JAILED FOR BOYFRIEND'S DRUGS, SHE FREE AFTER 21 YEARS

PLYMOUTH, Mich., Jan 29 (Reuters) - A Michigan woman who spent 21 years
behind bars after police found heroin in her car that her boyfriend said
belonged to him was released from prison on Friday, state prison officials
said.

JeDonna Young, 44, walked free for the first time since her arrest in 1978.
Her release from Scott Regional Correctional Facility in Plymouth followed
the Michigan legislature's revision last year of the law under which she
was convicted and sentenced.

The revised law permits parole for certain drug offenders after a minimum
15 years in prison, Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Davis said.

Police stopped Young's car and found three pounds (1.5 kg)of heroin wrapped
in a brown paper bag on the front seat and in envelopes in the trunk. Her
boyfriend, James Gulley, was riding in the car with her and claimed the
heroin belonged to him. Young said she never knew about the drugs.

Young and Gullet both were convicted and sentenced to life in prison
without parole. Gulley died in prison in 1997.

"It's kind of hard right now to express really what I feel, because it's
only been a few minutes, and I'm still, like, dazed," Young told reporters
shortly after her release.

"It's going to get better, and this is the happiest day in my life."

Young, a single mother, earned a college degree while in prison.