After serving 23 years in prison and being released earlier this year, Adnan Syed has been hired by Georgetown University.
, that has students reinvestigate wrongful convictions. The students work to bring innocent people home from prison and create short documentaries about cases.
PJI also includes the Prison Scholars Program, which brings higher education opportunities to people incarcerated in D.C. and Maryland – something Syed was a part of during his final year in prison. Syed said he saw a flier for the program on a bulletin board in prison and couldn't believe it was real. "It became this domino effect to see us be accepted," Syed said."It made it become something real in the eyes of others, that there are opportunities.
"For the first time in 23 years, we didn't feel like we were in prison. We felt like we were college students learning," he said. Syed took philosophy, statistics and life writing courses and learned how to use a laptop. PJI also offers the Pivot Program, in which formerly incarcerated individuals can earn a certificate in business, as well as the MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program, which prepares returning citizens for careers in law. "To go from prison to being a Georgetown student and then to actually be on campus on a pathway to work for Georgetown at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, it's a full circle moment," Syed said in a statement."PJI changed my life.
Syed's release from prison in September was met with media fanfare. As he walked out – free for the first time in more than two decades – and photographers swarmed him, he held a binder with a Georgetown bulldog sticker. Inside was graded papers and tests, including his final exam for statistics, which he scored a 98 on.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
‘Serial’ subject Adnan Syed hired by Georgetown University for its prison reform organizationGeorgetown hired Syed, who was freed after 23 years in a Maryland prison, as a program associate for the university’s Prisons and Justice Initiative.
Read more »
Georgetown hires Adnan Syed after court tossed his murder convictionSyed has landed a full-time job with Georgetown as a program associate for the university’s Prisons and Justice Initiative.
Read more »
Adnan Syed Hired by Georgetown's Prison Reform InitiativeAdnan Syed, who was released from a Maryland prison this year after his case was the focus of the true-crime podcast “Serial,” has been hired by Georgetown University as a program associate for the university’s Prisons and Justice Initiative.
Read more »
To help Georgetown understand COVID's toll, a mother and son turned to butterfliesDonna Looper wanted to help her then 8-year-old son Ben conceptualize the toll COVID-19 was taking on their community. The two folded 248 origami butterflies to represent individuals who lost their lives to COVID-19 in Georgetown.
Read more »
Georgetown offering options to recycle Christmas treesCity residents are encouraged to recycle Christmas trees, boxes and wrapping paper to reduce material going to the landfill.
Read more »
Donors pay off school meal balances at Georgetown ISD campuses ahead of the holidaysWhile Congress made school meals free for all children throughout most of the pandemic, that program expired in June 2022. Georgetown ISD officials said the change was jarring for families and outstanding meal balances started to rise during the first few months of the school year.
Read more »