by TChris

Last month, as celebrated in this post, Theodore White was released from prison, having served five years for a crime he didn't commit. He returned to a home in disrepair and a mountain of debt, but that hasn't stopped him from appreciating what he has: freedom.

"They took every right I had," he said. "I couldn't fish. I couldn't hunt. I couldn't hold a firearm. I couldn't drive. What is freedom? Driving down that road with the radio on with the wind coming through the window. That is the greatest. That is freedom."

For White, as for many others, freedom came at great cost.

White's family raised every dime it could and more for his initial defense, the appeal and the subsequent trials. After paying 25 years of a 30-year mortgage, his parents had to refinance their home again for 30 years. Everything of value that the family owned was sold or mortgaged.

White's father said: "We don't have any retirement. Everything is mortgaged. But you know, the way I look at it, I don't give a crap. I know we will make it. We will recover."