You have to be a prisoner, a prison guard or a prison visitor to see Dean McKee's art. Convicted of first degree murder in 1988, when he was 16, McKee's spent the whole of his adult life in prison. In that time, he's earned his GED, proven, with the help of DNA and the Innocence Project of Florida, his innocence, and honed his art skills.
He painted murals at Everglades Correctional; his cousin sent him money for paint. When he transferred to Sumter Correctional, he started working with colored pencils.
While a judge overturned Dean's guilty verdict in Oct. 2017, the state has appealed that decision. While awaiting that appeal, Dean is in solitary confinement in Hillsborough County jail, ostensibly for his own safety. Read our feature story about Dean and his fight for innocence here.
