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When Greg Bright and Earl Truvia were freed after 27 1/2 years
in prison for a crime they did not commit, they were left
on the sidewalk with $10 checks from the State of Louisiana,
and garbage bags full of their legal paperwork. Earl was literally
shoeless.
IPNO's Exoneree Advocacy Program provides direct support
to the wrongfully convicted through their transition to life
in the free world, and brings the voices of these exonerees
to a wider audience, positioning them as advocates for policy
reform on a local and regional level. IPNO's exoneree advocacy
program receives no support from grants or foundations and
so IPNO relies exclusively on individual donors to sustain
the program.
The program is a response to the tragedies that abound amongst
the region's wrongfully convicted population, many of whom
have foundered when confronted with long awaited freedom.
As one said: "The challenge of transition is even harder
than the challenge of overcoming a wrongful conviction."
IPNO tries to assist with this challenge: transforming the
lives of exonerees after their release, while issuing a challenge
to the local community to take ownership of both the plight
of the exonerated and the flaws in the criminal justice system
that imprisoned them in the first place.
The Exoneree Advocacy Program supports and is working in
partnership with the fledgling exoneree-run re-entry program,
Resurrection After Exoneration (RAE). For more information
about Resurrection After Exoneration, contact John Thompson
at jt5903@yahoo.com.
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| Greg and Earl left empty-handed
on the sidewalk outside Orleans Parish Prison after 27
1/2 years. |
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