While in prison, Duncan studied law, hoping to appeal his case. In the process he became a jailhouse lawyer — officially as part of the Inmate Counsel Substitute Program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
"In places like Louisiana, once a conviction is upheld on direct appeal, we're not entitled to a lawyer," Duncan says. "[Jailhouse lawyers] actually provide legal assistance to those individuals that cannot afford an attorney."
Duncan worked on hundreds of cases while he was in prison. "There are guys that committed their crimes. There are guys that didn't commit their crimes," he says. "As a jailhouse lawyer, we provided assistance to everybody that we determined that was not afforded a fair trial."
One of the biggest challenges Duncan faced was obtaining public records: "I used to donate my plasma just to save enough money to buy my records," he says.
Duncan helped many fellow inmates overturn their convictions. After years of trying to get his own case reopened, Duncan finally succeeded with the help of the Innocence Project of New Orleans. In 2011, he was released from prison after serving more than 28 years, and he was later exonerated of the crime.
Following his release, Duncan went to college and got his BA from Tulane. This past spring, at 60, he received his law degree from the Lewis and Clark University in Oregon. He now lives in New Orleans where he's the founder and director of the Light of Justice program, which works to improve access to the courts for people who are incarcerated.
"Going back to help people that need help is the thing that I live for," he says. "I know there's a lot of people in prison need help and they want people to come help them. And, for me, to go back to actually fulfill that obligation that's what keeps me going."
Duncan's new memoir, co-authored with Sophie Cull, is called The Jailhouse Lawyer.
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