Important Reading

The Sun Does Shine:  How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

By Anthony Ray Hinton (and Lara Love Hardin)

Publication Date – March 27, 2018

5 stars

Almost a year ago, I read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and it profoundly changed how I thought about prisons, capital punishment and racism in the justice system.  Not that I didn’t know the inherent problems, I had just never had it so succinctly and emotionally laid bare for the reader.  This memoir is the story of one of the death row inmates that Stevenson helped free.  Hinton’s case was so ridiculously mishandled, smeared by racism and hindered by his lack of funds to pay for legal representation that it is devastating to read about.  Somehow through thirty years living in a 5 by 8 foot cell on death row, he was able to retain hope that his innocence would be proclaimed.  I’m having trouble summarizing how important I think his story is so just read this book…read Just Mercy and then read this book.  I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.