After spending half his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Daryl Dwayne Holloway said it's like he stepped out of a time machine.
Especially when he tries to use his new cell phone.
"Ah man, that thing is so difficult," he said. "I be trying to work it, I don't know what I'm doing, I just start punchin' buttons, somethin' gonna happen."
It's been three weeks since Holloway was released from a Green Bay prison. He spent 24 years there after he was convicted in 1993 on sexual assault charges.
New DNA testing conducted after the Wisconsin Innocence Project became involved proved that he couldn't have committed the crimes.
"I knew I wasn't going to give up anyway," he said. "Either die in there or get out."
He said he thinks about the victims from his case often and hopes they get justice.
"What I went through probably wasn't half of what they went through but they have to relive it again because I got out," he said. "In their mindset, this person was never caught."
In the three weeks since he's been out, Holloway has a new part-time job as a cook that someone actually offered to him after seeing news coverage of his release. He is also searching for opportunities in welding, but he has a special interest in law after studying it heavily while in prison.
He's considering going to college, but he first needs to learn how to use a computer. His lawyer said they are pursuing basic computer courses at UWM and MATC.
He said he loves being able to call and see his family whenever he wants. And he plans to take a trip in the near future to his mother's grave in St. Louis. She died while he was still in prison.
Mostly, he said he's just trying to take it slow and re-learn a city that he said has completely changed.
"I'm like wow, I never thought I'd see the lake again or be in a big park again you know," Holloway said. "And it was just quiet and beautiful, and the leaves were turning colors and I'm like man this is where I need to be."
Holloway's attorney said he is pursuing a claim against the state, but by state law the most Holloway could receive is $25,000. A proposed bill to increase that amount died in this legislative session.
A member of Holloway's law team at UW-Madison set up a fundraising site for him, to help him pay for basic expenses.
