John —

I’m Kyana, a social worker at the Innocence Project. Every day, I work closely with our clients and their families to make their transition home as smooth as possible — and I’ve seen firsthand not only the human cost of wrongful convictions, but the impacts they have community-wide.

Behind each and every wrongful incarceration is a dynamic human being — a mother, father, friend, poet, gardener, justice advocate, artist, and much more. But wrongful conviction doesn’t only affect the individual who is behind bars. The impact of a wrongful conviction ripples out to families and entire communities.

Every time we help free someone, it brings back a little bit of peace that was stolen from their families and their communities. That’s why this work is so important. So, ahead of Giving Tuesday, we’re asking you to support the Innocence Project’s mission of freeing the innocent by making a contribution to help us hit our goal of $20,000. [link removed]

Working so closely with people who were wrongly convicted, I get to know them as the incredible individuals they are — and that’s not something that society often gets to see.

Too often, incarcerated people get reduced to the worst thing that’s ever happened to them and their dignity is stripped away. Rarely do you get to hear them talk about their humanity, families, loved ones, or community.

Instead, we hear them called “criminals” or “prisoners” or “inmates.” It’s language like this that tries to rob our clients of their humanity, and make us see them as “other.” It makes it easier for us all to turn a blind eye, to stop questioning the injustices we know are inherent in the criminal legal system. And that’s exactly the kind of mentality we’re fighting against.

As a part of the social work team at the Innocence Project, my colleagues and I have seen over and over again how incarceration systematically dehumanizes people and their loved ones — that trauma takes years if not generations to heal. And that’s why we’re working so hard to change the system.

We can’t do that work without support from people like you. So, this Giving Tuesday, I’m asking you to make a donation to help us continue the work of freeing innocent people and transforming the systems responsible for their wrongful incarceration. [link removed]

Thank you so much for your time and support,
Kyana

Kyana Champion
Social Worker
Innocence Project

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Started in 1992 as a legal clinic at Cardozo School of Law, the Innocence Project is now an independent nonprofit, affiliated with Cardozo, that exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

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