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ABC NewsTyler Perry is taking time to pay it forward.
During a recent event at Tyler Perry Studios, attended by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to celebrate District Attorney Paul Howard’s new Conviction Integrity Unit, Howard revealed that Perry had decided to give a great opportunity to a newly released prisoner.
Howard started off by explaining that Darrell Hall, 52, who was sent to prison in 1991 for life for having “two grams of cocaine,” was having trouble finding a job. That’s when Howard said he reached out to Perry for help.
“Mr. Perry says you can start to work on Monday,” Howard told Hall at the event.
Hall, apparently stunned by the news simply said, “It’s a blessing.”
Aimee Maxwell, the director of the Conviction Integrity Unit, made note that the DA’s office plans to help a lot of people like Hall. According to the AJC, there are still many people in Georgia prisons for crimes that today, would’ve led to much lighter sentences and — even probation.
“How many innocent people could be in prison?” said Maxwell, who is also former executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project. “Prison is bad when you did something to be there. Imagine you are trapped in this prison…and you know you’ve done nothing wrong.”
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