Sentenced to Life at 15: The Unexamined Childhood of Jermaine Hicks

The Millbrook Companies and Lone Star Justice Alliance launched the third chapter of their Incomplete Sentences initiative to highlight Hicks’s transition from a child lost in the foster system to a prison educator. Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Hicks moved frequently before settling in San Antonio’s East Terrace housing project. He describes the local gang culture as an inescapable reality that provided the only sense of belonging he knew.

Upon arriving in prison, Hicks was illiterate. He spent his incarceration teaching himself to read and write, eventually earning his GED and a trade certification. Today, he works as a Peer Educator and Life Coach, teaching cognitive skills to other inmates. His story serves as a case study for the shifting legal perspective on adolescent brain development. While the U.S. Supreme Court has since recognized that the qualities of youth are often transient, Hicks remains imprisoned under Texas statutes that offer limited pathways for parole for those sentenced as minors. Advocacy groups are currently pushing for Second Look legislation to allow for the reconsideration of sentences based on an individual's growth and maturity over time.