Another Wasted Life
About The Song
I wrote “Another Wasted Life” after reading about the tragic suicide of Kalief Browder – another poor soul caught up in the incarceration system for a crime he didn’t commit. He was put into solitary for almost 2 years, a torture no one deserves, no matter what they did or did not do. The whole for-profit prison industrial complex – an outgrowth of slavery – is a stain on the American story; the people and families caught up in it, and in the numerous gaping holes in the social safety net, need incredible amounts of support.
These ongoing societal struggles are so far beyond any one of us, and have been long at play; but, I will use my platform to take things just one step further in the conversation.
– Rhiannon Giddens
about the project
The video was released on October 2, 2023 — the 10th annual #wrongfulconvictionday — a day to remember Kalief Browder and all those in prison for crimes they did not commit. It was a privilege to partner with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and Director Daniel Madoff to create this video, featuring 22 wrongfully convicted men set free by their profound work. Collectively, these men served over 500 years in prison.
The PA Innocence Project and branches nationwide work to free those wrongfully convicted. In Pennsylvania, their support is especially important as it is one of a few states that does not offer restitution to those who are exonerated, which challenges re-entry into society.
DONATE TO FREE THE WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED
“We Are All In It” by Spel
LIMITED-EDITION MERCHANDISE
While on tour, Rhiannon Giddens will have limited-edition merchandise items for sale featuring an artwork by wrongfully incarcerated and still imprisoned visual artist, Spel. Proceeds from these exclusive items along with merchandise tips collected on tour will support local Innocence Projects in each city Rhiannon tours through nationwide.
About Spel
Spel was a 22 year-old B-boy and graffiti artist in Philadelphia at the time of his arrest in 1990. He was denied basic due process, such as a line-up for identification, and was wrongfully convicted of second degree murder. He was sentenced to Life Without Parole under dishonest police and prosecution officials who relied on a single witness, despite multiple other eyewitness accounts that did not place Spel at the scene of the crime. The case’s detective, Raleigh Witcher, and prosecution official, Roger King, have since been proven corrupt; their misconduct is partially documented through extensive investigative reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer that has led to the exoneration of multiple individuals. An additional prosecution official in Spel’s case, Judith Rubino, was also accused of prosecutorial misconduct in multiple cases, including during the high profile case of now-exonerated Walter Ogrod. Spel’s case was one of the first to be picked up by PA Innocence Project at its inception in 2009 and is still open after 13 years.