Matter of Innocence
 
For Immediate Release
04 April 2022
Jarrett Adams, Ricky Kidd, and Anna Vasquez kickoff a new livestream series, Matter of Innocence with the first installment - Redeeming Justice: The Realities of Wrongful Conviction - April 19, 2022, at 6:30 pm CST
Adams, Kidd, and Vasquez are three wrongfully convicted exonerees who rebuilt their lives to become an author and attorney, a speaker and trainer, and advocate and speaker, respectively. Each is tackling the issues of wrongful convictions head-on – Adams through his non-profit, Life After Justice, Kidd with his I Am Resilience programs; and Vasquez, who will moderate this frank conversation, works as Director of Outreach for the Texas Innocence Project.
(Chicago, IL) – What do you think you know about wrongful convictions? The headlines are big when a state or federal government releases an innocent person after years of imprisonment for a crime they didn’t commit. There’s a ton of coverage, and endless speeches about the hard-fought battle finally won. But, is that the exoneree’s reality? What’s the real story? For the majority of exonerees who fight years for their freedom - there are no lights, cameras, or movie deals waiting - just more battling as they fight for a chance to live a meaningful life. Why are innocent people still wrongfully convicted? Just how broken is our justice system that the number of wrongful convictions continues to grow?

These topics are what author, attorney, and exoneree, Jarrett Adams, and speaker, trainer, and exoneree Ricky Kidd discuss in the 90-minute Matter of Innocence event, “Redeeming Justice: The Realities of Wrongful Conviction,” on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. CST, streaming live on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Register at https://bit.ly/MoI041922. Fellow exoneree and justice advocate Anna Vasquez from the Texas Innocence Project moderates the evening’s program. Life After Justice and I Am Resilience, sponsor the evening’s conversation.

“The reality for that person after being in the limelight when released is that they have to fight to get their life back. People think that the battle is over when they’re released – the truth is much starker. Do they still have a family and friends? Is there a home to return to? How will they earn money? Who’s fighting to change the laws that put them there? ill-conceived and poorly written legislation causes them to be stuck between release and a real life,” says Redeeming Justice author, attorney, and exoneree Jarrett Adams.

The statistics surrounding wrongful incarcerations are startling according to the 2021 Annual Report of the National Registry of Exonerations published in March 2021.

  • Between 2 and 10 percent of the 2.3 million prison population are innocent – as few as 46,000 and as many as 230,000 people.
    • Growth in the women’s state prison population is exploding at a rate of twice that of men. Between 1979 and 2015, the female state prison population grew 834% and continues to grow.
  • Of the potential group, the innocents are disproportionally people of color 64%, and 50% of that number are black.
    • Women represent 10% of the total prison population (231,000) and more than half have not yet been convicted of a crime and are presumed innocent.
  • Innocents average nine (9) years of incarceration before exoneration; people of color, particularly blacks, serve 4.5 years more than white innocents.
  • With a potential quarter million innocent people behind bars, there have been only 2,755 exonerations since 1989.
    • In 1989 there were approximately 20 people exonerated; in 2020, there were 163; exonerations have grown consistently; unknown exonerations prior to 1989 continue to come to light.
  • Wrongly incarcerated individuals have lost 24,695 years of their lives to date.
  • The vast majority of innocent people are imprisoned because of five key reasons – the Five to Fix – misidentification, false confession, official misconduct, misleading forensic evidence, and perjury/false accusation.

Fellow exonerees and thought leaders, Adams, Vasquez, and Kidd know the truth of life after exoneration – most wrongfully convicted individuals have little to build on. They are released into a dramatically changed world after the decades they were incarcerated. The internet, cell phone, social media, and technology, in general, are new to them. In some cases, they leave with no more skills than they had when they were incarcerated. Women face even tougher hardships.

“Society continues to view women as second-class citizens. While the disparities are visible through income, exonerations, and even on social media, within the legal system, women are often invisible. Statistics show that most women are in jail for non-violent offenses. The system fails these women, who are often the sole provider for their family by demanding cash bail. Paying bail is often not possible, and even paying as little as ten percent to a bail bond company to be released is often unattainable. Consequently, they remain incarcerated. If you look at how this impacts the family unit, the community, and society in general, the cost is much greater,” explains Vasquez.

Unlike a convicted criminal, the social services and other rehabilitation options are not available to exonerees since they’re no longer considered a “criminal” by the legal system. They’ve not only had their lives before incarceration stolen; they are no less “convicted” having spent decades in some of America’s worst prisons. Yet once released, they are excluded from the social services and other rehabilitation options their fellow inmates have access to, despite being similarly impacted by imprisonment.

Their mental health poses an even bigger problem. Prison abuse, reduced freedom of movement, fear of retaliation for voicing their innocence, lack of exposure to the world and current knowledge, repeated reminders of their ‘crime’ while knowing they’re innocent – these are just a few of the indignities that cause mental and physical damage.

As for economics, only 35 of 50 states and the federal government offer some remuneration. It is far less than what the innocent might have earned in many of those states. And often, it isn’t an automatic payout. To add insult to injury, the exoneree who battled for years to be free typically must either sue or go through a lengthy process of proving their innocence again to get compensation. While some seemingly walk away with millions, others receive paltry sums for their lost years, and still others, like Adams, walk away with nothing. The exoneree’s ability to fight for themselves once again against the system that harmed them determines the outcome. Some can hire lawyers; others must navigate the state compensation system by themselves.

“The realities of wrongful convictions are rough, and people need to know the exact cost to our society. While the wrongfully convicted suffer the indignities of imprisonment – everybody pays for the injustice of this crime against society. It’s time everyone steps in and helps reclaim innocent lives,” says Kidd.


See Life After Justice and I Am Resilience for more information.

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Media Contacts
Life After Justice:
Joanna Broussard, joanna@bizmarkgroup.com, 312-331-0133

Jarrett Adams, Esq.:
Jennifer A. Maguire, jen@maguirepr.com, 917-596-5136

Ricky Kidd:
Dawn Kidd, dawn@resiliencemode.com, 913-291-5607

Anna Vasquez, anna@innocencetexas.org, 210-815-5967

Helpful Links | References

 
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