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2007 Echoing Green Fellow John Thompson spent eighteen years in Louisiana’s Angola Prison for a crime he did not commit. Diligent public defenders unearthed evidence, previously hidden by prosecutors, to exonerate John before his seventh, and last, execution date in 1999. He walked out of prison with ten dollars and a bus fare, and he vowed to never go back.

John’s intimate familiarity with what people experience behind prison walls, as well as the great obstacles they must overcome after being released, led him to launch Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE), an organization that gives former convicts, like himself, a haven and a home to break the cycle of dependence and poverty with a comprehensive re-entry program.
   
In 2005, John sued the prosecutors and the district attorney’s office for the wrongful conviction and evidence tampering. A jury awarded him $14 million—$1 million for every year on death row—but no one was fired, no one was charged with ethics violations, and no one was charged with a crime.  Last month, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn the case.  John wrote a powerful op-ed in The New York Times this weekend sharing his own deeply personal story and his determination to keep moving forward. His conviction to create an example, a pathway, and a better life for others exemplifies our “be bold” motto.

In the United States today, over 400 wrongly convicted, incarcerated, and exonerated people –are trying to put their lives back together. Recidivism is prevalent, and ironically, especially among men who have been exonerated from crimes they never committed.  John and RAE are working hard to create opportunities; it’s time our society took some bold strokes to invest in their readjustment.

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