(CNN) ––
Joe Ligon, who is considered to be the longest serving life sentence in the United States and the longest serving time in prison, was released from a Pennsylvania jail after spending nearly seven decades behind bars.
Ligon was jailed in February 1953 when he was 15 years old.
He was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to a robbery and stabbing in Philadelphia with four other teens.
The crime left six injured and two people dead, identified by the Philadelphia Inquirer as Charles Pitts and Jackson Hamm.
"They caught me, in terms of being on the streets," Ligon told CNN after his release last week.
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A guilty hearing found Ligon responsible for two counts of first-degree murder, and Ligon admitted to stabbing at least one of eight people assaulted that day.
However, his attorney Bradley Bridge told CNN that his client maintains that he never killed anyone.
“The child who committed these crimes in 1953 no longer exists.
The person who was released from prison in 2021 is 83 years old.
It has grown, changed and is no longer a threat, ”Bridge said.
“He has amply rewarded society for the damage and harm he caused.
And now, it is appropriate that he spend the last years of his life in freedom, "the lawyer completed.
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"Now I am an adult," Ligon said.
"I'm not a child anymore.
I am not only a grown man, I am an older man and I grow old every day, "he added.
Now, Ligon's path to freedom has been long.
In the 1970s, Ligon and his accomplices obtained the option of clemency from the governor of Pennsylvania.
Although two of the men chose to accept the offer, the clemency meant being on probation.
Something that Ligon rejected.
Joe Ligon refused parole
Ligon also turned down another offer of parole in 2017, after a US Supreme Court ruling made him eligible.
A year earlier, in 2016, the high court had decided that Miller v.
Alabama - a 2012 ruling that life sentences for juveniles convicted without the possibility of parole were deemed illegal - should be applied retroactively.
The decision re-sentenced Ligon to 35 years to life in prison.
But, it made him eligible for parole as he had been in prison for more than 60 years.
Still Ligon declined the offer again.
He said parole would not give him the freedom he wanted after decades in prison.
“The state parole board presumably would have released him.
But on the condition that he was under his supervision for the rest of his life, "Bridge explained.
"He chose not to seek parole on those terms," he added.
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Bridge, who has represented Ligon for 15 years, ultimately argued that a mandatory life sentence for a crime Ligon committed as a minor is unconstitutional.
After a failed hearing in the Pennsylvania intermediate court of appeals, Bridge succeeded in taking the case to federal court.
There he won the matter in November 2020, ultimately granting Ligon freedom on his own terms in 2021.
Now that Ligon is out of jail, he has begun his work of re-entry into society.
John Pace, a former inmate and current reentry coordinator for the Philadelphia-based Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project (YSRP), said he has been working with Ligon to help him cope with life outside of prison.
Pace was only 17 years old when he was jailed for robbing and assaulting a man.
He spent the next 31 years in jail.
After being released, Pace said he felt something of a discomfort after being suddenly exposed to his new reality.
Reach a new world
«You are in a prison environment where there is not much stimulation.
You are not allowed to have contact with people.
Your interactions are very limited.
So there's not a lot of stimulation, ”Pace said.
So now that you get out of jail and imagine all this, you can do whatever you want now.
And what do you do with that? ”He added.
Bridge, Pace, and several others have been working with Ligon to get around the shock of entering a new world.
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This effort included finding a home for Ligon through home care.
You have been living with a Philadelphia family, who have played a role in assisting in the reentry process.
"There will always be people who think that Joe should be in jail for the rest of his life," Pace said.
Joe has control over how he shows who he is today.
And you hope that's enough to help other people realize how you're trying to help others use better judgment.
Ligon said he wanted others to learn from his experience.
"I really want to please people and help people the way they are helping me," he said.
And he added: «To meet some of the younger generation, some of the older ones and some of the journalists… to share some of my story«.
When asked what it was like to be back in the world a day and a half after his release, Ligon summed it up like this:
"Beautiful," he said.
"Handsome".
life imprisonment sentence
