After Serving Over 40 Years For Murder He Didn't Commit, Exonerated Michigan Man Selling His Prison Art
For 45 years, Richard Phillips sat in a prison cell, convicted of a heinous murder he didn’t commit. But despite his surroundings, the innocent Michigan man did not languish behind bars. Instead, he created.
The 73-year-old was freed in 2017, thanks to the investigative efforts of several University of Michigan law students working in conjunction with the Wayne County prosecutor’s office.
Now, Phillips — who was sentenced to life and served more prison time than any other exonerated inmate in American history — is selling the paintings he made in prison to make ends meet.
State law mandates Phillips could be entitled to more than $2 million in compensation — $50,000 for every year he spent wrongfully imprisoned. But the state has yet to settle the matter with Phillips, who decided to sell his art so that he can live in the meantime.
“I didn’t actually think I’d ever be free again,” Phillips told the Associated Press. “This art is what I did to stay sane.”
The former auto worker was able to purchase painting supplies with the money he made selling handmade cards to his fellow inmates. When his cellmate would leave each morning, he would pull out his supplies, and paint inspirational scenes based on photographs he’d find in newspapers.
Phillips was barred from keeping his work, so he sent the paintings to a friend in New York.
The friend kept all 400 of his watercolor paintings safe, and turned them over to Phillips upon his release.
At the moment, 50 of his paintings are on display at Ferndale’s Level One gallery, where he’s hoping patrons will buy them so he can support himself.
“These are like my children,” he told the Associated Press, adding it’ll be tough to part with them. “But I don’t have any money. I don’t have a choice. Without this, I’d have a cup on the corner begging for nickels and dimes. I’m too old to get a job.”
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Phillips’ request for compensation is currently under review by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.
Gabi Silver, the attorney who represents Phillips, described him as one of the “warmest, kindest, most considerate” people she had ever met.
“To suffer what he has suffered, to still be able to find good in people and to still be able to see the beauty in life — it’s remarkable,” Silver said.
