Imagine if you were convicted of a crime and sentenced to decades in prison. Now imagine if you were innocent. This scenario plays out far too many times in the lives of too many prisoners. Not everyone who proclaims their innocence is telling the truth, but thanks to new DNA testing methods, and the work of Innocence Projects, more people are being exonerated. Two prominent Connecticut cases are prime examples.
Kenneth Ireland spent 21 years in prison for murdering a woman in 1986. He was released in 2009 after new DNA testing proved that he did not commit the crime. The same holds true for Miguel Roman, who served 20 years in prison for killing a pregnant 17-year old in 1988. Ireland has since filed a claim for $8 million with the Connecticut Office of Claims Commissioner. Roman has filed a similar claim in the amount of $8.5 million. Roman has also submitted an additional claim in federal court against the city of Hartford citing wrongful imprisonment.
Both men were aided in proving their innocence by the Connecticut Innocence Project, which is now gathering evidence to show exactly why their clients should be compensated with millions of dollars. Ireland and Roman must prove that they suffered losses, which include the loss of freedom, family relationships, earnings and reputation. These losses seem quite apparent - prison has this effect on a person.
A 2008 Connecticut law is already in place that allows wrongfully convicted individuals to be compensated for unspecified amounts of money. The Connecticut law also allows that counseling and job training be provided. Still, the court must decide if the monetary damages sought are reasonable, and that decision can be complicated.
For those who have never experienced prison, the harsh realities of incarceration might seem trivial. To the uninitiated, prisoners get “three hots and a cot,” meaning they get three meals and a bed to sleep on, more than some homeless Americans are afforded. While “free” meals and a bed might seem like luxurious accommodations, according to most ex-prisoners, the truth is that many prisons are overcrowded, violent places which most of the detractors would find rather devastating. Gang attacks, sexual assaults and an atmosphere of unending negativity are daily occurrences in prison. A prisoner is ripped away from the comfort of family and placed in an uncaring zone of strangers. Freedom is denied. You wake up when you are told to wake up, and sleep when you are told to go to sleep, if you can sleep at all. You eat when you are told you can eat, and what you are given to eat. Sure, you can buy items on commissary, if you have funds to do so, and prison job wages are pennies an hour, and families often cannot afford to send you money. You can watch television, but prison televisions are controlled by inmates that will beat you if you try to change the channel. If you can afford to buy a personal television, you are limited to whatever channels are available, but watching TV just reminds you of what you are missing out there in the “free world.”
If you were convicted of a crime other than drug dealing or larceny you might do well to check yourself into protective custody. Sexual offenses and certain murders mean that you will most likely be subjected to physical or sexual assaults. The killing of a pregnant woman, as in Roman’s case, or of a young mother, as in Ireland’s case, are frowned upon by other hard core convicts, who usually justify their own crimes. A convicted sex offender, who later had his charges dropped, and is also seeking compensation, experienced his own hell, and can attest to just how brutal prison life can be.
How does a judge or jury calculate the pain and humiliation a wrongfully convicted human being experiences? A good reputation is priceless. A good reputation that is stolen and tarnished looses its value forever. Is there a chart that details what amount should be awarded for losing a spouse through divorce, or losing a parent to death while you sat in prison for a crime you did not commit? What is the monetary value of wasted years, unearned wages, lost potential? What about the collateral consequences of children growing up without a parent? The state of Connecticut should be commended for not putting a cap on the amount of money for which a wrongfully convicted individual can sue, although some might want to see a limit imposed. Connecticut also seems to recognize that those who are proven innocent after years, sometimes decades, in prison need counseling and job training, an enlightened view, compared to some other states. No amount of money will ever truly compensate an innocent person for the loss of freedom incurred, or the horrific experience of prison life, but for Ireland, Roman and others like them, compensation must be given.
Source: Hartford Courant
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