By Ben Dickison, Back Page Editor

“It was just me killin’ time in a situation I shouldn’t have been,” said Dean Gillispie to a room of Xavier students and faculty last Wednesday. That situation: making art during a 20 year stint in prison for crimes he did not commit.  

On Wednesday, Sept. 11 Xavier’s Chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP), a non-profit organization that fights to get innocent people out of prison, invited Dean Gillispie to speak to students and screen his documentary, “Spiz,” directed by Barry Rowen. 

“Spiz,” the nickname Gillispie’s father gave him as a child, sheds light on Gillispie’s journey through his wrongful conviction due to corruption within law enforcement and neglect of proper investigative procedures. 

After the event, Gillispie answered questions about topics ranging from his experience in prison to his journey re-entering society after 20 years. 

The way Gillispie was able to remain hopeful while serving his life sentence was to pour his energy into art. His first creation in prison was a tiny house made out of manilla envelopes, which was confiscated from him immediately. 

After assuming his paper house ended up in the trash, Gillispie gave up on his crafting. That is, until he took a trip to the warden’s office and saw it displayed on his desk. After that, Gillispie found any materials he could and transformed trash into art. 

Using soda cans, card stock and corrections officers’ old flashlight bulbs, Gillispie created miniature structures of fantasy businesses along route 66 such as Spiz’s Diner or Spiz’s Ice Cream Shop. Since he had to be physically trapped inside four dingy walls, he used his imagination to take him far away. 

After being moved to another prison, Gillispie had to stop his model building, but was able to keep his creative gears turning and take up painting, something he’d never had time to try before. 

Gillispie’s art has been featured in Cincinnati Flower Festival, the warden’s office and even the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. At first, the significance of having a featured exhibit in MoMA was lost on him, but his gallery of work featured there is worth at least 600,000 dollars. 

After the exhibit was over, Gillispie had his pieces shipped back to his parent’s house where they are now stored in the garage. 

“I could never get rid of my art because of what it represents,” Gillispie said. To him his art is everything he has to show for all the years that were taken from him. 

Gillispie has been a client of OIP since its founding in 2003. Since Gillispie’s release from prison in December 2011 and exoneration in 2017, he joined the board of OIP and has dedicated his life to continuing the work of lawyers, law students and volunteers that got him free. 

Gillispie’s work now includes traveling to places in Ohio to represent OIP’s fight against what he calls an “epidemic” in America. He wants to help OIP accomplish their mission. 

 “The mission of OIP is to free every innocent person in Ohio for crimes they didn’t commit. Going about doing this includes both the legal work that helps make lasting change to the criminal judiciary system in Ohio, and, of course, advocacy,” President of Xavier’s OIP chapter Molly Babcock said.

Xavier’s chapter of OIP hosts a variety of events that feature testimonies from people who have been exonerated from prison in Ohio and educational information from psychologists, lawyers and justices who are all part of the movement to bring awareness to the realities of wrongful convictions. 

In October Xavier’s chapter of OIP plans to host a letter-writing event advocating for an end to capital punishment in Ohio to commemorate the World Day Against the Death Penalty.