Former resident gets second chance under prison reform act

Post: https://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/former-resident-gets-second-chance-under-prison-reform-act/article_e3f6d274-5f01-11ea-9bea-573bd8726a32.html

Growing up in Louisiana, Keith Henderson, who now lives in McKinney, played football and spent time with his brother and two sisters.

Then after his parents divorced and left the family with little money, the former Plano resident looked to the drug trade for income.

Henderson was sentenced to 24 years and eight months for a drug conviction.

His brother Lionel was tried alongside him and convicted of the same crime. Lionel received two life sentences.

Henderson remembers looking in his refrigerator at home and only seeing a loaf of bread and mayonnaise. He also needed money to pay for physicals during football season.

Henderson said walking off the bus each day, he was greeted by neighbors profiting off selling drugs.

"I didn't know what I was facing at the time,” Henderson said.

Henderson served time in Louisiana, east Texas, Arkansas and California. In 2017, he got news of his brother being approved for release under President Barack Obama’s clemency initiative.

Henderson applied under the same initiative but was not approved by the time Obama left office.

President of nonprofit Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) Kevin Ring said he first learned about Keith and Lionel’s story after Henderson’s wife and Plano resident Angie Henderson came to one of FAMM’s meetings.

Under the President Donald Trump administration, FAMM worked with Congress to pass the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. Under the act, Henderson was released after 14 years in prison.

Henderson met with members of Congress who worked on the First Step Act during the holiday season, including Senator Dick Durbin.

“To actually go to Capitol Hill, go into this man's office and talk to him was mind-blowing. I told him he was like a celebrity to me,” Henderson said.

Ring said a large part of federal prison’s high population is due to the war on drugs policy from the 1970s.

“The crack disparity was the most unjustified, most racially discriminatory vestige of the war on drugs, and so at least to take a whack at that was satisfying,” Ring said.

After his release, Henderson moved to Plano with Angie. Now the two have bought a home in McKinney.

“I think a lot of people now are supporting reform. Second chances do work,” Henderson said.

Henderson said he and his brother are prime examples of second chances.

“Whatever shape Keith was in when he went, he was a different person 10 years later. We all are different people,” Ring said.

“We need some mechanism, not to let everyone out, but to make sure we don't throw everyone away," Ring added.