Atdom Patsalis speaks to the media after walking out of the Parole Office building in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024.
Wearing a t-shirt and jeans for the first time in ten years, Atdom Patsalis said his freedom feels like “a dream,” as he stood in the parking lot of the Western Regional Parole Office in Downtown Phoenix.
“I'm going to take one step at a time, one day at a time, and see how far I get,” he said.
Patsalis faced 292 years in prison for property crimes he committed in Bullhead City in 2013. During that time, Patsalis was homeless and struggling with drug addiction. His lawyers said the items he stole were worth about $6,000, and that he traded them for places to stay.
The judge on Patsalis’s case ordered him to serve each burglary charge one after the other, instead of at the same time, which lawyers say typically happens with repeat offenders.
“The judge imposed sentences that were the max amount under the law that he could on each count of conviction, and then decided that each of those sentences should run one after another after another, so consecutively, rather than altogether, concurrently,” said Lindsay Herf, a lawyer that worked on Patsalis’ case.
The sentencing was not required by law, according to the Arizona Justice Project, and a typical sentence would have been about 7 years.
After the nonprofit successfully petitioned to have his sentence shortened, Patsalis was granted rare executive clemency by Governor Katie Hobbs in July.
Patsalis is now 31, and after 10 years behind bars, he said he wants his experience to help reform the justice system.
“Putting a 21 year old in prison for the rest of his life for having some difficulties is not what I needed. I needed rehab, a hug and a sandwich. That's what I needed, not to get sentenced to the rest of my life in prison. It's insane. It doesn’t make any sense.”
For now, Patsalis is headed to a transitional living facility, but he said eventually he wants to record his first album and publish a book, and spend as much time as he can with family.
“I haven't had my family in the last 11 years. So that is something that I really plan on catching up on,” he said.
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