Gary Tyler

Gary Tyler (born July 19, 1958), from St. Rose, Louisiana, is an African-American man who is a former prisoner at the Louisiana State Prison in Angola, Louisiana. He was convicted of the October 7, 1974 shooting death of a white 13-year-old boy and the wounding of another, on a day of violent protests by whites against black students at Destrehan High School in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. He was tried as an adult and convicted of first-degree murder at age 17 by an all-white jury; he received the mandatory death sentence for that crime, according to state law. When he entered Louisiana State Prison (Angola), he was the youngest person on death row.

Tyler gained freedom following Louisiana Supreme Court review and consultation with the St. Charles Parish district attorney’s office on his case. It drove a hard deal. The DA and court agreed to vacate Tyler’s conviction for first-degree murder if Tyler agreed to enter a guilty plea to manslaughter. The judge sentenced him to the maximum of 21 years for that charge. Since Tyler had already served 41 years, nearly twice that time, he was finally released from prison on April 29, 2016.

Gary is an artist and a spokesperson for justice. During his years in prison, Tyler galvanized a movement that grew to have national and international support, one of the precursors to today’s abolition and Black Lives Matter movements. He was recently awarded the 2024 Frieze LA Impact Prize, which recognizes artists who use their talents and abilities to address social justice issues. Stitching Freedom is his first book.