This month marks the three-year anniversary of the exoneration of Lacino Hamilton, who was falsely incarcerated for the murder of his foster mother at the age of 19. Sentenced to at least 50 years in prison, Hamilton spent 26 years maintaining his innocence and was exonerated by DNA evidence in September 2023. While in prison, Hamilton wrote countless letters advocating for his release and published widely on his experience of incarceration and injustice. A collection of those letters has recently been published as In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom (Broadleaf Books, 2023), and includes Hamilton’s communications with family, friends, professors, journalists, lawyers, and international pen pals he has never met. More than dispelling the realities of life in prison, the book is an offering of Hamilton's profound intellectual engagement with matters of justice and the carceral state.  

In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Prison and Justice Writing Program Assistant Jess Abolafia speaks with Hamilton on his journey as a writer and the intentionality of language in writing about incarceration.