Journey to Justice: A Conversation with Calvin Duncan and Suri Duitch

Now a powerful advocate and award-winning author, Calvin Duncan transformed more than 28 years of wrongful imprisonment in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for M**der into a personal mission for justice, earning his law degree and winning elected office after starting his journey as a self-taught jailhouse lawyer. However, the victory was short-lived: Within days of his swearing-in ceremony, Louisiana lawmakers abolished the office to which he was elected.

Calvin's story raises important questions for each of us:

• How can you defy and overcome others' negative and unfair assumptions about you and your potential?
• How can one righteous individual successfully fight the wrongs of powerful institutions?
• How does the U.S. history of enslavement of people directly affect individuals and communities even today?

Students will receive a free copy of Calvin's book, The Jailhouse Lawyer, co-authored with Pr*son justice advocate Sophie Cull, at the event while supplies last. Student ID required.

Book Description: The Jailhouse Lawyer (Penguin Books, 2025), by Calvin Duncan and Sophie Cull

"Calvin Duncan was nineteen when he was incarcerated for a 1981 New Orleans M**der he didn’t commit. The victim of a wildly incompetent public defense system and a badly compromised witness, Duncan was left to rot in the waking nightmare of confinement. Armed with little education, he took matters into his own hands.
At twenty-one, he filed his first motion from Pr*son: “Motion for a Law Book,” which launched his highly successful, self-taught legal career. Trapped within this wholly corrupted system, Duncan became a legal advocate for himself and his fellow prisoners as an inmate counsel at the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola. Literature sustained his hope as he learned the law in its shadow.
During his decades of incarceration, Duncan helped hundreds of other prisoners navigate their cases, advocating for those the state had long since written off. He taught a class in the midst of Angola to empower other incarcerated men to fight for their own justice under the law. But his own case remained stalled. A defense lawyer once responded to Duncan’s request for documents: “You are not a person.”
Criminal justice reform advocate Sophie Cull met Duncan after he was finally released from Pr*son; he began to tell her his story. Together, they’ve written a bracing condemnation of the criminal legal system, and an intimate portrait of a heroic and brilliant man’s resilience in the face of injustice." - Penguin Random House

A USA TODAY Bestseller • Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Public Library • Winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award • A Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Nonfiction
“Duncan’s story is so incredible it strains belief. It is so heartwarming and hopeful that it will stay with you for a long time.” —John Grisham

Co-sponsored by:

KCC President's Office
KCC Academic Affairs
KCC Center for Civic Engagement
KCC Criminal Justice Program
CUNY Fatherhood Academy
KCC Department of Behavioral Sciences
KCC Department of History, Philosophy, and Political Science
KCC Historically Underrepresented Faculty and Staff Resource Center (HURFS-RC)
KCC Media Arts Program
KCC Men’s Resource Center
KCC Student Union & Intercultural Center
Robert J. Kibbee Library at Kingsborough

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VALID PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR CAMPUS ENTRY.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING This program will be photographed and video recorded by Kingsborough Community College. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of Kingsborough Community College.

PRESS Press are requested to RSVP at least 24 hours before the event by emailing Colleen Lutolf at [email protected].

Info: Dr. Vanda Seward, chair of Kingsborough's Criminal Justice program, will provide welcoming remarks and introduce criminal justice advocate and author Calvin Duncan and Kingsborough Community College President Suri Duitch.

Info: Fireside chat followed by a Q&A with Calvin Duncan and President Duitch.

Info: Students will receive a free copy of Calvin's book, "The Jailhouse Lawyer," co-authored with Pr*son justice advocate Sophie Cull, at the event while supplies last. Student ID required.

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Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn, United States

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