PHOENIX — He wasn't supposed to get out of an Arizona prison until sometime around the year 2300. But on Thursday morning in Central Phoenix, Atdom Patsalis walked out of an Arizona Department of Corrections office a free man.
Patsalis was sentenced in 2015 on 25 counts of non-violent theft-related crimes in Mohave County. The judge gave Patsalis a 292-year prison sentence.
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"It's insane," Pastsalis said Thursday after being released. "It doesn't make any sense."
For years, with the help of the Arizona Justice Project, Patsalis has been trying to get his sentence revisited.
"When I lost in the Ninth Circuit, which is where I was supposed to get play at, it kind of killed me, because that was the only, that was the only place I was going get help, and clemency was not a thing before Katie Hobbs," Patsalis said.
In May, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency recommended his sentence be commuted, and in July Governor Katie Hobss granted the commutation.
"A 292-year sentence was so out of whack that, you know, the board saw that and corrected it," Lindsay Herf, Executive Director at the Arizona Justice Project, said.
During the sentencing in 2015, the judge called the consecutive sentences that added up to the nearly 300-year sentence, "Fairly harsh if not incomprehensible." Adding, 'I cannot send the message.. that you can burglarize multiple houses and victimize multiple people on multiple occasions and you'll simply get one sentence for it."
That judge did not return 12News' request for comment when Patsalis was granted parole by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency in early September.
"I think the judge should take more consideration on the life that is on the other side of that individual, not just the ones and zeroes of the court system," Patsalis said. "I needed rehab, a hug and a sandwich. That's what I needed - not get sentenced to the rest of my life in prison."
It started in November of 2013 — in the cars and garages and houses of Bullhead City.
Patsalis, then 21 and suffering from drug addiction, began a string of burglaries that lasted 10 weeks and hit roughly 20 homes.
He stole random items from homes, garages and vehicles, but never had a confrontation with any of the rightful owners. According to the Arizona Justice Project, he just wanted to barter the items for a place to stay.
"Putting a 21-year-old in prison for the rest of his life for having some difficulties is not the way," Patsalis said.
"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," Herf said.
Patsalis is now 31-years-old. While he was incarcerated, Patsalis worked on writing music. He's planning to get to work in the automotive industry and wants to go into corporate real estate.
Patsalis said it was the Arizona Justice Project that helped him keep hope while staring down essentially a life sentence.
But now, Patsalis being granted clemency is giving other inmates hope at freedom.
"I plan on using my situation and my story and this second chance as an opportunity to help others and hopefully getting them - getting someone that was like me, the kid, the 21-year-old kid that was getting sentenced to 292 years - trying to help that kid out and get him out of that situation," Patsalis said.
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