密歇根新闻广播 被错误监禁犯人等待赔偿

In late 2016, former Governor Rick Snyder signed the Wrongful Imprisonment¹ Compensation Act, which went into effect the following March.

The law compensates³ people exonerated⁵ of wrongful convictions in Michigan with $50,000 for each year they spent behind bars.

In 2018, Richard Phillips became the longest-serving exoneree in the country after he was cleared of a 1971 homicide conviction. But Phillips has yet to receive any compensation for the 46 years he spent in prison.

David Moran is the co-founder of the University of Michigan Innocence⁶ Clinic, which led the effort to exonerate⁴ Phillips. He says that the exoneree compensation has not worked as it was intended, and that the state legislature failed to provide enough funding to actually pay back exonerees for their time served.

Although a companion bill passed alongside the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act grants exonerees access to the same services available to parolees. Moran says exonerated people generally don't utilize⁷ those porgrams because going to a parole officer is "kind of like being back in the Department of Corrections again."

There are no state programs specifically designed to help exonerees re-enter society. So when Phillips was released in March of last year, he says the support he recieved came from elsewhere.

There was no support except for the support that I got from my attorneys, the Innocence Clinic, and a few people that donated money to my GoFundMe program, which I appreciated because I needed that very much to get started on, Phillips said.

Phillips struggled financially in his first couple months as a returned citizen. Eventually, to make ends meet, Phillips began selling the paintings he had created while incarcerated⁸.

That didn't feel too good because my artwork was something that I treasured as part of my soul. I mean I put so much effort, so much emotion into those pieces of art when I was in prison because it was keeping me sane⁹ to be able to do the time, Phillips said.

Moran was involved in the eight-year negotiation¹⁰ process with former State Attorney General Bill Schuette's office and other stakeholders to draft the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act.

He says that exonerees and the attorneys that represent them faced a range of unexpected procedural barriers once the law passed, possibly due to concerns that some exonerees seeking compensation weren't really innocent.

Our counter to that was telling people how hard it is to get exonerated, how few of these cases we can win. When people get exonerated, it's because there's really overwhelming evidence that they didn't do it, Moran said.

The Whitmer administration has taken steps to allocate¹¹ the money necessary to compensate² exonerees. The Governor's recent budget proposal requested $10 million for that purpose, and the state Senate will soon vote on House Bill 4286, which would provide another $10 million.

Under the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, the state of Michigan owes Phillips around $2.3 million. While Phillips acknowledges that that money would certainly help pay the bills, he says that he will be "all right" whether or not he gets that compensation.

I feel blessed, really. Just to be here, to have lived long enough to really have a chance to enjoy my freedom, Phillips said.

Since being exonerated, Phillips has been spending his time advocating for criminal justice reform, building and rebuilding personal connections, and supporting himself through his artwork.

This post was written by Stateside production assistant Isabella Isaacs-Thomas.

1 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

2 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

3 compensates   

补偿，报酬( compensate的第三人称单数 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The company compensates her for extra work. 公司因她的额外工作而给她报酬。
• A vertical spring compensates for the weight of the sensing element. 用一根垂直弹簧补偿敏感元件的负荷。

4 exonerate   

v.免除责任，确定无罪

参考例句：

• Nothing can exonerate her from that.任何解释都难辞其咎。
• There is no reason to exonerate him from the ordinary duties of a citizen.没有理由免除他做公民应尽的义务。

5 exonerated   

v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police report exonerated Lewis from all charges of corruption. 警方的报告免除了对刘易斯贪污的所有指控。
• An investigation exonerated the school from any blame. 一项调查证明该学校没有任何过失。 来自辞典例句

6 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

7 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

8 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

9 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

10 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

11 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。