An Arizona man released from prison 282 years early said he "absolutely accepted" he'd be behind bars forever.
"I had absolutely accepted the fact that I would spend the rest of my life in prison," Atdom Patsalis, 31, said upon his release from the Arizona Department of Corrections Thursday, according to the Arizona Republic. "So this feels like a dream."
The then-21-year-old began serving a 292-year sentence in 2015 after he was convicted on 25 counts of burglary in Bullhead City, Arizona, during a time in his life when he struggled with homelessness and drug addiction.
The judge ordered all convictions to run consecutively, according to the paper.
"I needed rehab, a hug and a sandwich. That's what I needed – not get sentenced to the rest of my life in prison," Patsalis told KPNX-TV.
Years of appeals, with the Arizona Justice Project spearheading his clemency, finally proved successful. The state Board of Clemency agreed to release Patsalis to home arrest with electronic monitoring.
"A 292-year sentence was so out of whack that the board saw that and corrected it," the nonprofit's executive director Lindsay Herf said, according to the station.
"When we put people in prison at such a young age for offenses that maybe weren't very serious, and maybe what the individual needed was support and help, to just throw people away for the rest of their lives does not do justice," she explained.
Patsalis' mother, Daina Patsalis, was waiting to be reunited with her son outside the DOC.
"We're so grateful because he gets to have a life now. He wants to get a job, meet somebody, fall in love, have children — give me some grandbabies," she laughed, the Republic reported.
Patsalis will first live in transition housing as he learns to become reacclimated to life outside of prison. With his new freedom, he hopes to become a realtor.
"I don't think that the justice system is supposed to be about locking people up and taking people's hope away," Pastalis explained. "It's about giving people the opportunity to make different choices and decisions. Giving them an opportunity to have a second chance."
