Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

Maureen Ndidiamaka Onyelobi was born Aug. 4, 1985, on the south side of Chicago to Nigerian parents and two sisters. Maureen always dreamt of becoming a lawyer. That seemed like a tall task for a first-generation Nigerian immigrant who had to relearn how to walk after she was caught in a house fire at age 10, according to Maddie DeBilzan in an article in the Shakopee Valley News on May 21, 2021, called “Inmates at the Shakopee Correctional Facility may soon be able to get their law degrees.”

According to Maureen, since she was a child, she tried to do everything right to make her parents proud. “I graduated at the top of my class in elementary school. In high school, my behavior started to change, but nevertheless, I graduated. I later earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, and a few years later earned a second Bachelor’s Degree in English literature.”

But all of that changed when she was charged in 2014 with aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder in the drug-related shooting of Anthony Fairbanks in Minneapolis. Fairbanks and Maurice Wilson, who at that time was Maureen’s boyfriend, had been indicted in a federal drug case.

“I only lived in Minnesota for eight months before being arrested. I came to this state from Illinois with my ex-boyfriend who sold illegal substances,” said Maureen. “I was leading a sort of double life and it was only a matter of time before my bad decisions caught up with me.” Life with Maurice was hard. He controlled her life. It was an extremely abusive and violent relationship, according to a petition to the governor and others on July 16, 2020.

Maureen was incarcerated on Nov. 14, 2014, and has been at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee ever since. David Johnson, another heroin dealer, was the one who shot Anthony Fairbanks four times in the head. Maureen was in the vehicle and said she never knew that Anthony would be killed. David Johnson is allowed to be released in 2040, while Maureen was sentenced to life without parole.

Maureen experienced two ineffective counsels, a biased jury, and illegally obtained evidence. Maureen had no knowledge that the murder was going to happen, and her conviction was based off circumstantial and ill-gotten evidence. Maureen has spent her time in prison working, mentoring, gardening, doing restorative justice work, becoming a paralegal, and preparing to begin law school.

Onyelobi’s appeals to have her conviction overturned have been repeatedly denied.

She already took the entrance exam twice before, but it was not a high enough score to get into law school. In prison, Maureen had a tutor who volunteered to help her pass. She got a new job in facilities maintenance at the prison, with nighttime hours so she could study during the day. Finally, she passed the exam.

Since 2014, Maureen has been educating herself on law, and helping others understand their own sentences. “I’ve helped several women with their appeals. It’s rewarding to help other people. I care about others and I feel more worth now than I did before,” said Maureen in the article in the Shakopee Valley News. Nearly 40 percent of individuals admitted to correctional facilities do not have a GED or high school diploma.

She stands taller than six feet, wears bright-white Under Armour tennis shoes, and has a booming laugh you could hear down the hall, said Maddie DeBilzan, “This place is what you make it.”

“God has a reason why he does everything. If I have to stay here forever, I’ll stay here forever,” said Maureen. “But now, I have a sense of pride that I didn’t have when I got here.”

In the Minneapolis Star Tribune article by Rochelle Olson called “State Board of Pardons decides Mitchell Hamline law student can seek parole after 18 more years” on June 29, 2023, noted to a panel, “I just want you to know I’m grateful and I will spend every day trying to make amends for my crime.”

The board unanimously agreed to reduce Onyelobi’s sentence from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole, making her eligible to be considered for release by the state Department of Corrections after 27 years in prison, provided she stays out of trouble. Onyelobi has served nine years in prison, making her potentially eligible for consideration in another 18 years.

And then on June 14, 2022, Maureen learned that she would joined the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Her studies will mark the nation’s first example of an accredited law school educating an incarcerated student. Her acceptance into the American Bar Association-accredited juris doctor program has been nearly three years in the making. Onyelobi’s historic acceptance follows a path forged by The Prison to Law Pipeline, nonprofit organizations called All Square and Until We Are All Free have partnered with Mitchell-Hamline Law School and the Minnesota Department of Corrections to launch the pipeline program, with the goal of establishing the first American Bar Association-accredited law and paralegal degree opportunities for inmates.

“Mitchell Hamline has a long history of looking for ways to expand the idea of who gets to go to law school,” Anthony Niedwiecki stated in the announcement. “It’s important for people who are incarcerated to better understand the criminal justice system, and this is one important way to do that. Our students will also benefit from having Maureen in class with them.”

Aquarius Ester noted “Maureen Ndidiamaka Onyelobi is the most optimistic, hardworking, ambitious person I know, and despite all the ways she has been disregarded, she remains excited about the future. She is a problem solver, and always speaks up for herself. She just does not quit.”

And while Onyelobi may never get out of prison, the dean is confident her education will benefit herself and others. She is the first law student accepted into an accredited American law school while incarcerated. She won’t be the last.

Whether she’s ever able to put her degree to use outside the prison walls, there is value and dignity in learning, in dreaming, in trying to give something back to the world. There is value, too, in having her there in class, with the next generation of prosecutors and judges who will put legal theory into practice.

“I think our students benefit from studying the law with people who are most affected by the law,” Niedwiecki said. “The law is about people. If we don’t have experiences with a wide range of people, then we don’t have a true understanding of the law…We teach law students how to read the law and study the law.” Mitchell Hamline also wants its students to learn “how to challenge the law, and make the law better and more just.”

Maureen Ndidiamaka Onyelobi “is a remarkably compassionate, kind, talented, dynamic, vibrant woman,” said University of Minnesota Law professor Perry Moriearty.