News

Life After Exoneration Program in Danger of Closing

  • 11/27/2006
  • Life After Exoneration Program

OUR STATUS . . .

This year, viewers of the documentary film After Innocence helped fund services to help the wrongfully convicted re-enter society. Two full-time social service providers have worked tirelessly, helping desperate men and women innocent of the crimes for which they served time rebuild their lives on the outside. What a difference this has made, but without your help November will be the last month the can provide assistance to many of the exonerees nationwide who need our services.

ONE EXAMPLE OF OUR SUCCESS . . .

Fortunately for George Rodriquez of Dallas, Texas the Life After Exoneration Program was there to help. After serving eighteen years in Texas State Prison for a rape he did not commit, George was released in 2004 and could not find stable employment or a home of his own. He had no credit, no job and no vehicle for transportation. The Life After Exoneration Program began working with George in June and now, 5 months later, he is employed full-time, has a working vehicle, his own fully furnished apartment, and has begun to build a solid credit history. George is now fully selfsufficient for the first time in 18 years.

FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS . . .

The demand for help from the Life After Exoneration Program has dramatically increased this year. Unfortunately contributions, which peaked with the theatrical debut of After Innocence, have not increased with this demand. As a result, this month, we were forced to cut services by 50%.

As an After Innocence Campaign member, you are educated about the overwhelming hardships the innocent face when they are finally freed. That is why we need YOU to DONATE NOW.

NO GOVERNMENT SERVICES!

Currently, an innocent person is released from prison at the rate of once every 20 days in our country.

The plight of the exonerated is shocking if not scandalous. Most exonerees are not compensated by the state in which they were convicted. Your tax dollars will not trickle down for programs to help these victims of the criminal justice system because the government does not provide any services for innocent men and women. These exonerees get less help than parolees.

The exonerated are all but forgotten by our government. The Life After Exoneration Program is fighting to change this oversight with model legislation designed to provide support services to help the wrongfully convicted get back on their feet and move forward on the outside. But that fight won't go on without your help.

PLEASE ACT NOW to help save the Life After Exoneration

Program and its work on behalf of the exonerated!


With a contribution of $250 or more, you will receive the award-winning book, Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated, edited by Dave Eggers and Lola Vollen in which thirteen men and women tell of their harrowing journeys through the criminal justice system in their own words.

Whatever you can afford, we ask that you go the distance for the wrongfully convicted - be a part of their journey from wrongful incarceration to independent, productive and meaningful lives on the outside.

Thank you for your support!

Make a tax deductible donation at www.exonerated.org

and try to get 10 friends to make a contribution!

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