On Wednesday the 15th of january the middle school received a special visit from fernando bermudez. We had seen him speak before but the things he talked about this time showed us how moving one story can be. In 1991 Fernando was convicted of a crime he did not commit. He spent the next 18 years of his life in prison. During his time in prison he didn’t get into trouble or mess around. He learned and helped others. Even though he slept in a 6ft by 9ft room and had to endure the horrors of prison, he kept on working. He studied hard for college and even began a study group to help others. By the time he had left he was a completely new person. In 2009 the innocence project heard his plea for help and exonerated him. There was so much evidence proving that he was innocent that the trial was easy. He was finally free. He had a whole new world and a family to adapt to. He told us that he had made mistakes in his past and the time in jail had changed him. He realized that he didn’t want to get in trouble anymore he wanted to go to college and learn. He wanted to help people who were trapped like him, who were facing the same problems he had. He knew that he could blame what happened to him on other people, but he said that forgiving is much more powerful than revenge, which gets you know where. The first hand account of what he told us was very humbling and hearing what he had to say taught us a lot about wrongful incarceration; it was truly an honor.