I graduated after prison took twelve years of my life

Dear Delyara, I began studying while incarcerated because the prison education unit offered one distance-learning module and I wanted somewhere for my mind to go after lockdown. I completed assignments on a shared computer, wrote essays by hand when access was restricted, and continued after release while working warehouse shifts. Some universities rejected transferred credits. One accepted enough for me to continue. Today, at forty-six, I graduated with a degree in history. My mother attended wearing the same coat she used for every prison visit. When my name was called, she stood before anyone else and kept standing after I sat down. I used to think education might cancel the years inside or prove I was no longer the person who committed the offence. It did neither. My conviction remains part of my record and my responsibility. The degree is something different: evidence that punishment did not acquire ownership of every year that came afterward.