Today is the Innocence Project’s 28th birthday and I honestly can’t believe it. I was the first person they hired when it was a brand-new clinic project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and the work we’ve been doing here since day one means so much to me.
As a person of color, I feel that it’s important for me to work for an organization that’s fighting to implement change in our inherently racist justice system.
I work in the Intake Department. We’re the people who go through every single letter the Innocence Project receives from people across the country, pleading for themselves or their loved ones. I’ve read thousands of these letters, and I’ve got to say, it does not get any easier hearing these stories told over and over throughout the years.
In July 2006, I read a letter that the Innocence Project received from Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin, who was on death row in Florida. I translated his letter from Spanish, wrote a response to him to get more information, opened a case file, and spent months gathering information in support of his case. Once I turned it over to the lawyers for representation, my role was over.
My role doesn’t often give me the opportunity to interact with our clients or folks seeking our help. But Clemente was released after spending more than a decade in prison on a wrongful conviction, and last year, he came to see us at our offices. It was truly amazing to be able to connect with him and speak with him in Spanish — it felt like I was having a conversation with one of my family members. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.
Clemente and Elena meeting in person for the first time. Photo courtesy of the Innocence Project.
Seeing all the people who we’ve been able to help over the past 28 years is what keeps me doing this work. Every day, every letter I read, we have the ability to give someone their life back, and it’s my privilege to play a small part in it.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
