Illinois Man Has Been In Detention For 40 Years

Rebellious delinquent John Bender has spent the last 40 years in detention even though he no longer attends the school. The year was 1984 and Bender was a Senior at Shermer High School in Illinois. He was sentenced to attend Saturday morning detention after getting caught pulling a fire alarm. Little did John Bender know that this detention was like the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

Illinois Man In Detention For 40 Years

John Bender showed up to the school on the morning of March 24, 1984, unaware of how impactful this day would be on his life. All the detention participants gather in the school library, where Vice Principal Richard Vernon warns them not to talk or move from their seats and assigns them each a thousand-word essay describing “who you think you are.”

Being a rebel and a trouble maker, John ignores the rules and spends his time antagonizing the others and defying Vernon. Vernon ends up giving Bender 2,080 additional weekends of detention. That equals 40 years of additional detention. “Bender was a real loser” said Principal Vernon. “He smoked marijuana, lashed out at others, caused a ruckus and accused me of raiding Barry Manilow’s wardrobe.”

Illinois Man Has Been In Detention For 40 Years

John ended up graduating from Shermer High in the spring of 1984. He was basically pushed out as they did not want to deal with him anymore. However, he still attended detention each Saturday morning. John married a girl he met in that initial detention named Claire. They had a son but divorced after a year. Claire married a med student she met at the country club. Her parents approved. Bender did odd jobs around town and is currently employed as the janitor at Shermer High.

“I don’t know” said Bender, “It just became a way of life. Vernon threatened me that this would go on my permanent record so I kept attending. Before you know it, it became a part of my routine. 10 years went by, then 20 but I kept coming. Even after Vernon died in 2006 I felt I owed it to him to keep attending. Carl the Janitor took over as Vice President and I just kept coming. I learned to enjoy it. Hey wait a minute, I think my sentence is coming to an end soon.”