s house when he was told that another man had touched his girlfriend. He and his friends decided to take the man home. While driving, Gerald’s friends told him he had to “do something” to the man or else he would look like a punk — and then they handed him a knife. When he hesitated, an older friend told him that if he didn’t do it, he would kill Gerald instead.
Terrified of what might happen and unsure how to stop it, Gerald did as he was told. “It was like a nightmare when I realized what I’d done,” Gerald said. Police arrested him a few days later. Gerald found himself housed in an adult jail. Later, he would be convicted in an adult court and sentenced to serve the rest of his life in prison without any chance of ever going home.
“It messed me up because I realized I would never get to see my family outside these bars again,” Gerald said.
Still, Gerald didn’t give in to despair. He realized that if the nation ever reconsidered juvenile life without parole sentences, he might have a chance to go home. With that in mind, he took care to avoid violations of prison rules and took educational and vocational classes so that he could make a strong case to go home — if he ever got a chance.
That chance came after the U.S. Supreme Court began re-evaluating juvenile life without parole sentences starting in 2012. That year, it banned mandatory juvenile life without parole sentences. Four years later, it made that earlier ruling retroactive, giving people like Gerald a chance to be resentenced.
Gerald went home in December 2020. Since then, he’s been working for an automotive manufacturer, spending time with his family and working with the State Appellate Defenders Office and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth to end these harsh sentences for juveniles.
“To me, it’s a blessing to get a second chance,” Gerald says.
