Tyrone Brown facts for kids

Tyrone Brown (born 1973) is an African-American man from Texas. In 1990, when he was 17 years old, he was given a life sentence in a high-security prison. He stayed in prison for 17 years. This happened after he tested positive once for using a banned substance while on probation. His probation was for an incident where he took two dollars from a man. No one was hurt, and Brown had given the wallet back to the person.

Brown's story gained public attention in 2006. Later, the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, gave him a special release called a conditional pardon. Tyrone Brown was set free on March 16, 2007.

How Tyrone Brown's Story Became Known

Tyrone Brown's situation was compared in the news to another case involving a different person. Both cases were handled by the same judge, Keith Dean. The way these two cases were treated seemed very different.

After the public learned about Tyrone Brown's case and how it was handled compared to the other person's, it caused a lot of discussion. A TV show called 20/20 on ABC News even featured his story. Because of this public attention, the judge involved, Keith Dean, did not win his re-election to stay in his position.