FREE SPEL
Spel was a 22 year-old B-boy and graffiti artist in Philadelphia at the time of his arrest in 1990. He was denied basic due process, such as a line-up for identification, and was wrongfully convicted of second degree murder. He was sentenced to Life Without Parole under dishonest police and prosecution officials who relied on a single witness, despite multiple other eyewitness accounts that did not place Spel at the scene of the crime. The case’s detective, Raleigh Witcher, and prosecution official, Roger King, have since been proven corrupt; their misconduct is partially documented through extensive investigative reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer that has led to the exoneration of multiple individuals. An additional prosecution official in Spel’s case, Judith Rubino, was also accused of prosecutorial misconduct in multiple cases, including during the high profile case of now-exonerated Walter Ogrod. Spel’s case was one of the first to be picked up by PA Innocence Project at its inception in 2009 and is still open after 13 years.
GET TO KNOW SPEL
Spel, known also as Hernan Cortes (b. Nov. 2, 1967, Philadelphia, PA) is considered a Philly aerosol art legend and accomplished break dancer from the 80s street scene. For the past 32 years he has been incarcerated in the state of Pennsylvania, having been wrongly convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to Life Without Parole for a crime he did not commit. Working from a cell as his studio, Spel continues to inscribe his presence in the world through bright and expressive painting on canvas and found materials. While at SCI Graterford, he was a core member of the lauded Philadelphia Mural Arts team who were documented in the film, “Concrete, Steel, and Paint”, a complex story of an arts program that brought together a group of incarcerated men with victims of crime and victim advocates. Despite later being transferred to a prison without a rehabilitative arts program, Spel remains resilient, resourceful, and upbeat, painting in his cell bunk using his knees as an easel, with limited supplies and found material, such as coffee and toilet tissue wrappers. Spel’s work has been exhibited in many group shows and has been written about in Raw Vision Magazine, the World’s leading journal of Outsider Art. He and his team of supporters continue to work to win his freedom and bring justice to light.
"Making art has always been instrumental in my journey through life."
