Keith LaMar + The Lucasville Prison Riot Part 4

Summary

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Truer Crime – “Keith LaMar + The Lucasville Prison Riot” Part 4

Host: Celisia Stanton
Guest: Keith LaMar
Date: September 22, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode continues the story of Keith LaMar, one of the “Lucasville Five” sentenced to death after the 1993 Lucasville Prison Riot in Ohio. Host Celisia Stanton explores what comes after a capital conviction—how one holds onto humanity on death row, the realities of appeals, solidarity among condemned men, and Keith’s ongoing fight for survival and dignity. The episode is a searing, intimate look at solitary confinement, resistance, and the transformative power of education, hope, and connection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Arrival on Death Row and Immediate Realities

• Keith’s Post-Sentencing Transfer ([04:03])
  • After the conviction, Keith is sent to Mansfield Correctional, expecting some return to “normalcy.”
  • He remembers the surreal moment: “Now, having had nothing to do with the riot, I’m on a bus on my way to this place called death row.” ([04:34])
• Surreal Choices ([05:41])
  • Keith’s first days include disturbing questions about his preferred mode of execution: “Would you rather be electrocuted or the lethal injection?”
  • He reflects on his powerlessness: “You were constantly being given these choices between lesser evils.”

Building Unlikely Bonds: The Lucasville Five

• Connection with Jason Robb ([06:21])
  • Despite coming from different backgrounds—Keith, a Black man; Jason, Aryan Brotherhood leader—they lean on each other for survival and information.
  • Jason warns of the extreme isolation they’ll face: “No full contact visits, no telephone calls, no mail... And Jason was telling me that this is what we had to look forward to.” ([07:18])
• Forged Fraternity ([08:27])
  • The five men, all from rival groups, find common cause under extreme circumstances.
  • Keith describes the bond: “We became kind of fraternal brothers, basically, which is circumstantial. We had this real difficult situation in common. And so we learned to kind of rely on each other.” ([08:51])

Psychological Impact and the Role of Mentorship

• Cultural, Legal, and Emotional Guidance ([10:28])
  • Keith credits an older prisoner, Snoop, for introducing him to James Baldwin, music, and legal strategy: “He turned me on to James Baldwin... taught me how to read the law...” ([10:42])
  • Snoop shifts Keith’s understanding of appeals: “Once you are found guilty, it’s no longer about your guilt or innocence...” ([11:20])
• The Harsh Legal Reality
  • Celisia notes, “After a guilty verdict, innocence no longer matters.” ([11:50])
  • Keith and others begin to realize important evidence was intentionally withheld—a Brady violation—but with limited legal access.

Acts of Resistance: Hunger Strikes and Desperation

• Initial Hunger Strike for Basic Rights ([13:45])
  • Facing extreme deprivation, the Lucasville Five refuse to eat—a last-resort protest for legal access and humane conditions.
  • Empty promises from the administration lead to deep disillusionment, and the men escalate to a more perilous hunger strike.
• Harrowing Conditions and Self-Destruction ([17:58])
  • Keith describes the physical and spiritual agony during the strike:

    "It's pain **without the hope of receiving a favorable outcome... So your pain... is doubled now." ([17:58])

  • After four weeks and a bleeding ulcer, Keith halts the strike in despair but finds new resolve through reading, especially Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth.”

Escalation: The Mansfield Pod Uprising

• Taking Drastic Action ([20:24])
  • Influenced by philosophical writings, Keith decides to physically disrupt the prison to draw attention to their conditions:

    "I'm gonna commandeer the pod...make it unlivable. And they would have no choice but to move me..." ([20:24])

• Describing the Event and its Risks ([21:02] – [24:02])
  • Keith makes clear that he never intended to hurt anyone, only to force officials to notice their plight.
  • A critical and nearly fatal moment:

    “Had those doors not been locked, you would have, out of instinct, ran out of that cell... And they would have shot us, killed us...” ([24:02])

Retaliation and Total Isolation

• Reprisal from Guards ([26:47])
  • Keith describes a brutal beating by a “goon squad”:

    “They started saying, 'Let it be noted that inmate Lamar is refusing to cuff up'...They kicked me in the groin, kicked me in the face..." ([26:47])

  • He is disappeared for weeks—no contact, total cold, rumors of death.
• Returns to Protest and Transfer to Supermax ([29:20])
  • After further resistance, Keith and the Five are moved to Ohio’s Youngstown Supermax:

    “We didn’t have any newspapers, no books, no music, no visit, no outside rec. ...this place was designed to torture prisoners.” ([31:09])

Enduring Solitary, Fighting for Human Contact

• Prolonged Isolation and Suicidality on Supermax ([31:27])
  • Hunger strikes continue as conditions worsen; Keith abstains, scarred by past strikes.
• Legal Breakthrough: Evidentiary Hearing ([33:21])
  • Keith explains, “An evidentiary hearing is something akin to a mini trial...not about my guilty innocence, but about whether or not my constitutional rights were violated.” ([33:21])
  • The state prosecutor admits narrowing the criteria for exculpatory evidence—an important legal admission ([34:32]).
• Lawyer’s Failure and Emotional Aftermath ([35:22])
  • Unlike other attorneys, Keith’s lawyer fails to file motions that could have strengthened his appeal—a devastating blow.

The Crucible of Human Touch: Hunger Strike for Family Contact

• 18 Years Without Touch ([36:09])
  • Keith sues for the right to contact visits; courts repeatedly deny him.
  • Reading “Nothing But An Unfinished Song” about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands inspires his next move ([37:27]).
• Building External Support, Winning Small Victories ([38:36])
  • In 2011, a hunger strike with strong outside advocacy finally breaks through—Keith is allowed semicontact visits after 18 years.
  • The first moment holding a family member, especially his newborn nephew, is profound:

    “To hold something that precious...and not break it made me know that I could hold other equally...things in my hands and not restore my ego...” ([40:11])

Broader Lessons: Solidarity, Living with Meaning

• The Power of Collective Action ([41:33])
  • Keith’s journey proves change is collective:

    “Nothing truly, truly amazing can be achieved as an individual to change the criminal justice system...This is something that we all have to do together.” ([41:33])

• Finding Purpose Beyond Survival ([45:17])
  • Keith begins working with at-risk youth, virtually leads literacy programs, and releases the album “Freedom First” from death row:

    “It’s not just about getting off death row. It’s also living my life.” ([45:17])

  • Keith emphasizes not just waiting to die but living as fully as possible even behind bars.

The Ever-Present Threat and Hope

• Facing Execution and the Power of Hope ([49:35])
  • With his execution rescheduled to January 2027, Keith reflects:

    “More time, mean more life, more opportunities to do something righteous with my life.” ([49:35])

  • Celisia reflects on hope as a discipline, forged through struggle and collaboration.

Moments of Humanity and Humor

• Personal Moments, Teachings, and Levity ([51:16] – [53:25])
  • Keith jokes with Celisia about never reading James Baldwin, insisting she build her mental “suitcase” before thirty:

    “You gotta read these books before you’re 30 years old...pack your suitcase.” ([53:25])

  • Emphasizes that literacy, self-awareness, and meaning are essential building blocks for a life well-lived.

Central Closing Reflections

• The Transformative Power of Books ([54:43])
  • Keith:

    “Books are the main thing that has helped me remain sane...It has made me understand that just because you are physically free doesn’t automatically mean that you are living...The worst thing is not that we leave here. The worst thing is to leave here without having experienced what you have come here to do, which is to live.” ([54:43])

• Celisia’s Final Thoughts
  • She urges listeners to see Keith as a whole person and not a number or statistic, and to support his legal defense fund.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You were constantly being given these choices between lesser evils."
  — Keith LaMar, 06:00

• "Once you are found guilty, it’s no longer about your guilt or innocence...Now it’s about whether or not you received a fair trial."
  — Keith LaMar [11:20]

• "Hope is a big component of what the struggle is about on this end...Without being able to see those things, it makes what you are going through even more excruciating."
  — Keith LaMar [17:58]

• "Nothing truly, truly amazing can be achieved as an individual to change the criminal justice system...This is something that we all have to do together."
  — Keith LaMar [41:33]

• "It’s not just about getting off death row. It’s also living my life...what portion can I point to and say, well, that's where I was living."
  — Keith LaMar [45:17]

• "The worst thing is not that we leave here. The worst thing is that you leave here without having experienced what you have come here to do, which is to live."
  — Keith LaMar [56:29]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:03] — Keith’s arrival at death row, immediate dehumanization
• [05:41] — Choices between “lesser evils” and surreal new reality
• [08:27] — The Lucasville Five’s bonds, racial and gang divisions broken by circumstance
• [10:28] — Snoop's mentorship: reading, legal strategy, James Baldwin
• [13:45] — Launch of hunger strikes for basic rights
• [17:58] — The agony and existential despair during the strike
• [20:24] — Philosophical influences and decision to “commandeer the pod”
• [24:02] — Close call with tear gas: “Had those doors not been locked...they would have shot us.”
• [29:20] — Transfer to Supermax, conditions worsen, isolation described
• [33:21] — Evidentiary hearing, legal admission of withheld evidence
• [36:09] — 18 years without physical contact, legal losses, and ultimatum
• [38:36] — Hunger strike wins contact visits
• [40:11] — Keith's first experience holding his nephew, reclaiming humanity
• [41:33] — The power and necessity of collective action
• [45:17] — Literacy program, album recorded from death row, living boldly
• [49:35] — Execution postponed; hope and danger of hope
• [54:43] — The essential role of books, the meaning of a lived life

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Tone & Language

The tone is intimate, raw, and reflective, balancing despair and hope. Keith’s voice is often philosophical yet vividly detailed, filled with self-awareness and urgency. Celisia Stanton is empathetic, inquisitive, and candid about her own responses—modeling the kind of listening and witness she encourages the audience to emulate.

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Takeaways

• The story continues long after a guilty verdict; death row is a drawn-out psychological and legal ordeal.
• Survival and resistance are collective acts, even in solitary confinement.
• Legal technicalities, solidarity, education, and hope are pivotal for survival.
• Openness to learning and connection defines Keith’s journey as much as any legal fight.

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Call to Action

Keith Lamar is scheduled for execution in 2027. To support his legal defense, donate at keithlamar.org/donate. You can explore his art, music, and activism at the same site.

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Final words from Keith:
“The worst thing is not that we leave here. The worst thing is to leave here without having experienced what you have come here to do, which is to live.” — [56:29]

Transcript

[Celisia Stanton]

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.

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[Payne Lindsay]

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[Celisia Stanton]

Hi friends, I am so excited to share this new episode of True Crime with you. If you want to listen ad free and get early access to all the episodes for this case, you can subscribe to Tenderfoot plus at tenderfootplus.com or on Apple Podcasts. It's also one of the best ways to support the show. Hey friends, just a heads up, this is the last call for our Truer Crime T shirt giveaway. It ends at the end of September and we'll be picking a few folks who sign up for our newsletter to send shirts to. You can sign [e-mail] or just use the link in the description. And look, these shirts aren't just free merch. I really do love seeing people wear them every time someone shows up, an event in one or tagless in a photo. It really makes me so proud of what we're building over here together. The newsletter is also where we're starting to try new ways to connect like maybe chats or live case discussions down the road. And if you're looking for something a little more personal, I also share my own weekly newsletter. It's called Sincerely Celicia.

[Keith Lamar]

And.

[Celisia Stanton]

And you can hang out with me there or on Instagram, Alicia Stanton on my substack Sincerely Celicia and on my Instagram. That's where I really get into the more like, personal things where I talk about my life, my cats, the shows and podcasts that I'm into, the articles I can't stop thinking about. And once a month on the newsletter, I write an essay about whatever's been on my mind. Usually it's around race or gender or culture or politics. But I would absolutely love to have you join me over there. You can sign up via the link in the description [e-mail] all right, now let's get into today's episode. Please be aware that today's episode contains descriptions of violence. Please take care while listening. Previously on Truer Crime. We followed Keith Lamar through a story most people never imagined surviving. A prison uprising, a murder indictment, and a capital trial that ended with a death sentence. But this isn't a story about dying. It's a story about fighting to live.

[Keith Lamar]

So after I was sentenced, I assumed I was going back to Lugansville. But we pulled up in the front of the prison, and all my property was sitting on the curb, and we made the long journey to Northern Ohio. So I had that five, six hours to really kind of making an attempt to wrap my mind around everything that had just occurred, not just that day, but over the ensuing year and a half or so. Because now, having had nothing to do with the ride, I'm on a bus on my way to this place called death row.

[Celisia Stanton]

The verdict is in. The jury is gone. The courtroom's empty now. And for most people, that's where the story ends. But what happens after conviction when the world moves on? But you're still here. Sentenced to die. This episode is about what comes next, about what it means to hold onto your humanity in a place designed to strip it away. I'm Celisia Stanton, and you're listening to Truer Crime. After being sentenced to death, Keith was transported to his new home on death row, Mansfield Correctional Institution. The ride was long, quiet, and strange. He was angry, disoriented, still trying to process everything that had just happened. But more than anything, he was certain of one thing he was going to resist.

[Keith Lamar]

Back then, they had the lecture chair, and the lethal injection was Like a new form of execution at that time. And I remember this guy asking me, he said, would you rather be electrocuted or the lethal injection? And I remember becoming very upset, this question being posed to me. But that was like an example of how surreal the whole situation was. You were constantly being given these choices between lesser evils. You want to keep guilty to murder, you want to face the death penalty, you want leg injection or you want the electric chair. That's what my life had become.

[Celisia Stanton]

It's a question no one should ever have to answer. But in that moment, Keith understood what this place was, what this chapter of his life would be. Not just an end, but a slow, brutal unraveling one he planned to fight every step of the way. When he arrived at his cell, a voice called out to him. Keith, is that you? It belonged to Jason Robb, another man sentenced to death for his role in the Lucasfil riot. Jason had arrived first. He'd been keeping up with the news, and he knew Keith was on his way. The two made an unlikely pair. Keith, a young black man and former boxer. Jason, a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. But despite their differences, Jason offered Keith something unexpected. Guidance, insight into what was to come. You're not going to believe this. His recurring catchphrase.

[Keith Lamar]

No full contact visits, no telephone calls, no mail, no, again, extension of the retribution that was meted out because of the guard's death. And Jason was telling me that this is what we had to look forward to. And I didn't believe him. I thought this was his way of ingratiating himself, you know, trying to saddle it up to me. But he wasn't lying. He wasn't exaggerating. As it turns out, everything he foretold actually came true.

[Celisia Stanton]

Eventually, the rest of the men sentenced to death for the uprising joined them at Mansfield, and. And together they would come to be known as the Lucasfilm 5. Keith Lamar, Jason Robb, Namir Mateen, Sadiq Hassan, and George Skates. And with that, their connections to the outside world were ripped away.

[Keith Lamar]

And so after the last person, he was sentenced to death and found his way alongside us in Mansfield, they came and took the phone off the wall. That was the last connection to our families and our friends. And so once that happened, they pretty much clamped down on us and we were officially on solitary confinement.

[Celisia Stanton]

Going forward now, Keith's only real social interaction came through conversations with the other four men. And what's interesting is that these men were from entirely different communities. They belonged to rival gangs, practiced different religions, didn't even have a shared Racial identity. But despite this, the severity of their shared conditions began to forge something between them.

[Keith Lamar]

Obviously, the limitation exists because to be an Arab brotherhood, you have to have a certain ideological perspective on how the world is. Same thing with Islam. These are different lenses to where people view the world. And so that was a big limitation in terms of how close we could become. But the conditions that we had in common was so severe that that was enough, as it turns out, to kind of bond us. We call them fraternal. We became kind of fraternal brothers, basically, which is circumstantial. We had this real difficult situation in common. And so we learned to kind of rely on each other to help each other.

[Celisia Stanton]

They talked, traded books, shared ideas, created what Keith described as an academic atmosphere, something I never expected to hear about on death row. But even with this sense of connection, Keith was still flailing, he was still grieving, still trying to make sense of a system that had swallowed him whole.

[Keith Lamar]

It took years, to be honest with you. For a large percentage of the time, I was slowly. My feet wasn't on the ground, so to speak. You know, I started reading, I started learning, I started understanding. But those first few years were just bewilderment or deep confusion and anger and fear. It was difficult, yeah.

[Celisia Stanton]

Eventually, Keith found his footing with help from a man named Snoop, an older prisoner housed in general population. Snoop worked on Keith's unit and slowly, patiently, began guiding him towards something deeper.

[Keith Lamar]

He was a big impact on me at that particular time. Almost as if he was waiting on me to arrive on death row. He turned me on to James Baldwin, kind of taught me how to read the law, turned me on to music, John Coltrane and jazz. He was the one who really was like my cultural academic mentor. And during this particular period of my life, when I was really, really ripe, really ready to learn what life was.

[Celisia Stanton]

About, it was Snoop who first explained what Keith was really up against. That after a guilty verdict. Appeals aren't about innocence. They're about due process.

[Keith Lamar]

Once you are found guilty, it's no longer about your guilt or innocence. That's the point. Now it's about whether or not you received a fair trial. Because that was my thing. Hey, Stoop, I'm innocent. And I kept saying that over and over. He said, that doesn't matter anymore. And that's kind of counterintuitive because that should always matter, you would think. But once you're found guilty, it's no longer about whether or not you're guilty or innocent. It's whether or not your Constitutional rights were violated. And so now you're looking for technicality.

[Celisia Stanton]

That idea that after a guilty verdict, innocence no longer matters. It was jarring, but it's the legal reality. And it explains why Keith's story doesn't end at sentencing. Because death row isn't a straight path to execution. It's a. A legal labyrinth. People can spend years there, sometimes decades, pursuing appeals, challenging flawed trials, or just waiting while the system drags on. In fact, as of 2025, the average time spent on death row in the US was nearly 22 and a half years. And according to the Death Penalty Information center, more than half ofexoneree since 2013 spent 25 years or more waiting to be cleared. So when we're talking about Keith's time on death row, we're not just filling space between verdict and sentence. We're talking about an extraordinarily long and uncertain stretch where people fight to survive and to be seen. So, for Keith, Snoop's words shifted everything. He started comparing notes from his trial with the rest of the Lucasville Five. And what they uncovered was chilling. Each of them had been given different pieces of the puzzle. Evidence that could have helped each other's cases. Intentionally split up, never disclosed. That's a Brady violation. And if Keith could prove it, it could be the opening he needed. But winning an appeal was going to be a long shot. Death penalty appeals are notoriously complex, and. And at that time, Keith didn't even have access to the law library.

[Keith Lamar]

We didn't have access to legal books, which, based on your constitutional rights, you are supposed to be afforded. But at the time, in those initial years, we didn't have access to any of these things.

[Celisia Stanton]

It was under those conditions, no regular phone calls, no outside time, no contact visits, no access to legal books, no clear way to even begin fighting for your life, that the LucasFilt Five made a decision. They were going to stop eating. It was time to launch a hunger strike.

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[Celisia Stanton]

Whoa.

[Payne Lindsay]

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[Keith Lamar]

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[Celisia Stanton]

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[Keith Lamar]

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[Keith Lamar]

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[Celisia Stanton]

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[Celisia Stanton]

A hunger strike might sound simple, but in prison, it's one of the only tools you have. It's how you say this is unbearable, how you try to force someone, anyone, to pay attention. And for Keith and the rest of the Lucasfilm 5, this wasn't just about frustration. It was about survival. If they could get prison officials to take them seriously, maybe they could secure even the smallest improvements. Things that might make life a little more bearable. Maybe they could even get access to legal books. So they refused their food trays day after day. And soon it seemed like it might have worked. After about a week, a member of the prison administration came to see them. They didn't make any firm promises, just vague assurances that things might improve. But it was enough to spark some hope. So they ended the strike and waited. And nothing changed. The promises were empty. Complaints and grievances went nowhere. And after a year of silence, Keith and the others made A decision they were going to strike again. But this time they'd take it further. They weren't just refusing meals, they were refusing to eat until they were all placed under medical supervision. They wanted to make it clear this would cost the prison something. But executing this plan was more difficult than Keith had ever imagined.

[Keith Lamar]

It was excruciating because, I mean, you're not eating and that's a struggle in and of itself. I mean, the body, after about five or six days, begins to eat itself. Take use of the reserves that you have in order to survive. That's a real process. You could feel it. And, you know, I was 25, 26 years old at the time, so I was still unused to that type of pain. And it's pain without the hope of receiving a favorable outcome. So it's even more painful than it otherwise would be. So not only are you hungry and enduring the pain of that, you also are spiritually defeated. And so your pain, whatever it is, is doubled now. It becomes excruciating because hope is a big component of what the struggle is about on this end. You know, it's one thing like to hope for be able to make a sandwich, but it's one thing to actually be able to see the bread, to see the peanut butter, to see the jelly. That's a different kind of hope. And so at the time, we couldn't see the bread, we couldn't see the peanut butter, we couldn't see the themes that we needed in order to achieve what we had set out to do. Without being able to see those things, it makes what you are going through even more excruciating. And that was probably the most pain I've ever been in in my life.

[Celisia Stanton]

Weeks passed. Keith lost over 20 pounds. His blood sugar dropped dangerously low. Eventually, he was put on round the clock medical checks. Still, prison officials refused to budge. By the fourth week, Keith developed a bleeding ulcer. And despite the encouragement of the other men, he decided to end the strike. He'd failed. And while none of the others blamed him, Keith carried the weight of it. He struggled to reconcile the pain they endured with the fact that they now had so little to show for it. So he turned inward, stopped talking, spent his time reading. And one book in particular, the Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon, grabbed hold of him. He was drawn to Fanon's philosophy of violence as a meaningful tool of resistance.

[Keith Lamar]

During that particular time, I felt like I was pushed to the brink of my existence. I was having nightmares. Waking up in sweats broke my Metatarsal a few times from kicking the wall. And this book, Wretched of the Earth. And I included myself among that definition. I was one of the wretched earth. And so a lot of what he expounded on in that book directly resonated with me. And I eventually had the bright idea that, you know, I'm gonna commandeer the pod, I'm gonna take over the podcast, I'm going to tear up this pod, make it unlivable. And they would have no choice but to move me to another. I don't know, a different prison, a different place.

[Celisia Stanton]

That book changed everything. It gave his desperation kind of shape. He wasn't sure what would come next, only that it had to be something. And on September 5, 1997, Keith made his move. He spotted a shift run by guards who were sloppy with protocol. He convinced one of them to unlock his door, and when the cell door opened, he ran. In his hand, a makeshift knife in his mind. One mission, disrupt everything. And when Keith was telling me this story, it's at this point that he paused, wanting to be sure I understood why he was willing to be so forthright. All this sounds horrible.

[Keith Lamar]

I know, he told me, anybody who's doing their due diligence will at some point encounter this part of the story. And I don't want to be accused of trying to withhold. This even doesn't reflect positively on me and what I'm trying to say about my situation, but it's a part of the situation. And my willingness to talk about this hopefully will allow people to know that if I was a part of what I was accused of, if I participated in that, I would be equally willing to admit to that as well. You know, to say, yes, this is what I did, this is what happened, and I accept responsibility. But that's not the case as it relates to what I was sentenced to death for. So hopefully people will be able to make that connection.

[Celisia Stanton]

In his book, Keith writes that from the very beginning, he'd made up his mind that he wasn't going to hurt anyone. This was about bringing attention to their prison conditions. Taking a breath, Keith shared what happened next. He corralled the guards into a conference room, took their keys, let the other prisoners out of their cells. Suddenly, the pod erupted in chaos. Glass shattered, cells trashed. Keith hoped it would be enough to force a transfer. At this point, he just wanted out. A new prison meant new conditions. The guards were rescued quickly, and Keith said he was relieved when that happened. No one was hurt. But a few hours later, the building Was surrounded. A phone rang. It was a hostage negotiator, only they weren't holding any hostages. Keith told the negotiator that they were ready to return to their cells. But the voice on the other end of the phone asked keith and the others to gather in the recreation area. And instead, hanging up, he told jason about the negotiator's request. It seemed so counterintuitive, and they sensed that something was off. So instead of filing into the rec area, they decided instead to lock up in cells. Jason went around and set all the locks to automatic. It meant once the cell doors closed, they would lock behind them. That one decision, locking the doors, might have saved Keith's life, Because soon, police broke the windows and shot tears tear gas directly into the cells.

[Keith Lamar]

Now, had those doors not been locked, you would have, out of instinct, ran out of that cell because the tear gas was that strong and would have seemed like we were running to attack the guard. And they would have shot us, killed us, because they were armed. And that is where the lugafield story would have ended, with the death of Keith lamar. Because when they shot that killer gas in the cell, I tried to get out of that cell. There was two other guys in the cell with me, and I clawed and climbed over, trying to get out of that cell, trying to get out of the tear gas, but the door was locked, thank God, and I'm still alive.

[Celisia Stanton]

Keith had lived to tell the tale. But look, I want to just take a moment to address the elephant in the room, because if you're hearing all of this and now you're kind of side eyeing Keith, I totally get it. He fully admitted to kicking off his own version of a prison uprising at Mansfield. And while all of it was notably shorter and far less violent than when unfolded at lucasville, it's still a complicated truth to hold. Keith knows this, though. For him, it's important that folks understand the headspace he was in when he chose to destroy the pot at mansfield. It's something he explained in his book. Understandably. He wrote, some people believe that by doing what I did, I confirmed what the state said about me. But these people have no idea what it feels like to be trapped inside a cell 24 hours a day on death row for something they did not do. They have never experienced the horror of watching an otherwise healthy individual slip into schizophrenic behavior and start smearing his own feces over his body. They do not know the dread involved in being in an environment where perfectly sane individuals snap and take Their own lives. And it was this, the fear of losing my mind, that drove me to try to do something about the hell and that I was living in. For Keith, his decisions were born out of a state of hopelessness. And while some people might say that his behavior was not the most ethical or even the most strategic, I can say that I truly don't know how I might act in a similar set of circumstances. It all circled back to what Keith had already told me so many times before, that people make choices based on what they perceive their options to be. And already on death row, stripped of so many things that make life worth living, Keith had a lot of desperation and very little to lose. But now, having survived the whole ordeal, Keith knew there would be consequences. And a few months later, that retribution came. He was sitting on his bed reading, when suddenly his food hatch opened and he was sprayed with mace.

[Keith Lamar]

One day, they just showed up at my cell and told me to cuff up. There was a goon squad outside my cell door, Guys dressed in black, and they started saying, let it be noted that inmate Lamar is refusing to cuff up. Just before I even have an opportunity to consider whether or not I would listen to the instructions and whatnot, obey the rules or whatever. They had already came with a $4 strategy on how they would, you know, create the justification to. To beat me and over my child, telling them that I will cuff up, you know, because I saw what was happening. They kept on saying, hey, mate, Lamar, but she was a cuff up, and, you know, it was a ploy to take me somewhere and beat me, which they did when they kicked me in the groin, kicked me in the face, pulled my collar on my shoulder out of place. You know, it was horrific.

[Celisia Stanton]

He was unconscious when they dragged him out. He woke up in a freezing cell, stripped to his boxers, cameras on him 24 7, no blankets, no clothes. Eventually, when he tore open his mattress and tried to crawl inside for warmth, they took it away for weeks. No one knew where he was. Not his family, not his lawyers. There were rumors that maybe he'd been hospitalized, maybe he'd been transferred to a prison in Colorado, but no one could get answers. Eventually, Keith managed to pass a message through to another prisoner. His attorney, Herman Carson, reached out to the warden directly and finally got a response. But what he got back wasn't the truth. According to Keith, the warden claimed he'd thrown urine on a guard and refused to come out of his cell for discipline. It was a lie, but it was the justification, he said, that prison officials used to explain why he'd been beaten, isolated and disappeared. It would be two months before Keith was returned to the unit with the rest of the Lucasville Five. The men continued to protest in whatever ways they could, setting off the sprinklers in their cells, flooding the rain, shouting obscenities and making as much noise as possible. Keith was determined to be transferred to a prison out of state. And then one morning In May of 1998, Keith awoke to find himself temporarily blinded by a bright beam of a flashlight. It was time, Keith and the LucasFilt five were told to pack it up. They were headed to Ohio State Penn. Otherwise known as Youngstown Supermax.

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[Celisia Stanton]

Once Keith arrived at Youngstown Supermax, it didn't take long for the truth to hit him. This place was worse. Much worse.

[Keith Lamar]

We didn't have any newspapers, no books, no music, no visit, no outside rec. Couldn't go outside. Outside recreation was a room with a slit with holes in it. So this place was designed to torture prisoners.

[Celisia Stanton]

He told me his cell was freezing cold. No socks, one thin blanket, and no human contact. The barest scraps of comfort had been stripped away. Eventually, a group of prisoners, including some of the Lucasville five, launched a hunger strike to protest their conditions. But Keith didn't join, not at first. He was still haunted by the pain of the strikes at Mansfield, Having gone.

[Keith Lamar]

Through those hunger strikes without netting any favorable outcomes. I had sworn off hunger strike, but they had went on hunger strike, which coincided with a rash of suicides here at the supermax. So those two things happened simultaneously. And then gradually, the administration lessened some of the restrictions, gave us the knobs to the television, said we were allowed to receive five books, five CDs, so on and so forth. But still no poor contact visits.

[Celisia Stanton]

When I first heard the term no contact visit, I really wasn't familiar with what they were or how they worked. I soon learned that at the most basic level, a no contact visit is simply one where you're not allowed to touch your visiting family or friends. But this isn't some half heartedly enforced prison rule. To ensure no contact, you and your visitor are placed in completely separate rooms, adjoined by two thick sheets of bulletproof glass. You, the prisoner, are chained and handcuffed. Breaks to eat and use the bathroom are strictly prohibited. Unsurprisingly, these conditions had taken their toll on Keith. By 2006, it had been more than a decade since he'd last been allowed to touch another human being. But suddenly, there was renewed hope that Keith might one day be allowed contact with his family again. Because finally, after years of legal battles, a judge had granted Keith an evidentiary hearing.

[Keith Lamar]

An evidentiary hearing is something akin to a mini trial in the sense that we will be able to call witnesses not about my guilty innocence, but about whether or not my constitutional rights were violated.

[Celisia Stanton]

It would be his legal team's opportunity to prove to a judge that the state had not handed over the exculpatory evidence they were required to provide by law. If you remember, exculpatory evidence is any evidence that the prosecution has obtained in their investigation that may be favorable to the defense. Without it, building a compelling case for your innocence becomes exceedingly difficult.

[Keith Lamar]

I'm the only one at the time who had received an evidentiary hearing unheard of. And I was made to believe that this was because it was clear that I didn't have anything to do with the riot, that I had got swept up in this whole thing, and that this was the opportunity to kind of parse Me out of that whole narrative. We were able to call the prosecutor, the lead prosecutor, Mark Piekmeyer, to the stand. And he admitted on the stand that the criteria that he had formulated to decide whether or not something was excorputory was very narrow.

[Celisia Stanton]

These remarks from prosecutor Mark Peatmier were a huge admission that meant that Keith and the rest of Lucasville 5 would have adequate legal grounds to request a review of all the evidence they'd never previously received, evidence that could potentially prove Keith's innocence.

[Keith Lamar]

The attorneys for all the other Lucasville defendants were in the courtroom at my evidentiary here. And when the prosecutor took the stand and admitted to creating this narrow standard, all those attorneys filed motions to have their clients cases stayed and debated, put on hold. In other words, in order to be afforded the time to go back and comb the files themselves for any evidence that could have been considered exculpatory. My attorneys didn't do that.

[Celisia Stanton]

This misstep on the part of his legal team constituted a major break in trust to Keith.

[Keith Lamar]

One of the reasons why I had this big falling out with my attorney is because those other attorneys filed that motions. A lot of those guys cases are still on hold, or those individuals cases have been bolstered, strengthened because of what they've been able to uncover. And so that was one of the big, glaring ways in which my attorney sabotaged my case.

[Celisia Stanton]

The betrayal gutted him. After the hearing, returning to supermax was brutal. Being surrounded by loved ones one day, then plunged back into isolation the next was this kind of whiplash. Suddenly more aware of his isolation than he'd been in years, Keith sank into a deep depression.

[Keith Lamar]

I went 18 years without touching my family. Couldn't hug my nieces and nephews, couldn't pick them up. And that was a real big source of pain in my life. But I was going through the processes that was supplied by the system, asking politely for the permission to touch my family, filing a grievance to touch my family. So ultimately, I filed a civil suit, which lasted for eight years, in which I sat in a courtroom going back and forth with a judge, at the end of which the judge said, listen.

You ain't got nothing coming.

You know, the lawyers who was representing said, well, we did everything we could do, Keith. Meanwhile, I'm still unable to touch my family. And then it just occurred to me, and I just started thinking about it. I mean, really, really thinking about it. And I just happened to be in the cell where I could see the parking lot, and I saw the warden getting in his car every day and leaving, presumably going home to touch his family. So he didn't have a reason for an incentive to allow me to touch my family because that didn't have anything to do with him. That's my family. And this is only important to me and my family. So it's me and my family who have to do something about this ultimately, not the courts, not the grievance process. So what can I do? What are my options?

[Celisia Stanton]

And soon, Keith received a gift that helped put those options into perspective.

[Keith Lamar]

Someone sent me a book called Nothing But An Unfinished Song by Dennis o'. Hearn. It was written around the Irish prisoner named Bobby Sands, who, along with his comrades, had undertook a hunger strike to protest the way in which they were being treated by the British government. I reached out to the author of this book and he and I struck up a conversation. He started visiting me. We became friends, and eventually I had cultivated the things, the components I needed to undergo a legitimate hunger strike.

[Celisia Stanton]

When Keith had attempted his previous hunger strikes, he had none of the things he now understood to be essential to success, namely, outside support.

[Keith Lamar]

It took me reading this book to understand the different things that needed to be in place in order for me to kind of address myself to these limitations. And so I talked to Dennis about it. Dennis agreed to write an article. I had a support team, a group of people who were willing to pick it outside of the prison. And so, you know, those things had to be put into place.

[Celisia Stanton]

So in 2011, he and several other prisoners launched their campaign. It took 12 days of starvation before Keith secured his victory. But when he did, it's definitive. He will be granted semicontact visits, the chance to touch his family. After the strike, one of his first calls is to his eight year old niece, Kayla. Uncle Keith will be able to touch your little hand soon, he told her. That's awesome, she replied excitedly. But you know, for me, even now, it is so difficult to picture what it must have been like to have gone so long without touching another human being. I couldn't help but think about how torturous those months of COVID lockdown had felt and just how eager I was to hug my friends after just a few months of separation. So I asked Keith, I asked him what it was like anticipating those first few contact visits.

[Keith Lamar]

My heart was beating out of my chest. Having touched another human being, having kissed another human being. I was nervous, afraid. But it's strange to be taken out of humanity like that and to be told that you can't be trusted around other human beings because when we fly to. My request was semi contact physics. The warden told me that they were afraid I would hurt my family, which had never occurred to me. For those are the seeds that they plant.

And all the handcuffs and shackles are.

Meant to support those outlandish thoughts. And so when I was finally in that situation, that was one of my fears. And you know, one of my scariest moments in my whole life, when my little nephew, a newborn, came to see me, maybe a few months, two months old, and they handed them over to me and I outheld them. And, you know, that was really something, you know. Yeah, that was pretty powerful at this little person in my arms, my hands bigger than his whole body, just no fragile thing. It was the most frightening, but it was the most life affirming too, because it kind of returned and fooled my humanity to hold something that precious, gradual in my hands and not break. It made me know that I could hold other equally slazy things in my hands and not restore my ego. And, you know, I knew that, you know, that, yeah.

[Celisia Stanton]

That moment, being touched, being held, was monumental. It affirmed something Keith had fought to remember through everything, his humanity. But when Keith recounts it to me, he's insistent that I understand the larger takeaway. At this point, I can't say I'm surprised. For Keith, every story carries a larger lesson.

[Keith Lamar]

I've been unable to touch my family 18 years, 18 years without that privilege. In that intervening time, we filed lawsuits and everything. I've sent in courtrooms for this very issue. So when I finally cultivated the support network to help me win the privilege to touch my family, it took Floyd A. And that taught me something about this whole journey I've been on. Nothing can really, nothing truly, truly amazing can be achieved as an individual to change the criminal justice system. One person can't do that. The President of the United States can do a damn thing about the real issues that face us as a species. There's no one person who can do any of those things. This is something that we all have to do together. And all those years of being able to not go on without touching my family, I was encouraged to believe that that was a problem between me and authority. And that's where my argument primarily rested, between me and the war. But that's between me and my family. It took me a long while to understand that that was ultimately up to us, how much we wanted to touch each other, to determine whether or not that could happen and ultimately would be up to us and how much we want to remain on this planet. That would determine whether or not we respond to the threats that we face. That's something that we have to talk about, right? Listen, this is what I'm gonna need y' all to do. I'm gonna need y' all to call every hour on the island. We had a protest outside. I need y' all to show up, and it's the same conversation that has to be had with humanity. Otherwise, we might as well start packing it in, you know, stop having children, stop making plans for tomorrow if everything become possible when you are in collaboration with other human beings. And that's something that I had to learn.

[Celisia Stanton]

We need each other. It was a simple truth, but Keith had learned it in the most profound way. It was this knowledge that propelled him to lead many successive hunger strikes. A year after he won semicontact visits, he successfully campaigned for full contact visits. Every inch of victory gained on the inside, he told me, is hard fought. When I first spoke with Keith in 2021, he had essentially exhausted all of his remaining traditional legal avenues. His final appeal had been denied. His execution date had been set. But Keith didn't want to spend what might be the final years of his life just waiting. He told me his focus had shifted. He was now retrying his case and. And what he called the court of public opinion. That meant writing, publishing his first book. It meant talking to people like me, and it meant seizing every opportunity to be seen as more than just an inmate number. Because for Keith, it's not just about getting out. It's about what he does with the time he still has. In 2016, with support from allies outside of prison, Keith founded the Native Sons Literacy Project, a mentorship program aimed at youth who are at risk or already ensnared in the juvenile justice system. He hosts virtual book clubs with classrooms of teenagers. In 2022, he became the first person in history to release a music album from death row. The album Freedom first, on which Keith recites original poetry, was recorded over the phone in partnership with jazz pianist Albert Marquez and an ensemble of musicians across the world.

[Keith Lamar]

It's not just about getting off a death row. It's also living my life. Because, I mean, I might die tonight in my sleep. And then what? What have you done with your life? If my whole life is just me fighting for this, when and what portion can I point to and say, well, that's where I was living. And so, you know, I tried to live. I paint, I write. We've released a cd. I've done tours all over the world with a group of jazz musicians on three different continents released the album called Freedom First. And so I've been touring that album, you know, and that's been a another way of bringing people into the awareness of my case. We do these concerts and people get to buy the book. My book has since been translated in three additional languages. And so, yeah, I'm just immersed in the work and caught up in what it means to be a human being. I mean, loving people, you know, that's a lot of work, being loved by people, which I'm sure isn't easy considering the circumstances and just science of being a human being.

[Celisia Stanton]

He did it all from a prison cell. Not because it was easy, but because it was necessary. Because doing all of this, it's how Keith continued to find meaning, not just in survival, but in fully, defiantly living, juicing every bit he could out of the time he had left, the time before his execution. Date November 16, 2023 I want to be honest with you for a second, bring you behind the scenes a little bit. When I first started talking To Keith in 2021, I had every intention of telling his story as soon as humanly possible. But at that point, True Crime was a passion project. I was producing the show independently. There were no ads, there was no network. And the money I was bringing in from Patreon, while I was incredibly grateful for it, didn't even cover the costs of making the show. So when I started talking with a network about a potential partnership, I was hopeful. But those conversations take time. And once we were officially locked in to start production on season two, it was 2023. But I had never stopped thinking about Keith. And so when November 16th passed the date of his execution, I spent weeks too afraid to look him up. Maybe tomorrow, I kept telling myself. Because the truth is, I didn't know how I would feel if I typed in his name and found out that he was gone. He had trusted me. He had spent hours sharing his most painful memories, and I was scared that I had let my own timeline, my own workload, my own logistics get in the way of amplifying his story. His stakes were life and death. I couldn't say the same about mine. And then, finally, I gathered the courage to Google him. I held my breath as the search populated. The first result was a news article from cbs. Execution date for Ohio Inmate convicted in Lucasville Prison Riot rescheduled for 2027, the headline read. I breathed a sigh of relief as it turns out the state of Ohio, which hasn't executed anyone since 2018, doesn't have the drugs necessary to complete his lethal injection, in part because many pharmaceutical companies oppose the use of their medications and executions. It meant a second chance for Keith. And in a way, it felt like a second chance for me, too.

[Keith Lamar]

Yeah. How are you?

[Celisia Stanton]

Good. How are you?

[Keith Lamar]

Good, Good. I'm good. Happy New Year.

[Celisia Stanton]

Happy New Year.

[Keith Lamar]

I was wondering whether or not you was still doing the podcast and whatnot.

[Celisia Stanton]

We spoke for nearly four hours, went over so many of the things you've heard in the last four episodes, and I asked him how it felt surviving what was meant to be his death date.

[Keith Lamar]

They gave me a new date. They moved it to January 13, 2027. You know, so they just rescheduled it. I wasn't taking off death row. So what they call a reprieve, like, they give you a breather between this and the next time, your life is in the balance. So, you know, it's not a small thing, because more time, me, more life, more opportunities to do something righteous with my life. And so I'm not poo pooing it at all in the slightest sense, might be the exact time I need to win my freedom. That's my hope.

[Celisia Stanton]

His hopefulness, I think, is comforting, but I'm also conscious of how dangerous that comfort can be, how easily it can lead to complacency. It reminds me of something that the activist Mariame Kaba once said. Hope is a discipline. And if that's true, then Keith's hope has been dutifully earned, honed over decades of struggle forged not alone, but alongside, because it turns out people need each other. Maybe that's why these episodes have felt different for me to make. Because when I talk to Keith, I don't feel like a journalist or a podcast host. I feel like a person, a young woman who still has a lot to learn, and maybe especially from a man on death row. One of the moments that stayed with me happened early on in our conversations. I'd asked him when his birthday was. When's your birthday?

[Keith Lamar]

May 31.

Worst time to have a birthday. If you're growing up on government success, then, you know. Worst time, end of the month, all the resources are gone. Worst time to be born.

If you're born. Yeah.

You said.

[Celisia Stanton]

That. Was Keith dry, quick witted, and always ready to make you laugh, especially if it meant building a connection. He also loves to give you shit, especially about the books you haven't read.

[Keith Lamar]

Have you ever read this book called.

Begin Again by Eddie Clark?

Tuning?

[Celisia Stanton]

I haven't.

[Keith Lamar]

It's good. It's about James Bond.

You read anything about James Bond?

[Celisia Stanton]

I haven't.

[Keith Lamar]

Oh, yeah.

I don't know how you can get through college without reading anything by James Bond. No, I'm serious.

[Celisia Stanton]

I know I need to. Ten minutes later, it was still on his mind.

[Keith Lamar]

You know, you seem like an intelligent young woman. You know, you graduated from school and you haven't even read James Baldwin.

You know what I mean?

There's no knock on you. It's a knock on the education system. Like that ain't even possible.

You know what I mean?

You've read Toni Morrison, though, right?

[Celisia Stanton]

Thankfully, I had. But that's Keith. Engaged, sharp, a little, relentless in the best way. He reads constantly. And somehow, even from a place like this, he still wants to teach. And that's what I heard over and over and over again from the people who know Keith best, From his lawyers, his friends, his creative collaborators, most of whom only met Keith after his incarceration. They'll all tell you that walking alongside Keith demands a willingness to grow because he won't let you stay unchanged. He challenges you to pay attention, to learn to reflect, to live like you mean it. And yeah, he wasn't gonna let that me not reading James Baldwin thing slide. Not because he wanted to be right, but because he wanted me to be ready.

[Keith Lamar]

I mean, you know, you gotta read it.

You're only 26, though. You still young. Yeah, but you gotta read these books before you're 30 years old, though, okay? No, no, because the reason why I say that is because you know how the brain work. I don't know how much you know about it, but it's like, you gotta pack your suitcase. You gotta put in everything you think you're gonna need because we traveling, right? And James Baldwin, he got this poem about that. On being 52, he Talking about I packed my suitcase. And it's a real, real, real meaningful poem. But you know that thing they talk about, the prefrontal cortex? It's almost like a door shutting. You gotta put as much as you possibly can in this car. Not to say that you can't add to it. You know, you can, but the foundation have to be set. And so I'm saying, read these books and understand these books. What they saying before you turn 30 years old, you know what I mean? So have this as part of your arsenal, you know what I mean? Like, you gotta have clothes for the winter. You gotta have clothes for all these different situations because you never know what the future holds.

[Celisia Stanton]

It seems only fitting that he ended our most recent chat by Taking things full circle. Reading he presses can open up all of life's most urgent possibilities.

[Keith Lamar]

Books are the main thing that has helped me remain sane, particularly reading the autobiography, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Richard Wright, Toni Morris, Maya Angelou, you know, reading about the Holocaust and, you know, kind of robs me of the need to feel sorry for myself and armed me with the tools to construct for myself a real existence, a real life. So books above and beyond the situations that I'm in has informed my life, have gave me a life, and has made me understand that just because you are physically free doesn't automatically mean that you are living. Just because you are grown up doesn't automatically mean that you have achieved yourself, that you know who you are. And being able to read books with kids, it's one of the things that kind of gives weight to my own humanity, that gives meaning to my life, as opposed to somebody just sitting here waiting to die. Because you can do that on the street or in here, by the way. You know, that's the one thing that is going to happen to all of us. All of us, no matter where we are, no matter who we are, we are leaving this planet. That's a fact. But it's not an equal fact that we all are going to live. I want another lives. To do that, you have to have awareness. To do that, you have to have a certain amount of maturity to do that, to be successful at that, you have to be able to cultivate meaning in your life. And so, you know, the worst thing is not that we leave here. The worst thing is to leave here without having experienced what you have come here to do, which is to live.

[Celisia Stanton]

The worst thing is not that we leave here. The worst thing is that you leave here without having experienced what you have come here to do, which is to live. Keith Lamar is still fighting for. For his chance to keep living. And if nothing else, I hope these episodes have helped you see him clearly, not as an inmate, not as a statistic, but as a person, a person who taught me more than I ever expected about survival, about resistance, about what it really means to live. And so with that, it feels only fitting to leave you with the same words Keith left me. Be good to yourself. Before you tap away, I want to take a moment to talk about what comes next. Keith Lamar is scheduled to be executed on January 13, 2027, and his legal team is preparing what may be his final motion to get back into court. But legal help is expensive, and time is running out. If you've been moved by Keith's story, I hope you'll consider supporting his legal defense fund. Donations go directly to his team and are tax deductible through the nonprofit justice for Keith Lamar. Even a small reoccurring gift can make a really big difference. You can [e-mail] donate that's K E I T H L a m a r.org donate and if you want to continue hearing from Keith in his own words, his his voice, his music, his art, there's so many ways to stay connected. Both of his albums, Freedom first and a new one, Live from Death Row, are available on streaming platforms, or you can order [e-mail] merchandise and digest the interactive sculpture Keith co created with artist Mia Pearlman includes his original poetry and reflections on life and solitary. You can experience [e-mail] Digest as always, you can find a full list of today's sources and action [e-mail] and if you want to stay in touch between episodes, Truer Crime is on Instagram and xrewercrimepod. You can also find me on Instagram and TikTok, Alicia Stanton and through my weekly newsletter, Sincerely Celicia at Sincerely True Crime is created, hosted, and written by me, Celisia Stanton, and is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. Additional writing, research and production by Olivia Heusinkfeld and Jamie Albright. Executive producers are myself, Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay, editing by Liam Luxon, artwork by Station 16, original music by Jay Ragsdale and makeup and vanity set mix by Dayton Cole. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at uta, the Nord Group and the team at Odyssey. For more podcasts and like Truer Crime, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us@Tenderfoot TV. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of True or Crime. If you want an ad free version of the show, plus early access to every episode for this month's case and tons of other great Tenderfoot podcasts, you can subscribe to Tenderfoot plus at tenderfootplus.com or on Apple Podcasts. It's a small way to support the work, and it makes a big difference.

[Keith Lamar]

You never think it's going to be.

[Celisia Stanton]

In your small town.

[Keith Lamar]

It's going to be someone you know on a missing poster.

[Celisia Stanton]

True Crime Podcast is back and this season every story has something in common. It's not what it seems. There's word tonight of a prison riot. I wanted it to stop from Molly Tibbets to the Menendez brothers. This season, we're exploring what the headlines missed and the people they left behind. Listen to true crime for free on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Amazon Music or Apple Podcasts.