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'White Boy Rick' speaks for 1st time since release, reportedly plans to advocate for prison reform

Posted at 12:05 PM, Aug 25, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-25 12:10:29-04

(WXYZ) — Richard "White Boy Rick" Wershe Jr. is speaking for the first time, more than a month after he was released from a Florida prison.

Related: 'We were very overwhelmed.' Fiance of White Boy Rick welcomes him home after 32 years

Wershe, 51 spoke to The Daily Mail in his first interview since being released on July 20.

Related: Timeline shows the major events in White Boy Rick's life

According to the Daily Mail, Wershe said he "harbors no anger" after spending more than three decades behind bars.

"I can tell you this, I have more peace in my life now than I've ever had," he added.

"I have been made to feel welcome and accepted. I wasn't sure it would be that way," he said. "But a lot of people seem to feel and see I had a rough deal. I go to pay for a meal, and someone recognizes me as 'White Boy Rick,' and they say, 'I got this.'"

According to the Daily Mail, Wershe has returned back to Michigan and eventually plans to advocate for prison reform.

"You tell me how it's right that I served 32 years for a non-violent crime and someone who has raped or killed walks free in a few years," he said. "Did I do something wrong? Absolutely. But where is the equity in a system that puts non-violent criminals away while killers walk free?

"I'm working to advocate for people who are in the same situation as I was – non-violent offenders who are in maximum security prisons or serving substantial sentences beyond what they should be. Where is the equity in justice? That's what I want to advocate for," he added.

In June 2017, Wershe was unanimously granted parole in Michigan after spending nearly 30 years in prison. He was Michigan's longest-serving non-violent criminal.

Wershe's story gained national attention in the 1980s after he was convicted of possession with intent to deliver over 650 grams of cocaine. He was sentenced to life in prison when he was a teenager. It later became public knowledge that Wershe began trafficking drugs after working for the FBI as an informant.

"All I did was what I was asked and all it did was tell the truth," he told The Daily Mail. "I was asked to go out there and get information about some people that were involved in the drug trade, and their connections, and how the drugs were coming in. They got me involved in this. I was a kid. I made poor decisions."