How Much is Your Freedom Worth? In Some States, Nothing at All
You can't put a price on losing your freedom for decades after being convicted of a crime you didn't commit. But some states take that a bit too literally, barring people wrongly sentenced to years behind bars from receiving any compensation at all, while the ones that do reimburse those whose lives have been ruined by the criminal justice system often cap compensation at a relative pittance.
Paul House spent 22 years in prison after being convicted and sentenced to death on charges of rape and murder. In 2008, he was released from Tennessee state prison at 48 years of age and in poor health after DNA tests showed he wasn't the perpetrator, one of 138 death row inmates to be exonerated in the U.S. since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (pdf). Prosecutors officially cleared him of wrongdoing a year later.
"I'd be happy with a million, but it's not even close to what they should pay me," House recently told the Associated Press. He'll be lucky if he gets that.
Under Tennessee law, House is entitled to a maximum of $1 million for his wrongful conviction, or roughly $40,00 for each year he was incarcerated -- equivalent to the average per capita income in 2009, meaning it would essentially compensate House for lost wages, but hardly enough to begin to reimburse him for his lost freedom. And he's entitled to that money only if outgoing Gov. Phil Bredesen declares him formally exonerated. While his lawyer is confident that will happen, telling the AP the state parole board is likely to recommend just that, it's far from a sure thing.
But compared to those wrongfully convicted in other areas of the country, House has it good, as 23 states don't allow those convicted of crimes they didn't commit to receive any compensation, even after they've been fully exonerated. And those that do allow for compensation often provide piddling amounts. Mississippi, for instance, caps reimbursements at $500,000, hwhile Oklahoma caps compensation at just $175,000, or just over what the state's governor earns in a year.
All too often, rather than admit a mistake, the state and its legion of prosecutors will seek to bar inmates from accessing evidence and modern technology such as DNA testing that could prove their innocence, an issue the Supreme Court will soon address. And even if the wrongly imprisoned overcome all the legal hurdles the criminal justice system puts in their way, prosecutors will typically refuse to admit to any wrongdoing, always maintaining that they acted in good faith when they imprisoned -- and fought to keep imprisoned -- innocent people. But those who lost years, sometimes decades, rotting behind bars because of a prosecutor's error or misconduct deserve at least some justice, even if it only comes in the form of an entirely-too-small check.
Photo Credit: Jenn Vargas
Charles Davis
has covered Congress and criminal justice issues for public radio and Inter Press Service.
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