Adnan Syed hired by Georgetown University after release from prison
After serving 23 years in prison and being released earlier this year, Adnan Syed has been hired by Georgetown University. Syed began work as a program associate for the school's Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI), which offers educational programs and training for incarcerated individuals.
Syed was convicted of the 1999 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, which became a high profile case years later when it was covered on the "Serial" podcast. Syed maintained his innocence and was exonerated this year when Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced all charges brought against him were to be dropped, saying new tests revealed a "DNA mixture of multiple contributors" on Lee's shoes and that Syed's DNA was excluded.
Syed, now 41, began his new role at Georgetown on Dec. 12, the school announced this week. In his role he will support the PJI program, which includes a Making an Exoneree class, that has students reinvestigate wrongful convictions. The students work to bring innocent people home from prison and create short documentaries about cases.
PJI also includes the Prison Scholars Program, which brings higher education opportunities to people incarcerated in D.C. and Maryland – something Syed was a part of during his final year in prison. Syed said he saw a flier for the program on a bulletin board in prison and couldn't believe it was real.
His group of friends encouraged one another to apply.
"It became this domino effect to see us be accepted," Syed said. "It made it become something real in the eyes of others, that there are opportunities. There can be a sense of hope: a sense of hope that things can get better, a sense of hope that I can work hard and still achieve something, a sense of hope that I can still do something that my family will be proud of."
"For the first time in 23 years, we didn't feel like we were in prison. We felt like we were college students learning," he said. Syed took philosophy, statistics and life writing courses and learned how to use a laptop.
PJI also offers the Pivot Program, in which formerly incarcerated individuals can earn a certificate in business, as well as the MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program, which prepares returning citizens for careers in law.
Syed said he hopes to continue his education at Georgetown and eventually go to law school.
"To go from prison to being a Georgetown student and then to actually be on campus on a pathway to work for Georgetown at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, it's a full circle moment," Syed said in a statement. "PJI changed my life. It changed my family's life. Hopefully I can have the same kind of impact on others."
Syed's release from prison in September was met with media fanfare. As he walked out – free for the first time in more than two decades – and photographers swarmed him, he held a binder with a Georgetown bulldog sticker. Inside was graded papers and tests, including his final exam for statistics, which he scored a 98 on.
