I spent 14 years in prison, including a decade on death row, after a wrongful conviction for a double murder. I’ve been free since I was exonerated in 2018 with the help of the Innocence Project. When I first heard about COVID-19, my first thought was how sad I was for all the people who are still incarcerated. My second thought was panic.
This pandemic affects us all. But it affects us — the exonerees — in a different way. You have to think twice about having to go outside because you do not want to get sick; many of us do not have health insurance. Things like food, medicine and even cleaning supplies can become impossible to get.
Exonerated people walk out of prison with no compensation — and that’s where the Innocence Project’s Exoneree Fund comes in to pay for basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter and medical care.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
