Gloria Killian was released from prison on 8/8/02 after serving more than 16 years on a sentence of 32 years to life for a crime that she did not commit. Throughout her trial and incarceration she always maintained her innocence. In March 2002 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that her conviction was based solely on perjured testimony and overturned her conviction.

As a former law student, Ms. Killian was assigned to the prison law library where she worked for 14 years, providing legal assistance to other inmates. She worked extensively with battered women, as well as others, and developed specialized legal services for many different areas of the prison. She was instrumental in the founding of the USC Law Project at the California Institution for Women.

During her time in prison, Ms. Killian published several articles including two that were featured in the USC Law Review, entitled Equal Justice for Some, and Justice: One Woman's Perspective. The second article was co-authored with Brenda Aris, the first battered woman to be granted clemency in the State of California.  Ms. Killian also drafted the media and outreach campaign that led to the release of Ms. Aris.

Since her release, Ms. Killian has been tirelessly advocating for the humane treatment and release of the women that she left behind. She works as a consultant to agencies in the criminal justice and public policy fields, and has been the keynote speaker at several symposiums. She has testified for Select Committees of the California Legislature, and spoken extensively about the issues and concerns of incarcerated women. She has lectured at USC Law School, Loyola Law School, Southwestern Law School, and Arizona State University, among many others.

MS Killian is now the Executive Director of her own non-profit organization, the Action Committee for Women in Prison (ACWIP). Along with public education and advocacy work, ACWIP provides Christmas gifts for the teen-age girls in Camp Scott, the residents of A New Way of Life, and the inmates at the California Institution for Women in conjunction with All Saints Episcopal Church. She is a member of AKA Angels and helps provide toys for the children of women in prison. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Gangsters Anonymous, and a mentor of teen-aged girls in probation camp for Girls and Gangs. She is a member of the Girls Collaborative which works with at risk teen-agers, and she serves on the California Nursing Association, Correctional Medicine Taskforce, the National Commission on Crime and Delinquency Taskforce on Incarcerated Women, the Advisory Panel for the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, the steering committee of Free Battered Women and the Women in Criminal Justice Network. She is also the Teddy Bear Coordinator for Get On The Bus, a project that takes children to visit their mothers in prison each year for Mother’s Day. Ms Killian is the co-director of the Prison Ministry at All Saints Episcopal Church and the chair of the Women’s Issues Committee.

Ms. Killian's experiences with the criminal justice system and the advocacy work that she is doing were featured on 48 Hours which aired in September, 2003 on CBS. She is also profiled in a new book, Paths to Freedom by Alexis Powers, and she was featured on the Montel Williams Show twice. She has appeared on numerous radio shows and commentaries. She is in the process of producing a documentary with Montel Williams about women who are being released from prison. A movie is currently being developed about Ms. Killian's life and she is writing a book about her journey to justice. She also plans to return to law school to complete her studies in the near future.