For most of us, we would never imagine ending up in prison on a false conviction. That’s the absolute horror that Anthony Ray Hinton faced when he was convicted in 1985 for the deaths of two Birmingham-area fast food managers, and sentenced to death.

Hinton, now 61, was freed in April 2015 after spending nearly three decades on death row at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

“The sun does shine,” he said as he exited the prison, with family and friends engulfing him in hugs.

During those years, Hinton suffered through the darkness of defeat after defeat as courts refused to accept his argument of innocence. Guards marched 54 men past his cell to their deaths in the execution chamber 30 feet away and, most devastatingly, when his beloved mother, Buhlar Hinton, died.

Now, Hinton shares his story in his new book, “The Sun Does Shine.” Relying on his death row experiences and thousands of pages of court transcripts and documents, Hinton writes a first-person account with help from author Lara Love Hardin of the case that handed him a death sentence.

Hinton did an interview with Christian Headlines, and discussed what he learned about God and society through his prison sentence. While he knew in his heart he was innocent, he eventually seized it as an opportunity to share the Word of God. He felt God had placed him there so he could minister to others. He doesn’t feel that his life was wasted behind bars, but rather he helped those in society that needed Jesus the most.

You can watch the interview below.