Mobilizing an Advocacy Platform for Better Justice Systems

Bringing awareness surrounding the wrongfully convicted and the children/families affected by it.

Nearly 40 years ago, my father Milam Martin, was taken away from me by a system taught to serve and protect us, for a crime he did not commit. Forty years of his life were given to a broken system, instead of his children, his brothers, his loved ones, and his youth. In June of 2020, he was released back into the world, with his sentence commuted by the Illinois Governor, with nothing but letters, pictures, and prison clothes. Despite the countless challenges he has faced as an innocent man behind bars, he has come home with an inspiring strength of character and the wisdom to write a book. My father's story has inspired me to establish an advocacy platform and raise awareness about our broken judicial system, our crippling industrial prison complex, and reforming police practices with the help of the Illinois Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project. It's time to build a system that works.