On the morning of October 3, 2025, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam finally walked out of prison after spending more than four decades wrongfully imprisoned. The 64-year-old man had spent nearly his entire adult life behind bars for a murder he did not commit. A court overturned his wrongful conviction only weeks earlier and confirmed that prosecutors had hidden key evidence that could have cleared him long ago.
Subramanyam Vedam’s Journey from Hope to Heartbreak
As his family waited eagerly to welcome him home, Subu’s release from the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania was supposed to be a moment of celebration. But within minutes of stepping out, the scene took a shocking turn.
Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were waiting outside the prison. Acting on an old deportation order, they detained him immediately and transferred him to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center — an immigration detention facility in central Pennsylvania.
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His family, who had decorated their home and prepared for his long-awaited return, felt heartbroken when ICE agents took him into custody again — this time not as a prisoner, but as a detainee. “To our disappointment, ICE transferred Subu to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, where they are currently holding him,” the family said in a public statement. They added that, since the court had dismissed all criminal charges, they hope the immigration court will reopen his case and fully recognize his exoneration.
Life of Subramanyam Vedam That Stole Four Decades
Subramanyam Vedam’s ordeal began over 40 years ago. In 1980, authorities found his friend, 19-year-old Thomas Kinser, dead in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Two years later, police arrested Vedam and charged him with murder, though investigators never recovered the alleged weapon — a .25-caliber pistol. Prosecutors built the case almost entirely on circumstantial evidence.
In 1983, at just 22, the court convicted Vedam and sentenced him to life without parole. He always maintained his innocence, but decades of appeals failed until 2022, when the Pennsylvania Innocence Project uncovered hidden evidence proving that the bullet wound could not have come from the gun the prosecution claimed.
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In August 2025, Judge Jonathan Grine ruled that prosecutors had violated Vedam’s right to a fair trial and dropped all charges. He became Pennsylvania’s longest-serving wrongfully imprisoned person and one of the longest in the U.S.
During his 43 years wrongfully imprisoned, Vedam turned hardship into purpose. He taught fellow inmates, helped them earn diplomas and degrees, raised funds for charity, and maintained hope and kindness despite decades behind bars.
A New Fight After Exoneration
Vedam’s release from prison did not bring freedom. ICE detained him under a decades-old “legacy deportation order” tied to a drug conviction from his youth. At 19, he had pleaded guilty to possessing LSD with intent to distribute, which his family calls a youthful mistake.
Born in India but raised entirely in the U.S., Vedam has no living relatives in India and has never returned. When the court convicted him of murder in 1983, immigration authorities did not deport him because he was serving a life sentence. Now, after wrongfully imprisoning him for decades, ICE is enforcing the old deportation order.
ICE labeled him a “career criminal” under federal law, but his family expressed shock. His niece, Zoë Miller Vedam, said deporting him to a country he doesn’t know would be devastating. During 43 years wrongfully imprisoned, Vedam earned a master’s degree and devoted himself to teaching and helping fellow inmates.
His lawyers have filed to reopen the immigration case and requested a stay of deportation. The government has until October 24 to respond. For his family, Subu’s story shows that even after decades of wrongful imprisonment, freedom can still be uncertain.