Wilbert Rideau Joins RHSB
August 11, 2010
We are pleased to announce that Wilbert Rideau, the author of In the Place of Justice, is now available for speaking engagements. Rideau, a staunch advocate for criminal justice system reform, was sentenced to death at the age of nineteen for killing a women in a heated moment of panic following a botched bank robbery. After serving forty-four years in prison, a jury acquitted Rideau of murder and convicted him of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which was punishable by twenty-one years in prison. He was immediately freed.
While in prison, however, he did not let his cell stop him from being an active contributor to society. He became the editor of his prison’s newsmagazine and worked as a correspondent for National Public Radio. He even co-directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Farm: Angola, USA. He was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship in 2007, a prestigious honor that funds initiatives to reform the criminal justice system.
Rideau lectures around the country about his experience at law institutions, journalism schools, and conferences. To book him for your next engagement, please email us at rhspeakers@randomhouse.com or call us at 212-572-2013.
