What Prison Couldn’t Take Away: A Valentine’s Day Story of Faith, Family, and Love

By: Nina Mansilla

On Valentine’s Day, love is often celebrated in grand gestures: Flowers, cards, and fancy dinners. But for Willie Williams, love has never simplified itself to one day or moment. For 44 years, 4 months, and 15 days, Willie survived wrongful incarceration by grounding himself in two things prison could not take from him: faith and family. Today, these same values shape his marriage to Aminah, a relationship designed not by perfection, but by compassion, trust, and shared belief.

Willie was wrongfully convicted of attempted murder and robbery in 1976. This conviction was based largely on unreliable witness identification and a poorly executed investigation. There was no physical evidence tying him to the crime, yet he received a life sentence. For more than four decades, he maintained his innocence behind bars. Finally, after years of legal advocacy, he was released on parole on June 30th, 2020, and his charges were dismissed on January 3rd, 2024.

Willie and Aminah outside Jacksonville's Courthouse after his exoneration

While in prison, Willie’s mother made a point of visiting him every weekend with other family members. “It was the most important thing in my life in prison,” Willie says. “I had all the support in the world, especially my mother”. These visits didn’t just symbolize routine to Willie; they were reminders of dignity, belonging, and hope. Through these visits, he was able to watch his nieces and nephews grow up from children to college students. That love guided his choices behind bars. “If I were in confinement, I wouldn’t be able to get my visits”, he explains. “So if anything came up that could send me there, I went the other way”. Love became discipline, keeping Willie out of fights, away from drugs, and focused on living carefully and intentionally.

Faith reinforced that discipline. Willie is a practicing Muslim; he leans on the Quran as a roadmap for life, observing Ramadan and grounding himself in his spiritual practice while incarcerated and now while free. “When you practice that, you fall in line with administration rules and regulations. It keeps you focused on living the right way”. He believes the rules of society and religion are very similar: “Do unto others. Respect people and their property. That’s what I practiced in prison, and that’s what I practice now”.

Willie faced the parole board over 10 times while incarcerated, and believed that if he had shown remorse for the crimes he did not commit, he would’ve been released a long time ago. However, he maintained his innocence and refused to compromise his truth. “If I had to stay in prison the rest of my life,” he says, “I would never admit to something I didn’t do”. Life after prison came with many unfamiliar changes. Grocery stores were overwhelming, Airports intimidating, and escalators daunting. Facing over 4 decades of change in the world and in himself. This is where his wonderful wife Aminah enters the story.

  Willie and Aminah at the Innocence Network Conference in 2024

Aminah and Willie met through a mutual friend in the Muslim community. Their shared religion guided how they spent time together, communicated, and ultimately how they married. For Aminah, spiritual alignment is the foundation of their love. “The Quran is the roadmap for how to live. Being on the same page spiritually and religiously is the most important thing”. This connection flourished through meaningful conversations, patience, and trust. Aminah wasn’t looking for love when she met Willie. For their first date, they went to a baseball game with a Mahram, which in Islam is a person who supervises a meeting or “date” between a man and a woman. Before the game, they went shopping. When going to check out, the line was very long, and they both feared missing the game. Willie promised Aminah they’d return after the game, and they did. “He was a man of his word,” she says. “That told me a lot”. Willie later faced surgery for a hernia, for which Aminah cared for him in his recovery. Love, for them, displayed itself as showing up.

Today, their marriage is built on what Willie describes as compassion. “To me, compassion is understanding, listening to each other, talking things through in a lovable way, not a negative one”. They have their disagreements, as do all couples. Willie joked that sometimes he ends up sleeping on the couch, but they talk it out, resolve it, and move forward from these issues. "Marriage is like your teeth and tongue,” Willie describes, “sometimes you bite your tongue by mistake. But if you leave it alone, it heals”.

Aminah has been Willie's rock as they navigate the world; they have been able to travel, attend public events, and explore new spaces. The Innocence Project of Florida has enabled them to travel across the country and meet other freed folks, students, and advocates. Willie has been able to see places he never imagined. “I’m grateful not just for exoneration, but for the continual blessings,” he says. Together, they have built a life full of joy, family, faith, and adventure. They’ve opened their home to many visitors, including Aminah’s best friends, her “golden girls” who adore Willie.

For Willie, love has always been something consistent, even in prison. “I always had hope, even if I had died in there, I knew my family would come get me. I was never alone”. Love looks a lot different now, but holds the same power. It’s joy, rebuilding, laughing through embarrassment, and choosing each other every day. For Willie and Aminah, this is rooted in faith, trust, and compassion, carrying them through what the future holds.

Willie and Aminah this year at our Stand Up for Innocence comedy event in West Palm Beach