Legal Appeal for Artist DarRen Morris
Donation protected
In 1995, DarRen Morris was sentenced to serve life in prison. During his sentencing, the judge told then seventeen year old DarRen: “You will die in a cold dark prison cell. You will have gone nowhere and you will have done nothing. You have no friends and no family.” Despite serving a life-sentence in Green Bay Correctional in Wisconsin, DarRen has become an accomplished artist. His distinct painting style, developed in a 6 x 9 prison cell, inspires others with powerful images of faith, uplift, innocence, and transformation. The unconquerable spirit seen through his art has touched his friends and family alike, and they are raising money to advance DarRen's legal appeal.
DarRen did not commit the murder he is serving life for. He acknowledges how his actions and those of others resulted in the loss of a life, but he is no killer. Through self-reflection, painting, and reading Biblical scripture, he has become a model of reformation and rehabilitation, however, he is an exception to a rule that strips inmates of their dignity and impugns their humanity. The United States penal system stands on principles of punishment and reprimand. It breaks people down as opposed to building them up. DarRen, Judith Adrian, and Warren Watson believe there is a better way, and it is their mission to bring policy makers, politicians, and faith leaders together in a dialog that will result in meaningful change to the criminal justice system and the racial inequities embedded within it. Raising funds for DarRen’s appeal is an integral part of this overarching mission.
Judith Adrian has been working with DarRen since 2010, and they co-wrote an epistolary novel, "In Warm Blood: Prison and Privilege, Hurt and Heart.” She has been working in prison reform and restorative justice for more than a decade, and she recently retired from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, after 25 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate students. Warren Watson is the Director of Library and Information Systems at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a graduate of Morehouse College, Clark-Atlanta University, the University of Chicago Divinity School, and is a brother of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Warren met Judith at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, when she was invited to exhibit DarRen’s art.
DarRen did not commit the murder he is serving life for. He acknowledges how his actions and those of others resulted in the loss of a life, but he is no killer. Through self-reflection, painting, and reading Biblical scripture, he has become a model of reformation and rehabilitation, however, he is an exception to a rule that strips inmates of their dignity and impugns their humanity. The United States penal system stands on principles of punishment and reprimand. It breaks people down as opposed to building them up. DarRen, Judith Adrian, and Warren Watson believe there is a better way, and it is their mission to bring policy makers, politicians, and faith leaders together in a dialog that will result in meaningful change to the criminal justice system and the racial inequities embedded within it. Raising funds for DarRen’s appeal is an integral part of this overarching mission.
Judith Adrian has been working with DarRen since 2010, and they co-wrote an epistolary novel, "In Warm Blood: Prison and Privilege, Hurt and Heart.” She has been working in prison reform and restorative justice for more than a decade, and she recently retired from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, after 25 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate students. Warren Watson is the Director of Library and Information Systems at Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a graduate of Morehouse College, Clark-Atlanta University, the University of Chicago Divinity School, and is a brother of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Warren met Judith at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, when she was invited to exhibit DarRen’s art.
Fundraising team: Friends of DarRen (3)
Warren Watson
Organizer
Wilberforce, OH
Judith Ann Adrian
Team member
Philip Salamone
Team member
