New legislation means increase in compensation for La.’s wrongfully convicted

20th April 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer

Although the Legislative Session has been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, a new piece of state legislation increases the amount of compensation for wrongfully convicted and incarcerated people, from $25,000/year for a maximum of ten years, to $40,000/year with no cap, until the wrongfully convicted person has been reimbursed for every year served.

Representatives Ted James and Tanner Magee co-sponsored the bill, working with the Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO), a New Orleans-based nonprofit that has freed or exonerated 36 people in Louisiana.

“These are people who have been proven factually innocent, and they really aren’t looking for a handout,” said Kia Hayes, staff attorney at IPNO. “They’re looking for a way to get their businesses and lives off the ground, so that they can contribute to communities, and to larger society. Once the state allows people to better rebuild their lives, and get on track, everyone will benefit.”

Louisiana’s amount of compensation for wrongfully convicted people is the fourth lowest in the country, and nearby Southern states pay double, sometimes triple, Louisiana’s annual amount. Thirty-five states have compensation statutes, and the national average is around $70,000/year. Louisiana also offers a one-time $80,000 payment to exonerees to cover loss of life opportunity.

“When somebody loses decades of their life for a crime they didn’t commit, the state has an obligation to make that person whole, and to show that, first of all, they care about people having a just outcome. They also have to take responsibility for the harm that they cause to these individuals, and providing an amount that’s so far below the national average just isn’t doing much to make these folks whole,” Hayes said.

Louisiana’s exonerees spent an average of 20 years in prison, and only 33 of 56 have qualified for compensation after being released.

“After someone is exonerated and their conviction is vacated, they have to file a petition in court for wrongful conviction compensation, and they have to meet a very high standard of clear and convincing evidence that factually proves their innocence,” Hayes said.

If an exoneree qualifies for compensation, it can take up to two years to receive their first check, depending on when a judge issues a ruling on their request for compensation.

“Those two years are a real struggle, when the newly released person has to rely on the community and loved ones, whom they often haven’t been in touch with in years,” Hayes said. “And then when they finally receive compensation, it’s one of the lowest amounts in the country.”

Louisiana has the highest number of incarcerated people in the nation, and also wrongfully incarcerates more people than any other state. African Americans are disproportionately represented in Louisiana’s jails and prisons, making up 32 percent of the state’s overall population and 66 percent of the state’s incarcerated.

“Young men of color are the majority of these folks who are wrongfully convicted. People who look like me,” said Rep. Ted James. “So, I’m connected to them in that respect. I’m also a criminal defense attorney, so I see these things every day. I know that sometimes these people go un-helped, and we need to make sure they have a voice at the Capitol.”

“A lot of this is also about educating the general public,” he said. “There are people who believe that law enforcement doesn’t make any mistakes, and that these people got out on some sort of technicality, or a witness died, or something. The reality is that these people have been found factually innocent. We have done a lot of celebrated criminal justice reform over the last few years, and I think this compensation amount is one of our dirty little secrets. We all know $25,000 is nothing for someone who’s been incarcerated a decade. That will barely pay rent.”

COVID-19 has meant a suspension in the legislative session, and questions about what will happen to pending legislation.

“Along with everyone else, we don’t know what’s going to happen with the rest of the session, but we just hope we can get this passed, so that people who lost out on dreams, and 20 or 30 years of their lives, through no fault of their own, can have a just outcome,” Hayes said.

This article originally published in the April 20, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.