Herman's House Trailer

18,170 Views | 2:20 | Uploaded on May 31, 2013

Herman Joshua Wallace was in prison serving a 25-year sentence for bank robbery when in 1972, he was accused of murdering a prison guard. Although many people believed him innocent, he was thrown into solitary confinement.

Of the 2.2 million people imprisoned in the U.S., more than 80,000 are in solitary confinement. Herman has been there longer than anyone.

In 2001 he received a letter from Jackie Sumell, a young art student, who asked: "What kind of house does a man who has lived in a six-foot-by-nine-foot cell for over 30 years dream of?"

They exchanged hundreds of letters and phone calls and thus began a collaborative project that includes the exhibition "The House That Herman Built." The exhibition, which features a full-scale wooden model of Herman's cell and detailed plans of his dream home, has been seen by thousands of visitors around the world who were brought face-to-face with the harsh realities of the American prison system.

Meanwhile, Herman waits to find out if the Louisiana courts will hear his latest appeal.