Innocent Man Released After 22 Years

FALSE IMPRISONMENT

Here is a justice issue that caught my eye today, about Wilton A. Dredge, a 42 year old man freed from prison after serving 22 years for a rape he did not commit. A seventeen year old girl wrongly identified him as the assailant. We are told that he left with all his worldly possessions in a small plastic bag. Although exonerated by new DNA evidence, he did not even get the usual $100 that Florida gives the meanest ex-convicts. Neither did he get counseling, job search help, or temporary housing. While such benefits come to guilty rapists and killers, as an exoneree (released from a county jail while awaiting test results) he did not qualify for anything—not even a bus ticket home.

It seems that only 18 states and the federal government offer any compensation to those who have served unwarranted prison terms.

This poor man lost all of his youth because of a mistake and because the criminal-justice system, at least in this instance, failed.

What do you think? Do we owe this man something?

Should he be reimbursed for lost wages and benefits over the last 20 years?

How much do we give? Can anything really compensate for what was taken from him?