April 3, 2017

Jason to Austin!

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By: Charles Jason Baldwin

My first job ever took me into the slave fields of Arkansas. As an innocent teenager in a world built upon cruelty and punishment, it took every ounce of strength I had to not only do the physically grueling work but to maintain my humanity and foster compassion for everyone I came across. It was no easy task. Working as a slave in the Arkansas Department of Correction you receive no pay whatsoever. You instead work for the privilege of having visitation and not being placed in the hole. Eventually I would earn my way out of the slave fields and be given jobs in the kitchen, laundry, and other jobs, eventually leading the law library at Varner Supermax. I took pride in every job I had, especially those that allowed me to help others.

After I was released, I co-founded Proclaim Justice (PJ) to help other victims of wrongful conviction, including some I did time with who I promised I would never forget. From its founding, PJ has been based in Austin, TX where its co-founder, John Hardin, lives. John would toil for years in Austin trying to put feet under the organization while I attended college and got my own feet underneath me in Seattle.  We succeeded in getting a solid foundation built for the organization and John summoned me from Seattle to take on the role of Deputy Director! I talked to my wife Holly and we agreed this is where my heart and passion are and we dropped everything and made the long drive – visiting all our friends along the way! Now we are here and I am finally doing what my heart calls me to do! Freeing innocents! I am also continuing my education and working for my undergraduate degree with the plan to go on to law school and combine that education with my experiences to be a force of good in Proclaim Justice for the world! I am both humbled and empowered by this opportunity! Thank you to all who have strived to make this possible!

Charles Jason Baldwin served more than 18 years of a life without parole sentence and faced down the State of Arkansas’s threats of seeking the death penalty for him with dignity, honor and grace for crimes for which he is completely, actually and factually innocent. To this very day as co-founder and vice president of Proclaim Justice, he seeks the identity of the murderer(s) of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steve Branch.