FREE KENNETH REAMS! He's been on death row for the past 26 years. He never killed anybody!
Kenneth Reams was sentenced to death in 1993 when he was 18 years old for a crime he did not commit. Since then he has been incarcerated on Arkansas’ death row, spending every day of the past 26 years in solitary confinement...
Despite being sentenced to death as a teen, then housed in solitary confinement—spending twenty-three hours a day in a cell no bigger than a parking space—Kenneth found redemption from within. He found an outlet in art—using whatever materials he could find—and writing. His work began to be appear in art shows in both the States and abroad. Working with his wife, Isabelle, and outside supporters, in 2012, he founded Who Decides, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to using art to get the public to think about capital punishment, solitary confinement, and mass incarceration.
While a post-conviction judge overturned his death sentence—a decision affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court—he remains incarcerated for the capital murder he did not commit. He is working with organizations such as the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and other supporters to bring attention to his case. In the recent past, he has spoken remotely to audiences about his life and experience in the criminal justice system at a number of universities, including Princeton University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Miami School of Law, and the University of Arkansas. An award-winning documentary, titled FREE MEN, premiered recently and focuses on his case, his art and his story of human resilience; the documentary has been shown to audiences across the globe in places such as Beirut, Buenos Aires, Geneva, Islamabad, Tokyo, Italy and Vienna and many more, winning Human Rights Awards and inspiring thousand of people.
It is time for Kenneth to be freed. He faces adversity few will ever understand and possesses fortitude beyond compare.
