It took nearly two decades to prove his innocence. In his book, Life After Death, he recounts the life he spent in jail, filled with the unspeakable, parts of it in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. Yet he found a way to turn the brutal negativity of his experience into something of a positive nature.

He used prison as a monastic retreat and an opportunity for self-directed study. In jail, he was ordained into the Rinzai tradition of Japanese Buddhism and sat in zazen meditation each day.