State of Louisiana Offers the Wrongfully Convicted Up to $150K in Compensation

    June 1, 2007
    New Orleans CityBusiness
    By Richard A. Webster

    Former Shreveport resident Calvin Willis spent nearly 22 years in Angola State Penitentiary for a rape it was later proven he did not commit.

    The state of Louisiana offers the wrongfully convicted up to $150,000 in compensation, which works out to $6,818 for each year Willis lost. But in order to receive the money, the state is putting him on trial all over again.

    Willis, 48, once more has to prove his innocence to the courts, even after being acquitted a first time, to collect and there is no guarantee he will receive the maximum amount of money, or any at all.

    "One hundred fifty thousand is like a slap in the face or being kicked by a mule," said Willis who was released in 2003. "Here it is 2007 and I haven't received a penny yet. It didn't take them no more than a few months to send me to prison for the rest of my life and now it's taking years to give me this small amount of money. "

    In 2005, the Legislature approved the Innocence Compensation Fund, which allows wrongfully convicted victims to collect a maximum of $15,000 for every year spent incarcerated. The total can not exceed $150,000.

    Louisiana is one of 21 states that offers compensation with Vermont also on the verge of passing such legislation.

    States such as Alabama offer a minimum of $50,000 a year while New York and West Virginia do not limit judgments. New Hampshire offers a maximum of $20,000 total.

    Exonerated inmates like Willis say they are not looking for millions. They initially asked for a maximum of $500,000 from the state but were shot down.

    New Orleans resident John Thompson, who spent 18 years on death row in Angola for a murder a judge later determined he did not commit, questions the motivations of lawmakers.

    "If we were their family members, if I were their son, would they protest because we're coming in asking for $150,000?" Thompson said. "Maybe it's because the majority of people coming in are poor and African-American. "

    State Sen. Joel Chaisson, a Destrehan Democrat who co-authored the compensation fund bill, said $150,000 is not a "huge amount of money" but it is enough to get people back on their feet.

    Willis disagrees.

    "You buy a car or a house or pay for medical expenses and that money's gone," he said.

    Part of the problem is exonerated victims find it as difficult to land jobs as true ex-cons.

    "You fill out an application for employment then have to explain why you haven't worked for 22 years," Willis said. "You explain and they look at you face to face and say 'I understand but we don't have any openings. ' They say they'll call you but they never do. "

    Chaisson said opposition to the fund was based on a misunderstanding of the bill's intent. Compensation is only awarded to people who can prove they are "factually innocent. " Political opponents don't want money handed out to anyone released due to technicalities or based on an insufficient level of evidence to support the finding of guilt.

    "Some members didn't understand there was such a high threshold," Chaisson said.

    That high threshold, however, is a point of contention among the wrongfully convicted.

    Louisiana courts have released 24 people from state prisons since 1990, including nine based on DNA evidence. Only two people have received money. Those released prior to the passage of the 2005 legislation have a Sept. 1 deadline to file for compensation.

    Emily Maw, director of the New Orleans Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to freeing the wrongfully convicted, said the low award amounts make it difficult for the exonerated to find attorneys. Most have to rely on pro-bono nonprofits such as the Innocence Project.

    Limiting compensation to people who have spent more than 20 years in Angola for crimes they didn't commit leaves the state trying to calculate a value for the pain endured, Maw said.

    While incarcerated, many lost loved ones, missed the opportunity to watch their children grow up or worse.

    "A couple of people we represented who were released on DNA evidence went into prison when they were very young and were so badly gang-raped," Maw said. "They were completely innocent and now they are absolutely ruined people. It's very hard for them to get over what happened and it's not going to end well for either one of them. "



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