Edwin Eddie Ellis served 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, but he never let that get in the way of living a life of purpose. In prison, Ellis became an advocate for prison education and, following his release, went on to have a distinguished career and helped other formerly incarcerated people find stability and success.
In 1969, Ellis was director of Community Relations for the New York City branch of the Black Panther Party when he was caught up in the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which systematically targeted radical groups. A year later he was convicted and sentenced for killing James Howard, a man Ellis had never met, despite being no evidence linking him to the crime. He was sent to Attica Prison, where he witnessed the notorious riot there in 1971. He was then transferred to Greenhaven Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison where New York’s infamous electric chair “Old Sparky” was stationed. At Greenhaven, Ellis and a group of men successfully lobbied to have college programs made available to inmates, and persuaded the warden to house the participants together in the same area of the prison.
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