“It’s like reporting abuse to your abuser.”
“Your crime is against them. It's like reporting abuse to your abuser. I'm out of time, funds, and energy. This family has been broken for a mistake at 16 years of age. He is remorseful, but yet doesn't understand why they would want to be this cruel nor do I. He is now 27 yrs old, and everyday he is studying ways to be better... I'm asking for mercy for my son. I'm asking for someone to investigate this; to make sense of this.” -Lil’ Corey’s mother Marquetta Harrison
Lil’ Corey ran away from home in Kansas City, MO, in 2010 at the age of 16. His mother reported him missing to authorities in Texas where he was apprehended and taken into custody. Hours later, his mother received a call saying Corey had just shot up the detention center. His property was not searched before entering the secured detention center and he had a weapon on him, which he used to shoot through the glass of the intake room. Police stopped him and had to talk the gun out of his hand; “Lil’ Corey kept putting the gun to his head asking for his daddy.”
Prosecutors set bail at $1 million. Corey was later sentenced to 50 years with no chance of parole until he served half his time, a sentence equivalent to 2 life sentences. All this for a mistake at the age of 16; one that could have been prevented if it weren’t for the detention facility’s gross negligence and failure to search him before he entered the facility.
Please click the link here to sign the petition and learn more about Corey’s story: