Trump pardoned me after serving 20 years for nonviolent drug offense

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Leaving jail after nearly 20 years felt like waking from a nightmare. I had been sentenced to life for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. My two brothers had been locked away too, and whereas we served out our phrases, each of our dad and mom handed away. That loss damage greater than the sentence ever might.

We weren’t there to assist them of their remaining days. We could not consolation them, or one another. We could not say goodbye. And figuring out that when it mattered most, we had been locked behind bars … it crushed us.

So, after I lastly got here dwelling — because of President Donald Trump granting me clemency from what would have been an unimaginably harsh life sentence — all I needed was to face with my brothers, the one household I had left, and scatter our dad and mom’ ashes collectively. It wasn’t nearly honoring them. It was about closing one of the crucial painful chapters of our lives. It was about being a household once more.

However even after our launch, we could not grieve together .

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Here is the issue. We had been positioned on federal supervised launch. That meant we wanted permission to see one another, despite the fact that our circumstances had been nonviolent, and we had no additional violations. The federal government denied us the possibility to mourn our dad and mom in the best way households ought to.

(L. to R.) Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Charles Tanner Jr. (Duke’s son), President Donald Trump, Charles ‘Duke’ Tanner, and legendary school soccer coach Lou Holtz. (Courtesy of Charles 'Duke' Tanner)

That second opened my eyes to how damaged supervised launch is. It wasn’t meant to be this fashion. The system is meant to assist folks rebuild their lives, discover work, reconnect with household safely reenter society with assist and keep crime-free (as my brothers and I did). As a substitute, in lots of circumstances, it turns into one other punitive sentence. It hinders rehabilitation somewhat than helps it.

However there's hope. Members of Congress launched the Safer Supervision Act , a invoice designed to repair what's damaged. As a result of a system that would not enable me and my brothers to mourn our dad and mom collectively isn't a system that advances security or rehabilitation.

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Supervised launch typically seems like a lure. The principles are so strict and unforgiving that even folks doing the fitting issues are consistently below risk of being thrown off observe, regardless of years of progress. Journey bans throughout state or county traces with out permission. Required frequent conferences with probation officers, ignoring work or household commitments. A blanket ban on being with anybody else who has a legal file, even your personal brothers.

I defy you to search out how any of that retains society safer or helps somebody rebuild. It prolongs punishment, undercuts redemption and blocks real second probabilities. In the meantime, it distracts regulation enforcement from specializing in people who find themselves actually harmful. That doesn’t make sense.

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It doesn’t need to be this fashion. If the Safer Supervision Act turns into regulation, it restores equity and stability. It's going to enable individuals who meet strict security standards to earn their approach off supervision, so authorities can give attention to the true threats, as they need to.

Former boxer Charles ‘Duke’ Tanner and his son Charles Tanner Jr. (Courtesy of Charles 'Duke' Tanner)

Trump, although recognized for being powerful on crime, additionally understood this: that individuals who've paid their debt deserve a shot at rebuilding. That’s why I’m profoundly grateful to him. His resolution didn’t simply give me again my freedom; it gave me again my hope.

He introduced me dwelling to my son, my household, my brothers and my neighborhood. He noticed the humanity in somebody the system had too typically ignored. I stand with the president in supporting others like me, and our households will keep in mind his act of compassion for many years.

If we construct on his instance and move the Safer Supervision Act, we are able to be sure that our federal supervision system actually helps second probabilities.

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I share my story not out of bitterness, however in gratitude for a president who believes in redemption, and for the possibility to talk as a free man.

My household nonetheless carries the load of the years we misplaced. However we additionally carry hope — hope that America can study from tales like mine and guarantee no different household endures what mine did.

Charles "Duke" Tanner is a legal justice reform advocate and motivational speaker whose journey from skilled boxing to federal jail and again to freedom has impressed audiences nationwide.