New legislative push aims to help those wrongfully convicted

This International Wrongful Conviction Day, a group gathered at the Massachusetts State House to call for financial compensation for those who were wrongfully convicted.

Those wrongfully convicted and their families are working toward a bill that would offer compensation based on the number of years they were in prison. They gathered on Monday to draw attention to the cause.

Among them was Sean Ellis, a man whose wrongful conviction case drew international attention and became the focus of a Netflix docuseries.

Ellis spent 22 years behind bars over a corrupt police homicide investigation. He was convicted in 1995 for the murder of a Boston police detective.

The city paid him $16 million in a settlement two years ago, but others like him aren’t getting that kind of compensation from the Commonwealth.

Now Ellis and other exonerees are pushing for more support from the state for those who spend years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.

“We believe that the state has an obligation to assist us once we’re released from prison to help put our lives back together," Ellis said.

Ellis is part of the New England Innocence Project, which was founded to help fight these injustices.

“Prison is full of innocent people and we have to fight for those lives,” said Jessenia Valentín in Spanish. Valentín is the daughter of a former convict.

She says grew up with his father behind bars. He spent 33 years in prison, for a crime that he never committed,

“Since I was 3 years old he told me “I didn't do it, I didn't do it,” she explained.

Even if someone is freed from prison, with a criminal record, the options to get ahead are very limited. Valentín says that when they tell someone that her father was in prison, people don't want to hear more, and they don't want to work with them. She points out that when her father was imprisoned everything was taken away, but once he was released, there was no money to start over.

The legislation would lift a million-dollar cap on compensation for wrongfully convicted people, connect them with support services and provide a $5,000 check immediately upon release.

“This is a way to help reintegrate them, give them a start. They didn’t belong there in the first place so let’s do what we can to help them make this situation right," State Rep. Jeffrey Roy said.

Valentín said that for 30 years her father was robbed of his life, and she hopes that that the minimum the state can do is help with money.

The bills are now before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Supporters are hoping it’s reported out favorably.