From Resentencing to Rebuilding: Marcus’s Journey Home and Forward
When the Supreme Court ruled that children sentenced to life without the possibility of parole must receive a meaningful opportunity for release, Marcus’s world shifted. “I didn’t think it was real,” he remembers. “Older guys who had come home were supporting me and telling me to get ready.”
That hope was rooted in the life waiting for him. Years earlier, when Marcedes was a Temple student and Marcus was a teen who always asked about her day, a quiet friendship formed. After Marcus was arrested at 17 and told he would die in prison, Marcedes reached out. Their letters and visits became a steady source of connection, and over time that friendship deepened into love. As Marcus prepared for release, reuniting with Marcedes and her son Johnny became one of his strongest motivations.
Marcus partnered with YSRP’s Senior Mitigation Specialist Annie Ruhnke and his attorney to prepare for resentencing. Together, they created a comprehensive mitigation report that reflected his humanity, his growth, and his vision for life at home.
“YSRP is my family,” Marcus says. “They helped me prepare, helped me plan, and supported me through the whole journey. They didn’t make it about them. It was really about what I needed.”
Today, Marcus is finally home, reunited with Marcedes, Johnny, and all of his family and friends. Freedom looks like exactly what he hoped for: breathing fresh air, walking where he wants, and being surrounded by the people he loves.
Still, returning after decades inside brings its own challenges. “Everything moves so fast out here,” he says. “Everything is on the phone, and everything is more expensive. I’m still learning and reaching out for help when I need it. I get frustrated sometimes, but I’m hanging in there.”
Rebuilding daily life together has been joyful and tender, but also an adjustment for everyone. “Everyone had their own lives,” Marcus says. “I didn’t want to disrupt that. I’m figuring out where I fit. Sometimes I want more time, but I understand they have their routines too.”
That same focus shapes the work Marcus is building today. Drawing on everything he learned about resilience and self-belief through his years of incarceration, he founded Always Create Goals (ACG) — an organization rooted in creativity, mobility, and economic empowerment. ACG reflects Marcus’s belief that people pushed to the margins deserve real tools to move forward and build stability. Through transportation services using his Sprinter van and 12–14 passenger vans, creative design work, and educational programming, ACG helps people transform adversity into opportunity. Marcus’s mission is to inspire others to set goals, build skills, and pursue growth with confidence.
When asked what people should remember about the children who were sentenced to die in prison, Marcus speaks from experience:
“We are still human beings. We were kids, trying to figure out who we were in the worst circumstances. We had to be raised by the prison and by older mentors. The strength, the resilience, the mental toughness — it was always in us. We just didn’t have the resources or tools to grow. And now we’re showing that we were supposed to be here this whole time.”
The transformation happening across Pennsylvania’s lifer community is part of Montgomery’s legacy — a legacy of possibility, dignity, and healing. For Marcus, it means the chance to live fully, love openly, and continue evolving.
To a young person sitting where he once sat, Marcus offers this:
“This doesn’t define who you are. You may want to lash out or act out, but this is a chance to heal and prove you are more than the mistake you made. Stay focused. Rely on your community. This isn’t the end.”
For Marcedes, seeing Marcus home is seeing hope made tangible. For Johnny, it is the joy of finally getting to play basketball and football with his dad. For Marcus, it is the continuation of a long and remarkable story — one rooted in resilience, love, and transformation.
As Johnny once wrote to the judge, “My dad makes my mom smile like nobody can. That is enough for me.”
Now home, they are building the life they have been writing together for decades — a life grounded in care and possibility. And through ACG, Marcus is extending that possibility outward, helping others create the futures they imagine for themselves.