In 2001, McKinley fatally shot Abdo Serna-Ibarra, a 23-year-old man, during a fight. McKinley, then a gang member, was 16 years old. The victim was on his way to play soccer in a Chicago park when the fight broke out.
“It was the worst mistake I ever made. I killed an innocent person over a senseless argument,” McKinley said. “I regret it with all my heart.”
In 2004, he was sentenced to 100 years in prison. His sentence was revised in 2019 to 39 years, and a few months later it was reduced to 25 years. Since McKinley’s conviction, courts across the country have reconsidered how they treat juvenile offenders. The Illinois Court of Appeals determined that McKinley’s original sentence was too harsh because it did not take into account his age or his commitment to rehabilitation.
But long before McKinley knew he could experience life outside of prison again, he studied day and night. He visited the prison library as often as he could, reading case law to help him better understand the legal system. He found this revealing.
“Witnessing the various injustices within prison, whether it was the institutional violence that incarcerated individuals had to endure or the unjust incarceration based on an unjust legal system, my passion began to grow ” McKinley said.
He aspired to become a civil rights lawyer – which he knew was probably out of reach given his sentence. But he was nonetheless dedicated.
He earned his GED and completed a paralegal program in 2011.
“Education saved my life,” McKinley said.
When given the chance to apply for Northwestern University’s competitive Prison Education Program – which provides a liberal arts education to incarcerated students – McKinley jumped at the chance. Out of 400 applicants across Illinois, he was one of 40 people accepted.
“He’s extraordinary, and we’ve seen that,” said Jennifer Lackey, director of the free program, founded in 2018 — the same year McKinley applied — and funded by grants, donations and contributions.
To apply for the program, prospective students write a personal statement and complete a textual analysis, then a selected group moves on to interviews. Accepted students are transferred to the same prison, where they take a regular course load within the facility. They follow the same curriculum as Northwestern students on campus and typically graduate in about four years.
“There is so much untapped potential in prison spaces where we don’t provide opportunities or programs,” Lackey said.
McKinley was thrilled to be accepted into the program.
“It was a dream come true,” he said.
The program gave him the opportunity to feel like he had a purpose.
“It changed my life and contributed to my transformation over time,” he said.
McKinley — who graduated from Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Ill. — majored in social sciences and earned a 3.95 GPA. His teachers, who taught classes inside the prison, took note of his academic aptitude and determination.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever, in my life as a teacher, seen someone with a vision and just seen them take step after step to get to this place – so clearly, in such a focused way, deliberate, tireless, relentless. way,” said Lackey, a philosophy professor at Northwestern University.
“He was a remarkable student when I was his college professor,” said Sheila Bedi, a law professor at Northwestern. “Benard was deeply focused on his goal of becoming a lawyer and using his legal training to secure the civil rights of himself and others who were incarcerated or otherwise harmed by excessive police surveillance and incarceration. massive. »
Before completing his bachelor’s degree, McKinley applied to law school and took the LSAT while incarcerated.
“I took full advantage of every educational opportunity I had,” said McKinley, whose story was covered by local and global news organizations. “From the day after this horrible act, I focused on getting better because it wasn’t my worst mistake.”
He graduated from the program in November 2023 and was released from prison in December, after nearly 23 years. Based on his good behavior, McKinley was granted work release to leave prison more than two years early.
“My family has been there tirelessly to support me,” he said, noting that his transition from prison has been smooth.
On March 15, McKinley received his acceptance letter from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, one of the top-ranked law programs in the country. He is the first person from the Prison Education Program to be accepted into law school.
“It was an incredible feeling,” McKinley said. While he tried to keep his cool on the outside, “I was jumping around like a little kid inside. »
Once he earns his law degree, before he can take the Illinois bar exam, McKinley will need to obtain a “certification of good moral character and general fitness to practice law,” as he has been convicted of a felony, according to the Illinois Board of Regents. admission to the Bar.
McKinley’s plan is to become a civil rights attorney, and he hopes to open a nonprofit legal clinic to support marginalized communities and ensure they have access to strong legal representation.
He said his goal was to “contribute and give back to the community that I hurt in the past when I was a minor.”
McKinley will begin law school in the fall, and in the meantime he works as a paralegal at Northwestern’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, which Bedi runs.
“Northwestern is fortunate to have a candidate like Benard who is going to make such a contribution,” Bedi said. “I’m certain that he’s going to be successful as a law student, and I’m also certain that the determination he’s shown really suggests that he’s going to go on and find the clinic that he wants to run that will give back to his community.
McKinley hopes her story inspires people to change for the better.
“Not only do I want to help at-risk youth understand their potential, but I also want to help educate those who don’t believe that people who commit horrible acts can change their lives in a positive way,” he said . “I want to help point them in the right direction.”
