Bio
Darwin Hamilton serves as co-chair of the Board of Directors with Grassroots Leadership. He’s an alumni of Leadership Austin’s Essential Class of 2018 and JustLeadership USA 2018 cohorts. He serves on the executive committee of the Austin/Travis County Re-entry Roundtable and its partner organization, the Reentry Advocacy Project (RAP). His personal mission is to change criminal justice policies and practices and reduce the stigma of formerly incarcerated people. He does this through his own example, and through his strategic, inspiring, and powerful story-telling. Darwin recently self-published his memoir 25 Years Later: A Sentence from Crime to Redemption, Resilience, Advocacy and Leadership.
Featured Work
Denying Formerly Incarcerated People the Right to Vote Isn’t About Justice
At the age of 19, I lost my right to vote due to a low level, non-violent felony drug conviction. I was sentenced to 22 years in prison, 17 of which was spent on parole, based on a prosecutor’s 45-year sentence recommendation for not accepting a plea bargain and exercising my right to due process.