Not Every Exonerated Man Gets Repaid after release from prison despite serving lengthy, often decades long, terms of imprisonment for crimes they did not commit. Most states don't allow for it.

"Only 15 states and the District of Columbia do. Of those laws, many are antiquated, difficult to access and offer relatively low monetary awards. "

Every state should have a statute providing reasonable compensation to the ever growing number of innocents released from prison.

This statistic is shameful: "Of the 109 released due to DNA evidence with help from the Innocence Project, only 12 have received reparations. "

Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, correctly notes:

The presumption should be, if you were exonerated, the state should compensate you for the time you were in prison and to help make your transition easier into the real world. I think that's something society owes someone it has deprived of the liberties we take for granted."

The Innocence Project will be expanding its focus to include a push for legislation to allow such compensation and for related items: "They need ... other kinds of support, too, ranging from job skills, mental health, family related issues, and depression."

The article notes that the issue is not "terribly controversial. There is no vocal lobby against allocating funds for wrongly convicted prisoners."

Please, help with the efforts in your state. Fair is fair.

Update: Greta is discussing the case of Larry Johnson now. Larry is the man in Missouri released last week after serving 18 years for a rape he didn't commit. He is one of those who hasn't gotten a dime. Larry Johnson's lawyer is confirming to Greta what Barry Scheck said initially, that the prosecutor in this case, Jennifer Joyce, was the stumbling block. See our prior post on this.