For nearly 42 years, Gary Tyler lived with a sentence that was never rooted in truth, fairness, or genuine evidence. Arrested at age 16 in Louisiana and accused of killing a white teenager during a moment of racial violence in 1974, Tyler was quickly swept into a system determined not to find the truth, but to find someone to blame. “I was incarcerated…for 41 and a half years,” Tyler explains, underscoring the unimaginable time he spent behind bars for a crime he has always maintained he did not commit. His case was built on coerced statements, an all-white jury, and the climate of racism surrounding public school desegregation. Even the moment of his arrest was steeped in hostility. Tyler recalls being beaten by officers as a teenager and hearing parents outside the police station listening helplessly to his screams, unaware whether it was their child or someone else being brutalized. The violence didn’t end there—after being convicted of first-degree murder, he became the youngest death row prisoner in America. Inside Angola Prison—a place long synonymous with brutality—Tyler expected to be swallowed by fear and isolation. Instead, he found protection, mentorship, and unexpected humanity from men who had survived the harshest corners of incarceration. In his words, “The men who lived the life gave me the best of themselves, not the worst.” Over time, Tyler transformed his experience into purpose, developing programs, educating others, and becoming a deeply respected figure both inside and outside prison walls. Despite repeated recommendations for pardon and overwhelming documentation of injustice, it took decades—and a changing legal landscape—before Tyler was finally released in 2016. His freedom came not through exoneration, but through a legal compromise. Today, he continues to speak and write about systemic injustice, resilience, and healing. In this episode, he shares not only what happened to him, but what it means to rebuild a life after being stolen from it.