Valentino Dixon

Imagine spending 25 years in Attica, one of the most notoriously violent and abusive correctional facilities in the United States. Now imagine being there for a crime you didn’t commit. 

That is the nightmare Valentino Dixon, a talented artist and advocate for the people he left behind, endured day in and day out. Ultimately, he spent a total of 27 years incarcerated after his incompetent defense attorney failed to make an opening statement, produce footage of the real murderer confessing to the crime, or call up any of the numerous witnesses who could have cleared Valentino. 

Rather than succumbing to despair, Valentino turned to art, spending 10-12 hours a day drawing within the confines of his 6x8-foot prison cell. His exquisite drawings, produced with colored pencils but textured to look like paintings, depict nature, animals, historical portraits, and especially stunning pastoral scenes of golf courses. 

Valentino is now a free man, thanks to the investigative research of Golf Digest and the discovery of new evidence by Georgetown students. His YouTube channel “Draw and Talk with Me” features professional athletes, musicians, doctors, lawyers, and everyday people whom Valentino teaches to draw while engaging in an open dialogue about “real life issues.” Valentino also remains in touch with those who remain locked up, regularly taking the time to connect with incarcerated people who seek his wisdom. Rather than focusing solely on the injustice of his wrongful conviction, Valentino speaks publicly about “the system as a whole and how we need to change it to make it more fair, just, and equal.”