Innocence Blog

Connecticut Establishes Fund to Aid the Recently Exonerated

Posted: January 23, 2012 2:00 pm

The Connecticut Bar Foundation has teamed up with the nonprofit Community Partners in Action to create the Connecticut Innocence Fund, which will provide short-term financial assistance to the newly exonerated. In the past few months, the fund has raised $25,000 and hopes to reach $50,000.
 
Nearly one-third of the people exonerated after proving their innocence have not been compensated for the injustice they suffered and the time they spent incarcerated. And those who are ultimately compensated wait an average of three years before receiving the money. Two Connecticut exonerees Miguel Roman and Kenneth Ireland, both exonerated in 2009, have claims pending but are still awaiting financial assistance.
 
Innocence Project clients are supported immediately after release through the Innocence Project Exoneree Fund.
 
Read a recent Hartford Courant article about the Connecticut Innocence Fund. 
 
Read more about compensating the wrongfully convicted. 
 
National View: 27 States Have Compensation Statutes: Is Yours One?