Adjusting to life after death row | |
 John Thompson was on death row for 14 years
 John Thompson spent 14 years on death row for crimes he did not commit. Convicted of killing New Orleans hotel executive Ray Liuzza, and for a carjacking weeks later, he was preparing to be sent to his death at the notorious Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana - the largest maximum security prison in the United States. After six execution dates, John had exhausted all his appeals. His seventh date - 22 May 1999 - was to be his last. In one final twist, a new investigator uncovered some previously lost evidence. After a retrial, John was freed in 2003. It was the start of another struggle - surviving in the outside world. It was a struggle which has led John to found a new charity helping former death row inmates: Resurrection After Exoneration. He told BBC World Service's Outlook programme his story. | |
CNN London, October 22 2009:
Becky Anderson Interviews John Thompson
WHAT HAPPENS TO INNOCENCE AFTER INCARCERATION?
Each year, we hear about more innocent people being released from prison in the United States.
Today, there are over 400 exonerated men and women who have been wrongly convicted and victimized by our criminal justice system.
On average, each has served more than 10 years in prison before being released.
Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE) was founded in 2007 by exonerees to promote and sustain a network of support among formerly wrongfully incarcerated individuals in the South. RAE works to reconnect exonerees to their communities and provide access to those opportunities of which they were robbed.
RAE is an offspring of the non-profit law office, Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) .
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
LEARN MORE SHARE OUR STORIES DONATE NOW
tags: angola state penitentiary, death penalty, louisiana, prison industrial complex
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