Exonerated prisoners after serving decades for crimes they didn’t commit

September 11, 2015 3:52 AM

stories.. that expose both the depths of what was taken from them and the challenges of rebuilding the lives they once had
posted by pos (11 comments total)

Just how is it possible that exonerated individuals who have been incarcerated aren't pretty much automatically eligible for compensation, and plenty of it? I am used to those found to have been falsely imprisoned in the UK to get some degree of compensation but apparently our glorious coalition government capped compensation at £500,000 in 2006 (or up to £1M for periods over ten years). They also made it tougher for the exonerated to claim this amount, raising the standard under which it was made available. There are some interesting numbers here for the UK situation. Even these seem pretty low to me. in ten years I could earn above £500k (if pension contributions etc are taken into account) so to have this offered would cover only that, not accounting for the total lack of freedom in that period, the loss of options and opportunities, the hellishness of being locked up, the destruction of relationships with spouse, offspring and other family, the likely loss of mortgaged property, the lack of hope for the future, what seems likely to be inevitable psychological damage, pus the damage to future earnings since one can hardly pick up a career where it left off after ten years. Its obscene.

So to have no automatic system for compensation or support within the US system seems outrageous. Satanic in its evil. Here's a link which gives some more detail on how different US states approach deciding on compensation.

I even came across a link for one of the guys profiled in the FPP. It turns out he has been awarded $6.25M but apparently cannot get his hands on it due to a dispute between lawyers.
posted by biffa at 5:39 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]

sio42, that's tremendous. Thank you for sharing. Hope you and your folks are well.

Link to his Reddit AMA, for those interested.

A while back the BBC made a series called Criminal Justice, written by Peter Moffat, with the first of the series (which I watched) starring Ben Whishaw as a boy whose conviction - not too dissimilar to Ray Krone, it seems - was based upon circumstantial evidence and also due to the withholding of key evidence. The resolution of the series isn't perfect, but as a whole it is informative, powerful, and worth a watch, particularly for the performance of the late, great Pete Postlethwaite.

biffa, thank you for posting the very helpful information above; it should be far more widely available to people.
posted by pos at 6:20 AM on September 11, 2015

Y'all might be interested in the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, who spent 10+ years incarcerated after being mistried for Terrorist Offences in the UK. The story of the former was told in In the Name of the Father starring Daniel Day Lewis.

Musically related:

The Pogues - Streets of Sorrow

Alabama 3 - Thrills are Gone

Disclaimer (because we still need these things in Northern Ireland) - no side taken, just presenting information
posted by tyndyll at 6:48 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

So I'm not even halfway through the article and already two stories involving corrupt cops, and two others involving "misplaced" or "forgotten" evidence (yeah, right). Something tells me the guilty cops will do nowhere near the jailtime the innocent victims of their crimes have already done.
posted by prepmonkey at 7:39 AM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

So to have no automatic system for compensation or support within the US system seems outrageous. Satanic in its evil. Here's a link which gives some more detail on how different US states approach deciding on compensation.

Criminal justice in the US isn't so much justice but swift and brutal punishment without remorse for the most convenient target.

When sio42 says something like "I hope it changes people's minds so that there are less of these stories." the fact is that a large swath of the electorate don't see this as a bug but a feature. To get involved in the prison system in the first place means you must have done something to get there and even if you didn't do the crime you probably did something to deserve it.

Far-right leaning (i.e. current mainstream Republican) American political thought in general is like some sociopathic, fucked up version of the just universe fallacy. Through the indoctrination of religion this only strengthens the view that you get as good as you get and if you're unfortunate it means you're actually a bad person still getting your just desserts.
posted by Talez at 7:42 AM on September 11, 2015 [5 favorites]

...In the Name of the Father starring Daniel Day Lewis.
Ah yes! Also with Pete Postlethwaite as the father (figure).

"a large swath of the electorate don't see this as a bug but a feature. To get involved in the prison system in the first place means you must have done something to get there and even if you didn't do the crime you probably did something to deserve it."

... which isn't by any means unique to conservatives, let alone US Republicans.
posted by pos at 7:58 AM on September 11, 2015

Pretty much sio42. Sometimes I think the only way we can excise this sociopathic cancer from the body politic is just to railroad and falsely imprison every white male aged over 35 for a week or two. Nobody gives a shit until they can see how easily it can affect them personally.
posted by Talez at 8:16 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Something tells me the guilty cops will do nowhere near the jailtime the innocent victims of their crimes have already done.

Forget jailtime, I would be shocked and amazed if any of them were punished at all.
posted by Myca at 10:07 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

This was really really strong
posted by liliillliil at 2:26 PM on September 11, 2015

I was really moved by this. It was written in such a way that it captured so well the complicated emotions that moved many of them to tears. Thanks for sharing it.
posted by SpacemanStix at 7:59 PM on September 11, 2015

The Biblical punishment for perjury in criminal trials is the punishment for the substantive crime:

Deuteronomy 19:18-20
18 the judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. 20 And the rest shall hear, and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.

Perjury and false prosecutions are very bad things indeed, and they must be treated with the utmost vigilance and rigor. I seriously don't know why this attitude isn't promoted by the people who usually bang on about Biblical principles.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:16 PM on September 12, 2015