Artist & Death Row Inmate Bill Clark

Bill Clark

Writer, Educator, & Inmate

Bill Clark is a nationally recognized writer, artist, and educator who has been incarcerated on death row for the past 31 years at San Quentin prison in California. Bill was born in Los Angeles in 1953 and went on to found a successful merchandising business called Paradigm representing an array of companies and artists including Michael Jackson, New Edition, Motown Records, Aire LA Studios, Miller Brewing Company, Sears Department Store, and the Mattel Toy Company. Since 1983 he has maintained he was wrongfully identified and convicted for a robbery and murder he did not commit, and has subsequently spent the majority of the second half of his life behind bars. Instead of feeling defeated by this he has become an inspirational figure through his extensive body of short stories, poetry, theater and movie scripts, as well as children’s books. In the past couple of years he has extended his artistic knowledge to mentoring young artists, most significantly being a collaborator on Dance(A)cution, a class in a performance practice which is offered at Stanford University. He is a father and grandfather and is deeply proud of the lives his children have fashioned for themselves. Relentlessly optimistic, he is hopeful that he will someday soon regain his freedom and be able to see his family and pursue his passions that the fullness of freedom would afford.

To contact Bill directly download the GTL GettingOut App on your smart phone and enter California for the State, San Quentin for the Prison and his ID number is K80703