As a child, Tyrone Day spent summers helping his grandmother tend to her garden. Those memories planted a seed that wouldn’t blossom until years later. When he was 19 years old, a Dallas woman reported that she had been the victim of a sexual assault, misidentifying Day—who happened to be walking by as she was giving her report to police—as one of the offenders. Her wrongful accusation, based on the color of the hat Day was wearing at the time, completely upended his life.
He was convicted in 1990 after agreeing to a plea deal on advice from a defense attorney who said he’d likely be released on parole after four years. With two daughters to take care of and significant health issues, Day’s priority was returning to his family as soon as possible. He had been told that if convicted at trial, he could face life in prison. He was sentenced to 40 years.
Despite being behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit, Day was determined to create a life with meaning. He took a horticulture class offered by Trinity Valley Community College and found he had a natural gift for it, becoming the top performer in his class. For two decades, he oversaw greenhouse operations at the prison. “I enjoyed helping people who were in the class after me and enjoyed growing food for the various institutions that surround the one I was in,” Day says. “I wanted to get out and put that to work.”…