ABOUT LATHAN WORD
FROM SURVIVAL TO PURPOSE.
Lathan Word is an author, exoneree, justice advocate, youth mentor, speaker, and founder of Right Your Conviction.
But before the titles, organizations, stages, and advocacy came a journey that changed the direction of his life.
At seventeen years old, Lathan believed he had time.
Time to grow.
Time to make mistakes.
Time to discover who he would become.
Instead, his life entered a maze he never expected.
A LIFE CHANGED AT SEVENTEEN
Lathan spent nearly twelve years incarcerated in Georgia before eventually being exonerated.
During those years, survival required more than physical strength.
It required discipline.
Faith.
Self-education.
Awareness.
And the determination not to allow his circumstances to decide who he would become.
While incarcerated, Lathan began studying law and learning the language of a system that had dramatically changed his life.
The deeper he traveled into the maze, the more determined he became to understand how he got there—and how he would someday find his way out.
PAIN BECAME PURPOSE
Freedom did not erase the journey.
Life after incarceration created a new set of questions:
How do you rebuild?
How do you heal?
How do you trust again?
How do you turn years of pain into something capable of helping another person?
Lathan decided his survival could not end with him.
His experiences became the foundation for advocacy, mentorship, public speaking, writing, and community work.
He went on to assist with efforts surrounding wrongful-incarceration compensation legislation in Georgia and began helping individuals and families better understand the language of law and the justice system.
RIGHT YOUR CONVICTION
Lathan founded Right Your Conviction to create the kind of guidance, education, advocacy, and support many families struggle to find when dealing with the justice system.
Through RYC, the mission includes legal education, advocacy, record-restoration support, youth education, reentry encouragement, and helping people understand that a past mistake—or an accusation—does not have to become their permanent identity.
AUTHOR OF SURVIVING THE CURSE
Lathan's book, Surviving the Curse: One False Move, takes readers inside a journey through betrayal, injustice, incarceration, loyalty, survival, faith, and transformation.
But the story is bigger than what happened behind prison walls.
It is about what happens when life pushes you deeper into the maze—and whether you allow the darkness to determine who you become.
"GOD allowed me to survive so I could go back and show others the exit."
TODAY'S MISSION
Today, Lathan speaks to youth, churches, universities, justice organizations, reentry programs, nonprofits, community groups, prisoners, and anyone who needs proof that circumstances do not have to become destiny.
His message is simple:
Think before the move.
Keep your faith when the road becomes dark.
Never surrender your future to your past.
And when you find your way out of the maze
go back and help somebody else find the exit.