Richard DeLisi: Man serving 90-year sentence for selling marijuana released from prison

The 71-year-old served 31 years after his conviction in 1989

(AP)

The longest-serving prisoner held on non-violent cannabis offenses was released after completing a third of his 90-year sentence.  

Richard DeLisi was welcomed by family, including granddaughters he met for the first time, and then a giant plate of bacon, eggs and sausages after walking out of a Florida prison.

Following his release on Tuesday, the 71-year-old spoke of his lost time serving 31 years behind bars, believed by The Last Prisoner Project to be the longest on record for crimes of his type.

“I’m a blessed human being, a survivor,” Mr DeLisi told The Associated Press.

Convicted of marijuana trafficking, Mr DeLisi began his 9--year sentence in 1989 at the age of 40. While the average sentence was 12 to 17 years, Mr DeLisi told AP he was targeted with a lengthy sentence because the judge thought he was part of organized crime - given he was an Italian from New York.

On the outside, he left behind a wife and three children. In the 31-years behind bars, he lost both his parents, his wife, and a son. His daughter suffered a paralysing stroke from a car accident.

But instead of dwelling on the past, he wants to "make the best of every bit of my time” fighting for the release of other inmates.

“Prison changed me. I never really knew who God was and now I know and it changed the way I talk to people and treat people,” Mr DeLisi said. “For me, being there so long, I was able to take gang members from gangs to gentleman.”

Mr DeLisi can fight for others because The Last Prisoner Project, along with pro bono attorneys Chiara Juster, Elizabeth Buchanan, and Michael Minardi, fought for him.

Ms Juster said that no one deserved clemency more than Mr Delisi as the longest-serving non-violent cannabis offender incarcerated in the country.

“It is a sad truth that children of those who are incarcerated are also given a sentence," she said in a statement.  

"[Mr DeLisi's daughter] Ashley and her brother Rick’s ninety-year-sentence is also ending. They will finally feel free when Ashley’s dreams of hugging her dad in the free world come to fruition.”

Rick was 11-years-old when his father was sentenced and now is a business owner with three children of his own.

On Wednesdays, he cooked his dad the breakfast he had been dreaming about cooking since 1989 as he broke into tears watching him eat the home-cooked platter of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, and bagels.

“It’s just kind of like torment on your soul for 31 years,” he said. “I was kind of robbed of my whole life so I just appreciate that I can witness it, but on the other hand I feel like isn’t somebody responsible? Is there somebody that can answer to this?” Mr DeLisi told AP.

“I can’t believe they did this to my father. I can’t believe they did this to my family.”