America's longest ever wrongly incarcerated prisoner gives inspiring life update - and reveals why he has 'no regrets' over rejecting plea deal that could have saved him decades ago

America's longest ever wrongly incarcerated prisoner urged those struggling with adversity to 'keep on going' as he revealed he is now a father to a young daughter. 

Ricky Jackson, 66, spent 39 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit before he was exonerated in 2014, and has since turned his life into an inspiring comeback story. 

'I spent 39 years in anger and loneliness,' he told DailyMail.com, ahead of National Wrongful Conviction Day. 'But I have an opportunity to be better, otherwise it's just prison all over again.' 

The former convict revealed to DailyMail.com that following his arrest in 1975 - the first and only of his life - prosecutors offered him a deal to plead guilty to murder for a reduced sentence. 

But he said he 'just couldn't do it', and decided to fight his case in court and clear his name, ultimately leading to his four-decade ordeal and struggle to prove his innocence. 

'I was under so much pressure to plead guilty,' he recalled. '(Police) beat me, woke me up at night, told me I'd burn like a pig... They told me I'd get out sooner, but how could I plead guilty to what I didn't do?' 

'The only vindication I needed was to not be a killer, so I couldn't take the deal.'  

His refusal to plead guilty was a fateful one, as his trial resulted in a death sentence and decades on death row, which included long stints in solitary confinement. 

Jackson was just 18 years old when he was sentenced to death in 1975, after he and two other black men, brothers Ronnie and Wiley Bridgeman, were wrongly blamed by a 'witness', 12-year-old Eddie Vernon.  

At the time, Vernon claimed to have witnessed Jackson shoot local businessman Harold Franks outside a grocery store in Cleveland, Ohio. 

With no physical evidence tying Jackson or the Bridgeman brothers to the scene, cops relied entirely on Vernon's testimony, with it later emerging that they had coached the youngster to say what they wanted in court to ensure a conviction. 

In 2013, Vernon recanted his testimony and admitted he was sat on a school bus blocks away from the shooting when it unfolded, and his confession ultimately led to Jackson's exoneration and release the next year. 

When he was freed, Jackson's release raised eyebrows as he received just $2 million from the state as compensation for his wrongful imprisonment. 

After speaking with DailyMail.com this week, a decade on from his release from prison, Jackson gleefully said at the end of the interview he was picking up his young daughter from school, and said he would 'never believe' how his life turned out.

'I spent 39 years in anger and loneliness,' he said. 'But I have an opportunity to be better, otherwise it's just prison all over again.' 

After Vernon recounted his testimony and ensured Jackson's release, many believed he would hold a grudge against the man whose actions as a pre-teen sent him behind bars. 

But Jackson instead forgave Vernon and he was one of the first people he saw on the outside, capturing headlines as the two men embraced each other while Jackson tearfully forgave him. 

Looking back on the moment, he said: 'I was embracing my new destiny, and I had to forgive those responsible.  

'I hated Eddie Vernon for years, but there was a lot I didn't know,' he continued, noting how Vernon said police pressured and coerced him into giving the damning testimony. 

'The police kidnapped this kid, just like me,' he added. 

Recalling his first days of freedom, Jackson said he 'found it difficult to navigate' his way around a new world, including having never previously used a cell phone. 

'People would call me and I'd keep accidentally hanging up by hitting the wrong number,' he said. 

Ricky added that the sheer number of phones were the first things he noticed, as 'everybody was always on the phone... nobody was paying any attention.'  

While spending decades behind bars for a murder they didn't commit would send most people mad, Jackson said he came out with a sense of thankfulness that he still gets to enjoy life. 

He said he often visits schools and prisons to tell his life story, adding: 'I try to tell them that despite everything you're going through, keep going.' 

'I grew up with the same adversity as these kids, and I tell them, "You have to believe your destiny"... nobody ever told them that,' he said. 

The story of Jackson's exoneration was profiled in the 2022 documentary 'Lovely Jackson', which detailed how he 'clung to the truth of innocence' for almost four decades. 

An executive producer on the film, Jason Flom - a criminal justice advocate who co-founded Lava for Good and hosts his own podcast, Wrongful Conviction, on the platform - told DailyMail.com Jackson's story is an 'inspiration.' 

'He had an experience that none of us could even begin to imagine, and somehow he survived to the other side with gratitude,' he said. 

In Ricky's case, Jason said he was drawn to covering the inmate because 'not only was there a lack of evidence of guilt, there was compelling evidence of innocence.' 

'A lot of people just assume that when someone is in prison they deserve to be there, but social scientists put the number of innocent people in prisons at between four and seven percent, conservatively,' he said.  

Jason re-released Lovely Jackson in New York City this week to mark National Wrongful Conviction Day, and said it is 'shocking that it even still exists in this country.'