Susan LeFevre received a real get-out-of-jail-free card yesterday.

The former fugitive mom, who spent more than 30 years on the lam, left prison for the last time Tuesday. But this time, she walked, and didn’t run, and she went with the blessings of prison officials. LeFevre first escaped from a Michigan prison back in 1976, after serving 14 months of a 10-20 year drug sentence, with the help of her grandfather. She went on to recreate herself, changed her name and occupation — she’s now known as Marie Walsh of Carmel, CA — and eventually married and had her own family. She kept her secret from her husband for 23 years, but last spring U.S. marshals showed up on her doorstep and took her back to prison to serve her sentence. But on Tuesday, the 54-year-old mom of three was released for good behavior; she will be on probation in California for the next five years.

"Prison is a very tragic — it’s a very hard place," she told the media Tuesday after being released, reports the Detroit Free Press. "People really do suffer. Beneath the laughter and the veneer, there’s suffering."

Although LeFevre’s case has sparked some criticism over whether she should have stayed in jail, Michigan corrections officials said LeFevre falls within the 50 percent of convicted felons who rehabilitate, and it just didn’t make sense for her to serve out the rest of her sentence. LeFevre hopes her case sheds light on alternatives to incarceration.

"All the attention and fuss is not over me — it’s what happened to me," she said. "I hope there’s a lot more done with rehabilitation."

Watch video of LeFevre speaking to the media below:

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