The term “jailhouse lawyer” has been around for a long time. For a pair of prisoners currently serving time in Minnesota Department of Corrections (MDOC) facilities, it may never have been more earned.
For those who love a good redemption arc, it may be difficult to top the accomplishments of Maureen Onyelobi and Jeffery Young. They graduated from Mitchell Hamline on May 30, 2026, and were recognized at a private prison ceremony on June 8. In doing so, they became the first incarcerated law students to earn law degrees from an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school while still serving time. Through the fledgling Minnesota Prison to Law Pipeline Program, the two earned degrees while attending Mitchell Hamline School of Law virtually.
With encouragement from MDOC Commissioner Paul Schnell and financial support from nonprofits The Legal Revolution and All Square, the pair completed their legal education and graduated with honors. How the rest of the legal profession will view them remains to be seen, and they may face challenges both in getting permission to take the bar exam and in passing a required character review before the Minnesota State Board of Law Examiners. Regardless, the two law school graduates have already successfully navigated one set of previously uncharted legal waters.
Education Is the Very Foundation of Good Citizenship
Most active law students aren’t learning about the criminal justice system from inside a prison. Young has been incarcerated for the murder of his cousin’s alleged abuser since 2004, and contributed briefs to his unsuccessful appeal attempt in 2006 to have his convictions tossed by the Minnesota Supreme Court for insufficient evidence. He’s first eligible for parole consideration in 2027.
Onyelobi was convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder in 2014 and sentenced to life without parole, which was far more than the person convicted of actually committing the murder was sentenced to. Although admitting to hiding the gun used and lying to the police, she’s maintained that it was done out of fear and that she had no other involvement in the crime besides being present at the unexpected killing. In 2023, the Minnesota Board of Pardons unanimously voted to commute her sentence from life to an additional 18 years, making her eligible for release in 2041.
One factor in Onyelobi’s commutation was her 2022 admission to Mitchell Hamline School of Law as part of a partnership between the school, The Legal Revolution (part of All Square), and the MDOC. Both Onyelobi and Young were treated like any other applicants, with the caveat that Anthony Niedwiecki, the former dean of the law school, went to the Bayport and Shankopee prisons to administer the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Onyelobi, who had two degrees and was scheduled to begin graduate school when arrested in 2014, had already completed a paralegal program and earned a diploma during her incarceration.
While non-accredited correspondence schools had presented a path to a law degree, Onyelobi and Young were the first offered the opportunity to graduate from an ABA-accredited school and thus be eligible to take the bar exam afterward. The Legal Revolution covered their tuition, and the ABA issued a variance allowing Mitchell Hamline to let the students attend classes virtually. Still, they faced challenges most other law students didn't.
Prison security measures for computer use denied them access to some research and legal tools, and lockdowns meant missed classes. Cells offered little privacy or quiet time to study, and prison turned internships into externships with the Legal Revolution and the Sentencing Project. Still, that didn’t keep either of them from graduating with honors: Onyelobi cum laude, and Young summa cum laude.
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While the goal of the Prison to Law Pipeline project is to provide a path into the practice of law for inmates, their successful test subjects still face extremely uncertain paths ahead. Although both are eligible to take the next bar exam in February 2027, the logistical conundrum of being able to be physically present at a test site is in no way guaranteed. Young’s parole bid is no sure thing, and Onyelobi has at least another 14 years before consideration.
Regardless of whether one or both successfully pass the bar, their legal career options may be somewhat limited. It’s unlikely BigLaw firms are going to be waiting outside either prison with job offers, and they’ll both have to face state licensing reviews with felony murder convictions in their past. Still, their accomplishments serve as a reminder that it’s possible for the correctional system to aid in rehabilitation. They may end up continuing to do work for public service organizations like All Square, helping others follow in their trailblazing legal footsteps.
