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Why I’m Starting the Auston Stewart Foundation

This isn’t just a cause. It’s personal.

I had the honor of knowing Auston Stewart—not through news stories or secondhand accounts, but as someone who sat beside him, talked with him, and saw his heart. We were incarcerated together, and I was one of just three people who got to hold him after the incident that ultimately took his life. That moment is burned into my memory—not just for the pain it carried, but for the clarity it gave me about what has to change.

That’s why I’m starting the Auston Stewart Foundation.

This foundation exists because people like Auston deserve to be more than statistics or silent tragedies. He was kind, thoughtful, and full of potential. He was failed—by a system that didn’t protect him and by a world that too often forgets the humanity of those behind bars. I carry the weight of his story with me every day, and I refuse to let it end there.

I know the system from the inside. I’ve lived through it, studied it, and fought within it. I’ve watched people break not just from sentences, but from silence. I’ve seen justice denied, deferred, or ignored. That’s what this foundation is here to fight.

The Auston Stewart Foundation will focus on:

Wrongful convictions – helping those who are imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit, especially when coerced statements, flawed investigations, or systemic bias are involved.

Deaths and injuries in custody – ensuring families get answers, that those harmed are not forgotten, and that institutions are held accountable.


Auston’s story changed me. It lit a fire I can’t ignore. And I’ve met too many others—like my friend Skylar—who are still trapped in a cycle they don’t belong in. This foundation is for them. For their families. For everyone who’s been silenced, dismissed, or abandoned by the system that was supposed to protect them.

We’re not here to ask for pity. We’re here to demand justice.

This is the beginning of something that will grow, with your help. We will share stories, build networks, and fight like hell to make sure no more lives are lost in the shadows.

Auston, this is for you. I carry your name forward—not just in grief, but in action.

— Rylee
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Location: Evansville, IN 47711, USA

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